Task: Read the following two articles on conducting literature reviews:

Iain McMenamin, Teaching Students to Review the Literature, Political Science and Politics, Vol. 39, No. 1 (Jan., 2006), pp. 133-135
Jeffrey W. Knopf , ‘Doing a Literature Review’, Political Science and Politics, Vol. 39, No. 1 (Jan., 2006)

Respond: 1: In no more than 275 words, summarise the main points of McMenamin’s article. Post your summary in the forum. Compare your summary to those of others, and post a comment reflecting on the differences between the summaries.

2: Focus on Knopf’s article: a) Summarise in bullet point form the questions that a good literature review should ask, according to Knopf.; b) explain the difference between a literature review and an annotated bibliography (concentrating on the issue of critical synthesis). Post your answers to the forum and comment on the answers provided by others.

Outcomes: To be able to distinguish the qualities of a good literature review from other summaries of existing literature.

To begin to reflect on the value of a literature review to your dissertation research.