What to consider when writing your undergraduate literature review.

1. Lecture 6 Doing a
literature review for your
undergraduate
dissertation
Dissertation Module
Kevin Standish

2. Learning outcomes
• Understand the role of theories in your dissertation
• Describe Purpose of a literature review
• Name the three stages of literature search
• Review the writing up the literature review
• Describe Review frameworks

3. Lecture Overview

5. 1. The role of theories in your
dissertation

6. Kuada (2012) the role of theories in
your project.pdf
1. the role of theories in your
dissertation
• a review of the literature is important
because without it you will not acquire an
understanding of your topic, of what has
already been done on it, how it has been
researched, and what the key issues are.
• In your written project you will be expected
to show that you understand previous
research on your topic.
• This amounts to showing that you have
understood the main theories in the subject
area and how they have been applied and
developed, as well as the main criticisms
that have been made of work on the topic.

7. 1. 2. what is a theory?
• theory provides the language, the concepts, and
assumptions that help researchers to make sense of the
phenomenon that they seek to investigate. It enables
researchers to connect the issues they are
investigating to the existing body of knowledge in the
area
• The researcher must produce a concept or build a
theoretical structure that can explain facts and the
relationships between them . . . The importance of
theory is to help the investigator summarize previous
information and guide his future course of action.
Sometimes the formulation of a theory may indicate
missing ideas or links and the kinds of additional data
required. Thus, a theory is an essential tool of research
in stimulating the advancement of knowledge still
further.

8. 1.2. what is a theory?
•theories may be defined as series of
systematic inter-related statements or
generalisations that explain and/ or
anticipate developments in a specific
context or phenomenon.
• Strauss and Corbin (1998:15) define
theory as “a set of well-developed
concepts related through statements
of relationship which together
constitute an integrated framework
that can be used to explain or predict
phenomena”

9. 1.3. Classification of
theories
1. Metatheories
2. Grand theories
3. Midrange theories
4. Microtheories

10. 1.3.1.Metatheories
theory whose subject matter is some theory
• Metatheories describe the broad philosophical
assumptions concerning reality that are accepted in
social science as clearly demarcated boundaries of
thought in a particular field of study.
• Metatheories serve the following purposes:
1. clarifying the general assumptions underlying a
subject matter;
2. specifying the important problems faced in
undertaking investigations;
3. and specifying what are acceptable methods

11. 1.3.2. Grand theories
A grand theory is defined as an all-inclusive unified
theory that
1. seeks to explain social behaviour, social
organization, and social change in human experience.
2. It normally provides the key concepts and principles
of the social science discipline and is therefore
consistent with the dominant metatheories or
paradigms of the discipline.
3. Examples of Grand theories: Feminism, marxism, and
democracy

12. 1.3.3. Midrange theories
• Midrange theory represents theories that
connect grand theories with empirical evidence.
• It consists of limited sets of assumptions from
which specific hypotheses are logically derived
and confirmed by empirical investigation
• Thus, when you engage in literature review, you
are mostly discussing midrange theories.
• For example if you adopt a social constructivist
approach to your cultural research, you will
justify your arguments by using studies that
have adopted this approach

13. 1.3.4. Microtheories
Microtheories constitute the lowest level of
theories. They focus on:
• individuals or small groups located in specific
contexts. As such explanations found in
microtheories are of limited generalization on
their own.
• They can, however, constitute essential inputs
in the generation of new perspectives and
theory development.
• For example: scholars use case studies to
generate microtheories that are then further
developed through multiple case studies to
become important inputs in midrange theory
formulation

14. 1.4. Use of Theories
Each of the levels of theory listed above will play a different role in your
project.
• The metatheories define the philosophical foundations of your project
• The grand theories define the boundaries of your subject of
investigation. They combine with the metatheories to establish the
platform on which you will base your research.
• But much of the discussion in your theoretical chapters will draw on
midrange theories.
• Midrange theories can also be used to develop variables to analyse
and the connections between them: an analytical framework.
• They therefore help you identify what kind of information you require
for the analysis and what is the most appropriate means of acquiring
this information.
• Without such an analytical framework you will risk drowning in a sea
of information, since you will be unable to sort out the relevant from
the irrelevant
• An essential task in the project work process is for you to discuss
most of the leading theories that attempt to explain the problem of
interest, comparing the strengths of the arguments underlying them
and their empirical foundation

