Writing a literature review Presented by Nattawoot - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Writing a literature review

Presented by Nattawoot Koowattanatianchai

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References

• Cotterall, S. (2001). Writing a literature review. Postgraduate

seminar 2001. Student Learning Support Services and PGSA: Victoria University.

• Hamilton, A. (1990). Writing dissertations. London: RIBA

Publications Ltd.

• Madsen, D. (1992). Successful dissertations and theses. San

Francisco: Jossey-Bass

• Rountree, K. and Laing, P. (1996). Writing by degrees: A guide to

writing theses and research papers. NZ: Addison Wesley Longman

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Backdrop article

Title Incentivising investment through accelerated depreciation: wartime use, economic stimulus and encouraging green technologies. (A forthcoming article in Accounting History) Authors Nattawoot Koowattanatianchai Kasetsart Business School, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Thailand Email: fbusnwk@ku.ac.th Tel: +66-87-539-3525; Fax: +66-2-579-0946 Michael B. Charles* and Ian Eddie School ofBusiness & Tourism, Southern Cross University, Bilinga, Australia Email: michael.charles@scu.edu.au and ian.eddie@scu.edu.au *Corresponding author

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Finding articles in the literature

• Start with google and google scholar.
• Important resources are:
• Our library database at
• http://lib.ku.ac.th/web/index.php/th#databases
• ISI Web of Science database at
• http://www.webofknowledge.com
• Scopus database at
• https://www.scopus.com/home.uri
• Business Source Complete database at
• http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?authtype=ip,uid&gr
• up=main&profile=ehost&defaultdb=bth

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Finding articles in the literature

• Widening or narrowing your search based on what you are getting.
• Try thinking of different key words if you are not getting any

results.

• After finding a really relevant article, you can look forward and

back from that article.

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Looking back and forward

Looking back

• Read the literature review section of the article. See what/who is

referenced and look at some of their articles.

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Looking forward

• There are citation indexes that record those who have cited an article.

You should read their work to expand your article collection. Use these databases to find citations:

• Google scholar
• ISI
• Scopus

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Making sense of it all

• Once the literature search is complete, locate 6-8 recent and relevant
• articles. Read them very carefully and try making sense of them.
• I suggest
• Pay particular attention to the introduction and conclusion

sections.

• The literature review in all academic articles will already have

sorted different groups of articles for you. Extract your ideas and structure your story using mind maps or other techniques.

• Discuss what you have found with your peers.
• This is an iterative process.
• Moe than likely, you need to go back and forward between

searching, researching, and ordering

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Writing it up

• Your literature review needs to make readers clearly understand your
• ideas. Your literature review should be a “car service manual” rather

than a “mystery novel”. To achieve this, you should:

• Structure your essay well;
• Use plain language and avoid too many scientific terms;
• Make sure that your colleagues understand your essay. Don’t need

to think too much about general readers, although they should be able to get the general theme of your essay; and

• Reference correctly.

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Benefits of the literature review to the researcher

• It identifies the tentative research problem in the context of relevant

fields.

• It gathers information on the topic of interest.
• It identifies gaps in the knowledge.
• It refines the research.
• It suggests appropriate methods and designs for the research.
• It suggests ways of avoiding difficulties and deficiencies in conducting

the research.

• It helps interpreting the results later.

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A successful literature review should:

• Present a concise summary of relevant research;
• Outline how your research will contribute to existing knowledge;
• Make a commentary on the relevant literature;
• Explain your plan on expanding existing knowledge;
• Discuss the similarities and differences between your work and the

work of others; and

• Locate your research problem within a theoretical framework and

review the underlying theory.

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Managing the reading

• Begin with the most recent, qualified and relevant literature to your

topic;

• Read with purpose - only read those that could contribute to your

thesis;

• Order the priority of the articles to read;
• Note taking important ideas; and
• Don’t be lazy - maintain the discipline of reading and taking notes rather

than photocopying to read later.

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Managing huge information

• Structure your article files and references;
• Keep careful records of source ideas, papers, quotes, etc.; and
• Use bibliographical software, e.g. Endnote, to help keeping records.

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Managing the writing

• Read literature reviews related to your research topic - ask your

supervisors to recommend good ones;

• Outline your ideas - themes, questions, propositions, logical steps in an

argument;

• Draw a diagram or mind map the relationship between ideas;
• Write summaries of individual sections before you start might help;
• Be disciplined and write regularly;
• Discuss, share, and clarify your ideas with your colleagues before,

during, and after writing the ideas down; and

• Get regular feedback on what you write - from a naïve reader, from a

peer in the same subject, and from your supervisor.

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Writing it up

• Start from tertiary sources (textbooks), to secondary sources (reviews of

research), and finally to primary research (journal articles documenting

• riginal research) - i.e., work from general to specific;
• Organise the literature around findings, ideas, or themes rather than

studies or authors;

• Present a logical argument in the literature review and then lead the

readers to your research question or problem;

• Describe, summarise, clarify, evaluate & critique, and synthesise &

integrate – focus on evaluating/critiquing and synthesizing/integrating; and

• Always present evidence to support your points.

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Questions

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Contact me

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Em Email: :

fbusn snwk@k wk@ku.a u.ac.t c.th

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