1Project Lecture 2

Study Projects PJS30

Project Coordinator: Rod Jeffcote

Lecture 2 : Literature Reviews+

How to get a First!

2Project Lecture 2

What is a Literature Review?

• A Literature Review is the finding, selection and critique of what has been written about the subject matter of your Project.Finding: Literature SearchSelection:Choosing what is the most relevant,

authoritative workCritique: The comparison, contrasting, evaluation,

synthesis and criticism

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What is a Literature Review?

• For a Study project this might be to:– Look at the history / background of the topic– Find the most authoritative & current literature on

the topic and evaluate / critique it– Locate your research question in the context of the

literature– look at research methods that could be used (if doing

primary research)

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What is a Literature Review?

NB. A study project that does not have any primary research can become, in effect, an extended Literature Review

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What is a Literature Review?

Literature Search & Review

What are the key sources?

What are the major issues & debates

What are the key concepts, theories and ideas?

What research methods are used and why?

How is knowledge on this topic structured & organized

What are the main questions in this field?

History and origins of the topic

My evaluation, insight and contribution to the topic Source: (Hart, 1998)

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What is a Literature Review?

Analysis v Description

• You will need to describe many elements in your review but the focus should be on analysis.

• Analysis is the who, where, what and why of a subject together with the unpicking of it.

• In amongst this (or at the end) should be your own critique.

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What is a Literature Review?

Critique• Focussing on the work not the author(s).• Comparing, contrasting and evaluating ideas,

theories and positions and defending them, or pointing out weaknesses.

• Being aware of your own position, stance, view, methodological standpoint.

• Finding fault in fact, argument, evidence, technique or interpretation.

• Selecting, synthesizing, and re-formulating to form a new idea or view.

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What is a Literature Review?

• All projects should contain a Literature Review in some shape or form but they will differ according to the Project type and subject matter.

• Your Supervisor should be able to guide you in the appropriate direction.

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How to get a First !

First class projects generally have (amongst others) the following characteristics:

• Boldness• Novelty• Passion• Self-confidence

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Writing

Your prose style should be:

• Crisp• Clear• Well-structured• Grammatically correct• Jargon-free

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Titles

• Titles should be clear and appropriate. Don’t worry too much about finding a ‘snappy’ or witty title.

• Clear, to the point and professional is what you want.

• A good device is to split the title with a colon :

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Titles

Are you lonesome tonight ? : A comparative study of computer dating techniques

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Presentation

• Though presentation is not marked as such (unless it is so poor as to be unintelligible) it sets the tone.

• First class projects are invariably well presented in terms of layout, print quality, use of graphics, etc.

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The Abstract

• Not crucial for marks but it the first thing readers see and it sets the tone.

• Abstracts should be 50 - 150 words.

• Should be a précis of the whole project (i.e. Research question, methods, contents and conclusions)

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The Abstract

• Look at Abstracts of published articles and in past projects.

• Ask your supervisor’s advice

• You can leave it until the very end of the project

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The Introduction

• Should set the project in context by laying out the research question with any relevant background information.

• If you wish to include some personal thoughts and comments here you may do but don’t let them detract from a professional ‘feel’ to the work. Otherwise write in the 3rd person.

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Writing in the 3rd Person

1st Person: “I constructed a questionnaire to discover the pattern of distribution.”

3rd Person “a questionnaire to discover the pattern of distribution was constructed.”

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Main Chapters

• Should be well structured and flow logically.

• Should be strong on analysis (how, why, with what effect, etc.) and not dominated by descriptive material (over-reliance on facts and figures).

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Literature Reviews

• All projects should have a literature review of some sort.

• These should involve some kind of critical review of the literature in the field.

• It should be as thorough and up-to-date as possible.

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Literature Reviews

• Glaring omissions of key theories or texts will lose you marks.

• Reviews should not be simple ‘re-presentations’ but offer some original interpretation, insight, criticism and point out any gaps that perhaps you intend to fill.

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Literature Reviews

• First-class projects exhibit the facility to ‘handle’ and ‘play’ with concepts, data, ideas and arguments.

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Primary research

• Methods appropriate for the data required and the research question.

• Poor projects gather data that is either not meaningful or is not used effectively.

• Any statistics should be explained clearly and use figures / graphs.

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Primary research

• Display results clearly using graphics where possible.

• Explain why you used this particular methodology / approach.

• Put large amounts of data / calculations / results, etc in appendices.

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Primary research

• Evaluate your research to identify strengths and weaknesses. Say clearly how you would change it if you were to do it again and why.

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Case Studies

• Information and background gleaned from the case will be clear, pertinent and accurate.

• Avoid superfluous information

• Cases illustrate and illuminate but they have no statistical significance, so be careful with any general conclusions.

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Conclusions

• Difficult to get right.

• They should be appropriate to what you have found out, or built, i.e. not too grandiose nor should they underplay what you have done.

• Give some pointers to what might be useful in the way of further research, development or direction.

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References and Bibliography

• First class projects are normally characterized by accurate and appropriate citation of references in the text, and a bibliography that conforms fully to an accepted format.

• Harvard APA style is the format adopted by the Faculty of Technology.

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References and Bibliography

Free leaflets on theHarvard APA style areAvailable from the Library.

See also the LibraryWebsite.

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Length

• Actually not that critical.

• Many first class projects are very short, and often at the bottom end of the word range. Very few are over length.

• Quality not quantity is the key !