Literature Review

Literature Review as Driver of

Research
Your review of related literature should begin
when you start thinking of doing research. It
should guide you in:
 The selection of the topic

 The selection of the methodology

 Interpretation or analysis of

data/experiments/themes
 Reinforcement of your conclusions
 What is Literature Review
 Contextualizing research questions
 Locating research in its milieu
 Distinguishing what has been done from
what needs to be done
 Synthesizing and gaining perspective for
looking at it from different lens
 Establishing the significance of the research
problem
 Sources
Articles in Journals
Books

Internet

Research Reports

Government Documents

Abstracts

Reviews

Unpublished Theses

ERIC/SSCI/DAI
 Working with Literature
 Find it: Through the sources mentioned.
 Manage it: Efficient and selective reading
to cull the relevant information.
 Keep track of references: Use cards or a
software like Endnote or Reference
Manager. Rigorous and effective filing
system required.
 Annotate your references: It is reminder
of relevance, accuracy and quality of
sources cited.
 Brief Sample Annotation
O’Leary, Z (2001) ‘Conversations in the Kitchen’, In A. Bartiett and G. Citation
Mercer (eds). Postgraduate Research Supervision: Transforming (Harvard
Relations. New York: Peter Lang. reference)
The author is a senior lecturer at the University of Western Sydney
who has written a chapter in a book targeting postgraduate research Author /
students and supervisors. Audience
This is basically an anecdote that discusses, and attempts to normalize Summary
the emotional and intellectual hardships many research students can go
through when trying to juggle family obligations and study.
The anecdote is quite short and written in a warm and personal style Critical
that makes it very easy to relate to. It is not, however, a research study Comment
backed up by any data/rigour and therefore does not allow one to
assess the extent of the issues raised to whether the concerns she raises
are widespread. That said it does not seem to relate well to the more
rigorous research studies conducted by Field and Howard (2002) and
Dreicker (2003) on similar issues.
This relates quite well to my chapter on ‘coping mechanisms and Relevance
strategies for managing roles and workloads’ and may be good for a
quote or two especially if I feel my text is too dry.
 Presenting the Literature Review:
How

The writing of the literature review should

follow the norms of established written
discourse conventions of the relevant
academic field/discipline. Documentation and
writing up of research has a particular
technique and approach. This separates
academic writing from other types of writing.
 Presenting the Literature Review:
Mechanics

Follow a format for including quotations and

citations.

Quote authentic and recognized sources.

Embed the sources within your own views.

Presenting the Literature Review:
Quality
 Adequacy: Is it done to a sufficient
degree?

 Clarity: Are all points clearly made?

 Empiricalness: Are actual findings

cited rather than opinions?

 Recency: Are citations up-to-date?

 Presenting the Literature Review
(contd.)
 Relevance: Are the citations related to the
hypothesis?
 Organization: Is the presentation of
literature well-organized in terms of
introduction, subheadings and summary?
 Convincingness: Does it help in making a
case for the study?
 How to contextualize: A Sample
Using Dictionaries
One effective way of developing language
learning autonomy is by training the students in
the use of dictionaries.
To be able to find the information we want,
when we want it, is increasingly important
in a world where knowledge is expanding
faster than ever before.
O'Brien and Jordan, 1985, Preface.
The dictionary is 'probably one of the few books
which are retained after following a language
course' (Carter and McCarthy, 1988: 52).
 How to contextualize:
Using Dictionaries
Traditionally a monolingual dictionary is
consulted by a native speaker 'to check a point
of information, to capture a shade of meaning,
to look up the sense of a rare word, or to find a
literary reference' (Dubois, 1981:237).
However, it was in the 1970's that the genre of
learner's dictionaries became cogent with the
publication of Longman's Dictionary of
Contemporary English and Oxford Advanced
Learner's Dictionary of Current English and it
came to be 'understood that the learner's
dictionary was designed to help with
production as much as interpretation' (Cowie,
1991: 203).
 How to contextualize: Using Dictionaries
The ELC, BZ University, Multan, has
documented the fact in its reports (Qadir,
1997) that 92% of incoming M. Sc (previous)
students have never used a monolingual
English dictionary or in fact even seen one.
The use of the dictionary in Urdu is almost a
non-existent practice. Some of the students
have used bilingual Urdu/English dictionaries,
but the number of these students is negligible.
ELC designed Dictionary Usage Packages for
them. Their enthusiasm was remarkable
despite their skeptically blasé attitude towards
language learning.
 How to contextualize:
Using Dictionaries
These students were in the final phase of
their academic career. If this reference skill
had been imparted at a reasonably early
stage, maybe it would have led to an
affective and cognitive difference in the
learner's attitude towards English. Based on
this assumption, a scaled-down version of
dictionary use was included in the study-
skills option for my target group. Most of
the extra-linguistic knowledge which is
actually vital information, is not even
registered by the average dictionary user.
 How to contextualize:
Using Dictionaries
Nuccorini (1993: 32) goes further to add
that the syntactical aspects of learner's
dictionaries’ implicit pragmatic information
are put to use only by those few who have
'the necessary presuppositions and
knowledge of the world.’

It was explicitly for the purpose of making

this knowledge available to those who do
not have it as a part of their linguistic
resource and competence that the
Dictionary Use module was included in this
Study-skills Option.
Thank you