Student Conceptions of Literature Reviews
Christine Bruce has described six generalised conceptions of literature reviews based on her research with many students. Read the following six conceptions. Which one/s are closest to your own?
As you read, please bear in mind that you should not think of individual students as having particular conceptions. Rather, they use one or more of the conceptions of which they are aware at a particular time. You might think of your job as a supervisor as helping them to expand their repertoire of conceptions and encouraging them to think about their literature review as more than an exercise in searching for references.
Literature review as a list
In this conception the literature is seen/ understood as a listing/ collection of items representing the literature of the subject. The focus is on discrete items, journal articles, books, newspapers which may include one or more elements of a bibliographic citation, a description of each item (critical or non-critical), relevant keywords and journals.
Typical student responses:
- a list of articles relevant to the topic being researched. This should be in the form of a bibliography
- comprehensive list of all the research literature
- concise summaries of the literature
- an exhaustive collection of literature. Each item on the list is discussed and evaluated
Literature review as a search
In this conception the literature review is seen/ understood as the process of identifying relevant information/ literature. The focus is on the act of finding or looking for literature which may involve going through a source of some kind (eg. journal article, technology) to identify useful information.
Typical student responses:
- exploration of relevant materials for relevant materials
- finding the maximum amount of relevant and up to date information, from as many sources as possible
- finding relevant literature/ abstracts/ keywords/ etc
- involves use of multiple searching techniques
Literature review as a survey
In this conception the literature review is seen/understood as an investigation of past and present writing or research in one or more areas of interest. Focus of the researcher is on the literature, the knowledge-base or discourse of the discipline(s) including research methodologies. This investigation of the literature may be active (critical/ analytical) or passive (noncritical/ descriptive).
Typical student responses:
- means a look across the past and current information
- a look at what else has been written about the subject
- a look at the literature on a particular subject
- examining current knowledge in a particular field
- a critical appraisal
Literature Review as a vehicle for learning
In this conception the literature review is seen/ understood as having an impact of the researcher. Focus is on the researcher and his/her gain in knowledge or understanding. There may be an element of using the literature review as a sounding board for checking ideas or testing personal perceptions.
Typical student responses:
- to check our own observations, to broaden our concepts, to obtain an historic perspective
- to obtain more knowledge regarding anatomy, physiology etc
- introduction to the subject area
- gaining an understanding of the theory behind the research
- to gain background information
- to understand the dimensions of a subject
- is an initial study of a topic, an attempt to familiarise myself with the basics and the authors
Literature review as a research facilitator
In this conception the literature review is seen/understood as relating specifically to his or her research being or about to be undertaken. Focus is on the researcher's work in one or more of its various stages, from identifying a topic, supporting a methodology, providing a context, to changing the direction of the research. The literature review is conceived as supporting, influencing, directing, shaping or changing the student's research.
Typical student responses:
- a dynamic process with feedback into the research project
- helps me find a suitable topic
- a lit review might change many of the researcher's original ideas and plans
- it is applying knowledge to my current research
- is part and parcel of the thought process to achieve the goal of the study
- is the backbone of the research and is ongoing throughout
Literature review as a report
In this conception the literature review is seen/understood as a written discussion of the literature drawing on investigations previously undertaken. Focus is on framing of a written discourse about the literature which may be established as a component part of the thesis or other research report.
Typical student responses:
- the writing of the literature review seems very daunting
- I understand the literature review to mean a report on two general areas of published literature - generalised background, more specialised lit