RESCAPMED Project Writing Workshop Literature review before writing
RESCAP-MED Project: Writing Workshop Literature review before writing Julia Critchley
Literature Review � Provides an overview and a critical evaluation of a body of literature relating to a research topic or a research problem � � Analyses a body of literature in order to classify it by themes or categories, rather than simply discussing individual works one after another Presents the research and ideas of the field rather than each individual work or author by itself
Literature review before writing � Why ◦ Has your research question already been answered? If so, how? � How Search through the literature Writing of a review
PURPOSE � Situates your topic in relation to previous research and illuminates a spot for your research ◦ [Also demonstrates your knowledge of literature] � Several goals: ◦ provides background for your topic using previous research ◦ shows you are familiar with previous, relevant research ◦ evaluates the depth and breadth of the research in regards to your topic ◦ determines remaining questions or aspects of your topic in need of research
What’s it really for � Overall, a literature review seeks to answer the following questions: ◦ What does the literature tell you? ◦ What does the literature not tell you? ◦ Why is this important?
DON’T TRY TO � Summarise everything in the field � Write loads and demonstrate you know “everything” � [This is just a few sentences to a few (short) paragraphs to put your work in context]
Organisational Plan � 1. Synthesize and evaluate information � 2. Identify the main ideas of the literature � 3. Identify the main argument of the literature review …[that supports your research question] � 4. Organize the main points of the literature review � 5. Write literature review
Synthesise and Evaluate � Critical thinking, reading, and writing. � Strategies for reading ◦ take note of themes or categories ◦ may be used later to develop a structure for the literature review ◦ take note of how other writers classify their data, the literature in their fields, etc. ◦ read literature reviews in other papers to see how they have been structured
Synthesise and Evaluate (2) � Form categories for analysis and comparison � A strong literature review examines each work on its own and in relation to other works by ◦ identifying and then analysing them with regards to a number of different research aspects and ideas � possible analysis ◦ ◦ ◦ categories to use for comparison and topic argument results found and conclusions methods theoretical approach
Main ideas / Main arguments � In relation to your research study � Must be defined by this guiding concept (ie your research objective, the problem or issue you are discussing) � Not just a descriptive list of the material available, or a set of summaries
Possible Questions for comparing works � What are the main arguments? ◦ Do the authors make similar or different arguments? ◦ Are some arguments more convincing than others? � How has research been conducted in the literature? ◦ ◦ ◦ How extensive has it been? What kinds of data have been presented? How pertinent are they? Are there sufficient amounts of data? Do they adequately answer the questions?
Possible Questions (2) � What are the different types of methodologies used? ◦ How well do they work? ◦ Is one methodology more effective than others? ◦ Why? � What are the different theoretical frameworks or approaches used? ◦ What do they allow the authors o do? ◦ How well do they work? ◦ Is one approach more effective than others? Why? � Overall, is one work more convincing than others? ◦ Why? ◦ Or are the works you have compared too different to evaluate against each other?
MECHANICS � Searching ◦ ◦ for literature Not extensive or exhaustive “systematic review” Do not need to identify “all literature” Recent literature will often do BUT do need to identify key articles in the field (not always recent) � Key articles ◦ Cited a lot ◦ High impact journals ◦ Check citations e. g. in pubmed, google scholar, science citation index ◦ MEDLINE (Pub. Med) ◦ Systematic review articles ◦ Science Citation Index (can be very helpful if there is a “key paper” that most relevant studies will have cited)
Conduct literature review
Writing – its “telling a story” � Start with “What is known” ◦ In first sentence, state general topic of paper ◦ Explain background / motivation (literature review) in a few sentences or paragraphs) ◦ Narrow down to what is NOT known
Continue to…. � “What is not known” ◦ Brief statement, usually one sentence ◦ Important, because it indicates: �that this work is new �links known and research question �creates story line
What is not known � Flag ◦ E. g. this very clearly �“is unknown” �“is unclear” �“needs to be determined” � Research Question must follow from “what is not known”
Other points…. � New sentence / paragraph for each known, unknown, question � Use transition phrases and words � Repeat key themes
Sources � IEA 2013 course on Epidemiology – Shah Ebrahim � Epidemiology Supercourse (presentations by Richard Smith and Pauls Ziegel
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