1、Objectives and OutcomesLearn how to write a literature review,which includes:1.Differences Between a Literature Review and a Research Report.2.Preparation for Writing the Literature Review.3.Organization of the Literature Review.4.Guidelines for Composing the Literature.OverviewA literature review i
2、s a discussion of scholarly articles,books and other sources relevant to a particular issue or area of research,providing a description,summary,and critical evaluation of each work.Literature reviews offer an overview of significant literature already published on a topic.The depth and breadth of th
3、e literature review emphasizes the credibility of the writer in his or her field.They can also provide a solid background for the investigation presented in a research paper.I.Differences Between a Literature Review and a Research ReportLiterature ReviewResearch ReportTo discuss the arguments and id
4、eas of othersTo support the argument of the authorIt focuses on interpretation,and interprets how each line of research supports or fails to support a theory.It mainly focuses on methods and results to document how a particular hypothesis was tested.Its main emphasis is on organizing theories and re
5、sults from a number of studies to provide an overview of a field of research.The introduction of a research report usually includes a condensed literature review that provides the background and justification for the research.Preparation for Writing the Literature Review Before you actually begin to
6、 write a literature review,you should first make the following preparations:Selecting a topicNarrowing your topicCollecting information1.Selecting a TopicSelecting a topic is the first step of writing a literature review.Search other literature reviews in your area of interest and read them to get a
7、 sense of the themes you might want to look for in your own research.Go to the library or start an online literature search with a general topic in mind.Scan the articles available within that subject area to identify lines of research.Based on the line of research,choose a topic you are familiar wi
8、th and interested in.2.Narrowing Your TopicThere are hundreds or even thousands of articles and books on most areas of study.A broad topic such as heart diseases or economic crisis may have thousands of articles that are written about it,and you will not be able to adequately cover such a topic in a
9、 relatively short paper.Compare the two topics below and find the differences:Language production in childhood.(TOO BROAD)Production of passive constructions in English-speaking children at 57 years old.(CONCRETE)3.Collecting InformationLook at the abstract to get an overview of the study,so that yo
10、u can determine which part of the article is important to you.Identify the research question,specific hypotheses,the findings,the conclusion and recommendations for further study.After locating the main ideas in each article,identify the precise methods used and the theories tested.An in-depth under
11、standing is necessary for comparing the work of different researchers.Organization of the Literature ReviewJust like most academic papers,literature reviews generally contain five basic elements:TitleIntroduction or background informationBody of the review containing the discussion of sourcesConclus
12、ion and/or recommendationsReferences 1.TitleThe title of a literature review is usually developed from a thesis statement and the focus of your organization.Pick one of the following themes to focus the organization of your review:Do they present one or multiple solutions?Is there an aspect of the f
13、ield that is missing?How well do they present the material?Do they reveal a trend or an argument in the field?Your thesis statement will argue for a particular perspective on the material.Examples of thesis statements for literature reviews:The current trend in treating congestive heart failure is t
14、o combine surgery and medicine.当今治疗充血性心力衰竭趋势是采用手术与药物结合疗法。More and more cultural-studies scholars are accepting popular media as a subject worthy of academic consideration.越来越多的文化研究学者接受大众传媒为一个值得进行学术研究的题目。From the thesis statement,titles of the literature reviews can be developed as follows:Current Tr
15、end in Treatment for Congestive Heart Failure Popular Media as a Subject Worthy of Academic Consideration 2.IntroductionThe introduction gives a brief overview of the topic,the contents and scope of the literature review.It may include one or more of the following aspects:The general topic,issue,or
16、area of concern,providing an appropriate context for reviewing the literature.Overall trends in what has been published on the topic;or conflicts in theory,methodology,evidence,and conclusions;or gaps in research and scholarship;or a single problem or new perspective of immediate interest.The writer
17、s reason for reviewing the literature;explanation of the criteria to be used in analyzing and comparing literature and the organization of the review;or the reasons why certain literature is or is not included(the scope).The following presents an introduction of a literature review on the subject of
18、 Language&Gender.It was written by Alastair Pennycook(http:/ecdev.hku.hk/acadgrammar/litrev/examples/litex3.htm),as an example for his students.Example:Introduction of a Literature Review1With the general growth of feminist work in many academic fields,it is hardly surprising that the relationship b
19、etween language and gender has attracted considerable attention in recent years.2In an attempt to go beyond“folklinguistic”assumptions about how men and women use language(the assumption that women are“talkative”,for example),studies have focused on anything from different syntactical,phonological o
20、r lexical uses of language to aspects of conversation analysis,such as topic nomination and control,interruptions and other interactional features.3While some research has focused only on the description of differences,other work has sought to show how linguistic differences both reflect and reprodu
21、ce social difference.4Accordingly,Coates(1988)suggests that research on language and gender can be divided into studies that focus on dominance and those that focus on difference.The first sentence introduces the present situation and the topic“language and gender”.The second sentence states the gen
22、eral coverage of the study.The third sentence describes the development of the study.The fourth sentence points out two different focuses on the study,which will be the major discussion(the scope)of the review.3.BodyThe body is the major part of the literature review,as it contains your discussion o
23、f sources.It may include:research assumptions,research theories,research designs,independent and dependent variables,equipment used,results obtained,interpretation of results,researchers speculations about future studies.You may consider the three typical ways of organizing thesources into a review:
