From a Class Paper to a Publishable Review

Abstract

One criticism of dissertations is that they often take a “listing” approach to reviewing the literature rather than synthesizing the research to produce a con- ceptual landscape of the fi eld. This chapter addresses the most common misconcep- tion about the work of reviewing: that a graduate student “already knows” how to do this by virtue of having written papers as class assignments. It begins with various purposes for literature reviews and distinctive types of reviews (e.g., integrative, systematic, meta-analytic, and qualitative/interpretive). It then examines a develop- mental sequence for reviewing and common characteristics of high-quality, publish- able literature reviews. A wide variety of activities are incorporated to build the writer’s confi dence and skill in reviewing the literature. This chapter takes the stance that, commencing with graduate studies, students should strive to generate a litera- ture review with publication potential. The chapter concludes with a type of litera- ture review that well-established scholars might pursue, the position paper