Unit 4 Conducting Literature Review - University of Toronto

The Literature Review: A Few Tips On Conducting It (University of Toronto):

http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/specific-types-of-writing/literature-review

Discursive prose,

• organize into sections
• themes 
• trends 
• relevant theory

Introduction and conclusion

• scope of coverage
• formulate the question, problem, or concept
• comparisons and relationships. 
• paragraph  
• introduce the focus of each section

purpose of literature review:

convey:

• established knowledge and ideas  
• strengths and weaknesses
• defined by a guiding concept
• your research objective, 
• the problem or issue
• argumentative thesis

demonstrate skills: 

• information seeking: efficiently identify a set of useful articles and books
• critical appraisal: apply principles of analysis to identify unbiased and valid studies.

also must:

• organized and directly related to thesis or research question
• summarize what is and is not known
• identify controversies
• recommend questions for further research

Answer these questions:

•  specific thesis, problem, or research question

•  type of literature review 

• theory/ methodology/ policy/ quantitative or qualitative 

•  scope  
• journals 
• books  
• government documents 
• popular media 

•  information seeking wide enough / narrow enough
• number of sources re: appropriate length

• critically analysed with set of concepts and questions 

• assess them, 

• discussing strengths and weaknesses 

• citations

•  relevant, appropriate, and useful