Home page of the University of the West of England, Bristol Search | Site admin

Reviewing the Literature Topic

Reviewing the literature is a major part of any research process. It is important for many reasons, including finding the basis for your research, checking the current knowledge and thinking in your subject area and demonstrating that you can find, read and synthesise a range of literature in your subject domain. As you create your literature review, you will also be building your skills in literature sourcing, retrieval and management, i.e. effective reading, synthesis, rationale-building, organisation and writing. As you study the learning units in this topic you need to consider how you will locate the relevant literature, read and synthesise what it contains, identify gaps, manage your bibliography, and develop your argument / rationale / research questions.
Reviewing the literature > Evaluating the literature > Style, use of language and organisation

Style, use of language and organisation

magnified textDo you like the way that the information is written? Is it easy to read and clearly explained? We all respond differently to different styles of writing. If you are finding the style or use of language of a particular source difficult, then ask yourself if you really need to use it? How unique is it? Can you get the same information elsewhere? Has a review been written about the source or has the source been commented on elsewhere?

As a measure of how well the source has been written, you may also like to consider it's organisation:

  • Is the information well organised with good use of headings and sub-headings (Rumsey 2004)?
  • Are the title and any subheadings meaningful and do they reflect the content?
  • Does the source contain what the author claims it will in the introduction, preface or synopsis?
  • Do any diagrams / images / data enhance the text? Do the legends provide sufficient explanation of any figures used?
  • Is any complex jargon clearly explained (Greetham 2001)?
  • Is the meaning clear and unambiguous?
Name:
Comment:

Add a comment:

Note: All comments are subject to moderation and will be displayed once approved by the site administrator.

Your name:

Your comment: