英语论文文献综述

HowtoWriteaLiteratureReview?I.ThedefinitionofLiteratureReview文献综述（LiterautreReview）是科研论文中重要的文体之一。它以作者对各种文献资料的整理、归纳、分析和比较为基础，就某个专题的历史背景、前人的工作、研究现状、争论的焦点及发展前景等方面进行综合、总结和评论。通过阅读文献综述，科研工作者可花费较少的时间获得较多的关于某一专题系统而具体的信息，了解其研究现状、存在的问题和未来的发展方向。II.ThepurposesofliteraturereviewAndItsComponentsA.ThePurposesOntheonehand,ithelpsyoubroadentheviewandperspectiveofthetopicforyourgraduationthesis.Ontheotherhand,ithelpsyounarrowdownthetopicandarriveatafocusedresearchquestion.B.ItsComponentsTherearesixpartsinacompleteLiteratureReview.标题与作者(titleandauthor)摘要与关键词(abstractandkeywords)引言(introduction)述评(review)结论(conclusion)参考文献(references)III.ClassificationofSourceMaterialsHowcanwelocatethematerialsrelevanttoourtopicsbetterandfaster?Basically,allthesesourcematerialsmaybeclassifiedintofourmajorsofsources.A:Backgroundsources:Basicinformationwhichcanusuallybefoundindictionariesandencyclopediacompliedbymajorscholarsorfoundersofthefield.ThreeverygoodandcommonlyrecommencedencyclopediasareencyclopediasABC,namely,EncyclopediaAmericana,EncyclopediaBritannica,andCollier’sEncyclopedia.Therearealsoreferenceworksmorespecialized,suchasTheEncyclopediaofLanguageandLinguisticsforlinguisticsandTEFLstudies.Moreover,youmayalsofindEncyclopediaontheweb.B:PrimarysourcesThoseprovidingdirectevidence,suchasworksofscholarsofthefield,biographiesorautobiographies,memoirs,speeches,lectures,diaries,collectionofletters,interviews,casestudies,approaches,etc.Primarysourcescomeinvariousshapesandsizes,andoftenyouhavetodoalittlebitofresearchaboutthesourcetomakesureyouhavecorrectlyidentifiedit.Whenafirstsearchyieldstoofewresults,trysearchingbybroadertopic;whenasearchyieldstoomanyresults,refineyoursearchbynarrowingdownyoursearch.C:SecondarysourcesThoseprovidingindirectevidence,suchasresearcharticlesorpapers,bookreviews,assays,journalarticlesbyexpertsinagivenfield,studiesonauthorsorwritersandtheirworks,etc.Secondarysourceswillinformmostofyourwritingincollege.Youwilloftenbeaskedtoresearchyourtopicusingprimarysources,butsecondarysourceswilltellyouwhichprimarysourcesyoushoulduseandwillhelpyouinterpretthoseprimarysources.Tousethemewell,however,youneedtothinkcriticallythem.Therearetwopartsofasourcethatyouneedtoanalyze:thetextitselfandtheargumentwithinthetext.D:WebsourcesThesourcesorinformationfromwebsites.Webservesasanexcellentresourceforyourmaterials.However,youneedtoselectandevaluateWebsourceswithspecialcareforveryoftenWebsourceslackqualitycontrol.Youmaystartwithsearchengines,suchasGoogle,Yahoo,Ask,Excite,etc.It’sagoodideatotrymorethanonesearchengine,sinceeachlocatessourcesinitsownway.Whenusingwebsitesforinformation,besuretotakecarefortheauthorshipandsponsorship.Iftheyarebothunclear,becriticalwhenyouuseinformation.Thecurrencyofwebsiteinformationshouldalsobetakenintoaccount.Don’tusetoooutinformationdatedforyourpurpose.IV.MajorstrategiesofSelectingMaterialsforliteraturereviewA.ChoosingprimarysourcesratherthansecondarysourcesIfyouhavetwosources,oneofthemsummarizingorexplainingaworkandtheothertheworkitself,choosetheworkitself.Neverattempttowriteapaperonatopicwithoutreadingtheoriginalsource.B.ChoosingsourcesthatgiveavarietyofviewpointsonyourthesisRememberthatgoodargumentessaystakeintoaccountcounterarguments.Donotrejectasourcebecauseitmakesanargumentagainstyouthesis.C.ChoosingsourcesthatcoverthetopicindepthProbablymostbooksonCommunicativeLanguageTeachingmentionWilliamLittlewood,butifthisyourtopic,youwillfindthatfewsourcescoverthetopicindepth.Choosethose.D.ChoosingsourceswrittenbyacknowledgedexpertsIfyouhaveachoicebetweenanarticlewrittenbyafreelancejournalistonTask-basedTeachingandonewrittenbyarecognizedexpertlikeDavidNunan,Choosethearticlebytheexpert.E.ChoosingthemostcurrentsourcesIfyourtopicinvolvesacurrentissueorsocialproblemordevelopmentinascientificfield,itisessentialtofindthelatestpossibleinformation.Ifallthebooksonthesetopicsareratherold,youprobablyneedtolookforinformationinperiodicals.V.WritingaliteratureReviewA.Whenyoureviewrelatedliterature,themajorreviewfocusesshouldbe:1.Theprevailingandcurrenttheorieswhichunderlietheresearchproblem.2.Themaincontroversiesabouttheissue,andabouttheproblem.3.Themajorfindingsinthearea,bywhomandwhen.4.Thestudieswhichcanbeconsideredthebetterones,andwhy.5.Descriptionofthetypesofresearchstudieswhichcanprovidethebasisforthecurrenttheoriesandcontroversies.6.Criticismoftheworkinthearea.B.Whenyouwriteliteraturereview,thetwoprinciplestofolloware:1.Reviewthesourcesthataremostrelevanttoyourtoyourthesis.2.Describeorwriteyourreviewasclearandobjectiveasyoucan.C.Sometipsforwritingthereview:1.Definekeytermsorconceptsclearlyandrelevanttoyourtopic.2.Discusstheleast-relatedreferencestoyourquestionfirstandthemostrelatedreferenceslast.3.Concludeyourreviewwithabriefsummary.4.Startwritingyourreviewearly.VI.文献综述主要部分的细节性提示和注意事项主要部分细节提示：引言(Introduction)引言是文献综述正文的开始部分，主要包括两个内容：一是提出问题；二是介绍综述的范围和内容。提出问题时，作者要给出定义性解释、交代研究背景、简单介绍不同文献的看法和分歧所在并介绍该文献的写作目的；介绍该综述的范围和主要内容时，作者应使用简明扼要的语句加以概括。引言的内容和结构具有以下特点：（1）综述的引言通常包括定义性解释、研究背景、现存问题或分歧、综述的目的、内容和范围；（2）使用一般现在时介绍背景知识，使用现在完成时叙述他人成果，