24、Chronological Approach(按时间顺序的按时间顺序的)arranges materials according to the time they were published.Another way to organize the sources chronologically is to examine the sources by trend,for example“the development of information technology”.Thematic Approach(按照主题组织按照主题组织)organizes materials around a t
25、opic or issue,rather than the progression of time,for example“the causes of arthritis”.However,progression of time may still be an important factor in a thematic review.Methodological Approach(按照方法组织按照方法组织)focuses on the“methods”of the researcher or writer,for example“the different methods to perfor
26、m cardiac surgery”.A methodological scope will influence either the types of documents used in the review or the way in which these documents are discussed.Much of the earlier work emphasized dominance.Lakoffs(1975)pioneering work suggested that womens speech typically displayed a range of features,
27、such as tag questions,which marked it as inferior and weak.Thus,she argued that the type of subordinate speech learned by a young girl“will later be an excuse others use to keep her in a demeaning position,to refuse to treat her seriously as a human being”(1975,p.5).While there are clearly some prob
28、lems with Lakoffs workher analysis was not based on empirical research,for example,and the automatic equation of subordinate with“weak”is problematicthe emphasis on dominance has understandably remained at the Centre of much of this work.Research has shown how men nominated topics more,interrupted m
29、ore often,held the floor for longer,and so on(see,for example,Zimmerman and West,1975).The chief focus of this approach,then,has been to show how patterns of interaction between men and women reflect the dominant position of men in society.Examples:Body of a Literature Review(by Alastair Pennycook)S
30、ome studies,however,have taken a different approach by looking not so much at power in mixed-sex interactions as at how same-sex groups produce certain types of interaction.In a typical study of this type,Maltz and Borker(1982)developed lists of what they described as mens and womens features of lan
31、guage.They argued that these norms of interaction were acquired in same-sex groups rather than mixed-sex groups and that the issue is therefore one of sub-cultural miscommunication rather than social inequality.Much of this research has focused on comparisons between,for example,the competitive conv
32、ersational style of men and the cooperative conversational style of women.While some of the more popular work of this type,such as Tannen(1987),lacks a critical dimension,the emphasis on difference has nevertheless been valuable in fostering research into gender subgroup interactions and in emphasiz
33、ing the need to see womens language use not only as“subordinate”but also as a significant sub-cultural domain.This example is mainly organized by thematic approach according to the topics of dominance and difference.However,the discussion also develops with the progression of time.In the first two p
34、aragraphs,the author describes the two major approaches in this field of study and points out their differences by comparison.In the third paragraph,the author expresses his opinion on the advantages and disadvantage of the second approach.4.Conclusions/RecommendationsIt may include one or more of t
35、he following aspects:Summarization of major contributions of significant studies and articles to the body of knowledge under review,maintaining the focus established in the introduction.Evaluation of the body of knowledge reviewed,pointing out major methodological flaws or gaps in research,inconsist
36、encies in theory and findings,and areas or issues pertinent to future study.Conclusion by providing some insight into the relationship between the central topic of the literature review and a larger area of study such as a discipline,a scientific endeavor,or a profession.4.Conclusions/Recommendation
37、s1Although Coates(1988)distinction is clearly a useful one,it also seems evident that these two approaches are by no means mutually exclusive.2While it is important on the one hand,therefore,not to operate with a simplistic version of power and to consider language and gender only in mixed-group dyn
38、amics,it is also important not to treat womens linguistic behavior as if it existed outside social relations of power.3As Cameron,McAlinden and OLeary(1988)ask,“Can it be coincidence that men are aggressive and hierarchically-organized conversationalists,whereas women are expected to provide convers
39、ational support?”(p.80)4Clearly,there is scope here for a great deal more research thatExample:Conclusion of a Literature Review(by Alastair Pennycook)is based on empirical data of mens and womens speech;operates with a complex understanding of power and gender relationships(so that womens silence,f
40、or example,can be seen both as a site of oppression and as a site of possible resistance);looks specifically at the contexts of language use,rather than assuming broad gendered differences;involves more work by men on language and gender,since attempts to understand male uses of language in terms of
41、 difference have been few(thus running the danger of constructing mens speech as the“norm”and womens speech as“different”);aims not only to describe and explain but also to change language and social relationships.In the conclusion,the first two sentences express the authors evaluation of the two ap
42、proaches under discussion.The third sentence cites evidence to support his evaluation.The last sentence points out the scope for further study.5.ReferencesSince an article of literature reviews is a discussion on the researches of others,there are usually more articles and books of reference in a re
43、view article than in a research report.For details of in-text citations and reference lists,refer to the section of Documenting Your Sources in Chapter 7:Ethics and Documentation.Guidelines for Composing the Literature Review Select right information:The type of information you choose to mention sho
44、uld be directly related to the focus of the review.Select only the most important points in each source to highlight in the review.Be accurate in paraphrasing:When paraphrasing a source that is not your own,be sure to represent the authors information or opinions accurately in your own words.Avoid d
45、irect quotations:Direct quotations are usually long and difficult to understand.The survey nature of the literature review does not allow for in-depth discussion or detailed quotations from the text.Support citations with evidence:Your interpretation of the citations must be backed up with evidence
46、to show that what you are saying is valid.Summarize and synthesize sources:You should recapitulate important features of the study under discussion and then synthesize them by rephrasing the studys significance and relating it to your own work.State your own idea:You should integrate references to other sources into your own text,but still maintain your own voice by starting and ending the paragraph with your own ideas and your own words.
