What a Dissertation Literature Review Should Be Like

admin June 3rd, 2008

A dissertation literature review is not just a list of sources. It is a deep and thorough analysis made as a section of your dissertation project. A dissertation literature review is one of the most important parts of your work, since it demonstrates a reader your abilities to work out and analyze the additional materials.

Very often the reason for the wrong made dissertation literature review is that a writer does not see a clear picture of what a good dissertation literature review should be like. That is why the tips given below can be useful for making your dissertation literature review successfully.

1.A dissertation literature review should be like an object you intend to examine under a microscope. You will have to consider all sources used from different angles, to analyze the gathered materials from different positions;

2.A dissertation literature review should contain any comparing issues of analysis. You will have to compare 2 or more sources and identify what was already said about the topic of your dissertation and what is missing;

3.A dissertation literature review should not include a research question. It relates to a bit different piece of task that you should accomplish following all rules of information analysis;

4.A dissertation literature review should include your SUBJECTIVE and critical point of view. Forget about objectivity when making your review. It is not the case when you have to be objective.

Perhaps, having got the idea of what a dissertation literature review should be like will help you create your own review correctly. Good luck!

Dissertation Literature Review: Writing Steps

admin May 30th, 2008

One of the most important parts of any dissertation is dissertation literature review. That is why you have to take this task seriously. If unawareness of how to creating a good dissertation literature review prevents you from making it properly, this article will help you greatly. Due to the guidelines presented below you will be able to make a good dissertation literature review and get rid of your unawareness.

Find the sources that may be helpful for you. Under “helpful” I mean the sources relating to the topic of your dissertation directly. You purpose number one is to cover the topic of your dissertation. This can be achieved by means of good relevant and up-to-date sources;

Read what you have found. I do not mean that you should read the whole collection of books of a certain author. Sometimes it can turn to be useless and absolutely unnecessary. Just fid the chapters containing the information you need and read it attentively;

Analyze the information read. What is necessary for making a good dissertation literature review is a good analysis of the sources found. Actually, your dissertation literature review will consist of the analysis made. So, try your best to catch the idea of each of the sources fund;

Make your dissertation literature review itself. Write down the title of the book, its author, and the main principles of the approach to the problem you are considering presented in the source.

It is not that difficult to write a dissertation literature review, especially with the help of the guidelines presented.

What Is a Dissertation Literature Review?

admin May 19th, 2008

A dissertation literature review is a part of the work that presents the analysis of the source materials. It is not a simple list of the material, which have been used in order to create this piece of work. The dissertation literature review is a separate chapter in your work that has its structure and purposes.

Dissertation literature review: structure

  • An overview of the issues, which will be raised in this kind of work;
  • The main body, where the division of the issues will be presented – the issues in support of the project and the issues against the project);
  • The discussion, where you should describe at least 10 references of your project.
  • The conclusion, where you identify the questions from your dissertation.

Dissertation literature review: purposes

  • Point out the connection of your work to the others;
  • Underline your understanding of the problems of your dissertation;
  • Present the controversies, which appear in the work of each author;
  • Prove the fact that all sources of your project are up-to-date and true;

Your dissertation should not be too long. If you try to imagine all your work as a simple circle, then this part of your work should take only about 20%.

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As you may see the dissertation literature review takes a significant place in your work and you cannot skip it. You should recollect not only your skills at gathering the information, but also the abilities in analyzing and making necessary conclusions. Your task is to analyze your work as the research.

The First Step towards Your Career

admin May 16th, 2008

It is not that easy for a child to make the first step in his or her life. The legs are shivering, the fear of falling is seizing the mind. Still, it is probably easier for a child to make the first step physically than for an adult to take the first step towards something mentally. Inspite of the necessity to make this step, you cannot avoid it. You cannot close your eyes and open them only when the problem is already solved. If it was possible, it was not that interesting for us to live in this world.

If you have to make a dissertation literature review, you have to make this first step. Nobody and will make the first step for you and write a dissertation literature review for the first time in his or her life. Nobody but you are given the chance to do it. Of course, a great fear will be seizing you, as doubts about whether you are doing everything correctly or not, will come up to your mind. Nevermind, you must overcome this fear, rally your thoughts together and take this step.

Thinking on your own…What can you say about the book? How it helped you in making your dissertation? Can your friend or mum answer these questions?
Hardly! This is exactly what I mean. If you decided to connect your future with research, you should take your first step, no matter how successful it will be.

Remember, independent work is your first step towards your personal improvement.

Dissertation Literature Review

admin May 14th, 2008

What is a dissertation literature review? Dissertation literature review is the so-called list of all the works and investigations that have been made by different scholars in the course of time. When you are asked to write a dissertation literature review, you should not think that this task is completely useless. A dissertation literature review shows how much material you have learned for writing your dissertation, thereby, you become a very diligent undergraduate student.

Here are some other types of academic writing, where you may be required to write a literature review:

You may be asked to present a literature review when you write a dissertation proposal;

You may be asked to present a literature review when you write a research proposal;

You may be asked to present a literature review when you want to take part in some scientific conference.

Hope that now you understand how useful a dissertation literature review is. More than that, you should practice writing it on the basis of some other type of academic writing, such as term paper, coursework, research paper, etc.

You should not consider this assignment to be easy, since you will have to briefly describe the essence of some scientific work (which may be hundreds of pages long), and you will have to make use of the most essential points.

As you may have already understood, this task requires a lot time and attention, so, you should not put off writing it and start working on your dissertation literature review as soon as you have received the task.

Dissertation Literature Review Writing Ideas

admin May 12th, 2008

Any dissertation literature review has several purposes, which you should know in order not to make a mistake in its writing. So, this article will help you clear up what concrete issues you should know about the dissertation literature review.

