Transcript Avoiding Libraries - University of Portland

Literature and the Library
Plus an exciting section on actually
writing lit reviews
Why Do This?
• Well, it will make your work on your project
incredibly easier if you have these skills.
• Library skills are content dependent.
• Life is too short to be spending your time
unproductively.
• The ability to find literature is a moving target.
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Today
(and not necessarily in this order)
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Literature reviews in your research report
Finding literature
Judging the good, the bad, and the ugly
Being efficient
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Doing a Literature Review
• Step 1: Pin a poster of your problem statement up
over your computer.
• Step 2: Make an outline based on the problem
statement. Nothing else.
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Doing a Literature Review
• Step 1: Pin a poster of your problem statement
up over your computer.
• Step 2: Make an outline based on the problem
statement. Nothing else.
• Step 3: Go find literature.
• Step 4: Write short reviews of everything you
read. Ok, you won’t do this but it is a good idea.
• Step 5: Organize your chapter based on the
outline.
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Doing a Literature Review
• Step 1: Pin a poster of your problem statement
up over your computer.
• Step 2: Make an outline based on the problem
statement. Nothing else.
• Step 3: Go find literature.
• Step 4: Write short reviews of everything you
read. Ok, you won’t do this but it is a good idea.
• Step 5: Organize your chapter based on the
outline.
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Library Research
• Library research is best done with a Guinness
and a bag of Ruffle’s sour cream and onion
potato chips.
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What sources do you need?
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Newspapers and slick publications (Very weak)
Practitioner Journals (Weak)
Policy-Based Journals (Weak but better)
Research-Based Journals (Best)
Books (Possibly good)
– Single author
– Edited
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What about the web?
• Internet access to material on the previous list
– In general, use the print reference
• Electronic journals
• Organizational reports
• Everything else
– The 99.99% rule
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How recent
do your sources need to be?
• Well, that depends
• The cycle of publication
– Books
– Journals
– Conferences
• Theoretical Frameworks
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What is a bad reference?
• Anything that is not related to your problem
statement.
• Anything that is so old that you know more
current work has replaced it.
– If a theoretical framework has been replaced you
chose the wrong framework
• Work that doesn’t itself have a research base.
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Primary vs. Secondary
• A primary source is a report of research in
which the author has gathered and analyzed
data.
• A secondary source is a report in which an
author is reporting on other people’s primary
research. (Like your lit review)
• Be cautious of (but still use) secondary sources.
• Books are often secondary sources.
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What Does Peer-Reviewed Mean?
• You want to publish an article.
• A peer is someone who either knows about your
topic or knows how research should be done on
your topic—preferably both.
• Peer-reviewed means that your article is more
credible because people who should know what
they are talking about have said it is worthy.
• Some journals are better at peer-review than
others.
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Some Thoughts About Higher Ed
• Professors tend to write about the same or
similar topics throughout their careers.
– Search by author
• In R1s, professors may lead teams of
researchers who are graduate students.
– Search by all the authors
• The tenure process is responsible for the
production of a great deal of inferior research.
– Be critical but not in public
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Finding Journals
• Look in the reference list of ANY article
related to your topic.
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Reference List
Colley, K. M. (1999). Coming to know a school culture. (Unpublished doctoral
dissertation). Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University,
Blacksburg, VA.
DeBruyne, J. W. (2001). A study to identify the factors responsible for job
dissatisfaction and low teacher morale. Research paper. University of
Wisconsin-Stout, Menomonie, WI.
Hinde, E. R. (2004). School culture and change: An examination of the effects
of school culture on the process of change. Essays in Education, 12.
Jarzabkowski, L. M. (2002). The social dimensions of teacher collegiality.
Journal of Educational Enquiry, 3(2), 1-20.
Mackenzie, N. (2007). Teacher morale: More complex than we think?
Australian Educational Researcher, 34(1), 89-104.
Stolp, S. (1994). Leadership for school culture. ERIC Digest, 91, 1995-1991.
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Finding Journals
• Look in the reference list of ANY article
related to your topic.
• Use Summit
– Go to library.up.edu (and bookmark the site)
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Finding Journals—On the Library Page
• You would think you would go to
Journals@UP, but no.
• Click on “UP Library Search.”
• At the top of the screen, enter your search
terms and type the word “periodicals” at the
end.
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Finding Journals
• Look in the reference list of ANY article
related to your topic.
• Use Summit
– Go to library.up.edu (and bookmark the site)
• Look for journals that are likely to have
extensive lit reviews
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Before we do that … a brief trip
into EBSCO
• Diversity of access
• Knowing the interface
• Keywords
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Literature Review Journals
• Handbook of Research On … (sorry, you have
to go to the library)
• American Educational Research Journal
• Review of Educational Research
• Journal of Educational Research
• Use the search term “meta-analysis”
• Dissertations
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Other Good Starting Places
• ERIC Digests
– ERIC under Library Databases
– Go to: http://eric.ed.gov
• A few words about ERIC
• E-Journals
– NewJour (Go here at your own peril)
– http://www.library.georgetown.edu/newjour/front
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American Educational Research
Association (AERA)
• The largest educational research organization
on the planet
• The annual conference has 10 to 15 thousand
participants
• Think about the cycle of publication for
researchers
• www.aera.net
Meetings and Events/Previous Annual
Meetings/Year/Online Searchable Program
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American Educational Research
Association (AERA)
• And, at long last…!
