Doing Your Literature Review
Traditional and Systematic Techniques
- Jill Jesson - Aston University, UK
- Lydia Matheson - Aston University, UK
- Fiona M Lacey - Aston University, UK
Contents include:
- using libraries and the internet
- note making
- presentation
- critical analysis
- referencing, plagiarism and copyright.
This book will be relevant to students from any discipline. It includes contributions from two lecturers who have many years experience of teaching research methods and the supervision of postgraduate research dissertations and a librarian, each offering expert advice on either the creation and assessment of literature reviews or the process of searching for information. The book also highlights the increasing importance for many disciplines of the systematic review methodology and discusses some of the specific challenges which it brings.
Jill K. Jesson has worked with multi-disciplinary research teams within the Aston School of Pharmacy, Aston Business School and with M-E-L Research, an independent public services research consultancy. She has now left Aston University and is working as a Consultant.
Lydia Matheson is an Information Specialist working for Library & Information Services at Aston University.
Fiona M. Lacey is an academic pharmacist, a member of the pharmacy practice teaching group in the School of Pharmacy, and Associate Dean in the School of Life and Health Sciences at Aston.
Doing your literature review using traditional and systematic techniques is a succinctly written practical guide which introduces the reader to applied techniques for undertaking different types of literature reviews within the social humanities. The reader is introduced to three different types of approaches to undertaking literature reviews and their differences are discussed and explained both theoretically and practically using examples from past research projects. Sections are provided which cover managing projects that involve undertaking extensive literature reviews in relation to adhering to timelines through the use of Gantt charts. Useful information is provided about how to develop online search criteria using key words to return refined sets of results. Making use of online databases and academic library databases in terms of using Boolean values to return more focused results are discussed with examples of screen shots provided to illustrate the processes involved. The types of reading skills required to skim different types of research papers; making detailed notes and producing a critique or evaluation are all explained, as well as, making value judgements and presenting written arguments for literature reviews. This book is compact and is full with useful information such as: definitions, summary tables, frameworks and diagrams of models which help explain the concepts used when undertaking a traditional, systematic or meta-analysis of academic literature available within electronic databases. This text is recommended for postgraduate and PhD students with an understanding of research methodology and methods seeking to conduct extensive literature reviews of academic literature of the social humanities.
This is a truly great book - very hands on and easy to understand for students at all levels! I have already recommended it to my bachelor students who do literature research and they liked it a lot!
This text is very informative, practical with lots of useful additional information (diagrams, tips, key points, examples and expert reviews).
Well structued and easy to read and digest the key points.
a very helpful book for students unfamiliar with writing a literature review.
This book uses a step by step approach to guide the reader through the process of searching for literature and writing up the review. Additional guidance how to prioritise the literature would have been good, but generally useful.
Recommended as a resource in the dissertation module this book contains a wealth of information that supports the student to maximise opportunities for success.
Presented in an unambiguous writing style the content successfully guides the student on their journey through the systematic literature review.
this book is ideal for students concentrating on literature based research
I will certainly be referring students to this text book - very useful.
one of three recommended texts
Good structure and will help students plan their reviews for dissertation
