LECTURE 2: IDENTIFYING

THEIR VIEWPOINTS AND

FINDING YOUR OWN VOICE IN
LITERATURE REVIEW
Dr. Yi Long
School of Public Affairs and Administration, UESTC
longyi@uestc.edu.cn
Warming up

 You have decided to study a research topic or more

specifically a research problem, share your topic or
research problem and inform the audience what you
plan to do next
Contents
Features of literature review

 Definition
 Types
 Related academic genres
 Purpose

The literature review process

 The general process
 Locating literature
 Reviewing literature
 Writing up literature review
1. Features of literature review
1.1. The definition of literature review

literature
literature review
review

The collection or ‘body’ Critical analysis Critical analysis

of published and evaluation and evaluation
information/materials on a of the sources in
particular area of research a specific
or topic, such as books research area
and journal articles of
academic value
 Literature
– Please indicate which of the following can be regarded as a piece of
literature:
• Empirical studies
• Government reports and reports from other organizations
• Monographs
• Electronic databases/websites Any other
• Theses/dissertations sources?
• Conference proceedings
• Journal articles
• Statistical handbooks
– Your literature review does not need to include every article and book that
has been written on your topic because that will be too broad. Rather, it
should include the key sources related to the main debates, trends and gaps in
your research area.
 Review
– To review the literature means to be able to identify:
• what has been established and accepted in your field
• areas of controversy or conflict among different schools of thought
• problems or issues that remain unsolved
• emerging trends and new approaches
• how your research extends, builds upon, and departs from previous
research

– When reviewing the literature, “not only do you need to engage with a body
of literature, you also need to be able to compare, contrast, synthesize, and
make arguments with that literature in ways that indicate a readiness to
contribute to the literature itself” (O’Leary, 2010, p.81)
 Literature review
– In essence, a literature review identifies, evaluates and synthesizes the relevant
literature within a particular field of research. It illuminates how knowledge
has evolved within the field, highlighting what has already been done, what is
generally accepted, what is emerging and what is the current state of thinking
on the topic.
– In addition, within research-based texts such as a Master or Doctoral thesis, a
literature review identifies a research gap (i.e. unexplored or under-researched
areas) and articulates how a particular research project addresses this gap.
– In conclusion, it requires you to:
• Critically analyze a range of information in a particular research field
• Source most relevant and timely scholarly works for your purpose
• Synthesize work to critically discuss, compare and contrast the different
theories, ideas or views
• Identify gaps in research
• Focus this work on your position
• Convince the reader of your position
1.2. Types of literature review Within a thesis, a literature
review may appear in a
Part of a larger work single chapter – often being
the first independent chapter
Introduction to a Thesis/ after the introduction.
journal article dissertation However, reviews of
literature may also be
dispersed across several
Selective Comprehensive chapters, each of which may
focus on a different
Course theme, concept, theory or
assessment Review article method. As a result, a thesis
can contain multiple reviews
Standalone work based upon thematic,
conceptual, theoretical and
methodological
considerations.
1.3. Related academic genres
(Adapted from Kimberley & Crosling, 2012, p.49)
Critical review Annotated bibliography Literature review
Single text analyzed Single text analyzed Multiple texts analyzed
Reference + review Reference + annotation Reference list + in-text
(paragraph or more) (notes or short paragraph) referencing
Synthesized reviews
paragraph or more (article)
chapter (book or thesis)
evaluate evaluate source relevant to evaluate research on specific
success of text in research topic or assignment topic
field question
▪ Creating an annotated bibliography is a useful step towards completing a
literature review, and it is a useful note taking method. However, the
literature review is one step beyond this evaluation of resources, as it is
primarily concerned with examining the field.
 QUIZ
 What do you think a literature review is, and what it is not? Place the following
statements under the right heading.
A literature review is A literature review is not

