Business, Organizations, and Management: MGT270 - Lau-DiCicco

Think critically about the information sources you find.  Consider the source in the context of its creation and in the context of your intended use.  Here are some questions to guide you:

• How does it support your research question?
  • What do you know now that you didn’t know before reading it?
  • What does the source argue or demonstrate that none of your other sources do? 
  • What questions remain or what new questions are raised when considering the information?
• What makes it reliable?
  • What evidence does the author use to support their claims?
  • Have other people cited or referenced it?
  • How might someone dismiss it?
• Who wrote it and why?
  • What qualifies the author(s) to write about the topic?
  • Who is the intended audience?
  • What is the purpose -- to inform / entertain / summarize / report new findings?
• Where was it published?
  • Who had to approve or review it before it could be published?
  • Do you normally need a subscription to read it? If so, who is paying that subscription?

Empirical articles include research that derives its data by means of direct observation of experiment. This type of research is often published in peer-reviewed journals/scholarly journals.  Here's an example of an empirical article.

Theoretical articles do not contain experimental/research data.  Instead, authors draw upon existing research to form a new theory or explore theories in a new way.  This type of scholarship is also published in peer-reviewed journals/scholarly journals. Here's an example of a theoretical article.

Review articles are an attempt by one or more writers to write a summation of the current state of research on a particular topic or an area of research. These articles are also often published in peer-reviewed journals/scholarly journals.  Here's an example of a review article.

Peer-reviewed journals have a peer-review board (experts in the field) that select, review, and approve articles for inclusion in a journal.

Here are a couple of resources that provide helpful guidelines for writing a literature review:

• The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: Literature Reviews
• North Carolina State University Libraries:  Literature Reviews: An Overview for Graduate Students
• Purdue OWL: Literature Reviews
• Synthesizing information:  What Synthesis Looks Like