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'RESEARCHING FOR YOUR

DISSERTATION - A CHECKLIST

FOR SUCCESS'

Nathan Rush (nrush@dmu.ac.uk)

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What is a “Literature review”?

‘The comprehensive study and interpretation of literature that relates

to a particular topic’(Aveyard, 2007)

AVEYARD, H. (2007): Doing a literature review in health and social care: a practical guide. Maidenhead: McGraw Hill.

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Literature search and practitioner research

• Identify published material relevant to your research– Identify primary and secondary sources– Provide academic basis for your research– Clarify your ideas and findings– Find research methods– Communication process - demonstrate your

understanding and the work you have done in a wider context

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What is a “Literature review”?

A literature review is a select analysis of existing research which is relevant to your dissertation or assignment, showing how it relates to your investigation.

A literature review is not a straightforward summary of everything you have read on the topic and it is not a chronological description of what was discovered in your field.

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Dead-end number 1:I can’t find any articles. I know they exist but I just don’t know where they are.

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Revise your plan

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Choose your keywords carefully

• Magic little words (not abracadabra)

• Think about:– Singulars, plurals, phrases– How terms are combined– Alternative terminology and variation in

language– Major influence on search effectiveness

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My research question

Revised?

Rewritten?

Scrapped?

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Dead-end number 2:Arrrrggghhhh!!! I’ve found too many articles. How do I filter out what I don’t need?

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What to include in my literature review?

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Working backwards ...

Quality resources will be properly referenced – use these to find the original sources

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Evaluation Checklist

Scope – who is it aimed at?Authority – is the author qualified to give an

opinion on the topic?Objectivity – any evidence of bias?Accuracy – any evidence of errors?Currency – how up to date is it?

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Revise your plan

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Dead-end number 3:My supervisor has asked me to find more academic resources. What do they mean by that? And where do I look?

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Search

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Key Sources of Information

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Academic sources - books

• Books at DMU– Library catalogue

• Outside DMU– Local library

catalogues– Internet booksellers– COPAC (for UK)– Other academic or

specialist libraries• Interlibrary loans

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Finding a journal articles on a given subject: Library Search

Library Search scans a wide range of the library’s subscribed content to give you academic and practitioner-orientated research.

Access from:Subject Guides > Journal Articles tab > Library Search

Or from:www.library.dmu.ac.uk

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Use the refining options to get a suitable number of results, limit the results by date, content type or subject area.

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Finding a journal articles on a given subject: Subject Specific

DatabasesYou may find the results in Library Search overwhelming in which case you should consider subject specific databases

Find subject specific databases in:Subject Guides > Journal articles > Starting points for research

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Use bibliographic databases

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Internet

Google Scholar is an alternative to Google Web giving better quality results

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Search

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Dead-end number 4:I’ve found 50 resources I want to use. How do I organise them?

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Record

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Record

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Dead-end number 5:My supervisor advised me to be more critical in my literature review. I am not confident enough to criticise the academic literature. Help!

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Search again!

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Academic networking tools

Academia.edu (http://academia.edu/)

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Researchgate (www.researchgate.net)

Methodspace (www.methodspace.com

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Ethos (http://ethos.bl.uk/)Directory of Open Access Journals (http://doaj.org/)

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Looking forwards ...

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Citation Searching

• Another way of exploring the literature

• Looks at the links between articles: who has cited who

• Allows us to see how many times a paper has been cited

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• Citation searching allows us see who has influenced who

• It allows you to see the evolution of ideas

• It allows you to demonstrate the history & originality of your own research

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Current awareness

• Many databases and services allow you to set up alerts based on:– Keywords– Subject terms– Authors

– Citations of a key article

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Search again!

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Dead-end number 6:I got marked down for my referencing. There’s got to be a short-cut, right?

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Reference

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4 Steps to Good referencing

1. Always record all the books and articles you find as you find them (start creating your reference list/bibliography from the beginning).

Why? Because you can’t remember everything and this will save time trying to find it again later on.

1. Always give yourself plenty of time to research and write your work

Why? Because this will avoid the temptation for last-minute ‘panic plagiarism’

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4 Steps to Good referencing

3. When writing, always acknowledge ideas you’ve picked up from your reading – both direct quotes and ideas you have paraphrased

Why? Because this is the basis of ‘good academic practice’.

3. When in doubt, always seek assistance or clarification

Why? Because it can take a little while to get the ‘knack’ of academic writing – and there are people who can help!

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Reference

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Revise your plan

Search

Record

Search Again

Reference

One completed checklist =