A
literature
review
is
a
survey
of
everything
that
has
been
written
about
a
particular
topic,
theory,
or
research
question.
It
may
provide
the
background
for
larger
work,
or
it
may
stand
on
its
own.
Much
more
than
a
simple
list
of
sources,
an
effective
literature
review
analyzes
and
synthesizes
information
about
key
themes
or
issues.
Book
Review
Annotated
Bibliography
Literature
Review
Analyzes
and
evaluates
Summarizes
relevant
sources
and
Surveys
all
relevant
literature
to
a
particular
book.
explains
the
significance
of
that
determine
what
is
known
and
not
source
to
the
research
question.
known
about
a
particular
topic.
Why
write
a
literature
review?
1.
To
discover
what
has
been
written
about
a
topic
already
2.
To
determine
what
each
source
contributes
to
the
topic
3.
To
understand
the
relationship
between
the
various
contributions,
identify
and
(if
possible)
resolve
contradictions,
and
determine
gaps
or
unanswered
questions
What
is
involved
in
writing
a
literature
review?
1.
Research
–
to
discover
what
has
been
written
about
the
topic
2.
Critical
Appraisal
–
to
evaluate
the
literature,
determine
the
relationship
between
the
sources
and
ascertain
what
has
been
done
already
and
what
still
needs
to
be
done
3.
Writing
–
to
explain
what
you
have
found
Steps
to
writing
an
effective
literature
review:
Gathering
sources
Focus
your
topic:
A
literature
review
aims
to
cover
all
of
the
research
on
a
given
topic.
If
the
topic
is
too
large,
there
will
be
too
much
material
to
cover
it
adequately.
Read
with
a
purpose:
Although
you
will
need
to
briefly
summarize
sources,
a
good
literature
review
requires
that
you
isolate
key
themes
or
issues
related
to
your
own
research
interests.
Evaluating
sources
For
each
book
or
article
consider:
Credentials:
Is
the
author
an
expert?
Argument/Evidence:
Does
the
evidence
support
the
conclusion?
Is
the
argument
or
evidence
complete?
When
comparing
sources,
consider:
Conclusions:
Does
all
research
arrive
at
the
same
conclusion
or
are
there
differing
opinions?
What
evidence
or
reasoning
are
the
differences
based
on?
Gaps
or
omissions:
What
questions
are
raised
by
the
literature?
How
to
Write
a
Literature
Review
(expanded)
1. The
Literature
Search
Find
out
what
has
been
written
on
your
subject.
Use
as
many
bibliographical
sources
as
you
can
to
find
relevant
titles.
The
following
are
some
possible
sources:
Bibliographies
and
references
in
key
textbooks
and
recent
journal
articles
Abstracting/Peer
reviewed
journals
• Teachers
College
Record
http://www.tcrecord.org/
:
The
Teachers
College
Record
is
a
journal
of
research,
analysis,
and
commentary
in
the
field
of
education.
It
has
been
published
continuously
since
1900
by
Teachers
College,Columbia
University.
Subscription
is
$15US/year)
• ASCD
-
http://ascd.org/
:
online
membership
$29/year
Electronic
databases
• Knowledge
Ontario
-‐
www.knowledgontario.ca
(free
for
public
schools)
• ERIC:
The
major
index
for
education.
ERIC
provides
access
to
a
broad
collection
of
resources
on
education
research
and
information.
The
database
is
of
interest
to
education
researchers,
teachers,
instructors
and
students
in
teacher
preparation
programmes,
administrators,
policymakers
and
parents
(requires
subscription:
Crescent
School
has
one)
• CBCA
Education:
A
major
index
for
Canadian
information
in
the
field
of
education.
CBCA
Education
provides
information
for
researchers
interested
in
teaching,
educational
research
and
educational
administration
in
Canada.
