Critical thinking and literature reviews

"Certainty junky" (Dr. Yanchar made this comment about those who use the words never and always)

Critical thinking:

1. Get in touch with your theoretical background (you may not be able to examine all of your values and assumptions). Do your best. Some of your assumptions may not have a examinable "why".
2. Support your arguments. An assertion is different from an argument. An assertion is an opinion that is not supported by evidence and a flow of logic. Burden of proof is on the author.
3. Clear continuity paragraph to paragraph.
4. Methodological details need to be examined.
5. Conclusions need to be examined. (Warranted, forced, viable, etc.)

Literature Review

Purpose of the literature review is to summarize and analyze literature using an narrative. It also helps establish relevance to the study being written. The theme should be progressive or advancing knowledge.

1. Identify the major topics and phenomena of interest.
2. Identify the positions, points of agreement and disagreement.
3. Identify what research suggests and the gaps.
4. Critical analysis and telling a story with a voice of your own. Draw a conclusion. Describe trends as you see it.

"Missing link" paragraph is the bridge from the literature review to the research hypotheses.

Find a literature review article on your topic to start.

Other things to consider:

1. Importance of history.
2. Capitalize on the tension of disagreements currently in the literature.
3. Literature review needs to be a scholarly guided argument (clears some space for your study).