EDC-G689 Teacher Research Prof. Sevian Notes from 9/17/07 (Updated after class based on work done during class)

How to Do a Literature Review 1. Identify the purpose of your literature review. What questions are you trying to answer? Examples: • How does the amount of science content knowledge a teacher has affect student learning? • What kinds of measures are typically used in evaluating the impact on students of afterschool programs? • What kinds of studies have been done on the differences between doing real dissections vs. animations, and how is student learning affected? • What comparison studies have been done on the main methods for teaching reading to non-native English speakers? 2. Identify likely sources of peer-reviewed papers related to your question. What are the top two or three journals? • • • •

Journal of Research in Science Teaching, International Journal of Science Education Education and Policy Archives Journal of Research on Technology in Education, Journal of Special Education Technology, Journal of Technology Education Journal of Research in Reading, IRA’s website

3. Do keyword searches of the journals using different combinations of keywords related to your question. (This is a trial and error process.) Useful keywords that you discovered work well: • “science content knowledge”, “student achievement” • “after school programs”, “informal education”, “program evaluation” • “simulation”, “multimedia”, “student achievement” • “literacy”, “teaching reading”, “bilingual” 4. When you get a list of papers as a result of one of your searches, do the following: a) Read the abstract. b) Decide whether the paper is relevant to your research question. c) If you decide it is relevant, print the abstract (or save it electronically by copying and pasting it into a document). d) If the paper is relevant, download the entire paper (usually a PDF document). e) Copy and paste the authors, title, citation into your working literature review document, or write down this information in your research notebook. 5. Once you have completed a review of the available papers, read each paper. Remember to look in the abstract first and figure out what parts of the paper are going to be most interesting to look at. Tables and graphs usually tell a story faster than text does. As you read a paper, jot down notes to yourself – in the margins of the paper, in your research notebook, in the document on your computer where you are compiling information, wherever works best for you. The connections your brain makes to your research ideas the first time you read a paper are some of the most creative ones you will have, so it’s important to get them recorded.