Reviewing the literature


respondent: ‘I’m not sure what you mean by “literature review” so I am going to translate it as “introductory chapter”’. Another advised against using the term, because ‘… it has the connotations of needing to be comprehensive. I don’t think that is right. To the contrary, it should be an introduction to the thesis. Maybe Scholarly Introduction is a better term.’ Such comments from biomedical scientists confirm Ridley’s claim (2012, p. 11) that Medicine is an example of a field where ‘the complete literature review may appear as part of the introduction’. A historian expressed quite vehement opinions: ‘I tell the students to “write it like a book”. Obviously, they have to read and understand – and show awareness of – the literature. But they do that through real scholarly processes. The “Lit Review” is an artificial exercise. If it were to become mandatory in my discipline, I would regard this as dumbing down. In view of the above, I see no need for a course in how to write a “Lit Review chapter”. A course in how to be a scholar, maybe.’ In view of such comments, the course title was changed from ‘Writing the Literature Review’ to ‘Reviewing the Literature’. We requested samples of PhD LRs deemed successful by respondents, but the only ones forthcoming were from Applied Linguistics and Education. This represented a clear limitation, in terms of both the research and the course design.


STUDENT VOICES We invited students from our 3rd


-year PhD


courses to participate in interviews, believing that they could bring a wealth of experience to their responses; eight volunteered. They represented four continents and (as with the supervisors) a range of disciplines: History


49


of Science, Applied Linguistics, Literature, Architecture, Medicine, Nursing Studies, Health Science and Environmental Sciences. Through the interviews, we sought to ascertain students’ understanding of the purpose of a LR, and of their supervisor’s and examiners’ expectations; what they considered to be the most difficult aspects of writing a LR; and what they would like included in a writing course dedicated to LRs. We focus on the last two questions, which probably had the greatest influence on our course design.


Regarding difficulties and challenges, some of the most common themes to emerge were the sheer amount of reading required, and the need to make decisions as to selection of sources to cite; the issue of how to organise their text according to principles (rather than just providing a list) and how to group arguments. The challenge of taking a critical approach, and expressing one’s own voice was cited by several, with some feeling that they were not ‘qualified’ to be critical. Language issues were described by one as ‘frustrating’, as students struggled to find the precise words to express their message; also problematic were differences in academic discourse from their home culture. When asked about the content of a course about reviewing literature, students asked for a focus on typical language used in a LR, e.g., common grammar and vocabulary, and a focus on organisation and structure. They emphasised the value of being given models and samples to analyse (some specified from their own field, others were not concerned), and having ‘space’ to draft sample LR extracts and receive feedback and guidance from the tutor. These suggestions mirrored and reinforced ideas we had already considered before embarking on our research, facilitating our design of


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