For many PhD candidates, writing the literature review is a nightmare. How should I order the literature? How should I integrate it into my review? Why am I asked to write a literature review?
The task is even more challenging if the literature review is seen as an exhaustive catalogue of the existing literature - or as a patchwork of citations.
However, a literature review has a specific architecture.
When you understand the logic of this architecture, you understand the logic of
the literature review and ordering your ideas is not that challenging anymore:
you see the structure of your text.
However, if properly done, the literature review exercise is beneficial in many ways:
You get an overview of the current scientific issues in your field
You know how to select and order the literature
You find your position
in your scientific community
You know how to exploit others’ works to show the scientific necessity of your own research
Writing a good literature review is a matter of organisation.
This workshop aims to help you build your literature review. It is project-based: you work constantly on your own literature review, writing your text step by step.
You don't just learn what to do - you do it.
OBJECTIVES
This course helps you lay the foundation of your literature review. More concretely, it shows you how to...
Structure your literature review.
Write the main parts of your review.
Select the literature you need.
Exploit the scientific literature to write a good literature review.
Critically engage with the position of different authors.
Use the literature review to show the necessity of your own research.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of the course, you will have gone beyond the critical stage at the beginning - you will have started your literature review.
You know how to classify the relevant literature.
You know how to critically and analytically engage with the positions of others – and how to critically position your own work
You have elaborated your own writing strategy : you know writing techniques to generate and structure ideas
You know how to overcome writer’s block
You know how to organize your time in order to curb procrastination
You know writing tools you can apply for your other writing projects
You know how to use efficiently the time available for your writing projects
CONTENT
#Module 1 : How to prepare your literature review
The different objectives of a literature review
The basic architecture of a literature review
Take stock of your subject
Determine your target reader
#Module 2 : How to structure your literature review
Choose your focus
Visualize your outline for a good overview
Emphasize the logical progression of your thoughts
Create a thesis statement
#Module 3 : How to classify the literature
Order your literature with a synoptic table
Criteria for selecting the relevant literature
Be critical in the presentation of texts
Ask the right questions to map your sources
#Module 4 : How to move from the outline to the text
The dangerous method: wanting to write it right the first time
Strategies for writing quickly a first draft
Divide your text into structured paragraphs
Critically engage with the position of different authors
#Module 5 : How to emphasize the value of your literature review
Introductions: embed your review in its scientific context
Draw clear conclusions
Show the scientific stakes of your review
Three major mistakes to avoid
TEACHING METHOD
The writing workshop consists in:
Individual work: step by step, you elaborate your literature review.
At the end of the module 2, a 1:1 session with Martha to discuss your review project and optimise it.
TARGET AUDIENCE
This workshop is for you if….
You want to start to write your literature review during the workshop
You already know – at least partially - the literature on your topic
It is not for you if...
You have just started your thesis 3 months ago
You are not familiar yet with the scientific literature on your topic
I HAVE TRAINED THOUSANDS OF PhD STUDENTS IN SCIENTIFIC WRITING FOR 22 YEARS
Hello, I'm Martha Boeglin.
When I wanted to write my Philosophy thesis, I was paralyzed for months by the anguish of the blank page.
Discovering that this phenomenon affects every PhD student during writing, I became interested in the writing process.
I then made three major discoveries:
Blockages are normal.
There are numerous writing techniques to overcome them.
The better you organize your writing upfront, the smoother it will be – the opposite is also true: the less you organize upfront, the more obstacles and blockages you'll encounter.
Plus: fluid writing makes thought powerful.
My passion for creative writing techniques was born. With two consequences: first, once the blockages were cleared, I wrote my thesis in three months without further issues.
Then, with my PhD in hand, I created the Scriptoria writing workshops in 2002.
Their goal: Facilitate thesis writing and the publications needed to obtain a doctorate.
Since 2002, I have led hundreds of writing workshops and trained around 700 PhD students each year in scientific writing – that's more than 10,000 PhD students over 22 years.
In the last two years, I developed a new concept that allows building a quality article more effectively and painlessly.
PRICE
Participants of my other courses
get 50% off (contact me & remind me where we've met).
600€ TTC
ou 2x310 € ou 3x211 € TTC
Satisfied or Refunded" 30-day guarantee. If you apply the methods without making progress, I'll give you a full refund.
Access to the training
Once your purchase is finalized, you'll receive 2 emails:
One from Digistore24, the secure payment platform, with your invoice.
One from me, with your login credentials.
You'll then have access to the video training for 1 year.