Literature Review
Roberto Vargas
rvargas1@swarthmore.edu
The scholarly conversation
Research Paper
What the Lit Review is NOT!
Annotated Bibliography
Only a Summary
A book review
+Integrated analysis of scholarly writing
What the Lit Review is NOT
+Can be arranged thematically, chronologically or by questions
- A summary + an analysis
+Makes judgements on the literature:
- Identifies inconsistencies, gaps and contradictions in the literature
+Is guided by your perspective
i.e. If you write a lit review chronologically, you might be emphasizing how your topic has changed over time
- Highlights key findings
What the Lit Review is NOT
+Demonstrates why the topic is significant to anthropology
+Discovers relationships between ideas/research
+Provides clues for future research
- Ensures that researches do not duplicate work that has already been done
-Areas to focus
+Demonstrates you are familiar with the topic
Is this a lit review?
Find the good & bad review
Thematic or Chronological
APROACH
CHOSE TOPIC
RESEARCH
SCOPE
Be organized
SO WHAT?
REVIEW LIT
Steps
Be organized
Read
Discover relationships between sources
Identify themes/ideas
Write
Theme 1
Theme 2
Theme 3
Article 7
Article 8
Article 5
Article 6
Article 3
Article 4
Article 1
Article 2
Article 1
Article 1
Article 2
Article 3
Article 3
Article 4
Article 4
Article 5
Article 6
Article 7
Article 7
Article 7
Article 8
INTRO
Why is it important?
How is it Organized?
How does it relate to other work?
Methods
Body
Headings/Subheadings
Critically analyze the research
Important trends
Present your connections
Conclusion
Indicate any further research
Summarize evidence
Body
Organize your Lit Review Body
Chronological
Methodological
Thematic
To think about....
"... how many sources do you need to establish the importance of a theme? Twenty?... in a database containing millions of sentences, full-text search can turn up twenty examples of anything... this might strengthen confirmation bias."
-Ted Underwood,
Theorizing Research Practices We Forgot to Theorize Twenty Years Ago
Roberto Vargas
rvargas1@swarthmore.edu
http://guides.library.vcu.edu/lit-review
http://libguides.uwf.edu/c.php?g=215199&p=1420475
https://laverne.libguides.com/c.php?g=34942&p=222060
Big thanks to the following libguides:
Writing a Lit Review (+ Zotero)
By Swarthmore Reference
Writing a Lit Review (+ Zotero)
Presentation for Ed thesis class (Elaine) - created by RV
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