15. 2. Purpose of a literature
review
Bell (2010) The review of the literature.pdf

16. 2. Purpose of a literature review
1. outline the area you are
researching
2. Explain why it matters
3. Summarise the research that has
already been done in this area
particularly any key studies
4. Identify any gaps in this literature
to justify why your study is
important and what it adds to the
literature

17. 2. Purpose of a literature review
5. Present your research questions (qualitative
research) or hypotheses (quantitative research).
These should be set out at the end of the
literature review
6. Be sure to return to your literature review
afterwards to read drafted in order to ensure that
it gives a clear argument leading up to your
research rather than simply summarising past
research.
7. Include all key studies and theories
8. The review of the literature for a research
proposal does not need to be as extensive as that
for the final research write-up.

18. 3 Stages of Literature
review
Lit review questioning.pdf

19. •Review of the Literature
Vs
Literature Review:
•For your research proposal you will
present a broad survey/summary of the
current literature reviewed in forming
your proposal.
•This is NOT the same as a Literature
Review which is the critical evaluation
and analysis of the literature upon which
your dissertation rests theoretically.

20. the three stages of literature search
• first stage: using search engines and other
resources to queue make a large collection
of relevant materials
•Second stage: reading through the
abstracts, summaries et cetera, that you
have obtained using these to find further
materials
•Third stage: consider all the material and
determine which papers and chapters need
to be read in depth where the gaps in the
literature lie.

21. three key points in a project
• Literature reviews usually happen at three key
points in a project:
1. during the development of your research
question;
2. during the planning stages, as you work out the
rationale of the steps you need to take
3. to complete your project; and towards the end of
the project, either because:
• preliminary analysis points you towards literature
you had not previously considered, or
• to check for relevant studies published since your
previous literature searches.

22. Importance of theory
• The theory in your project is essential; serving the
following purpose:
1.They demonstrate your understanding of the
current body of knowledge in your chosen field of
study.
2.They provide you with a philosophical foundation
on which you can ground your study.
3.They constitute an important part of the overall
research design of the project.

23. 4. writing up the literature
review
Barker (2015) Chap 5 Doing a Literature Review.pdf

24. Literature review writing process

25. 4.1. Use of mind mapping

27. 4.2. The funnel of questions

28. 4.3. creates a clear argument with an
initial skeleton structure

29. 4.4. Levels of analysis
1. Analyse the literature actively
2. Evaluate its relevance to the project: include only
selected material directly relevant to the review
3. Create a conceptual framework for the project,
including an operational research problem: your
research question!

30. Once you have got a
big pile of relevant
studies it is difficult not
to merely describe one
study after another, but
this creates an overly
descriptive list with few
elements of evaluation,
critique or narrative
structure….it is boring
and non critical

31. 4.5.Students who use overly
descriptive styles of writing tend:
• not to explain why these studies might be of
interest
• not to clearly highlight the focus of the
studies;
• not to show how the studies they are
reviewing fit into a more general picture of
the emerging or existent literature
• not to critically evaluate the literature they
are reviewing
• not to offer a coherent narrative

32. 4.6.develop your own narrative
• It is a creative act to bring together the research relevant to
your study that shows your reader the patterns in what
you’ve found in an evaluative and coherent way that
highlights the issues, findings and debates in the field and
which leads to being able to ask a relevant and interesting
research question, or set of research questions
Reviews that have their own narrative:
• offer a coherent, logical story that is written in your own
words;
• include relevant studies and interpret them;
• set out a framework so that the reader can gain a good idea
of how one study is related to another;
• use these studies to develop a conceptual understanding of
the topic;
• draw out the significance of these studies for our
understanding of the topic

33. 4.7.Putting the Literature
Review Together
1. Using Hooks
2. Using Anecdotes
3. Define and discuss Main Concepts
4. Find and Use the Source Texts

34. 4.7.1.Using Hooks
• Strong hooks are attention-seeking headlines
which frame the review or any particular section
within it.
• These should not be newspaper-style
sensationalism, but grounded in the research area.
The use of statistics is often very effective
Timelines: why the research should be done
now, and why they should therefore keep reading the
review
Relevance of the research today

35. 4.7.2.Using Anecdotes
• Anecdote:
a short account of a particular incident or event, especially
of an interesting or amusing nature. What happened to
me type story……
• Anecdotal accounts can bring the text to life but can
become wearisome if overused

36. 4.7.3. Define and discuss Main
Concepts
• It is important to define your key terms
and concepts to inform the reader what
you mean by the terms being used.

