Category Archives: literature themes

can you write too much about literatures?

Yes, yes, yes. Too much literatures is a Real Thing. Of course you have to write with, from and about literatures. You need to situate your work in a specific field, showing what texts you are drawing on and what … Continue reading

Posted in literature mapping, literature review, literature themes, literatures paper, revision, revision strategy | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

the wheel approach to literatures work

The “wheel” is one way to approach literatures work. The wheel brings different literatures together and helps you write about them. The wheel is not the only way to do complex literatures work. It’s A way. Think of the wheel … Continue reading

Posted in ABT, literature review, literature review structure, literature reviews, literature themes | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

finding debates and discussions in the literature

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 , , , , | 1 Comment

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

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 , , , , | 1 Comment

#litreview – getting to argument, part 2.

Writing about literatures doesn’t mean writing a summary of what you have read. You dont want a paragraph by paragraph laundry list of the texts you’ve been reading organised into a rough kind of order. Of course you write summaries … Continue reading

Posted in academic writing, argument, literature review, literature themes | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

#LitReview – Getting to structure, part one

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 , , , | 5 Comments

how to start your literature review

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 , | Leave a comment

orientations to reading – the literature as ‘resources’

Everyone knows that doing research means doing lots of reading. And that Reading leads to literature reviews which are crucial to research proposals, theses and papers. The most common way to think about working with the literatures is to use … Continue reading

Posted in academic writing, literature a resource, literature review, literature reviews, literature themes | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

working with literatures? take a hands on hips stance

Hand on hips. That’s the stance to take with literatures work. Hands on hips is a metaphor. Think about times when you have put your hands on your hips, stood back and looked at something. Your gaze is not neutral … Continue reading

Posted in hands on hips, literature mapping, literature review, literature reviews, literature themes | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

dealing with the space between literatures

Jackie Barker is a second year PhD student at the University of the West of England (UWE). Her research is on patient and public involvement (PPI) in a health network. She tweets as @opsologist or you can find her on … Continue reading

Posted in literature mapping, literature review, literature themes | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments