going.

“When you are about to begin, writing a thesis seems a long, difficult

task. That is because it is a long, difficult task”.

A good way to warm up for writing is to do a literature review, which is a critical account of the existing work
in your area. The purpose of the review is to gain an understanding of the agreements, disagreements and
gaps in the research and to locate your own work in relation to this scholarship. However, while it is crucial
to be aware of what has been done in your field of study, you can read too much and begin to feel that your
own ideas are getting lost underneath those you are reading. Reviewing the literature is an ongoing
process; do not approach your thesis by thinking you are going to read every word already written on your
topic or you will never get started! Above all, remember that for most people writing is not easy. Even
seasoned academics can still find it a difficult and often painful process. We all write differently - some
people need to clarify their ideas before they write; others find writing facilitates their ideas. Whatever
category you fall into, the key is practice. Just write!

Write a rough thesis plan to begin with; this will help provide the direction.
Write down some of the key texts you have to read and discuss the list with your supervisor.

WHAT IS A LITERATURE REVIEW?

Literature reviews are an integral part of a thesis or dissertation and there are many books that have been
written to help students with this aspect of the research process. Certainly, this brief guide is not designed to
replace those books but aims to give you a quick overview of literature reviews, tips for organizing literature
reviews, and suggestions for organizing the other sections of your thesis.

It has been suggested in one source that the literature review “be written as if it were to be published as a
separate manuscript. The thesis should not be regarded as a set of distinct sections; the thesis is a corpus,
a whole, with each section representing different parts of the same body. Your thesis is a complete piece of
work with each section making links to other sections; keeping this point in mind this will strengthen your
thesis and its impact on the reader.

A literature review serves four main functions:

1. primarily focuses on what has been done before and is designed to highlight how your study will
fill the current knowledge ‘gap’
2. outlines the instruments you will use and why
3. points out why it is necessary to conduct your research
4. sets the boundaries for your study (called delimitations).

CRITICAL EVALUATION:
Your literature review should include a critical examination of the material that you have read. There are
many factors that you need to keep in mind when reading a piece of work. Factors such as the sample size,
research design, measures used, biases, extraneous or confounding variables will need to be considered.
Design a checklist that you can use as a template when evaluating written material. This will allow you to be
consistent in your evaluations. Ask for input from your supervisor when designing it; you are required to
reduce your own biases and a checklist is an effective way to do this. The critical examination allows you to
furnish the necessary evidence to justify in what way your work is different to that which has been
conducted previously and why is it necessary to conduct your current investigation.

Here are some questions to consider when examining the literature:

• How did the researcher conceptualize the problem?

• What were the assumptions?
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• How is this research relevant to my study?
• How were constructs measured?
• How is it different to my study?

YOUR AUDIENCE:

Keep in mind your audience when you write the review and do not presume that they know what you do.

When researching your topic, you will have immersed yourself (or overwhelmed as it may feel) in the subject

so do not assume that even your supervisor or the committee is privy to the things you now know. On the

other hand, there is no need to state the obvious. If you are not sure whether to include definitions,

elaboration, or expansion on certain topics, ask your supervisor for feedback.

SCOPE:
When you begin your reading, do not over read; restrict the size of your reading to allow you to actually get

on with the review. Read articles twice, the first to understand themes, and concepts; the second time, with

a critical eye. You will be required to know a great deal about the topic (a mastery of the subject), but you

may not have to write everything you know about it. You may be able to limit the scope of the review to

include the current state of the theory as it stands to date. But, how far back is far enough? That depends on

the level of your research, but a rough guide for a Masters thesis is about 10 years, unless a more extensive

investigation is required, this last point being of particular relevance to doctoral students.

LENGTH:

The length of your review will vary as well as the format. Discuss with your supervisor what would be a

suitable length rather than being verbose and less concise than you should be. The review should

demonstrate your ability to synthesize a body of literature. It may be more preferable to have a briefer, more

focused review, than a lengthy one. Whatever you decide, discuss this issue with your supervisor.

BEGINNING YOUR REVIEW:

Create a mind map of the concepts that you will discuss in your review, including key words and synonyms.

As you review books and journals, write down the topic words that have been coined. Create a mind map of

the all of the terms that apply to your topic before conducting a literature search. This mind map can then be

used to guide your literature search as well as making sure that you discuss pertinent concepts in the review

itself.

ORGANIZING LITERATURE REVIEWS:

The main attribute of a good literature review is that it is well structured. This point cannot be overstated. A
good place to start, when organizing a review, is to look at other theses – but just make sure that you are
looking at a good example of a thesis (your supervisor may recommend a few for you to look at). When
examining these pieces of work, try to identify the structure and see how they have linked their ideas
together. However, before you emulate what you have read, be aware that plagiarism extends to copying
the structure of other’s work, so please acknowledge any influences appropriately. In addition, to assist you
in organizing your review, see your supervisor or department to identify the format of your thesis, as this can
impact the organization of the literature review.

The information in the literature review is synthesized, or brought together to form a cohesive whole. Those
who read the review should know what occurred in the past, the questions you are posing, and the
procedures that have been employed. In addition, they should know the weaknesses of past studies and
how your research contributes to this field in the advancement of knowledge.

