What is an evaluation of the literature?
A literature review is an account of what has been published on a topic by certified scholars and scientists. Periodically you will be asked to compose one as a different project (often in the type of an annotated bibliography– see the bottom of the next page), however more frequently it belongs to the introduction to an essay, research study report, or thesis. In writing the literature evaluation, your purpose is to convey to your reader what knowledge and concepts have been developed on a topic, and what their strengths and weaknesses are. As a piece of composing, the literature review must be specified by a guiding principle (e.g., your research goal, the problem or problem you are going over, or your argumentative thesis). It is not simply a descriptive list of the material available or a set of summaries, but some sites like summarystory.com show you how to write them correctly.
Besides enlarging your knowledge about the subject, writing a literature evaluation lets you acquire and show abilities in 2 areas
- information seeking: the ability to scan the literature effectively, using manual or electronic techniques, to identify a set of helpful posts and books
- important appraisal: the ability to use principles of analysis to recognize impartial and valid studies.
A literature evaluation should do these things
- be arranged around and related directly to the thesis or research study question you are establishing
- synthesize results into a summary of what is and is not understood
- determine locations of controversy in the literature
- develop concerns that need more research
Ask yourself concerns like these:
- What is the particular thesis, problem, or research study question that my literature evaluation helps to specify
- What kind of literature review am I conducting? Am I taking a look at issues of theory? approach? policy? quantitative research study (e.g. on the effectiveness of a brand-new procedure)? qualitative research (e.g., studies of solitude amongst migrant workers)?
- What is the scope of my literature review? What kinds of publications am I using (e.g., journals, books, government files, popular media)? What discipline am I working in (e.g., nursing psychology, sociology, medicine)?
- How great was my info seeking? Has my search been large enough to guarantee I’ve found all the relevant material? Has it been narrow enough to exclude unimportant material? Is the number of sources I’ve utilized appropriate for the length of my paper?
- Have I critically evaluated the literature I use? Do I follow through a set of concepts and questions, comparing products to each other in the methods they deal with them? Rather of just noting and summarizing products, do I examine them, going over strengths and weaknesses?
- Have I pointed out and went over studies contrary to my viewpoint?
- Will the reader find my literature evaluation pertinent, suitable, and beneficial?
Ask yourself concerns like these about each book or short article you include:
- Has the author created a problem/issue?
- Is it plainly specified? Is its significance (scope, intensity, relevance) plainly established?
- Could the issue have been approached more effectively from another perspective?
- What is the author’s research study orientation (e.g., interpretive, critical science, combination)?
- What is the author’s theoretical framework (e.g., mental, developmental, feminist)?
- What is the relationship in between the theoretical and research study perspectives?
- Has the author assessed the literature appropriate to the problem/issue? Does the author include literature taking positions she or he does not agree with?
- In a research study, how great are the basic parts of the research study style (e.g., population, intervention, result)? How precise and legitimate are the measurements? Is the analysis of the information precise and appropriate to the research study concern? Are the conclusions validly based upon the data and analysis?
- In material composed for a popular readership, does the author use attract emotion, one-sided examples, or rhetorically-charged language and tone? Exists an unbiased basis to the reasoning, or is the author merely “proving” what he or she already believes?
- How does the author structure the argument? Can you “deconstruct” the circulation of the argument to see whether or where it breaks down logically (e.g., in establishing cause-effect relationships)?
- In what ways does this book or short article contribute to our understanding of the problem under study, and in what ways is it useful for practice? What are the strengths and restrictions?
- How does this book or article relate to the specific thesis or question I am developing?
Final Notes:
A literature review is a piece of discursive prose, not a list explaining or summarizing one piece of literature after another. It’s normally a bad indication to see every paragraph starting with the name of a scientist. Instead, arrange the literature evaluation into areas that provide themes or determine trends, including appropriate theory. You are not trying to note all the product released but to manufacture and assess it according to the assisting concept of your thesis or research study concern
If you are composing an annotated bibliography, you might need to sum up each item briefly, but ought to still follow through themes and concepts and do some vital evaluation of product. Utilize a general intro and conclusion to state the scope of your protection and to formulate the question, problem, or principle your chosen product lights up. Typically you will have the alternative of grouping items into areas– this helps you indicate contrasts and relationships. You might have the ability to write a paragraph or so to present the focus of each section