University of California Irvine Module 3 Bullying Social Science Activity

Writing Literature Reviews
This useful guide educates students in the preparation of literature reviews for term
projects, theses, and dissertations. The authors provide numerous examples from
published reviews that illustrate the guidelines discussed throughout the book.
New to the seventh edition:
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Each chapter breaks down the larger holistic review of literature exercise into
a series of smaller, manageable steps
Practical instructions for navigating today?s digital libraries
Comprehensive discussions about digital tools, including bibliographic and
plagiarism detection software
Chapter activities that reflect the book?s updated content
New model literature reviews
Online resources designed to help instructors plan and teach their courses
(www.routledge.com/9780415315746).
Jose L. Galvan (Ph.D., 1980, UT Austin) is Professor Emeritus at California State
University, Los Angeles. His academic career spans 39 years, including appointments
at UCLA; Teachers College, Columbia University; California State University, Los
Angeles; and San Francisco State University.
Melisa C. Galvan (Ph.D., 2013, UC Berkeley) is Assistant Professor at California
State University, Northridge.
Writing Literature Reviews
A Guide for Students of the Social and
Behavioral Sciences
Seventh Edition
Jose L. Galvan and Melisa C. Galvan
Seventh edition published 2017
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
? 2017 Taylor & Francis
The right of Jose L. Galvan and Melisa C. Galvan to be identified
as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with
sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and
recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
First edition published by Pyrczak Publications 1999
Sixth edition published by Routledge 2014
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Names: Galvan, Jose L., author. | Galvan, Melisa, author.
Title: Writing literature reviews : a guide for students of the social and
behavioral sciences / Jose Galvan and Melisa Galvan.
Description: Seventh edition. | New York, NY : Routledge, 2017. |
Includes bibliographical references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016044168| ISBN 9781138294219 (hardback) |
ISBN 9780415315746 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781315229386 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Social sciences?Research. | Social sciences?
Authorship. | Psychology?Research. | Scholarly periodicals. |
Academic writing. | Book reviewing.
Classification: LCC H62 .G246 2017 | DDC 808.06/63?dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016044168
ISBN: 978-1-138-29421-9 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-415-31574-6 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-22938-6 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo and Trade Gothic
by Florence Production Ltd, Stoodleigh, Devon, UK
To our friend, Dr. Fred Pyrczak, 1945?2014.
Contents
Preface
xv
Audiences
Unique Features
New to This Edition
Ancillaries
Notes to the Instructor
Special Acknowledgment
Acknowledgments
Notes
xvi
xvi
xvii
xvii
xviii
xviii
xix
xix
Part I: Managing the Literature Search
1
1
Writing Reviews of Academic Literature: An Overview
3
An Introduction to Reviewing Primary Sources
3
Empirical Research Reports 3
Theoretical Articles 6
Literature Review Articles 7
Anecdotal Reports 8
Reports on Professional Practices and Standards 8
The Writing Process
8
Finding Your ?Writer?s Voice?: Writing for a Specific Purpose 9
Writing a Literature Review as a Term Paper for a Class 9
Writing a Literature Review Chapter for a Thesis or Dissertation 11
Writing a Literature Review for a Research Article 13
The Parts of this Text
13
Managing the Literature Search?Part I 13
Analyzing the Relevant Literature?Part II 14
Writing the First Draft of Your Literature Review?Part III 14
Editing and Preparing the Final Draft of Your Review?Part IV 15
Activities for Chapter 1