• The Online Paper Repository
• http://www.aera.net/Publications/tabid/10067/Defa
ult.aspx
• A growingly complete repository for all of the
papers presented
• Requires establishing a graduate student account
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Google Scholar
• WorldCat
• Setting up preferences
• Search results
– Recent Articles
– Direct Link
– All versions
– Citations
– Related articles
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Finding Literature
How to start
• Make An Outline!
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Making an Outline
• Look at the problem statement you have pinned over
your computer. What is the central concept you are
investigating?
– Impact of iPads in middle school math
• What are major related ideas that may inform your topic?
– iPads in math instruction; iPad use anywhere; technology use in
math instruction; technology use in middle school; middle
school math instruction.
• Allow this list to change, if it needs to, as you read more
about your topic.
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Bouncing outward
• When you are not finding what you need, look
to larger but related areas.
iPads in middle school math
technology in middle school math
technology in schools
technology and learning
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Frustration and Nuance
• Thinking about less traditional paths to information
– The journals themselves
– Personal web pages
• Asking the right people
• Searching outside of databases
• Know from the beginning how you save documents
– Copies
– Quotations
– References
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Reference Extractions
• First and foremost
– get good at typing references cold
• Look for citation links
– database services (EBSCO—not ERIC)
– Google Scholar
• RefWorks (owned by UP)
• Commercial reference software (e.g., EndNote)
• Zotero
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Literature Reviews
Literature Reviews
A literature review is a synthesis of the literature
on a topic. To create the synthesis, one must first
interpret and evaluate individual pieces of
literature. Then, the ideas and information they
contain must be integrated and restated in order
to create a new, original written work.
(Pan, 2004)
Why Do Literature Reviews
• You get really tired of listening to people say
stuff that they are clearly making up.
Why Researchers Do Literature Reviews
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Demonstrate knowledge of the field
Justify the reason for the research
Establish a theoretical foundation
Establish a methodological rationale
Provide a basis for reflection on the
importance of findings
Rarely will you read top to bottom
• Think about what you need from the article:
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Something from the references
Establish relevance
Methodology
Results
Theoretical construct
• Read for the quality of the study
• Carefully read complete articles that have risen
to the top
How to Write a Lit Review
• Open with the outline.
• Within each of the elements of your outline sort
by themes and describe the findings by theme.
– This is usually different interpretations or conflicting
interpretations of related issues.
• Do this for each element of your outline.
• Write a summary paragraph that highlights the
major points that you want the readers to
remember as they read more about you project.
– This isn’t the place to write about what you will find.
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APA Manual
• Section 2.05
• Describe relevant scholarship
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A Brief Word About Direct Quotations
• Don’t
• “Direct quotations are best avoided whenever
possible. Using your own words by
paraphrasing will better demonstrate your
understanding and will allow you to emphasize
the ways in which the ideas contribute to your
paper’s main argument.” (Walden U. Online Writing Center)
• Continuity, Smoothness, Economy, Clarity
(Sections 3.05 – 3.09)
What To Avoid
• Discussion of literature outside of your outline
• Making statements that are not linked to
specific literature
• Long lists of nonspecific references
– Cooperative learning is good (Carroll, 1996; Johnson &
Johnson, 1972; Slavin, 1980; Waggoner, 2001)
• Using the phrase “no studies were found”
• Citing the same study too frequently
Co-teaching is two or more teachers working together with the same students
in the same space. When this works well the achieved outcome is greater than
either could have achieved alone (Wenzlaff, et al., 2002). The interest in coteaching has been growing for both researchers and teacher educators
(Bacharach, Heck, & Dank, 2003; Heck, et al., 2006; Perl, Maughmer, &
McQueen, 1999).
Various authors (Bacharach, Heck, & Dank, 2003; Heck, et al., 2006; Perl,
Maughmer, & McQueen, 1999) have identified that co-teaching during the
student teaching experience has been given increased attention among both
researchers and teacher educators. Cook and Friend (1995) define co-teaching
as two or more professionals delivering instruction to a group of students in a
single physical space. Wenzlaff, et al. (2002) have extended this definition to
emphasize that co-teaching is “a collaborative relationship for the purpose of
shared work…for the outcome of achieving what none could have done alone”
(p. 14).
Lit Reviews
• Not today but …
• When you are getting deeper into your topic,
come back and think about the above
suggestions for writing.
• A lit review is not a perfunctory assignment. It
is a primary skill that all researchers must be
able to apply in varying contexts for varying
purposes—over and over again.