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Overview of the Literature Review

1.1 Purposes and Organization of LRs

What are the main purposes of a literature review (LR)? That is, why do academics and professionals review the existing studies in a research field (Potter, 2006)?

Task 1: Your purpose for writing a LR

From your perspective as a student in a professional master program, select two of the three common purposes for writing LR as the most relevant to you:

Task 2: Identifying Key Characteristics of High-Quality Literature Reviews

From the list below, use your existing knowledge of LRs to select the purposes and/or features that are shared by good quality literature reviews. Check all items that apply:

Task 3: Matching Organizational Factors and Examples in Literature Reviews

Typically, the organization of the LR is determined by a combination of factors, including:

  1. Classification of the materials reviewed by type and focus of research.
  2. Scope of perspective on the topic adopted in the research studies.
  3. Positioning of research studies relative to (author’s) preferred approach.

Match each of the general factors determining the organization of LRs with one set of examples of possible choices within that general organizing factor:

1.2 Learning from the organization, purposes, and content of an LR

Shortly, we will explore the purposes and organization of LRs separately for MEL and MHLP students, sampling LRs from research reports in, respectively, the subfields of Chemical Engineering and Nursing Policy. For now, let’s consider the organization of a short review of the research undertaken on an area of research that is immediately relevant, the writing of literature reviews! This review of research on the writing of LRs comes from a research report in a volume of applied linguistic research on the teaching and learning academic writing.

The tasks in this section have the double purpose of reinforcing the above suggestions about the purposes and organization of LRs while illustrating an LR that is clearly geared towards the application of research findings, a purpose that is shared with the vast majority of Applied Science, Nursing and Health Policy research. In this case, the interest is in teaching and learning to write LRs and the specific challenges faced by graduate students in writing them.

Below is a three-paragraph LR which includes an introduction. For each paragraph, complete the task on how the paragraph organizes information.

Task 4: The introductory paragraph of a LR

The five items listed below are not listed in the order that they appear in the paragraph. After reading the introductory paragraph, put the items in the appropriate order by placing each numbered sentence in the location where it occurs in the paragraph (sentences are numbered). Note that one sentence may have more than one function:

The Literature Review Reviewed (Swales & Lindemann, 2002, pp. 107-108)

(1) The Literature Review (LR) is a part-genre or sub-genre of wide significance in the academic world and in graduate education. (2) It may occupy an eponymous and separate section of a thesis or dissertation, or it may be incorporated within an article introduction, a prospectus outline, or a proposal. (3) University faculty often complain that their students do not write impressive LRs, not so much because they have not done the requisite readings, but because of the poor organization of the material. (4) Typical complaints include the following: LRs are “not sufficiently theme-based,” “not structured according to the issues,” insufficiently informed by the research hypotheses,” “merely a list,” “boringly chronological,” or “just describes each piece of research one by one without adequate linkage.” […]

Task 5: Analyzing the Structure of Introductory Paragraphs through Diagrams

Which of the following diagrams best illustrates the organizing pattern of the introductory paragraph you analyzed in Task 4? Consider the rationale and evidence for your choice using examples from the paragraph.

Task 6: The second paragraph in the LR, achievements of the research

Read the second paragraph and, in Figure 1 below, select the most appropriate title for the subcategory marked X.

Paragraph 2 of the Literature Review about LRs:

(5) However, for a number of reasons, the LR is one of the more difficult part-genres for English for Academic Purposes (EAP) writing instructors to teach.   (6) First, as we shall attempt to show, the LR is not really susceptible to the kinds of move analysis that have proved popular for [other written academic genres such as] introductions (e.g., Swales, 1990), abstracts (e.g., Melander, Swales, & Fredrickson, 1997), results (e.g. Brett, 1994; Thompson, 1993), discussions (e.g., Hopkins & Dudley-Evans, 1988; Pend, 1987), and many kinds of professional documents. (7) The second important reason is that our current information on the LR is bifurcated toward the extremes of specificity and generality with little of substance in the middle. (8) One the one side, we know a lot about [verb] tense (Malcolm, 1987), citation (Blooch & Chi, 1995), reporting verbs (Hyland, 2000; Thompson & Ye, 1991), and adjuncts of reporting (Tadros, 1985), all of the lexico-syntactic [vocabulary and grammar] level. (9) Some of this knowledge is reflected in writing guides, which contain instructions on (for example) the placement and form citations should take (Biddle & Holland, 1987; Day, 1998; Kronick, 1985; Michaelson, 1986). (10) On the other, there is a substantial amount of advice with regard to macro features such as aims and purposes, library searches, and taking notes (Biddle & Holland, 1987; Bond & Magistrale, 1987; Michaelson, 1986).

Figure 1: The organization of a literature review paragraph

Task 7: Reviewing the literature for synthesis of the literature rather than a simple listed description

Is paragraph 2 argumentative in the sense of presenting and supporting a motivated point of view on the literature?

Task 8: The third paragraph, the gap in research and the proposal to address the gap

Read the third paragraph and the three statements below. Determine which of the statements most accurately reflects the contents and organization of this paragraph.

(11) In contrast, we find very little information about how writers get from the macro level to the micro level. (12) Manuals do exist that deal with midlevel functions such as how to use citations (Becher, 1986), what and how much to cite (Woodford, 1976), paraphrasing and synthesis (Biddle & Holland, 1987; Hamp-Lyons & Courter, 1984), or even possible ways of organizing the LR (Rudestam & Newton, 1992; Weisberg & Buker, 1990). (13) However, advice given on organizing an LR is often so brief and general as to be unlikely to enlighten the potential writer who is trying to find out what to include and in what order. […] (14) Although some (especially Rudestam & Newton, 1992; Weissberg & Baker, 1990) suggest possible ways of organizing LRs, they only mention a few candidate structures. (15) What this chapter hopes to provide by illustration, then, is how to negotiate a solid middle between the macro and micro levels in a relatively small-scale case study context.

Task 9: The factors determining the organization of the review of LRs

Reflecting on the above readings and tasks, consider the factors directly involved in Swales and Lindemann’s choices for organizing their literature review. Select all that are relevant:

General Factors in Determining LR Organization

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