15
Notes
16
vii
Contents
2
3
4
Learn to Navigate the Electronic Resources in Your University?s Library
18
Step 1: Formalize Your Institutional Affiliation with Your University Library
18
Step 2: Set Up Your Online Access Credentials and/or Proxy Server
19
Step 3: Inquire about University Library Research Workshops
19
Step 4: Select a Search Engine that Best Suits Your Needs
20
Step 5: Familiarize Yourself with How Online Databases Function
21
Step 6: Experiment with the ?Advanced Search? Feature
23
Step 7: Identify an Array of Subject Keywords to Locate Your Sources
24
Step 8: Learn How You Can Access the Articles You Choose
25
Step 9: Identify Additional Databases that May Be Useful for Your
Field of Study
25
Step 10: Repeat the Search Procedures with Other Databases
27
Activities for Chapter 2
27
Note
27
Selecting a Topic for Your Review
28
Step 1: Define Your General Topic
28
Step 2: Familiarize Yourself with the Basic Organization of Your Selected
Online Database
29
Step 3: Begin Your Search with a General Keyword, then Limit the Output
29
Step 4: Identify Narrower Topic Areas If Your Initial List of Search Results
Is Too Long
31
Step 5: Increase the Size of Your Reference List, If Necessary
31
Step 6: Consider Searching for Unpublished Studies
32
Step 7: Start with the Most Current Research, and Work Backward
33
Step 8: Search for Theoretical Articles on Your Topic
33
Step 9: Look for Review Articles
34
Step 10: Identify the Landmark or Classic Studies and Theorists
35
Step 11: Assemble the Collection of Sources You Plan to Include in
Your Review
37
Step 12: Write the First Draft of Your Topic Statement
39
Step 13: Redefine Your Topic More Narrowly
40
Step 14: Ask for Feedback from Your Instructor or Advisor
41
Activities for Chapter 3
41
Notes
42
Organizing Yourself to Begin the Selection of Relevant Titles
43
Step 1: Scan the Articles to Get an Overview of Each One
43
Step 2: Based on Your Prereading of the Articles, Group Them by Category
44
viii
Contents
Step 3: Conduct a More Focused Literature Search if Gaps Appear
46
Step 4: Organize Yourself before Reading the Articles
47
Step 5: Create a Spreadsheet or Table to Compile Your Notes
47
Step 6: Remain Flexible as You Compile Your Notes
49
Step 7: Take Extra Care When Copying an Author?s Exact Words
49
Activities for Chapter 4
49
Notes
50
Part II: Analyzing the Relevant Literature
5
6
51
Conduct a Deep Analysis of the Articles
53
Guideline 1: Look for Explicit Definitions of Key Terms in the Literature
53
Guideline 2: Look for Key Statistics to Use near the Beginning of Your
Literature Review
55
Guideline 3: Pay Special Attention to Review Articles on Your Topic
56
Guideline 4: Make Note of Short but Important Quotations that Could Be
Used Very Sparingly in Your Review
57
Guideline 5: Look for Methodological Strengths
58
Guideline 6: Look for Methodological Weaknesses
58
Guideline 7: Distinguish between Assertion and Evidence
59
Guideline 8: Identify the Major Trends or Patterns in the Results of
Previous Studies
60
Guideline 9: Identify Gaps in the Literature
61
Guideline 10: Identify Relationships among Studies
61
Guideline 11: Note How Closely Each Article Relates to Your Topic
61
Guideline 12: Evaluate Your Reference List for Currency and for Coverage
62
Activities for Chapter 5
63
Notes
63
Analyzing Quantitative Research Literature
65
Guideline 1: Note Whether the Research Is Quantitative or Qualitative
65
Guideline 2: Note Whether a Study Is Experimental or Nonexperimental
67
Guideline 3: In an Experiment, Note Whether the Participants Were Assigned
at Random to Treatment Conditions
67
Guideline 4: Note Attempts to Examine Cause-and-Effect Issues in
Nonexperimental Studies
68
Guideline 5: Consider the Test-Retest Reliability of the Measure
69
Guideline 6: Consider the Internal Consistency Reliability of the Measure
69
Guideline 7: Consider the Validity of the Measure
70
ix
Contents
7
8
Guideline 8: Consider Whether a Measure Is Valid For a Particular
Research Purpose
72
Guideline 9: Note Differences in How a Variable Is Measured Across Studies