Articles
are
indexed
from
over
250
Canadian
education
journals,
magazines,
newsletters
and
newspapers
(requires
subscription)
• SAGE
-‐
http://online.sagepub.com/
:
SAGE
Publications,
a
leading
international
publisher
of
books,
journals,
and
electronic
media,
is
a
privately
owned
publishing
company
dedicated
to
the
global
dissemination
of
information
(free
online
resource)
• Proquest
Education
Journals
(requires
subscription:
Crescent
School
has
one)
Free
online
resources
• Google
Scholar
–
http://scholar.google.ca/
:
Google
Scholar
provides
a
simple
way
to
broadly
search
for
scholarly
literature.
From
one
place,
you
can
search
across
many
disciplines
and
sources:
articles,
theses,
books,
abstracts
and
court
opinions,
from
academic
publishers,
professional
societies,
online
repositories,
universities
and
other
web
sites.
Google
Scholar
helps
you
find
relevant
work
across
the
world
of
scholarly
research
(free
electronic
resource)
• Google
Books
–
http://books.google.ca/
• Google
Advanced
Scholar
Search
-‐
http://scholar.google.com/advanced_scholar_search
• Beaucoup
–
www.beaucoup.com
• Questia
-‐
http://www.questia.com/
• Internet
Public
Library
-‐
http://www.ipl.org/
• Noodle
Tools
-‐
http://www.noodletools.com/
:
free
bibliography
software
Others??
2. Noting
the
bibliographical
details
Write
down
the
full
bibliographical
details
of
each
book/article
as
soon
as
you
find
a
reference
to
it.
This
will
save
you
an
enormous
amount
of
time
later
on.
A
program
like
Noodle
Tools
can
help
with
this
and
it
is
in
the
cloud
so
it
doesn’t
matter
where
or
what
computer
you
are
working
on.
It
can
be
used
to
collaborate
with
other
researchers
as
well.
3. Reading
the
Literature
Take
notes
as
you
read
the
literature.
You
are
reading
to
find
out
how
each
reference
approaches
the
subject
of
your
research,
what
it
has
to
say
about
it,
and
how
it
relates
to
your
own
thesis/question.
Ask
yourself
questions
like:
• Has
the
author
formulated
a
problem/issue?
• Is
it
clearly
defined?
Is
its
significance
(scope,
severity,
relevance)
clearly
established?
• Could
the
problem
have
been
approached
more
effectively
from
another
perspective?
• What
is
the
author’s
research
orientation
(e.g.,
interpretive,
critical
science,
combination)?
• What
is
the
author’s
theoretical
framework
(e.g.,
psychological,
developmental,
feminist)?
• What
is
the
relationship
between
the
theoretical
and
research
perspectives?
• Has
the
author
evaluated
the
literature
relevant
to
the
problem/issue?
Does
the
author
include
literature
taking
positions
she
or
he
does
not
agree
with?
• In
a
research
study,
how
good
are
the
basic
components
of
the
study
design
(e.g.,
population,
intervention,
outcome)?
How
accurate
and
valid
are
the
measurements?
Is
the
analysis
of
the
data
accurate
and
relevant
to
the
research
question?
Are
the
conclusions
validly
based
upon
the
data
and
analysis?
• In
material
written
for
a
popular
readership,
does
the
author
use
appeals
to
emotion,
one-‐ sided
examples,
or
rhetorically-‐charged
language
and
tone?
Is
there
an
objective
basis
to
the
reasoning,
or
it
the
author
merely
“proving”
what
he
or
she
already
believes?
• How
does
the
author
structure
the
argument?
Can
you
“deconstruct”
the
flow
of
the
argument
to
see
whether
or
where
it
breaks
down
logically
(e.g.,
in
establishing
cause-‐effect
relationships)?
• In
what
ways
does
this
book
or
article
contribute
to
our
understanding
of
the
problem
under
study,
and
in
what
ways
is
it
useful
for
practice?
What
are
the
strengths
and
limitations?
• How
does
this
book
or
article
relate
to
the
specific
thesis
or
question
I
am
developing?
