Literature Review - Practicing Sociology (week 9)

Module: Practicing Sociology


Week 9 – Literature Review


Tips

 At the end of each session, go onto Moodle to see what you need to do next
week.

 Have a regular routine – schedule yourself an hour each week to sit down and
do some reading.

 Reading academic work can be difficult due to the writing style. It’s okay if
there are bits that you don’t understand. Make a short note of things that you
didn’t understand and things you did understand. Scribble down what you
reckon you have learnt. Consolidate in your mind what the main themes are.
When you go to your seminar group discussions, you will find that there are
some contents from the reading that you did understand.

Everything written about an academic subject is a literature.


What is a literature review?
 Gathers all the findings from specific areas of research
 Puts the results into themes


What do you think are the key features of a literature review?
 Contains lots of referencing of other work
 Analysing different literature
 A key theme
 Summarising ideas from different authors on one specific topic – this is the
core of what a literature review is about.
 Multiple themes to focus on
 Different headings
 Comparing different findings


What are literature reviews for?
 Helps your readers understand how the topics fit in together.
 It summarises the key ideas within that area of research.
 Literature reviews helps us establish what has been written about the topic.
 It establishes some gaps.
Sources