73
Guideline 10: Note How the Participants Were Sampled
74
Guideline 11: Make Notes on the Demographics of the Participants
74
Guideline 12: Note How Large a Difference Is?Not Just Whether It Is
Statistically Significant
75
Guideline 13: Presume That All Quantitative Studies Are Flawed
76
Concluding Comment
76
Activities for Chapter 6
76
Notes
77
Analyzing Qualitative Research Literature
79
Guideline 1: Note Whether the Research Was Conducted By an Individual
or By a Research Team
79
Guideline 2: When There Is a Research Team, Note Whether Analysis of
the Data Was Initially Conducted Independently
80
Guideline 3: Note Whether Outside Experts Were Consulted
80
Guideline 4: Note Whether the Participants Were Consulted on the
Interpretation of the Data
81
Guideline 5: Note Whether the Researchers Used a Purposive Sample or
a Sample of Convenience
82
Guideline 6: Note Whether the Demographics of the Participants Are
Described
83
Guideline 7: Consider Whether the Method of Qualitative Analysis Is
Described in Sufficient Detail
84
Guideline 8: Note Whether Quantities Are Provided When Qualitative
Researchers Discuss Quantitative Matters
85
Concluding Comment
86
Activities for Chapter 7
86
Notes
86
Organizing Your Notes by Grouping the Results of Your Analysis
88
Guideline 1: Consider Building a Table of Definitions
88
Guideline 2: Consider Building a Table of Research Methods
89
Guideline 3: Consider Including a Summary of Research Results in the
Methods Table
89
Guideline 4: When There Is Much Literature on a Topic, Establish Criteria
for Determining Which Literature to Summarize in a Table
91
Guideline 5: When There Is Much Literature on a Topic, Consider Building
Two or More Tables to Summarize It
92
x
Contents
Guideline 6: Present Tables in a Literature Review Only for Complex Material
92
Guideline 7: Discuss Each Table Included in a Literature Review
92
Guideline 8: Give Each Table a Number and Descriptive Title
93
Guideline 9: Insert Continued When Tables Split Across Pages
93
Activities for Chapter 8
93
Notes
94
Part III: Writing the First Draft of Your Literature Review
9
10
95
Synthesizing Trends and Patterns: Preparing to Write
97
Guideline 1: Consider Your Purpose and Voice before Beginning to Write
97
Guideline 2: Consider How to Reassemble Your Notes
98
Guideline 3: Create a Topic Outline That Traces Your Argument
99
Guideline 4: Reorganize Your Notes According to the Path of Your Argument
100
Guideline 5: Within Each Topic Heading, Note Differences among Studies
101
Guideline 6: Within Each Topic Heading, Look for Obvious Gaps or Areas
Needing Additional Research
102
Guideline 7: Plan to Briefly Describe Relevant Theories
102
Guideline 8: Plan to Discuss How Individual Studies Relate to and Advance
Theory
103
Guideline 9: Plan to Summarize Periodically and Again near the End of
the Review
103
Guideline 10: Plan to Present Conclusions and Implications
104
Guideline 11: Plan to Suggest Specific Directions for Future Research near
the End of the Review
105
Guideline 12: Flesh out Your Outline with Details from Your Analysis
106
Activities for Chapter 9
107
Notes
108
Guidelines for Writing a First Draft
109
Guideline 1: Begin by Identifying the Broad Problem Area, but Avoid
Global Statements
109
Guideline 2: Early in the Review, Indicate Why the Topic Being Reviewed
Is Important
110
Guideline 3: Distinguish Between Research Findings and Other Sources of
Information
111
Guideline 4: Indicate Why Certain Studies Are Important
112
Guideline 5: If You Are Commenting On the Timeliness of a Topic, Be
Specific In Describing the Time Frame
113
Guideline 6: If Citing a Classic or Landmark Study, Identify It as Such
114
Guideline 7: If a Landmark Study Was Replicated, Mention That and
Indicate the Results of the Replication
115
xi
Contents
11
Guideline 8: Discuss Other Literature Reviews on Your Topic
116
Guideline 9: Refer the Reader to Other Reviews on Issues That You Will Not
Be Discussing in Detail
116
Guideline 10: Justify Comments Such As ?No Studies Were Found?
