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Undertaking a Literature Review

Session Aims . To Explore the Purposes of a Literature ReviewTo Identify Sources to be used in a reviewEnsuring Internet searching is done wellTo look at ways of Structuring your ReviewBased upon Ch7 of Doing Postgraduate ResearchThese slides are on the Workshops' website linked from rdskill

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Undertaking a Literature Review

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    1. Undertaking a Literature Review Stephen Potter

    2. Session Aims To Explore the Purposes of a Literature Review To Identify Sources to be used in a review Ensuring Internet searching is done well To look at ways of Structuring your Review Based upon Ch7 of Doing Postgraduate Research These slides are on the Workshops’ website linked from rdskills.open.ac.uk (in ‘notes and resources’) DPGR website has additional student resources at: http://www.sagepub.co.uk/potter/ 11.15 – 11.25 Some departments require you to keep a Training Portfolio. Ensure you keep your U500 Workshop notes and activities in this. For others keeping a research journal is very useful (see Section 3 of U500) Do remember to raise anything from these workshops with your supervisor. 11.15 – 11.25 Some departments require you to keep a Training Portfolio. Ensure you keep your U500 Workshop notes and activities in this. For others keeping a research journal is very useful (see Section 3 of U500) Do remember to raise anything from these workshops with your supervisor.

    3. Purposes of a Literature Review You know about subject You can review your area critically You have used existing knowledge to focus your research question You have used existing knowledge to chose your research method/approach You have something to compare with you own results Look at Woodley review What purposes does this fulfil? Other impressions.

    4. Sources Journals Conference Papers and Proceedings Books Dictionaries Newspapers Other students’ dissertations and theses Government documents Statistics and market data Visual materials Plans Designs TV/Radio Grey literature: Company reports Trade literature Unpublished research documents Exhibitions and performances See DPGR Ch 7.3

    5. Internet Searching Use the internet properly - Library provides advice Check Sources: 5 Ws: who, why, where, what and when? Is the author (or their institution) known and respected in this field? Is reference made to other work in this field? Rather than a general web search, look for related links from websites or blogs you already trust Does the information seem objective? Is there an underlying marketing or propaganda motive? Is the information properly referenced? How current is the information? Is it properly dated?

    6. Further advice Library (and courses) will advise BBC website has useful site – linked from DPGR website. This is at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/webwise/askbruce/articles/browse/goodsites_1.shtml

    7. People and Networks DPGR Ch 7.5 Authors Practitioners Journalists Media Researchers ‘Stakeholders’ Contacting People Conferences Interviewing Run a Workshop Give a Seminar Start a blog/tweats or join a discussion list Other ideas??

    8. Activity Make a list of the people and organisations who might be interested in the results of your research

    9. Keeping Organised DPGR Ch 7.5 Vital – can be immense timewaster if not Fully record sources May use same source for different purposes Bibliographic packages available See DPGR Ch 7.5

    10. Research Journal Endnote allows you to keep notes of references, but you also need to keep a record of how your research and thinking develops Key resource in writing up to explain rationale for research and your learning processes Reminder about keeping a research journalReminder about keeping a research journal

    11. Structure for a Review Often structured by your research process stages: 1 Project aims 2 General subject background (‘wide and thin’) 3 Focus on work in specific subject area – major part (subdivided by categories – ‘deep and narrow’ or ‘drilling down’) 4 Key issues identified from the literature that needs researching 11.25 – 11.4011.25 – 11.40

    12. Review Structure Structuring more focussed section can take a number of approaches: (a) Chronological 1 Early history 2 1960s and 1970s 3 Recent developments (b) Sequential stages 1 Market research 2 Market planning 3 Market decisions (c) Ways of understanding 1 Networks 2 Movements 3 Organisations Woodley’s review is chronological but structured by emerging understanding – a mix of (a) and (c).

    13. Writing Style What makes an article/chapter hard to read? (We discussed this in the Academic Literacy session) Create a flow or ‘storyline’ (sequence) Provide ‘signposts’ “Pulling together” summary points where your writing takes any new direction. Say ‘this is what I have discovered, the implications are these and so we need to explore this, this and this to develop our understanding further’. A good structure should set you up for a good writing style Try doing a mini-review ASAP (e.g. a position or discussion paper on an aspect of your research) 11.40 GROUP ACTIVITY Chris, Sue, Dave and I join in groups 11.40 GROUP ACTIVITY Chris, Sue, Dave and I join in groups

    14. And remember Happy Hour in the Cellar Bar at 5.30pm

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