Literature Map

Literature Mapping: A Visual Exercise of Advanced Information Literacy
Presented by Maura Mastesic and Gina Mastesic, York University

What is a literature review? Maura described a literature review using a parlour metaphor.  When you walk into a party you immediately notice or observe what discussions are happening, and then ponder, where do I fit in; which discussion is appropriate for me to join?

For undergraduate students: they need to ask themselves, what is the academic discussion going on as they typically concentrate only on the facts.  Graduate students have a greater understanding of the dialogues that are happening at the academic institutions.

Opinions and academic knowledge are slanted to the era, culture and the knowledge that was available at the time.  These factors become part of the larger academic discussion representing all of the information that is available to scholars.

A literature review is more than the bibliography

• A literature review is about the relationships, about making connections not about making lists
• Illustrating connections between articles, authors and concepts
• Illustrates the gaps - we need these gaps in order for our research will be significant

Thesis statement: this study will do this in order to achieve this...

• Enables students to focus their research
• Organizational tool 

Different types of literatures such as historical, methodological, contextual, and theoretical

• Not one perfect type of literature review
• No standard template 

Literature Map

• Transformative exercise
• How to organize what they are going to do
• Conceptualize how new information will be fit into the map
• Not comprehensive - not possible - recognizing this will help students move past the research phase
• Show relationships between ideas and documents
• Blend of concept map (hierarchical) and mind map (expanding out, more loosely structured) 

How to create a map

• Start with literature and let the categories emerge organically, organize your ideas 
• Realize the scope of the project, may need to narrow the focus of the project
• Identify themes by colour, etc.
• Clarify the conversation
• Relationships between authors and ideas - who is saying what, who is responding to whom, who disagrees with whom, and who is off on their own
• Identify a gap in the research field 

Arrange individual sources in a diagram which illustrates their relationship to one another: agrees, disagrees, etc.  Allows the student to structure your literature review based on the map and the connections that were made.

Depends on perspective and what topics are chosen to focus on.

Online tools:
http://cmap.ihmc.us/
Hierarchical
Cross linking
Words that identify the relationships
Can include images, videos, etc
Can collaborate

http://mindmapper.com/

Open documents and web pages

Convert map to table

For more information:
http://mindmappingsoftwareblog.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mind_mapping_sofware
http://wik.ed.uiuc.edu/index.php/concept_mapping

Final Thought: Use post-it notes for more physical students - great opportunity to collaborate within the classroom