LibGuides: Education Resources for Research: Research Design &amp; Writing

Helpful Books

Electronic
Print

Literature Review and Research Design by Dave Harris
Literature review is approached as a process of engaging with the discourse of scholarly communities that will help graduate researchers refine, define, and express their own scholarly vision and voice. This orientation on research as an exploratory practice, rather than merely a series of predetermined steps in a systematic method, allows the researcher to deal with the uncertainties and changes that come with learning new ideas and new perspectives. The focus on the practical elements of research design make this book an invaluable resource for graduate students writing dissertations.
Writing the Literature Review by Sara Efrat Efron; Ruth Ravid
Each step of searching for, evaluating, analyzing, and synthesizing prior studies is clearly explained and accompanied by user-friendly suggestions, organizational tips, vignettes, and examples of student work. Also featured are excerpts from peer-reviewed quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods articles. This is the first book to focus on crafting different types of reviews (systematic, traditional-narrative, or hermeneutic-phenomenological) that reflect the writer's research question, methodological choices, and approaches to knowledge. It describes what all reviews have in common and highlights distinct characteristics of each type.
Evaluating Research in Academic Journals by Fred Pyrczak; Maria Tcherni-Buzzeo
Publication Date: 2018

A guide for students who are learning how to evaluate reports of empirical research published in academic journals. (chapters 4 & 5 particularly)

Literature Review and Research Design by Dave Harris
Call Number: ZA3075 .H37 2020

Publication Date: 2019

Literature review is approached as a process of engaging with the discourse of scholarly communities that will help graduate researchers refine, define, and express their own scholarly vision and voice. This orientation on research as an exploratory practice, rather than merely a series of predetermined steps in a systematic method, allows the researcher to deal with the uncertainties and changes that come with learning new ideas and new perspectives. The focus on the practical elements of research design make this book an invaluable resource for graduate students writing dissertations.
Writing the Literature Review by Sara Efrat Efron; Ruth Ravid
Call Number: PE1478 .E37 2019

Each step of searching for, evaluating, analyzing, and synthesizing prior studies is clearly explained and accompanied by user-friendly suggestions, organizational tips, vignettes, and examples of student work. Also featured are excerpts from peer-reviewed quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods articles. This is the first book to focus on crafting different types of reviews (systematic, traditional-narrative, or hermeneutic-phenomenological) that reflect the writer's research question, methodological choices, and approaches to knowledge. It describes what all reviews have in common and highlights distinct characteristics of each type.

Research Methods Database

If you want to learn more about:

qualitative research methods like participatory action research or discourse analysis, check out the Little Blue Books in the Sage Research Methods database (link below).
quantitative research methods like regression analysis or survey design, check out the Little Green Books in the same database.

Sage Research Methods Online

Finding Seminal Research

You can find authorities in your field several ways.

From assigned texts in your foundational courses
Names you see/hear repeatedly in your own research
Reference lists and bibliographies - look at the early dates

You can also use Oxford Bibliographies (link below) to find annotated citations of articles, books, and other seminal resources on your topic

Oxford Bibliographies Online

Dissertation Databases

ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global
Comprehensive collection of fulltext dissertations and theses since 1997 and strong retrospective full text coverage for earlier periods. Includes MSU dissertations and theses.
Dissertations & Theses @ BTAA Institutions
Formerly called Current Research @ CIC Institutions, this ProQuest site provides access to dissertations and theses from MSU and other Big Ten Academic Alliance (formerly CIC) institutions (Big Ten plus University of Chicago); from 1997 onward, full text is available. Citations and abstracts are available for earlier documents.