literature reviewing
Give yourself the tools to succeed!
Give yourself time to think.
A good literature review cannot be done in
6 weeks or 6 easy steps.
​Chris Hart
There is no magic formulae
I wish I could tell you just what a literature review is, what one would look like for your thesis and show you an easy way to searching, gathering, organizing, reading and understanding ‘the literature’. All literature reviews are unique. No one researcher will search the literature, chose texts, read and understand them in the same way. Scholarly life is largely about participating in discussions (sometimes arguments) about the meaning, intent and usefulness of what another or group of scholars have written on a topic (their interpretation) or gone about doing the research they have (their methodological assumptions and methods)
Tips on searching for the good stuff. Also known as Information Retrieval.
Librarians (and archivists) are marvellous. They have spent centuries collecting and organising knowledge so that we can do research. Knowing how knowledge is organised, what tools can be used to do a search and how to construct our own collections is very important. The most important person for you is your librarian. They will show you books and tutorials on constructing a search and point you towards collections and people you may never have known about.
What type of review are you doing? Understanding preceeds intervention.
There is a myth that systematic reviews are better than other types of review, often called the traditional review. The systematic review is assumed to be more reliable, evidence based and practical. The traditional review is seen as more open, theoretical and conceptual. In place of systematic and traditional we use the labels interventionist and scholastic. We assumed also that understanding the topic, condition or assumptions precede recommending any kind of intervention.
Researcher Development Framework. Think career.
Research is an important global industry. Humans are amazing in their continual efforts to find things out, understand what is going on and to discuss meanings and interpretations. We are privileged to be allowed to do research. However, think about your career. Have a plan (even of sorts) on what you want from your research experience and what you will do in the near future. The Vitae Researcher Development Framework (RDF) is an excellent aid to planning skills acquisition and plotting your career in research.
Key texts and how to isolate them. Or two metaphors.
A search of Google does not constitute a search for relevant literature. First, think about the structure of knowledge on your topic and on the ways in which it has been defined and researched. Secondly, using bibliographic tools and reading map out the structure of your topic, identifying its origins, development and importantly, methodological assumptions. Then, thirdly, critically evaluate the arguments of the key authors.
In The News
Doing a Literature Review. Releasing the research imagination.
2nd edition now available.
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London: Sage Publications
Not all that glitters is gold.
The Sokal Affiar, a funny business if it were not so serious. Read all about it here.
Testimonials
A brilliant book written in such a wonderful, transparent and understandable style. A real gem that is best in its class.
— Tigran Haas (Stockholm, Sweden)
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I have been waiting for this book for five years. It sets out a number of important dimensions involved in the process of literature review and by clear signposting, diagrams, and examples will help the student to carry out her or his review more systematically.
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— Kevin Maguire, Nottingham Trent University
This book is fantastic and most captivating. It answers all questions on how to produce a comprehensive and high standard literature review across disciplinary and interdisciplinary research fields. An inspiration and true joy to read, this book is far one of the most rewarding experiences for those who wish to engender an exceptional literature review.
— Farah Asif (postgraduate student)
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"The literature review is no longer a brief preliminary to the real business of doing social research. There is no topic which has not been studied previously in some form and by some means. Research synthesis and secondary analysis have moved to the core of social inquiry. Hart’s text provides clear and authoritative guidance on how to anchor a study."
- Raymond Pawson University of Leeds
"Chris Hart has yet again written a brilliant ‘hands-on’ book offering a unique approach to combining theory, concepts and practical applications that push the reader’s critical and creative thought boundaries to reach new scholarly heights. No matter your discipline, this is a must-have book."
- Adela McMurray - RMIT University
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