117
Guideline 11: Avoid Long Lists of Nonspecific References
118
Guideline 12: If the Results of Previous Studies Are Inconsistent or Widely
Varying, Cite Them Separately
119
Guideline 13: Speculate on the Reasons for Inconsistent Findings in Previous
Research
120
Guideline 14: Cite All Relevant References in the Review Section of a Thesis,
Dissertation, or Journal Article
121
Guideline 15: Emphasize the Need for Your Study in the Literature Review
Section or Chapter
121
Activities for Chapter 10
122
Notes
122
Guidelines for Developing a Coherent Essay
124
Guideline 1: If Your Review Is Long, Provide an Overview near the Beginning
of the Review
124
Guideline 2: Near the Beginning of a Review, State Explicitly What Will and
Will Not Be Covered
125
Guideline 3: Specify Your Point of View Early in the Review
125
Guideline 4: Aim for a Clear and Cohesive Essay and Avoid Annotations
126
Guideline 5: Use Subheadings, Especially in Long Reviews
127
Guideline 6: Use Transitions to Help Trace Your Argument
128
Guideline 7: If Your Topic Spans Two or More Disciplines, Consider Reviewing
Studies from Each Discipline Separately
128
Guideline 8: Write a Conclusion for the End of the Review
129
Guideline 9: Check the Flow of Your Argument for Coherence
130
Activities for Chapter 11
130
Notes
131
Part IV: Editing and Preparing the Final Draft of Your Review
133
12
Guidelines for Editing Your Essay and Incorporating Feedback
135
Guideline 1: The Reader Is Always Right
136
Guideline 2: Expect Your Instructor to Comment on the Content
136
Guideline 3: Concentrate First on Comments about Your Ideas
136
Guideline 4: Reconcile Contradictory Feedback by Seeking Clarification
137
Guideline 5: Reconcile Comments about Style with Your Style Manual
137
xii
Contents
Guideline 6: Allow Sufficient Time for the Feedback and Redrafting Process
13
137
Guideline 7: Compare Your Draft with Your Topic Outline
138
Guideline 8: Check the Structure of Your Review for Parallelism
138
Guideline 9: Avoid Overusing Direct Quotations, Especially Long Ones
138
Guideline 10: Avoid Using Synonyms for Recurring Words
139
Guideline 11: Spell Out All Acronyms When You First Use Them, and Avoid
Using Too Many
140
Guideline 12: Avoid the Use of Contractions?They Are Inappropriate In
Formal Academic Writing
140
Guideline 13: When Used, Coined Terms Should Be Set Off by Quotations
141
Guideline 14: Avoid Slang Expressions Colloquialisms, and Idioms
141
Guideline 15: Use Latin Abbreviations in Parenthetic Material?Elsewhere,
Use English Translations
142
Guideline 16: Check Your Draft for Common Writing Conventions
142
Guideline 17: Write a Concise and Descriptive Title for the Review
143
Guideline 18: Strive for a User-friendly Draft
144
Guideline 19: Make Sure That You Have Enclosed in Quotation Marks and/or
Cited All Words and Ideas That Are Not Your Own
146
Guideline 20: Use Great Care to Avoid Plagiarism
148
Guideline 21: Get Help If You Need It
151
Activities for Chapter 12
151
Notes
152
Preparing a Reference List
153
Guideline 1: Consider Using Bibliographic Software to Help Manage the Details
of Your References
153
Guideline 2: Place the Reference List at the End of the Review under the
Main Heading ?References?
