Week 2: Writing a Review

Question 1

What are the purposes of a lit review?

Answer 1

• throughly describe research published on an area
• critically evaluate it
• look at other hypotheses and viewpoints
• to highlight areas worthy of future investigation

Question 2

What are the purposes of an honours lit review?

Answer 2

• to inform the reader of background of which your projects based
• help them understand there’s a Q that needs to be answered
• educate student about their topic

Question 3

Relationship between lit review and thesis

Answer 3

• lit review is standalone
• is not thesis intro
• should engage the reader so they look forward
• reader should be able to make an educated guess about what’s to come

Question 4

A literature review is not

Answer 4

• a series of who did what
• narrative/book review
• everything written on a topic

Question 5

What sources should be used in an honours lit review?

Answer 5

• published, peer reviewed
• empirical papers
• meta analyses

Question 6

First step of scanning an article

Answer 6

• research q
• hypotheses
• key findings
• finding interpretation
• main conclusions

Question 7

Second step of scanning an article

Answer 7

• identify methods and theories
• holes in the method
• results valid?
• limitations?

Question 8

Describe the structure of a lit review

Answer 8

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Question 9

Scope

Answer 9

Tell the reader what you will and wont be reviewing

Question 10

Scaffold

Answer 10

Build ideas incrementally

Question 11

Signposts

Answer 11

Tell the reader what is coming up

Question 12

Summarise

Answer 12

Provide interim summaries at the end of sections

Question 13

What should one do in the body of the review?

Answer 13

• tell the story
• build rationale
• group lit by theme
• summarise and evaluate
• show gaps, compare and contrast
• methodological issues, limitations

Question 14

Conclusion

Answer 14

• summarise main take home points

- should provide justification for your study by highlighting the area it will investigate

Question 15

List common weaknesses in papers

Answer 15

• self report
• observational designs
• uni students as participants
• correlational only
• small sample size
• over emphasis on one significant finding

Question 16

Why is self report a weakness?

Answer 16

Limits conclusion objectivity

Question 17

Why are observational designs a weakness?

Answer 17

Limits causal inference

Question 18

Why is using uni students as participants a weakness?

Answer 18

Limits generalisability

Question 19

List some strengths in papers

Answer 19

• synthesis, drawing connections and making new ideas
• critical literature appraisal
• objective and unemotive
• illustrative