RESEARCHER DEVELOPMENT

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Efficient Reading and Developing Your Literature Review – 6 July 2016This meeting has been placed on hold. The host will start the meeting at 2 pm. Please ensure that your speakers or headphones are switched on and the sound turned up so that you can hear the presenter when the webinar begins.

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EFFICIENT R

EADING AND

DEVELOPIN

G YOUR

LITERATU

RE REVIEW

K E L L Y P R E E C E

R E S E A R C H E R D E V E L O P M E N T P R O G R A M M E M A N A G E R ( P G R S )

WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM THIS COURSE…?

TODAY WE WILL COVER

Introducing the Literature ReviewSearching the LiteratureEfficient ReadingNote-takingOrganising your ideasStructuring and Writing the Literature Review

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Understand the role of the literature review in your thesis;

Search and judge relevance of source material efficiently;

Reduce your reading load by intelligent selection;

Read and take notes with a defined purpose;

Develop a strategy for processing and organising your literature;

Feel confident when outlining and writing up the review.

PADLET

http://padlet.com/UofE_RD/efficientreadingWEBINAR6_7_2016

PART 1: INTRODUCING THE LITERATURE REVIEW

WHAT IS A LITERATURE REVIEW?‘The ‘literature review’ is the part of the thesis

where there is extensive reference to related research and theory in your field; it is where connections are made between the source texts that you draw on and where you position yourself and your research among these sources…

…You can use the literature to support your identification of a problem to research and to illustrate that there is a gap in previous research which needs to be filled.’

(Ridley, 2012: 3)

LEARNING TO SITUATE YOUR RESEARCH IN THE FIELD

The initial research question

The refined research question

The initial scope of research

The revised scope of the review

PART 2: SEARCHING THE LITERATURE

FINDING LITERATUREBreakdown your topic and/or research

questions to identify ‘key words’ Pay attention to the keywords used in articlesUse Boolean logic and logical operators –

AND/OR/*Narrow your search – exact phrase or

ADJ/NEARConsider the limits of your search

THE SNOWBALL TECHNIQUE

FOR MORE SUPPORT

RECORDING YOUR SEARCHES

The proposed topic of my researchKey word searches have been completed in the

following places:

Name of catalogue, database, search engine or social bookmarking site

Key word searches conducted or tags used

Results of search (e.g. articles and books located)

Date of search

KEEPING UP TO DATE – ALERTING SERVICES

• New book alerts• Journal table of content alerts• Database search and auto alerts• Conference alerts• Web content alertsFor more information:

http://vle.exeter.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/515918/mod_resource/content/1/keepinguptodate.pdf

TARGETING SOURCE MATERIALSSocial mediaWord-of-mouthIndicesCritical reviewsEdited volumes

Journal articles Monographs FootnotesTheses

PART 3: EFFICIENT READING

AN ACTIVE READER…

Is selectiveIs critical Interacts with the textChanges reading orderRe-reads with a purposeAnticipates

DISCUSSION – READING HABITS

How many hours do you spend reading a week? (Research reading only)

Do you feel you read enough? Where do you read?When do you read?How long is your ‘attention span’?

PREPARING TO READ

Prepare your workspaceScope the reading projectCollect materialsNo interruptions!

PREVIEWING AND SELECTING

Currency?Credibility?Relevance?What is new to me?What do I already know?In which order should I read the sections/chapters?

What needs my in-depth attention?

SCAN READING

1 Read the title2 Read the abstract3 Read the introduction, the headings, the first

and last sentence of every paragraph and the conclusion and then

4 Tell your neighbour what you thought the article was about

(Thomson, 2012)

ACCELERATION BY DEFAULT

Reading more quickly is the result of Eliminating distractions where possible (or responding to them positively)

Finding focus: time, place, environment Selecting more efficiently (preview, skimming)

Making space for proper reading sessions

STEPS

HOW DO I KNOW I’M GETTING SOMEWHERE?