154
Guideline 3: A Reference List Should Refer Only to Sources Cited in the
Literature Review
154
Guideline 4: List References Alphabetically by Author?s Surname
154
Guideline 5: Double-Space All Entries
154
Guideline 6: Use Hanging Indents for the Second and Subsequent Lines of
References
154
Guideline 7: Learn How to Create Hanging Indents Using a Word Processing
Program
155
Guideline 8: Italicize the Titles of Journals and Their Volume Numbers
155
Guideline 9: Pay Particular Attention to Capitalization
156
Guideline 10: Pay Particular Attention to Punctuation
157
Guideline 11: Do Not Add Extraneous Material Such As Abbreviations for
Page Numbers
157
xiii
Contents
Guideline 12: Journal Articles Accessed Through Online Database Repositories
Should Be Cited as if They Were Accessed in Their Print Form
157
Guideline 13: Provide the Date and URL in References for Material Published
Online
158
Guideline 14: Format References to Books in Accordance with a Style Manual
159
Guideline 15: If Using Online Bibliographic Tools, Make Sure That Generated
Citations Are Listed in Correct Format
159
Guideline 16: Double-Check the Reference List against the Citations in the
Body of the Review
160
Concluding Comment
160
Activities for Chapter 13
160
Notes
160
Appendix A Comprehensive Self-editing Checklist for Refining the
Final Draft
161
Appendix B Sample Literature Reviews
167
Index
283
xiv
Preface
This book was designed to provide students with practical guidelines for the
complex process of writing literature reviews in the social and behavioral sciences.
When Writing Literature Reviews was first published in 1999, university libraries
had just begun to adopt digital search tools to assist with surveying the available
research literature, but at the time most journals were still available only in print
form. Today, by contrast, the contemporary university library is almost entirely
digital, and this edition of Writing Literature Reviews has been recast to reflect this
new digital landscape.
The author?s daughter, now a university professor herself and a new co-author
of Writing Literature Reviews, is a product of the modern digital library, and she has
lent her expertise with digital databases and her recent experience in completing
a doctoral dissertation to reframe the book?s content. The result is a thorough
rewriting and updating of the book, starting with the steps involved in searching
databases, keeping track of citations, organizing the details gleaned from the literature
surveyed, and producing a reference list or bibliography, all of which were rewritten
to reflect the modern library?s digital landscapes.
The seventh edition of Writing Literature Reviews maintains its primary focus on
reviewing original research published in academic journals and on its relationship
to theoretical literature. However, most of the guidelines presented here can also
be applied to reviews of other kinds of source materials, and feedback received
from readers in other fields suggests that the guidelines presented here can easily
be applied across the curriculum. In fact, our book has been adopted for use in a
variety of departments representing nearly 100 universities across the U.S., and a
Chinese translation1 was published in 2012 for use in universities in Taiwan and
mainland China.
xv
Preface
Audiences
There are three main audiences for Writing Literature Reviews.
First, this book was written for students who are asked to write literature reviews
as term papers in content-area classes in the social and behavioral sciences. Often,
their previous training has not prepared them for the complex task of reviewing
existing research reports to produce a cohesive essay with an original point of view.
Lower-division college students need guidance in learning to search databases for
reports of original research and related theoretical literature, to analyze these
particular types of literature, and to synthesize them into cohesive narratives. In
high school, they may have relied on secondary sources such as encyclopedias,
reports in the mass media, and books that synthesize the work of others. Now,
they need to access the original research reports, and they need to learn the
conventions for writing academic papers. This book is designed to fill these gaps
by giving students detailed, step-by-step guidance on how to conduct a literature
search and how to write comprehensive reviews of primary source materials.
Students beginning to work on their theses and dissertations will also benefit
from this book if they have not previously received comprehensive instruction on
how to prepare critical analyses of published research and the theories on which it
is based. Undertaking a thesis or dissertation is stressful. This book serves as a source
of calm and logic as students begin to prepare their literature review chapter.
Finally, individuals preparing to write literature reviews for possible publication
in journals as well as those who need to include literature reviews in grant proposals
will find that this book can serve as a resource in outlining and identifying the key
components for such publications.
Unique Features
The following features make Writing Literature Reviews unique among textbooks
designed to teach analytical writing:
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Its organization follows a systematic, natural progression of steps that writing
instructors refer to as the Writing Process.
Its focus is on writing critical reviews of original research.
It is fundamentally based in the new digital environment that defines the new
twenty-first-century university library.
The steps and guidelines are organized sequentially and are illustrated with
examples from a wide range of academic journals.