A. Simply a B. A descriptive E. Presented as a F. A compilation

collection of texts summary of each list in which you of all material
that you think are and every text discuss each text related to your
interesting or in turn research field,
every text that you regardless of its
D. A place to G. A place to make
have read relevance to
present an explicit
your project
argument, a clear connections
C. A synthesis of a articulation of your between previous H. A critical
range of sources own position in research and your evaluation of
relation to relevant own sources related to
literature your research topic
 Check the answers
A literature review is A literature review is not
A. Simply a
C. A synthesis of a G. A place to make B. A descriptive
collection of texts
range of sources explicit summary of each
that you think are
connections and every text
interesting or
between previous
D. A place to every text that you
research and your F. A compilation
present an have read
own of all material
argument, a clear
H. A critical E. Presented as a related to your
articulation of your
evaluation of list in which you research field,
own position in
sources related to discuss each text regardless of its
relation to relevant
your research topic in turn relevance to
literature
your project
1.4. Purpose of doing literature review within a thesis
 Literature review is for:
– provide a background to your work by summarising the previously
published work
– classify the research into different categories and demonstrate how
the research in a particular area has changed over time by indicating
historical background (early research findings in an area) as well as
explaining recent developments in an area
– clarify areas of controversy and agreement between experts in the
area as well as identify dominant views
– evaluate the previous research and identify gaps (i.e. unexplored
areas)
– help justify your research by indicating how it is different from other
works in the same area
2. The literature review process

 Conducting a literature review is an ongoing, non-linear, and iterative

process
– “Your literature review will inform your question, theory, and
methods, and your question, theory, and methods will help set the
parameters of your literature review. This is a cyclical process.”
(O’Leary 2010, p.83)
– It is usually one of the first tasks that graduate research students
undertake, and one of the last to be completed.
2.1. The general process
 Engage with the literature in different ways at different stages of your research
Late stage:
Middle stage: Writing up thesis
Data collection
Early stage: and analysis Relate your own
Research proposal findings to what
Keep literature other scholars
up to date by have previously
including found in your
Help refine and
justify your reviews of the area
research most recent
questions. Your relevant
written report publications
demonstrates your
familiarity with the
research in your
field
 Doing literature review involves three main steps, whatever stage your research
is at

Locating Reviewing Writing up

literature literature

•Identify •Read key •Synthesize

relevant texts •Organize
and key •Analyze
texts and
evaluate
critically
•Take notes

– Again, this is a cyclical, iterative process in that you will return to find and
read more sources and incorporate them into your synthesis.
2.2. Locating literature
▪ Criteria for selecting the literature: relevance to your study& importance
to the field
– A useful way of looking at the literature review process, particularly
if you are examining several topics (or variables) is to think of
yourself as rather like a film director (Rudestam & Newton, 1992).
You can think of providing your audience with:
• long shots to provide a solid sense
of the background

• middle distance shots where the

key figures and elements to be
examined are brought clearly into
view
• close-up shots where the precise
focus of your work is pinpointed.
▪ A set of questions that you need to ask yourself before you start to locate the
literature:
– What topic/problem are you investigating?
– What question(s) will you explore?
• Identify the aims of your literature search
– What kind of materials are you investigating and why?
• Journal articles, reports, policies or primary historical data, etc.
– Does each text relate to your research topic and requirements?
– Who are the essential or key researchers on your topic?
• Are you finding them?
• Are the sources valuable or often referred to in other texts?
▪ Where to find the literature?

• If you get your idea from an article

or a book, you can check the
literature the author(s) cited in its
reference list

Databases

• If your inspiration is not from Journal navigation

an academic source, you may
try key words search
Academic search engine

X-pedia
Some useful databases provided by the library of UESTC
Cambridge
EBSCO
Emerald
Elsevier (ScienceDirect)
PQDT (ProQuest Dissertations and Theses)

SAGE Research methods

Include academic journal,
SpringerLink books and conference
paper
SSCI High cited journals
Taylor & Francis

Wiley Online Library

How to access the database
Journal navigation
Academic search engine
X-pedia

 We cannot directly
cite anything from
sources such as
Wikipedia. But it
may offer us
relevant literature to
read.

ACTIVITY
ACTIVITY

 You need to determine and write down two to four key words which will
help you to find relevant literature based on your research topic
– State your research topic first with one or two sentences and then list
the key words

 After class, please try to search and download one journal article relevant to
your research topic and bring it to the next lecture on Thursday.
– Get familiar with the databases listed in the slides and explore the
resources offered by the library