Title

Literature Review

Subject Area(s) & skills

International Business, Research skills, Literacy skills, Academic writing

Value

20%

Nature of Task

Students will complete a literature review for a particular research question in International Business.

Length &

Time allocation

Length of task – 4 weeks of facilitation, presentation of WIP (work-inprogress) plus independent research and academic writing. Formative feedback will be given to students as they progress through the task.

The task will run from October to November. Submission Date: Tuesday 10 November. 

Learning

Outcomes

• Identify and evaluate literature relevant to the chosen area; 
• Demonstrate and apply a critical understanding of the current thinking in the area;
• Write a critically focused literature review;  
• Master research and academic writing skills.

Description of task

This task requires students to work individually. 

A literature review is an evaluative report of studies found in the literature related to a selected area. The review should describe, summarize, evaluate and clarify this literature. You should select a limited number of works that are central to the area rather than trying to collect a large number of works that are not as closely connected to the topic area. A literature review goes beyond the search for information and includes the identification and articulation of relationships between the literature and your particular field of research. (Adapted from:

http://library.queensu.ca/webedu/grad/Purpose_of_the_Literature_Review.pdf

Process

Individuals will choose a specific topic (research question) within the area of International Business which they will then review in terms of what the current thinking is in that area.

This task will require students to engage with current thinking as published in academic journals and publications.

Assessment

This task is composed of the following element:

1. 25%

? Written literature review based on review of current thinking on any aspect of International Business (2,000 words)

Internal Resources

Guidelines and templates for writing a literature review.

External Resources

Relevant websites for writing a literature review (sample of same):

http://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide               

http://www.d.umn.edu/~hrallis/guides/researching/litreview.html

http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/specific-types-of-writing/literature-review

Journal articles relevant to area of review.