ibo4001 business dissertation how to review the academic literature please note that this work is...
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IBO4001 Business DissertationHow to Review the Academic Literature
• Please note that this work is assessed - it counts for 10% of your overall dissertation grade.
• Hand-in date: 20 January 2010 to the Student Assessment Office, Park Campus, and online via the NILE site
• Word count: c. 4000 words.
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Reviewing the academic literaturePurpose: explore previous and current academic thinking surrounding your topic.
Three distinct phases:–finding relevant books/ journal articles either in print or online;–reading – and understanding – relevant books/ journal articles; –reviewing (‘writing about’) relevant books/ journal articles.
The literature review is dealing with academic theory – generally speaking empirical/ sector/ industry data should not appear here.
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Finding relevant books/ journal articles
• Essential first step in the process – the beginning, not the end.
• Books: established ideas, rather basic
• Journals: greater variety of views, greater depth of comment
• Use respected academic sources
• Make a note of the full reference of everything you find as you find it! Going back to find the full reference later on is a tedious and frustrating process.
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Reading and understanding relevant books/ journal articles
• As you go through the material you’ve found, make a note of the key points made by each author that you read.
• It may be useful to build a grid/ matrix to highlight the key areas uncovered by your research.
• For example…
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Reading and understanding relevant books/ journal articles
Issue/ Idea/ Topic/
Concept/ Theme #i
Issue/ Idea/ Topic/
Concept/ Theme #ii
Issue/ Idea/ Topic/
Concept/ Theme #iii
Issue/ Idea/ Topic/
Concept/ Theme #iv
Author 1 XX X - -
Author 2 - XX X -
Author 3 X XX - XX
Author 4 XX X - X
Author 5 XX - - X
Author 6 X - - XX
…………. .......... .......... .......... ..........
Author n XX X - -
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Reading and understanding relevant books/ journal articles
• In this example, three major issues/ ideas/ topics/ concepts/ themes/ call-them-what-you-will have become apparent during the research, along with a further area (#iii) which only one author has mentioned.
• Grouping ideas in this way helps to identify the major points, the major schools of thought, that need to be discussed in the literature review itself.
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Reviewing (‘writing about’) relevant books/ articles
• The literature review will have a brief introduction giving an overview of what is about to be discussed.
• This is followed by an outline description of the ideas and, more importantly, by an in-depth discussion – a critical review – of each of the points/ schools of thought identified.
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Reviewing (‘writing about’) relevant books/ articles
• In the example above, this means reviewing what each writer has said about issue #i, presenting, comparing and contrasting their ideas.
• This would then be followed by a similar approach to issue #ii and issue #iv.
• As we’ve already decided that issue #iii is relatively unimportant, it may well be omitted from the discussion.
• It is also useful to give an overall conclusion or overview of the literature.
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Reviewing (‘writing about’) relevant books/ articles
• It is important to distinguish between the researching and the write-up.
• The researching is done on an author-by-author or paper-by-paper basis.
• The write-up is done on an issue-by-issue basis in which the views of different writers are compared and contrasted. In other words, your write-up would emphasise the ideas, not the authors (though, clearly, authors’ names are mentioned).
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Referencing
• Your work must be fully and correctly referenced using the Harvard system.
• Remember! In the text, cite only the author’s surname and the date of publication (and the page number for a direct quote). Give the full reference at the end of your work.
• At the end, include one comprehensive list of all the (academic) publications – books, journals and websites - you have consulted, arranged alphabetically by author. This does not count toward the word limit for this piece of work.
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Finally…
• Remember that the literature review is a crucial part of the final dissertation. You should expect to include this work, usually in a modified form, in the final dissertation.
• It is important to the success of your dissertation that you complete the literature review to a good standard. Be sure to talk through your ideas with your supervisor and to provide a draft version for discussion before you hand-in the assessed copy.