Thesis

Table of Contents

1. Literature Review  2. Methods for Secondary Research  3. Searching  4. Research Question  5. Worksheet

Introduction

This guide accompanies an in-class workshop about starting a literature review for your thesis.

OBJECTIVE: draft a working plan for your literature review.

1. Literature Review

THE PRODUCT: A literature review is a survey of research about a particular topic.

• It's specific - focuses on a well-defined research question.
• It's selective - includes a curated selection of research.
• It's a synthesis - brings together discussions from across the research.
• It's a starting point - identifies where your research fits into the picture.
• It shows accountability - demonstrates how you're tuning-in to others' work and voices responsibly.

The Gray Test

2. Methods for Secondary Research

THE PROCESS: Literature review is a type of secondary research. There are different ways to review literature. Your methods need to fit your goals for the project at hand.

• Secondary research = how you identify and work with existing research. 
• Methods for secondary research = the strategies, processes, or techniques you use to identify and work with existing research.

Question: Where do you tend to search for peer-reviewed articles?

Example of Methods for Secondary Research

• Systematic review = identifying, appraising, and synthesizing ALL existing evidence to answer a specific question.
  • Researchers develop, document, and report their methods for secondary research.
    • E.g. "Music Interventions for Improving Psychological and Physical Outcomes in People with Cancer" (see Search methods for identification of studies, pp. 8-9).

Specific Goals for a Research Paper or Thesis

3. Searching

PART I: GETTING STARTED

a. Article Databases

There is a list of databases relevant to Kinesiology & Physical Education. Choose databases to search for your topic based on the descriptions.

• Limit results to peer-reviewed.
• Discover key articles.
• Recognize key scholars.
• Avoid missing important results.
• Cut out irrelevant results.

Question: What's a topic you're currently researching? Let's choose some databases.

b. Keywords

What are the major concepts in your topic? What are some synonyms or alternate terms you can use? 

• Consider the terms typically used in research literature.
• Google "synonyms for ..."
• If you have an on-topic article, see what terms get used in the title/abstract.

c. Field Searching

• Use the drop-down beside a search box to find terms in specific areas of results. Codes beside each field tell the database where to search for a term.

Example: TI walking AND TI elderly in SPORTDiscus (all results will have these terms in titles).

d. Limits

• You can limit results to peer-reviewed or scholarly.
• A date limit is also sometimes useful.

e. Preliminary Searching

• Before brainstorming a research question, it's helpful to learn a bit about your topic.
  • Do some preliminary database searching: what questions are researchers are asking?
    • From your search results, read just article titles and abstracts where the titles sound interesting.

Example: handedness AND sport* in SPORTDiscus

PART II: SEARCH LIKE A PRO

a. Search Tactics

Try using some of the following database search tactics to get better results.

b. Subjects

• These are controlled terms from a database thesaurus that are assigned to articles.
• Databases have different thesauri, which affects the subjects you use.

Example: MESH.EXACT("Health Services for Transgender Persons") in MEDLINE

Example: (MH "Transgender Persons+") in CINAHL

Question! What is the CINAHL subject for teenager?

4. Research Question

Question Frameworks

• A well-defined research question gives direction to your searching.
• Frameworks can give guidance about what to include.
• Pick any elements from the frameworks below that work for your topic.

Developing a Research Question

5. Worksheet