4. Writing
the
Literature
Review
Introduction
The
introduction
should
identify
your
topic,
some
discussion
of
the
significance
of
that
topic
and
a
thesis
statement
that
outlines
what
conclusion
you
will
draw
from
your
analysis
and
synthesis
of
the
literature.
If
your
literature
review
is
part
of
a
larger
work,
explain
the
importance
of
the
review
to
your
research
question.
Body
In
the
body,
discuss
and
assess
the
research
according
to
specific
organizational
principles
(see
examples
below),
rather
than
addressing
each
source
separately.
Most,
if
not
all,
paragraphs
should
discuss
more
than
one
source.
Avoid
addressing
your
sources
alphabetically
as
this
does
not
assist
in
developing
the
themes
or
key
issues
central
to
your
review.
Organizing
Principles
Principle
When
to
Use
Theme
• When
explaining
key
themes/issues
relevant
to
the
topic
• This
is
the
most
common
way
to
organize
literature
reviews
Methodology
When
discussing
interdisciplinary
approaches
to
a
topic
or
when
discussing
a
number
of
studies
with
a
different
approach
Chronology
When
historical
changes
are
central
to
explaining
the
topic
Conclusion
The
conclusion
should
provide
a
summary
of
YOUR
findings
from
the
literature
review.
Explain
what
your
analysis
of
the
material
leads
you
to
conclude
about
the
overall
state
of
the
literature,
what
it
provides
and
where
it
is
lacking.
You
can
also
provide
suggestions
for
future
research
or
explain
how
your
future
research
will
fill
the
gaps
in
the
existing
body
of
work
on
that
topic.
5. Reflection:
1.
What
is
the
specific
thesis,
problem,
or
research
question
that
my
literature
review
helps
to
define?
2.
What
type
of
literature
review
am
I
conducting?
Am
I
looking
at
issues
of
theory?
methodology?
policy?
quantitative
research
(e.g.
on
the
effectiveness
of
a
new
procedure)?
qualitative
research
(e.g.,
studies)?
3.
What
is
the
scope
of
my
literature
review?
What
types
of
publications
am
I
using
(e.g.,
journals,
books,
government
documents,
popular
media)?
What
discipline
am
I
working
in
(e.g.,
nursing
psychology,
sociology,
medicine)?
4.
How
good
was
my
information
seeking?
Has
my
search
been
wide
enough
to
ensure
I’ve
found
all
the
relevant
material?
Has
it
been
narrow
enough
to
exclude
irrelevant
material?
Is
the
number
of
sources
I’ve
used
appropriate
for
the
length
of
my
paper?
5.
Have
I
critically
analysed
the
literature
I
use?
Do
I
follow
through
a
set
of
concepts
and
questions,
comparing
items
to
each
other
in
the
ways
they
deal
with
them?
Instead
of
just
listing
and
summarizing
items,
do
I
assess
them,
discussing
strengths
and
weaknesses?
6.
Have
I
cited
and
discussed
studies
contrary
to
my
perspective?
7.
Will
the
reader
find
my
literature
review
relevant,
appropriate,
and
useful?
Works
Cited:
Allyson, Skene. "Writing a Literature Review." University of Toronto - The Writing Centre. University of Toronto at Scarborough, n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2010. <http://ctl.utsc.utoronto.ca/twc/sites/default/files/LitReview.pdf>.
Dena, Taylor. "The Literature Review: A Few Tips on Conducting It." Health Sciences Writing Centre, and Margaret Proctor. University of Toronto, Writing Support, n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2010. <http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/specific- types-of-writing/literature-review>.
"Finding Information on the Internet: A Tutorial." UC Berkeley - Teaching Library Internet Workshops. UC Berkeley, 23 July 2009. Web. 12 Jan. 2011. <http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/FindInfo.html>.
"Writing a Literature Review." University of Canberra - Academic Skills Centre. University of Canberra, 14 Sept. 2006. Web. 12 Jan. 2011. <http://www.canberra.edu.au/studyskills/writing/literature>.