BASIC COMPONENTS OF A LITERATURE REVIEW

It is recommended that the review exist as a separate chapter, which is most common where the research
problem is defined early on and remains relatively unchanged. However, if the direction of the study

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changes due to new research findings, then new literature may need to be included in subsequent sections.
Even if your thesis is like the one described in the first situation, you will probably need to include relevant
information throughout the thesis. That being acknowledged, here is an outline of the Literature Review
section of a thesis:

GENERAL BACKGROUND INFORMATION OR INTRODUCTION

This section is most likely the longest section of the thesis. It includes:

Introduction:
The review begins with an introduction that discusses the topic, key concepts and terms, and describes the
scope and organization of the review. You can use the two-topic format or the funnel format. Both formats
include the identification of key topics that will be covered in the review. In addition, these formats guide the
way the review is structured, which makes the writing of the task easier because you can focus on writing
one section at a time and keep on track with your review topics.

Theory:
This section outlines relevant theories that impact your study. But, you may find it difficult to find information
for this section, especially in ‘new’ fields of research. Still, even in ground-breaking research, there should
be some foundation upon which your work rests. There may not be a strong link in this case, but it does help
if there is some basis for your work, albeit indirect. Whatever topics you include in your review, it must bear
some relationship to the topic. Though you may not find literature that specifically relates to your topic you
should integrate key points from related studies that to allow you to make inferences and indicate what you
expect to happen in your study.

Instruments:
This section is a review of the literature on the instruments or measures you will use as part of your study.
You need to present evidence that supports your choice of instrument over those not chosen. This section
should be focused on relevant literature specific to the study. One suggestion is to examine the most current
instruments first and work back from there. You need to include reliability and validity estimates and a
description of the samples that have received the instrument. When dealing with many variables, it is useful
to write a separate section on each variable in the review.

Summary:
Basically, the summary is a précis of what has been written about in the chapter. It should not be verbose,
or a repetition of the entire contents of that chapter, but rather a succinct account of the current state of
knowledge on your topic and the instruments used in the study. In addition, there should be a sense that
you have explained the background to your study that endorses the decision you have made to study your
topic.

STRUCTURING YOUR REVIEW

Your review will not only synthesize the literature, but it must present the literature in a logical sequence or
order. It is best to start your review moving from general concepts to the more specific concepts. Your aim is
to indicate to the reader an understanding of the problem under investigation. You can organize your review
by chronology, topic, type of research, or any method that makes sense.
To further expand on structure, this section will now suggest further ways to organize your sections or
subsections for your literature:
• “What strategies enhance organizational effectiveness?” You can organize the review according to
the strategy type.
• Cover studies that examine related dependent variables. e.g. “Characteristics of sustainable
housing design”. You could organize the review according to sustainable development, housing
studies, design, and so on.
• Organize by type of design. The order usually moves from weaker to stronger designs. e.g.
correlate before experimental designs.
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• Organize by chronology. Particular theories may develop according to strict chronological changes
perhaps due to technology, expansion of theories, or social changes, etc.
• Organize by theoretical premises. This is useful if you are dealing with competing explanations or
when different theories contribute to your research question.
• Organize by findings. You may wish to use findings to develop a rationale for your studies. This
can be the most difficult way to organize your review.

However you organize it, your review should highlight important aspects of the literature - especially areas
that you wish to address or improve on. There is no single best way to organize your chapter, so do not
waste precious time looking for it, just write it.

EFFECTIVE WRITING
Some writers cannot begin writing until they have a detailed outline consisting of their main point and every
subordinate point, in the order in which they intend to make them. Other writers need an outline of some
kind, but usually only of topics so that they know the parts of their paper and the order in which they want
them to appear. Almost everyone profits from at least some kind of outline, which focuses their attention on
particular aspects of their paper and in a particular order.

• write an essay plan

• keep your sentences reasonably short and limit each to one idea
• make sure you use words you clearly understand: when in doubt, keep it simple. Do not use five
words where one will do
• be precise; make sure the words you use mean what you intend
• practice writing often and read good writers
• use an active voice, and when summarizing try to stick to the same tense.

ORGANIZING YOUR DATA

When you first start a thesis, deciding on a filing system may seem like an unnecessary chore taking you
away from the real job at hand - your research. But you will be amazed at how quickly your research
materials accumulate, such as photocopied articles, handwritten notes, references etc. both electronic and
hardcopy. Deciding at an early stage on a way of arranging and storing these materials will make your
research easier and more time-efficient in the long run, because you will know exactly where to look for
everything you need. Whether you keep things in folders, a filing cabinet or index box, you need a system.

For organizing references, choose proper styles (i.e. APA, Chicago). Get into the habit of updating it
regularly then your information will be at your fingertips and you will never suffer the pain and frustration of
not being able to use an important quote or reference because you cannot remember who or where it came
from.

An important note: always make back-ups of your electronic files. Many a postgraduate has regretted
not completing this essential step after hard work has been eaten by a virus or inexplicably taken to cyber
heaven. Keep your back-up files in a different location in case
of fire, thieves or other unforeseen circumstances (roof leaks!). An easy and hassle-free way to create back-
ups is to send them by email.

REFERENCING
Referencing is critical in the writing expected at University level. Ideas, facts and opinions from others must
be properly cited and referenced. If you do not know how to reference in your department, then you must
find out quickly. The simplest method is to ask your supervisor or lecturer which system to use. There are
several referencing systems in use throughout the University, but the most used are the APA System and
Chicago Style. Just be consistent and pick only one style. Write down the basic reference sequence for