Lesson 8.4: Reviewing Literature and Synthesising Findings

Introduction

In this lesson, students will learn about the importance and process of conducting a literature review as part of their Extended Research Project. A literature review serves as a crucial method for mapping what is already known about a topic, thereby identifying gaps and informing the research question. This lesson aims to build students's understanding and skills in reviewing, synthesizing, and organizing literature related to their chosen research topic.

Learning Objectives

• Understand the purpose of a short literature review: mapping what is already known.
• Learn to read a body of sources for themes, agreements, and disagreements.
• Develop skills for synthesizing sources rather than summarizing them one by one.
• Identify gaps or questions that students's project addresses.
• Organize the review around themes or arguments.

Section 1: Purpose of a Literature Review

Literature reviews are foundational to any significant research project. They help to provide context and background, demonstrating what is already known and making the case for why your research question is relevant.

What is a Literature Review?

A literature review is a survey of scholarly sources related to a particular issue, area of research, or theory. This survey not only summarizes the existing findings but also analyzes and synthesizes them.

Example: Conducting a Literature Review

Consider a student interested in researching climate change impacts on agriculture. The literature review would involve:

1. Identifying Sources: Academic journals, books, conference papers, and reputable websites.
2. Reading: Understanding the main arguments and findings from the various sources.
3. Mapping Knowledge: Charting what is known about climate change and agriculture, focusing on different regions, crops, and methodologies.

Why is it Important?

1. Contextual Understanding: Provides background information that helps define the research problem.
2. Identifying Gaps: A good literature review highlights what has been studied and where gaps exist, effectively justifying the new research question.
3. Formulating Hypotheses: It can help in formulating research hypotheses based on what is known and unknown.

Section 2: Reading and Analyzing Sources

Once students has gathered a variety of sources, it's essential to read them critically. This involves not only understanding the content but also identifying themes and analyzing agreements and disagreements among the sources.

Themes, Agreements, and Disagreements

Identifying Themes

The first step in this process is to read through the material and identify recurring themes. For instance, the student researching climate change might discover themes like:

• Economic impacts of climate change on farming.
• Adaptation strategies being implemented by farmers.
• Policy responses to climate change.

Agreements and Disagreements

Understanding the consensus or lack thereof among sources is vital. For example:

• Source A might indicate that droughts have increased crop failure rates, whereas Source B argues that adaptation techniques have mitigated these effects.
• Recognizing and documenting these differences helps to cement students's argument and focus.

Example: Analyzing Literature

From the sources:

• Source A suggests a direct correlation between increased temperatures and crop yield reduction.
• Source B counters with evidence that suggests optimized irrigation can counteract these conditions.

This disagreement could lead students to explore the balance of climate change impacts versus adaptation in their research question.

Section 3: Synthesising Findings

Rather than summarizing each source individually, students should aim to synthesize information to demonstrate broad understanding and insights.

What is Synthesis?

Synthesis involves combining ideas and information from multiple sources to create a cohesive understanding. The goal is to weave together insights to form a narrative that reflects what is known about the research topic.

Example of Synthesis

Continuing with the previous example, students might summarize:

• While rising temperatures have been shown through multiple studies to threaten agricultural outputs, various adaptation techniques, documented in the literature, show promise in mitigating these effects. The interaction of these two aspects is a critical area that necessitates further research.

Tips for Effective Synthesis

1. Group Similar Elements: Organize sources based on shared perspectives or themes.
2. Create Narratives: Write cohesive paragraphs that transition smoothly from one idea to the next, inferring connections between the sources.
3. Use Comparative Language: Use phrases like "in contrast", "similarly", and "additionally" to frame comparisons and contrasts among sources.

Section 4: Identifying Gaps and Questions

Once students has mapped the existing research landscape through the literature review, the next step is to identify areas that require further investigation.

Finding Research Gaps

Through analysis, students will identify where the literature falls short. This might include:

• Limited studies focusing on a specific geographic region.
• Questions left unanswered by existing literature.
• Over-emphasis on certain crops while neglecting others.

Example: Defining Gaps

In the climate and agriculture example, students might find that while there is extensive research on wheat, there’s little on the impacts of climate change on rice crops specifically in Southeast Asia.

Formulating Research Questions

Based on identified gaps, students can now craft specific research questions that the project will address, such as:

• How are rice farmers in Southeast Asia adapting to climate change?
• What policies can better support these farmers?

Section 5: Organising the Review

Finally, students needs to organize the literature review which could be structured thematically, chronologically, or methodologically.

Thematic Organization

1. Introduction: Brief overview of the topic.
2. Theme 1: Discussion of economic impacts. (Summarizing findings under this theme)
3. Theme 2: Adaptation strategies (Summarizing findings under this theme)
4. Theme 3: Policy responses (Summarizing findings under this theme)
5. Conclusion: Highlight research gaps and future research directions.

Example of Organized Review

students can structure their literature review like so:

• Economic Impacts of Climate Change on Rice Production
• Review findings from sources discussing the financial strains caused by climate.
• Adaptation Techniques for Rice Farmers in Southeast Asia
• Synthesize findings on how local farmers are responding to climate variables.
• Current Policy Responses in Southeast Asia
• Explore how local and national policies are addressing these challenges.

Conclusion

By the end of this lesson, students should possess a well-rounded understanding of literature reviews and their significance in research. They will have learned to systematically read, analyze, and synthesize literature, thereby allowing them to make informed choices about their research question and direction.

Study Notes

• Literature reviews map existing knowledge.
• Identify main themes and disagreements in sources.
• Synthesis combines findings to create a cohesive narrative.
• Identify research gaps by analyzing existing literature.
• Organize findings thematically for clarity and impact.