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Here are some, Writing tips/guidelines you may need for your Literature Review

A literature review identifies the major source texts in your area and briefly summarises their arguments. It is a way of showing the ideas that already exist in areas that relate to your chosen topic. It also shows how those ideas can help you put your subject into a context, and show why it is a worthwhile academic investigation. Your dissertation will be anchored in these texts and the arguments they forward. The purpose of a literature review is to provide a critical and informed background for your thesis research.

You should have reference to at least four major texts in your literature review. Focus especially on relevant sections or chapters of the texts, or on a journal article that is germane to your thinking.. Use the identified texts to state your area of interest and, more specifically, to support your thesis statement. Don’t rely unquestioningly on points of view stated in books or articles; approach your source with healthy critical thinking. Just because they’ve been published doesn’t necessarily mean that they are the last word on the subject, or that the perspective they take suits your needs. Try to include both primary and secondary texts if appropriate. Though your works cited section may include a range of sources, the literature review should be resolutely analytical and academic. Things like instruction manuals, dictionaries, picture books and general information texts have no place in this aspect of your research.

The parts of a literature review is divided into small sections, each discussing a specific text or source, and each should show the intellectual territory of your topic area. Each section should summarise the content of the source, and then say why it is important in expanding your thinking on the subject area. If it is outside the subject area, or is a general source, show how it helps you unpack the significance of your idea.

These are literature review paragraphs from a former student’s thesis proposal. They are good examples for the sake of reference, though your own approach will be independent and will differ.

Paul Wells, The Animated Bestiary: Animals, Cartoons, and Culture (Rutgers University Press, New York) 2008

Wells specifically tackles the representation of animated animals. This text discusses the way in which we use animal stories as a vehicle for addressing taboo subjects that would be difficult to portray outright. Anthropomorphism and theriomorphism are also discussed, implying images of human-like animals to be caricatures of the human personality traits we apply to the animal. This text also directly contradicts Baker’s idea that the “disnification” of animals is inherently bad, or even that Disney misrepresents animals at all, instead calling attention to the careful nature with which Disney animators study their animal subjects in an attempt to portray their movements as close to reality as possible. I would contest the implication of that point being that their anatomy and locomotion being all that animal is, but it is an important point to make nonetheless when discussing Disney’s representation of animals. The text also touches on the very relevant topic of a view of nature as morally pure; the “natural order” being the epitome of morality, as well as the contrasting, Darwinian view of nature as a dangerous, bloody, and a “continual struggle”.

David Whitley, The Idea of Nature in Disney Animation (Ashgate, London) 2008

Whitley discusses Disney and Pixar films that portray wild nature such as Bambi, The Jungle Book and Finding Nemo. This text examines how Disney films have shaped our view of nature and also how the image of nature in the minds of the general public of the time is reflected in the studio’s older films. It challenges the notion that Disney’s sentimental portrayal of nature disconnects viewers from the real natural world. In regards to carnivores specifically, Whitley writes about the notable lack of predators in Bambi, which creates an idyllic and innocent version of the natural world, and how the visible presence of carnivores in Finding Nemo serves to create a threatening environment. This text will be valuable to my research as it examines Disney’s portrayals of wild nature in detail, which I believe predator/prey relationships are an integral part of. In the case of Bambi, it is more the lack of carnivores than the presence of them that outlines the film’s moral stance.

Jonathan Burt, Animals in Film (University of Chicago Press, Chicago) 2004

Burt discusses the effect animal images have. The text tackles how film has moulded our perceptions of animals, how those perceptions have affected animals. The text primarily explores ways to dissect the animal image in film. It focuses on the area of animal-human interaction as a result of the animal image. A large portion of the book seems to be about the development of film technology and animals’ role within that, which is not very helpful to me. However the rest of the book deals with film’s representation of animals and an in-depth discussion of animal images. In particular, the chapter entitled “Animal Life and Death” seems relevant, as it discusses how film brought to the public eye the reality of animal suffering and death, a phenomenon which, it could be argued, was combatted by Disney’s mostly serene depiction of animal life in Bambi.

If I were to offer feedback on the above, I’d have suggested a bit more depth in the analysis, but there are lots of things going right here. The writer demonstrates a clearly focused idea, and has chosen sources that will help frame and sharpen it. She is using clear but academic language and ideas to show her thinking on the topic thus far. The sources are compared to one another, and there is a critical, open-minded, questioning approach to the ideas offered in the texts. She has specific examples in mind, and uses them to tease out her ideas. I’d have suggested adding another source that might put the idea into a wider context, which is:

Graeme Burton, Media and Society : Critical Perspectives (2nd Edition), (Open University Press, London) 2010

Burton’s volume is an examination of the structures and impacts of media in the wider social realm, and therefore treats a broad range of ideas and modes of production. The most important parts of this book, for my purposes, are the summaries in the introduction. The introductory chapter sets out the key concepts in the construction of media texts, and shows how we interpret information from media sources. This process is both intensely private and highly public. The ways that carnivores are represented as figures in the media, or as media constructions, can influence how we understand them when represented in animated film. Our perceptions of carnivorous animals, especially wild predators, are largely formed by their representations in media. Therefore, it is crucial to understand how the process of media representation functions when looking at a specific figure in a highly mediated context.

I’d also have suggested adding a reference to a film studies source (for instance, Bordwell and Thompson, Film Art; An Introduction) for looking at the ways that the storytelling structures in film also have an effect on our reception of a specific type of character.

In summary:

The process of writing the literature review should aid you in focusing your idea, and in determining how much (or little) material might be out there in relation to your idea. It should make you focus, and should challenge you to show the skills in research and analysis that will set you off to a flying start in your thesis work.