Ryan, Anne B. (2006) Doing a Review of Literature. In: Researching and Writing your Thesis: a guide for postgraduate students. MACE: Maynooth Adult and Community Education, pp. 58-67.

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Abstract

A Literature review is an in-depth examination of the significant material in books, journals and other sources relating to your topic. The aim is to explore what is already known on the topic and to introduce the main thinkers/writers in the area. A review helps you and your readers to acquire an understanding of your topic. It sets the scene for your research, placing your research question in context. The review is therefore a part of your academic development - of becoming expert on your topic. It is usually presented at the beginning of a thesis, after the introduction, and generally takes up about a third to a half of the word allocation of the thesis. In short theses this will probably be just one chapter, but in longer theses, the literature review runs to two, even three chapters. The best way to see how it is done is to look at other theses, which can be consulted in the university library.

Item Type:	Book Section
Keywords:	Thesis; Writing; Researching; Research; Postpositivism; Positivism; Methodology; Method; Reflexivity; Implications of postpositivism for researcher; Learning Stance; Discourse; Productivity discourse; Literature review function; Literature review process; Checklist of guiding questions for a literature review; Plagiarism; Evaluating literature; Using concepts; Methodology: collecting data; Methodology: analysing data; Theoretical sampling; Sampling strategies; Models of data collection; Writing up findings; Guiding questions for writing; Discussion-oriented writing; Advanced analysis; The nature of evidence; The purpose of analysis; Shared understanding model of data collection; Information-extraction model of data collection; Getting to why and how; Collecting good quality data;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Adult and Community Education
Item ID:	873
Depositing User:	Anne B. Ryan
Date Deposited:	04 Mar 2008
Journal or Publication Title:	Researching and Writing your Thesis: a guide for pograduate students
Publisher:	MACE: Maynooth Adult and Community Education
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	Publisher
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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