Positioning yourself in relation to previous research How to decide what's in and what's out? This is always a hard question - you need to work on developing your own principles for the bodies of literature - and the scholars - you end up including in the literature review and those you exclude. Kamler and Thomson have a suggestion. They say to try thinking of the literature review as like a dinner party. You are the host, and you decide who comes and who sits where, depending on how much they can contribute to the conversation about your topic. Don't forget that you are the boss: if someone's talk becomes irrelevant, throw them...

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Planning the review Here are some questions you need to ask yourself when you are planning and drafting your Literature Review: What has been done in your field of research? What principles of selection are you going to use? How are you going to order your discussion? Chronological, thematic, conceptual, methodological or combination? What section headings will you use? How do the various studies relate to each other? What precise contribution do they make to the field? What are their limitations? How does your own research fit into what has already been done? Adapted from Literature Review Guide, Gail Craswell, ANU. Try to think...

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What are the examiners looking for in the literature review? (See also What PhD thesis examiners expect.) A review of the literature should: set up a theoretical framework for your research show your reader that you have a clear understanding of the key concepts/ideas/studies/ models related to your topic demonstrate that you know about the history of your research area and any related controversies. In addition, it can: discuss these ideas in a context appropriate for your own investigation evaluate the work of others clarify important definitions/terminology show how your work will fill the research 'space' or gap which you have identified...

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Review the literature Why do you need to review the literature for your thesis or project? A review of the literature has the following functions: to justify your choice of research question, theoretical or conceptual framework and method to establish the importance of the topic to provide background information needed to understand the study to show readers you are familiar with significant and/or up-to-date research relevant to the topic to establish your study as one link in a chain of research that is developing knowledge in your field. The review traditionally provides an historical overview of the theory and the research literature,...

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Discuss your methodology What you need to discuss In a thesis you are setting out an argument based on evidence. This evidence may have many different forms and be gathered or selected by many different methods, according to the discipline and field of inquiry. However, every thesis needs to answer these questions: "How did you do your research?" "Why did you do it that way?" This covers not only the methods used to collect and analyse data, but also the theoretical framework that informs both the choice of methods and the approach to interpreting the data, and relates all of these explicitly to the research question(s) addressed...

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Introduce your thesis Chapter One is important! Your first chapter is extremely important because it sets the scene and the tone for the thesis. It is your first real opportunity to highlight the importance and value of your work and to contextualise it, all in a well-written, clear and interesting manner. This is the first impression that the reader or your examiner will get. It will give an indication of the writing style, the depth of research and content, structure, language and complexity. Examiners indicate that they pay considerable attention to the first chapter, which creates a strong initial indication as to the standard...

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