Each chapter is designed to help students develop a set of specific products that
will contribute to a competent literature review.
xvi
Preface
New to This Edition
Readers who are familiar with previous editions of Writing Literature Reviews will
find a number of new and important additions in this one, including the following:
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This new edition was rewritten and recast to reflect the tools of the modern
digital library. When this book was written initially, researchers relied almost
exclusively on print materials located in the university library?s ?stacks.?
Nowadays, when asked, students look puzzled when we mention the stacks.
Their library work in the modern era is done entirely online, either from home
or from a computer terminal on campus. This has required us to reframe large
sections of Writing Literature Reviews to reflect this heavy reliance on digital
databases and digital repositories of journal articles.
This edition has benefitted by the addition of a new co-author with specific
expertise in today?s digital library research tools.
The book?s chapters have been organized into parts aimed at helping students
break down the larger holistic review of literature exercise into a series of smaller
steps. These smaller steps enable students to move easily through the multistep writing process within the time constraints of a single semester course.
A new Chapter 2 provides step-by-step guidance for navigating the new digital
tools that are now standard components of research libraries.
A comprehensive reorganization of chapter content throughout the book
incorporates feedback from longtime adopters of the book and their students.
We have added comprehensive discussions of new available digital tools,
including bibliographic software and plagiarism detection software.
New chapter activities were added to reflect the updated content of the
reframed chapters.
Several new model literature reviews complement existing reviews that our
longtime adopters have found useful. These can serve as the basis for classroom
discussions and as source material for end-of-chapter activities, as needed.
Ancillaries
A password-protected instructor teaching site (www.routledge.com/9780415315746)
features resources that have been designed to help instructors plan and teach their
courses. These resources include PowerPoint presentations that instructors may use
to present the book?s key points in a lecture format and notecards with key terms
and definitions.
xvii
Preface
Notes to the Instructor
Many colleges and universities have adopted ?writing across the curriculum?
programs, in which students are required to write papers in all courses. While the
goals of such programs are admirable, many instructors are pressed for time to cover
just the traditional content of their courses, leaving them with little time to teach
writing. Such instructors will find this book useful because the explicit steps in the
writing process are illustrated with examples throughout, making it possible for
students to use it largely on their own. In addition, many professors ?naturally?
write well but have given little thought to?and have no training in?how to teach
writing. As a supplement, this book solves that dilemma by providing a detailed
guide to the writing process.
Much of what most of us know about writing was learned through what KamhiStein (1997) calls the ?one-shot writing assignment? (p. 52).2 This is where the
instructor gives an assignment at the beginning of the term, using the prompt, ?Write
a paper about .? Conceptually, we tend to view this type of assignment
as a single task, even though students may need to go through several discrete and
complex steps to complete it. In fact, when one is writing papers that involve library
research, the quality of the finished product depends in large measure on the care
with which one undertakes each of these steps.
The activities at the end of each chapter guide students through these various
steps of the writing process. These activities can be recast as a series of tasks that
can easily be incorporated into the syllabus of a survey course in a specific discipline
as a multistep writing assignment. Thus, this book has two complementary
audiences: (a) instructors who may want to incorporate this multistep writing
approach into their course syllabus and (b) students, working independently, who
may need help in planning and implementing the various stages involved in
completing a major writing assignment, such as the literature review chapter of a
thesis or dissertation.
Special Acknowledgment
Both authors are indebted to the founder of Pyrczak Publishing, Dr. Fred Pyrczak,
for suggesting the topic for this book. Dr. Pyrczak was a friend and mentor to both
co-authors, and we are grateful for his support throughout the earlier versions of
the manuscript. Melisa spent her summers as a high school and college student
learning the academic publishing trade from Fred, and her academic trajectory has
undoubtedly been shaped by his support. From technology assistant, to copy editor,
to now professor and co-author, her professional trajectory speaks to the ways in
which Fred?s support has shaped her career in academia.
xviii
Preface
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank our partners at Routledge and Pyrczak Publishing for their
editorial and conceptual assistance in preparing this new major revision of our book.