First of all, let us talk about the purposes… A dissertation literature review is written in order to:

put the concrete work in the list of the works, which should be written on the same subject according to its contribution into the subject development;

tell about the relation to the other works on the same subject;

underline the new line of researching, which are presented in this work;

present the possible ways of further development of the problem;

destroy possible misunderstandings with the previous works.

In your dissertation literature review you should not enumerate the literature sources, which you have used. It is one of the rudest mistakes, made by the students. You should understand that in this part of your work you should turn on all your analytical skills and present a thorough analysis of your work.

Your dissertation literature review you should pay attention to the next elements:

subject overview (make a kind of introductory to your work);

source categories (write about those, which support your topic and point out those, which offer the opposite position);

work evaluation (compare your work with other works and prove its uniqueness);

concluding part (present the results of your investigation – your literature investigation).

This information can help you any time. Now, you can surely say that you are aware of the process of your dissertation literature review writing.

Dissertation Literature Review

admin April 29th, 2008

What for do you need to write a dissertation literature review? Is there any use of it? Of course! Otherwise you were not asked to write a dissertation literature review.

There are several reasons according to which you should write this dissertation literature review:

First of all, a dissertation literature review will show how much material you have investigated for performing your dissertation;

Second, a dissertation literature review will present the degree of exploration of your dissertation project by other scholars;

Third, a dissertation literature review will be the so-called proof of your being too diligent and the committee will distinguish you from other applicants as being the best.

As you may have already understood dissertation literature review writing is an indispensable part of any dissertation writing if you want to be accepted. Thus, in your dissertation literature review you should try to provide as many sources, which you have used for conducting your dissertation, as possible, so that the committee will have a clear picture of all the amount of work, you have done. Apart from this, this will certainly increase your chances on being a success.

Remarkably, when writing a dissertation literature review, you should also give a brief description of every source, making use of the most essential points of this or that source.

In the long run, you may have already understood that dissertation literature review writing plays a very important role for completing the dissertation writing process.

So, wish you not to neglect it and to succeed.

FAQ on Dissertation Literature Review

admin April 25th, 2008

Dissertation literature review is a small but significant part of a huge work called dissertation. Like all the other parts of a dissertation, dissertation literature review has its own rules of organization and many other peculiarities.

No matter whether you know all these peculiarities or not, it would be useful for you to get more information about dissertation literature review. That is why we want to introduce you the frequently asked questions on a dissertation literature review.

What a literature review is about? To be short, literature review is a list of the materials and sources used for writing your work. However, it is not a mere list of the books and articles. Each item of your literature review should have some critical comments and a short description.

Why a literature review is required in a dissertation? 1) Literature review allows the reader to get a short and precise account of what is known upon the topic of your work or within the field of your study. 2) Literature review also introduces various controversies that different authors have on the problem. 3) Literature review allows understanding what remains unstudied on the topic and the answers to what questions will contribute to the progress of this particular field of study.

What is the critical analysis in a literature review? Critical analysis means an unbiased evaluation of the materials. Here you should mind the difference between critical and negative comments. Negative comments actually should not be presented in the literature review. While making critical analysis, you have to estimate the author’s authority (the qualifications, other publications) for making that kind of research. And you will have to evaluate his/her actual research (its originality, significance, methods used and so on).

So, your dissertation cannot go without a literature review and you should know what it is for and how to make it.

Frequent mistakes made in dissertation literature review

admin April 23rd, 2008

You know, the mistakes are not unique. Of course, a person can do a unique mistake, but it happens very rarely. Normally, the students repeat the mistakes of each other.

It does not mean that you can repeat only the mistakes of your acquaintances. It is not necessary to be acquainted with a person to repeat his or her mistakes. Instinctively students make the same mistakes in their works, even without being acquainted with each other.

We can help you to avoid making the most frequent mistakes in your dissertation literature review. To learn how to do it, you have to read the given article, describing the most frequent mistakes made in dissertation literature reviews. Knowing what mistakes you may d, you will try to avoid them. At least, you will be able to fix them and to correct them while revising the dissertation literature review.

  1. Students often forget to mark out the citations. Therefore, they may be accused for plagiarism. So, you should remember to mark all the citations out.
  2. Students sometimes analyze the same points of view to the problem. Remember that your task is to present all the sides of the problem.
  3. Students may include into their dissertation literature review some information which does not correspond to the topic of your paper. Remember to filter the material.
  4. Of course, students sometimes make grammar, stylistic, and spelling mistakes in their works. Watch out to avoid them, as well.

These mistakes are the most widely spread. If you manage to avoid them, you are unlikely to commit other mistakes, as well.

What Sources Should be Included into your Literature Review?

admin April 8th, 2008

Rather often a question on whether this or that book should or should not be included into a dissertation literature review arises in the mind of a dissertation writer. When searching the sources for covering a dissertation topic, students are at a loss. They catch any opportunity to find the information that at least is distantly related to their topics. Finally, they come back from their university libraries with full package of books, and hands aching.

Now that they are supplied enough with information for their dissertation, they do not know what book to start with. They are at a loss as they see the size of the books they have to read. Actually, it is not that necessary to read all of them. Sometimes even the whole life will not be enough for reading the works in a whole. That is why I recommend you to find the chapters or the paragraphs containing information that can help you with making your dissertation and read them only.

Now let us come back to your dissertation literature review writing. You do not know what works found you should analyze, right? Well, the information given below can help you with it:

  • The sources should be relevant and related to your topic;
  • They should be up-to-date;
  • The source used can present agreement as well as the disagreement with your thesis statement;
  • The source should reflect the modern tendencies of the scientific research in relation to your dissertation topic.

Take these tips as the basis of your dissertation literature review, and you will get to know what sources to choose for making your critical analysis of the literature sources found.

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