Geology & Environmental Earth Science: Writing & Citing
Literature Reviews
Literature reviews are a fundamental component of any research project. The document here is a guide on conducting a literature review.
Writing the Literature Review by
This accessible text provides a roadmap for producing a high-quality literature review--an integral part of a successful thesis, dissertation, term paper, or grant proposal. Each step of searching for, evaluating, analyzing, and synthesizing prior studies is clearly explained and accompanied by user-friendly suggestions, organizational tips, vignettes, and examples of student work. Also featured are excerpts from peer-reviewed quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods articles. This is the first book to focus on crafting different types of reviews (systematic, traditional-narrative, or hermeneutic-phenomenological) that reflect the writer's research question, methodological choices, and approaches to knowledge. It describes what all reviews have in common and highlights distinct characteristics of each type. The book includes dos and don'ts for evaluating studies and constructing an argument, and software suggestions for locating, organizing, and arranging sources. Pedagogical Features *Checklists and "To Do" activities that break down key steps to take. *Boxed examples, graphics that organize and visually illustrate key concepts, and summary tables. *Group activities that invite students to further explore and apply the methods discussed in each chapter. *Detailed directions for using four different organizing strategies: synthesis matrix, summary table, mapping, and topic outline. *End-of-chapter summaries and "What's Next" sections. *Assessment matrices for reviewing and refining the completed literature review.
Call Number: e-bookISBN: 9781462536917Publication Date: 2018
Citation Styles
- Citation Resources Guide | Science CitationsIn the sciences, there are fewer standard styles. Often different publishers will have different styles, and there may not be one standard for each discipline. This is a link to our central citation guide for the sciences.
Help Centers
- Howe Writing CenterLocated in King Library, the main writing center is available to help students with their writing in a variety of contexts and genres.
- English Language Learner Writing CenterThe mission of the English Language Learner Writing Center is to provide one-on-one consulting to Miami multilingual student writers.
Citation Management Tools
Free, easy-to-use software to help you collect, organize, cite, and share bibliographic information. Download it on your computer and install a browser plugin so you can quickly add citations to your account.
- Citation Managers GuideMore information on citation managers from MU Libraries.
- MendeleyFree software from Elsevier. Plugins for MS Word, but not GoogleDocs.
- ZoteroOpen source software. Plugins for MS Word and GoogleDocs.