37. 4.7.4.Find and Use the Source Texts
• Do not merely accept the received view of an
author’s work.
• Always locate and carefully read the key works
yourself,
• and find good reviews of those texts which tease
out the variety of interpretations and uses made of
them over the years.

38. 4.7.5.Introduce and Link Texts
• Assembling a review is in effect assembling an academic argument,
at the heart of which lies a challenge.
• In writing a literature review, you are:
1. critically engaging with what has gone before,
2. synthesising areas,
3. challenging existing orthodoxy,
4. seeking to extend debate,
5. and identifying issues which you wish to pursue further.
The component parts of the review must then hang
together in a sustained, academically rigorous manner
with a logical flow.

39. The dissertation as a whole is a
persuasive, argumentative, exploratory
narrative, and your literature review
needs to pick up and connect your
research question with the area of work
in which it fits, while exposing the gap
you seek to fill or the problem which
you wish to raise.
review check list.pdf

40. 5. Review frameworks
1. Chronological reviews
2. Thematic reviews
3. Cross-disciplinary review
4. Theoretical framework reviews
Forrester (2012) doing a lietrature
review.pdf

41. 5.1. Chronological reviews
• your aim is to provide an overview, history or
chronology of the literature that you have selected
for inclusion in your review.
• Here you have to be careful that your overview
doesn’t just simply fall into the trap of being a rather
boring descriptive list as discussed above.
• Instead, try to tell a story about the literature from
your notes collated from the articles that you
selected as being relevant to your project.
• At the end of your chronological review you need to
create a summary that leads into the formulation of
the research question you are going to ask

42. 2. Thematic reviews
• it is possible to identify patterns of research and to group the studies
according to these patterns or themes. These can be discussed under
different headings to give an overview of the relevant research for your
Project. at the end of a theme, summarise the key points and include a
linking sentence to the next paragraph
Advantages of doing a thematic review include:
• You have less concern with who did what and when and in what
particular order. This is especially useful if research developments in
your area of interest occurred in parallel rather than linearly, which
often happens in areas that employ qualitative methods
• This structure encourages analysis and interpretation of the
material, since identifying your themes requires you to think analytically
about the topic.
• Identifying and drawing out themes facilitates the production of a
coherent account of a body of literature and critical discussion of the
material from a particular theoretical or methodological perspective. This
is often a hallmark of an excellent project.

43. 3. Cross-disciplinary review
• a cross-disciplinary framework where studies within a
particular discipline can be described and discussed with
reference to the theoretical focus that a specific
discipline might orient towards.
• When going through the various studies relevant to your
project you could firstly locate where each work sits and
then, when summarising the work provide some
background to the distinct disciplinary orientation these
studies tend to have.
• This will also help you identify issues yet to be addressed
from the perspective that you are coming from
• Cross-disciplinary reviews are usually written with a bias
towards your own Discipline.

44. 4. Theoretical framework reviews
• theoretical framework acts as a lens so that the
studies are evaluated specifically in relation to
how they relate to the assumptions of a
particular approach or theory
• Taking up of a particular viewpoint, and then
providing a review that offers a critical account,
gaining a deeper understanding of an area.
• As you develop your skills you will also begin to
develop your own particular theoretical
allegiances and orientations, which may
influence how you want to write your review

45. Don't
•Feel like you have to find everything ever written
on topic
•Write your literature review with out structuring it
• Do not write when you not in the right space for
it
• Attempt to write perfectly in the first draft: go
back and polish
•Simply describe the literature: create an
argument
•Worry if you have anxieties about writing:
everyone does