‘[If you're] starting find themes and patterns in the literature ... that means you are making progress.’

(Marshall and Green, 2010: 54)

‘Build an argument, not a library’.

(Rudestam and Newton, 1992: 49)

PART 4: NOTE-TAKING STRATEGIES

SUMMARISINGMake a record of the mains points of a text –

notetaking, highlighting, annotatingDraft a summary acknowledging the source and

writing down the main points the text is making. Consider: purpose, main evidence/supporting points, and connections between evidence and argument

Redraft to present the main points in the most logical order

(Adapted from Ridley, 2012 and Thomson, 2015)

DEVELOP A CRITICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

Forms an index of referencesHelps you keep track of what you’ve readHighlights key points – for re-readingGets you to critique not just describeWriting practiceContent you could potentially use in your

literature review/thesis

CORNELL METHOD

NOTE-TAKING MATRIX

Text Argument Field Thesis Topic

Definitions Concepts Type of text

Categorisations offered

Connections

NOTE-TAKING MATRIX

Author/s (year)

Aims or research questions

Location of study

Sample size and identity

Data collection and methods

Key findings

NOTE-TAKING MATRIX

Themes in research

Preece (2015)

Wood (2012)

Torr (2009)

Smart (2013)

White (2015)

Foster (2014)

NOTE-TAKING TECHNOLOGIESEvernote - https://evernote.com/

Freemind - http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

Goodreader - http://www.goodreader.com/

Google Keep - https://www.google.com/keep/

Microsoft One Note - https://www.onenote.com/

Mindnode - https://mindnode.com/

Noteability - http://www.gingerlabs.com/

Scan Pen - http://scanmarker.com/

Scrivener - http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.php

BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCING TOOLSEndnote - http://endnote.com/Mendeley – https://www.mendeley.com/ReadCube - https://www.readcube.com/Zotero - https://www.zotero.org/

For more information: http://as.exeter.ac.uk/library/subjectguides/general/referencing/referencingsoftware/

DATA MANAGEMENT

PART 5: ORGANISING YOUR IDEAS

A KNOWLEDGE MAP/MIND MAP

WHAT GETS SORTED?

Meaningful thingsThings often encounteredUnique things

A Radiant Hierarchy of Ideas

MIND MAP TO STRUCTURE

WRITING A LITERATURE REVIEW: SIX STEPS TO GET YOU FROM START TO FINISHStep One: Decide on your areas of

researchStep Two: Search for the literatureStep Three: Find relevant excerpts in

your books and articles

Step Four: Code the literatureStep Five: Create Your Conceptual

SchemaStep Six: Begin to Write Your Literature

Review

PART 6: STRUCTURING AND WRITING THE LITERATURE REVIEW

STRUCTURING YOUR LITERATURE REVIEW

• Chronologically• By theme• By sector • By development of ideas• By some combination of the above, or by

another structure you create(University of Leicester, 2016)

ANALYSING EXISTING THESES

SOME GUIDANCE FOR WRITING THE LITERATURE REVIEW

TO WRITE CRITICALLY YOU SHOULD:Present logical arguments which lead into

your conclusionsProvide sound evidence to support your

argumentEvaluate, select, organise and categorise

(Ridley, 2012: 142)

STRATEGIES FOR WRITING CRITICALLYComparing and contrasting Strategic and selective referencing Synthesising and reformulating arguments Agreeing with, confirming and defending Highlighting strengths and weaknessesRejecting a point of view with a rationale

(Ridley, 2012: 143)

FOREGROUND YOUR OWN VOICE

The organisation of the textMaking your own assertions, supported by

relevant referencesMaking explicit connections between theories

and conceptsSummarising and evaluating source material

Providing summaries at the end of sections/chapters

The use of personal pronounsExpressing a point of

view/agreement/disagreement(Ridley, 2012: 159-174)

QUESTIONS?

THANK YOU!

researcherdevelopment@exeter.ac.uk

www.exeter.ac.uk/as/rdp

@UofE_RD