Category Archives: literature reviews

finding debates and discussions in the literature

Posted on April 25, 2022 by pat thomson

Working with literatures? One of the things you’re advised to do by people like me is to identify debates and discussions. That’s because you are very likely to want to contribute to a discussion. And to do this you will … Continue reading →

Posted in citations, debates in the field, literature mapping, literature review, literature reviews, literature themes | Tagged citations, debates, discussion and debates, Literatures, Pat Thomson | 1 Comment

what does ” connect your work to an ongoing conversation” mean?

Posted on March 14, 2022 by pat thomson

We often hear that writing about your research is, or ought to be, joining a conversation. Other people have discussed your topic before and your writing needs to connect with that conversation. And “the conversation” actually means the published literature. … Continue reading →

Posted in connecting, conversation, literature reviews, literature themes, literatures paper, meta discourse | Tagged connecting, literatures work, meta discourse, Pat Thomson, the conversation | Leave a comment

the disappearing writer – a redrafting strategy

Posted on November 15, 2021 by pat thomson

Academic writers often lose themselves when writing about literatures. It is easier to be textually confident when writing about what you did yourself than to summarise, synthesise and assess other people’s texts. Particularly if those texts are produced by more … Continue reading →

Posted in drafting, laundry list, literature review, literature reviews, revision, revision strategy, the disappearing writer | Tagged academic writing, commmunicating, laundry list, literatures work, Pat Thomson, revising, the disappearing writers | 1 Comment

“showing” and “telling” in the thesis

Posted on August 30, 2021 by pat thomson

The thesis must show and tell your examiner that its writer is ready to be called Dr. Yep. Dr (insert your surname here.) What do I mean by show and tell? Well, even if these are not the usual definitions, … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, audit trail, conclusion, introduction, literature reviews, methods, show and tell, thesis | Tagged academic writing, audit trail, conclusion, introduction, literature, methods, show and tell, thesis | 1 Comment

#litreview. Defining – It’s your ‘take’

Posted on September 28, 2020 by pat thomson

Most of us work in occupied research territories. Other researchers have been around at least some of the things that we are concerned with. Their work offers particular interpretations and perhaps ‘evidence’ that may – or may not – be … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, argument, definition, literature review, literature reviews | Tagged argument, definition, literature review, literature work, Pat Thomson | Leave a comment

#LitReview – Getting to structure, part one

Posted on September 7, 2020 by pat thomson

If you are about to start reading for your doctorate, or are already in the reading phase, then you know that you are reading in order to: refine your research question, locate your work in the field, identify your potential … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, literature review, literature review structure, literature reviews, literature themes | Tagged literature review, literature themes, literature work, Pat Thomson | 5 Comments

how to start your literature review

Posted on August 3, 2020 by pat thomson

Thinking of starting a doctorate? Already deep into PhDing and worried about the literature work? Well, when it comes to working with literatures, the old saying that there’s more than one way to skin a cat might be ugly, but … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, literature mapping, literature review, literature reviews, literature themes | Tagged literature review, Pat Thomson | Leave a comment

reading against the literatures – #litreview

Posted on June 15, 2020 by pat thomson

Advice on literature reviews pretty well always say something like – the literature review should say what’s already been said about your topic – or – you need to bring together the particular literatures that your study is going to … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, literature a resource, literature mapping, literature review, literature reviews | Tagged critical reading, literature review, Literatures, Pat Thomson | 10 Comments

I’m writing a journal article – what literatures do I choose?

Posted on January 27, 2020 by pat thomson

I’m often asked about the literatures sections of journal articles. Not your literatures based paper of course but your standard empirical paper. They only want a short section! I can’t cram everything I’ve read into a few paragraphs – how … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, journal article, literature review, literature reviews | Tagged academic writing, journal article, literature section, Pat Thomson | 3 Comments

getting to grips with new literatures

Posted on January 13, 2020 by pat thomson

Over time all researchers build a knowledge base about their key interests. A large part of this knowledge is a core set of literatures. They/we do need to keep up to date, but they/we can rely on – and use … Continue reading →