BA-M 803A: Transition from Literature Search to Literature Survey — Part I

Overview

In this course, you will be completing a series of exercises that will clarify your research topic or problem. The purpose is not to convince you to change your focus, but to clarify your arguments, identify your biases, and create a literature survey matrix that will maximize your successful review of literature. Without clarification, it is possible to become “stuck” in constantly searching the literature.

Only when you move to surveying the literature at a deeper level will your research arguments become stronger and support your choice of problem-based research topic. When you fully engage in the survey of literature will you refine your knowledge of the problem you are trying to solve.

This Research Skills Lab course will focus on four areas:

1. Refining research question(s) and creating an updated thesis statement.
2. The formulation of both simple and complex research arguments, to assess the strength of your research question(s).
3. Developing concept or mind maps to graphically detail both simple and complex arguments using the key descriptors of the research question(s) and thesis statement
4. Beginning the process of transitioning from the literature search (collecting, cataloging, and documenting data to determine salient works) to the literature survey (building the argument about the current knowledge of the research topic). This shift will thus place your DBA Project in the context of the pertinent literature.

Your faculty mentor will provide guidance and feedback to both the group as a whole, as well as provide individual guidance to each student. Journal writing and contributing weekly to the Abstract Wiki, along with ongoing peer review, are the central activities of the course. Thus, the course creates a broader learning community for sharing the daunting task of the review of literature process. Sharing bi-weekly updates between and among your fellow classmates — including new databases, new discoveries, and different organizational skills — allows everyone to maximize his/her time in pursuit of the review of literature.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate understanding the elements of a research literature review.
• Demonstrate your ability to assess each piece of the literature review and to choose pertinent sources reflective of research question(s) and thesis statement.
• Categorize levels of significance of the literature to your specific research question.

Required Texts
BA-M 803A texts are available from the JIU/MBS bookstore