So, You Have to Write a Literature Review

DR. CATHERINE BERDANIER is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Pennsylvania State University at University Park. She holds an M.S. in Aeronautical Engineering and a Ph.D. in Engineering Education from Purdue University. Her research focuses mainly on graduate-level engineering education with emphasis on engineering writing and communication, attrition, and persistence. Her research has been funded through multiple NSF awards. She is the Director of the Engineering Cognitive Research Laboratory (E-CRL), where she and her graduate students investigate questions concerning the human side of engineering through a variety of quantitative, qualitative, experimental, and analytical methods. DR. JOSHUA LENART is an Associate Instructor with the Communication, Leadership, Ethics, and Research (CLEAR) Program at the University of Utah where he also received his Ph.D. in Writing and Rhetoric Studies and now teaches technical communication for the College of Engineering. His teaching expertise includes administrative and organizational writing, grant writing, teambuilding, and strategic communications. His research expertise focuses on natural resource management policy as it relates to landscape-scale impacts on wildlife habitat, hydrologic systems, community resilience, adaptation planning, and long-term land use conservation. For the past five years, he has led various transdisciplinary research projects examining land, water, and wildlife resource management conflicts vis-à-vis policy, stakeholder input, feasibility and environmental impact assessment, and collective impact engagement.

• A Note from the Series Editor ixAbout the Authors xiiiAcknowledgments xvAbout the Book xviiHow to Use This Book xix1 Why Is Writing So Hard? 1Overcoming Barriers to Writing and Making Time to Write 11.1 Writing as a Cognitive, Social, and Affective Activity 21.2 Time Management, Self-Discipline, and the Writing/Research Timeline 41.3 Accountability Is an Essential Part of Writing 51.3.1 Shut Up & Write Groups 51.3.2 Accountability Partners 61.3.3 Schedule Your Writing in a Scientific Way 71.3.4 Deliberate and Distributed Practice 71.3.5 Bribery 8References 92 What Is the Point of a Literature Review, Anyway?! 112.1 The Literature Review Serves as an Argument to Establish a Gap in Prior Research 122.2 The Literature Review Establishes the Author’s Credibility 132.3 The Literature Review Prepares Readers to Interpret and Appreciate Your Findings 152.4 Envisioning Your Audience 152.5 Deliberate Language Choices Support the Functions of the Literature Review 16Reference 173 Gathering and Storing Literature 193.1 What to Cite? The Difference Between Types of Academic Publications 193.2 What NOT to Cite: Types of Documents to Avoid Citing 213.3 Searching for Literature 233.4 Saving and Storing Your Literature 233.5 Reference Managers 273.6 Your Turn: Collecting Literature 273.7 But How Many References Do I Need in My Literature Review?! 304 Reading Strategies and Remembering What You Read 334.1 Deciding Whether to Skim or Read 334.2 What Are You Focusing On? 344.3 Effective Methods for Skimming Literature 364.4 Reading Scholarly Literature 384.5 Taking Notes and Starting an Annotated Bibliography (or: Helping Your “Future Self”) 39References 425 Finding Connections Between Literature 435.1 Identifying Overarching Themes and Topics in Literature 445.2 Identifying “Synthesis” of Literature in Action 465.3 Drawing Connections Between Literature 485.4 Justifying “Gaps in the Literature” 496 Organizing Your Literature Review 536.1 Envisioning the Macrostructure of Your Literature Review 546.2 A Discussion on Topic Sentences: The First Sentence of the Paragraph 616.3 Creating a Macrostructure for Your Own Literature Review 617 Writing the “Ugly Draft” 657.1 Twelve Steps to Building Your Literature Review 657.2 Strategies to Help You Build and Sculpt Paragraphs: Introducing Rhetorical Moves and Steps in Genre Maps 697.3 If You Are Not into Outlines … Leverage Who You Are as a Writer to Get that Ugly Draft on Paper! 73References 738 Using Citations to Connect Ideas 758.1 The Proximity of the Citation to the Reference Carries Meaning 758.1.1 String Citations 768.1.2 Topic Citations 778.1.3 End-of-Sentence Citations 788.1.4 Direct Citation 798.2 Literature Occurs in the Past, but a Literature Synthesis Points to YOUR Future 818.3 The “Accordion Stage” of Writing a Literature Review Will Hone the Density of Citations and Conciseness 838.4 The Literature Review Is a Political Document 849 Revising the “BIG Four” Literature Review Faux Pas 879.1 Ineffective or Missing Topic Sentences 879.1.1 All Sentences That Follow the Topic or Umbrella Sentence Should Directly Support That First Sentence 889.1.2 There Is Rarely a Need to Directly Cite One Article or Author in the Topic Sentence 899.2 Fluffy Writing 919.3 Globalisms 919.4 Lack of Connection or Synthesis Between Topics or Articles 93Reference 9610 Am I Done Yet? 9710.1 Self-Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself 9711 Interpreting Advisor Feedback 10111.1 Conclusion: Our Wishes for You 10312 Theory Behind the Practice 105For Instructors and Advisors 10512.1 On Genre Studies and Moves-Steps Analysis 10612.2 On Technical Writing for Engineers 10912.3 On Writing Literature Reviews 11112.4 On Grammar Editing and Revision Strategies 11312.5 Last Thoughts 116References 116Index 119