Dear
Master’s Programs student:
This
week the Master’s Programs Office is hosting its Literature Review seminar (see
the bottom of this entry for more details).
To whet your appetite for this extracurricular offering, I’ve listed a
few of the tips about which we’ll talk.
•
Ask your instructor to suggest a model literature
review. This can be a great starting place to give
you some ideas on how to organize your own review. It may also provide you foundational articles
to start your research process.
•
Make friends with the USC librarians. Jade Winn,
the USC social sciences librarian, is a phenomenal resource for researching in
the field of education. If you’re not
sure exactly where to start, contact her for suggestions: jadewinn@usc.edu
•
Make a timeline
for yourself, and stay on track.
It’s easy to procrastinate on a long-range assignment like a lit
review. By making a schedule, you’ll be
sure to set enough time for each step in the research process.
•
Keep clear
records of your searches and
your findings from the beginning. It takes a little more time in the beginning,
but when you get down to citations in your review, this actually saves you time
overall.
•
Remember that writing a literature review is a
recursive process.
As you read, you’ll refine your thoughts and assumptions; as you refine your
thoughts and assumptions, your research focus may shift. And as your focus shifts, you’ll modify your
search terms and readings—then the whole process starts over again!
For more tips,
come to one of our Literature Review seminars this week:
Tuesday,
February 12, 3-4pm in Leavey Library Auditorium.
Wednesday,
February 13, 3-4pm in Leavey Library Auditorium.
Hope to see
you there!
James
