This guide provides the library resources to support your Assessment One: Research Proposal with a brief literature review.
Before you start, it is strongly recommended that you:
Helpful Libguide resources for this assessment include:
A literature review is a critical and in depth evaluation of previous research on a topic. Through your literature review, you can find what research, knowledge and practice have been developed in the area; the strength or weakness and the trends or gaps of the research; and how the research is closely related to your project.
Watch the video by Krueger Library WSU below on what is a literature review.
The Library Literature Review Guide is an introduction to the Literature Review process. It covers:
Click the following image to visit the Literature Review Guide.
Before you start looking for information for your assignment, it is important to analyse your topic and plan for your research. Think about:
Identifying key concepts or keywords in your assignment will help you to locate relevant information more effectively. Also think about similar concepts and alternative terms e.g. sport OR exercise, aboriginal OR indigenous.
These key concepts and keywords will form the basis of your search strategy.
Watch the video below on topic analysis. What are your key concepts and keywords?
Once you have identified the keywords included in your assignment question, you can think about how to use these keywords to conduct your search.
Using appropriate search techniques such as Boolean Operators, phrase search, and truncation can make your search more effective.
Watch the video below and try the Library Search to find books and articles
Information or literature can be found in a variety of sources such as Library Search, Databases, and on the Internet.
Library journal databases are collections of journal articles. You can find the best databases for your topic on the Subject Resource Guides to
Exercise & Sport Science and Food Science.
Not sure how to use them? Watch the following videos and try your search in
Medline 1946- (OVID) and Embase (OVID) and PsycINFO (OVID)
Snowball search is a search method that uses a key document on your topic as a starting point to find more other relevant publications by tracking down the citations.
Watch the video below and try a snowball search in Google Scholar on your key article. See the following for examples.
Christopher Neuhaus: Snowball Forward - Finding Related Articles
Watch the following video on evaluating your sources with the TRAAP method.
A literature review requires searching multiple resources on your topic. A good way to manage all your search results is to use a Citation Management Tool.
The library supports the use of EndNote for you to save, manage, and review the literature you have found for your literature review. EndNote can also create in-text citations and bibliography in Word automatically for you.
From the library EndNote Guide, you can:
For a quick overview, watch the following video on how to use EndNote.
For Windows Users
For Mac Users
The Library has created style guides for most referencing styles used at UON including APA 7th.
References
Denicolo, P., & Becker, L. (2012). Developing research proposals. SAGE Publications. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781526402226
Denscombe, M. (2012). Research proposals: A practical guide. Open University Press. [see catalog record here]
Kumar, R. (2011). Research methodology: A step-by-step guide for beginners (3rd ed.). SAGE Publications. [see catalog record here]
Open University. (2008). Sample Research Proposals. https://fass.open.ac.uk/sites/fass.open.ac.uk/files/files/research/sample-research-proposal.pdf
Terrell, S. R. (2015). Writing a proposal for your dissertation: Guidelines and examples. Guilford Publications. [see catalog record here]
University of Melbourne. (n.d.). Writing a research proposal. https://students.unimelb.edu.au/academic-skills/explore-our-resources/graduate-research/writing-a-research-proposal
Walshaw, M. (2015). Planning your postgraduate research. Palgrave Macmillan.
York St John University. (2021). Examples of research proposals. https://www.yorksj.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/research/apply/examples-of-research-proposals/
You won’t be able to read everything on your topic and you don’t need to read a source from cover to cover, you need to read effectively.
Watch the video below on reading and note making for your literature review
Writing your report is an ongoing process of writing and re-writing. See the UON Academic Support Team’s Guide to Report Writing for detailed instructions on report writing, and always follow your lecturer’s instructions for what elements you are required to include.
For group presentation, see the Group Work and Presentation Skills Guide.
Watch the video below on Report Writing. Contact academic support for more help.
A literature review in essay format should include an introduction, body, and conclusion.
Watch the following video (17 min) on how to write a literature review.
David Taylor: How to Write a Literature Review in 30 Minutes or Less