In addition, we are indebted to our colleagues on the faculty of California State
University, Los Angeles, and California State University, Northridge, especially
Dr. Marguerite Ann Snow and Dr. Lia D. Kamhi-Stein, whose work on the
multistep writing approach inspired this book?s organization. Both of these
individuals offered countless helpful suggestions, most of which are now part of
the final manuscript.
We would also like to thank the following colleagues from a diverse range of
institutions who provided feedback on the sixth edition of Writing Literature Reviews:
Elizabeth F. Warren, Capella University; Michelle R. Cox, Azusa Pacific University;
Nancy H. Barry, Auburn University, and Phyllis Burger, Concordia University St.
Paul. The authors would also like to thank Dr. Matthew Giblin of the University
of Southern Illinois, Carbondale for his helpful editorial comments.
Errors and omissions, of course, remain our responsibility.
Jose L. Galvan
Professor Emeritus
California State University, Los Angeles
Melisa C. Galvan
Assistant Professor
California State University, Northridge
Notes
1
2
Galvan, Jose L. (2012). Writing literature reviews: A guide for students of the social and
behavioral sciences. Complex Chinese Edition. Taipei, Taiwan: Psychological Publishing Co.
Kamhi-Stein, L. D. (1997). Redesigning the writing assignment in general education
courses. College ESL, 7, 49?61.
xix
PART I
Managing the Literature Search
1
Chapter 1
Writing Reviews of Academic Literature: An Overview
This book is a guide to the specialized requirements of writing a literature review
for the social and behavioral sciences. In using this book, you will learn how to
write a review of the literature using primary (original) sources of information. Five
different types of sources are discussed here. By far, the most common primary
sources are (1) reports of empirical research published in academic journals. The
first sub-heading in the section that follows refers to this type of source. It is followed
by brief descriptions of four other types of material found in journals: (2) theoretical
articles, (3) literature review articles, (4) anecdotal reports, and (5) reports on
professional practices and standards. The second major section of this chapter
consists of an overview of the writing process that you will use as you prepare your
review, and it mirrors the organization of the book into its four main parts.
An Introduction to Reviewing Primary Sources
Empirical Research Reports
The focus of this book is on original reports of research found in academic journals.
We say they are original because they are the first published accounts of particular
sets of research findings. As such, they are considered primary sources of information,
detailing the methodology used in the research and in-depth descriptions and
discussions of the findings. In contrast, research summaries reported in textbooks,
popular magazines, and newspapers, as well as on television and radio, are usually
secondary sources, which typically provide only global descriptions of results with few
details of the methodology used to obtain them. Furthermore, secondary sources
are often incomplete, sometimes inaccurate, and their purpose tends to be more
to garner casual readers? interest than to engage scholars? consideration and scrutiny.
As scholars, you will want to emphasize primary sources when you review the
literature on a particular topic. In fact, your instructor may require you to cite
primary sources exclusively in your written reviews of literature.
3
Part I: Managing the Literature Search
Journals in the social and behavioral sciences abound with original reports of
empirical research. The term empirical refers to observation, while the term empirical
research refers to systematic observation. Research is systematic when researchers plan
whom to observe, what characteristics to observe, how to observe, and so on. While
empirical research is the foundation of any science, one could reasonably argue that
all empirical research is inherently flawed. Hence, the results obtained through
research should be interpreted with caution. For instance, the following is a list of
three major issues that arise in almost all empirical studies and the problems they
pose for reviewers of research.
n
Issue 1: Sampling. Most researchers study only a sample of individuals and infer
that the results apply to some larger group (often called the population).
Furthermore, most researchers use samples with some kind of bias that makes
them unrepresentative of the population of interest. For instance, suppose a
professor conducted research using only students in his or her introductory
psychology class, or suppose a researcher mailed a questionnaire and obtained
only a 40 percent return from recipients. Clearly, these samples may or may
not be representative of the population of interest. In the first instance, the
professor may be interested only in describing the behaviors of students in his
class; but if his interest is in generalizing to a wider population the limitations
of his population need to be noted.
Problem: A reviewer needs to consider the possibility of errors in sampling when
interpreting