literature/research on dissertation plan

ali-t

Apologies as this isn't a money saving question but one that is puzzling me.

I am writing my dissertation plan today for an MSc and can't work out what goes in the section about previous research findings related to the focus of the study. My plan is to be 3000 words and there are 8 headings to use for the plan.

Do I just allude to the literature that I plan to use in the dissertation using themes and authors or is a mini literature review required including ciritiquing the literature? I can't work out if I am just meant to give a heads up about the content of the disseration e.g. "themes to be explored include x and y as demonstrated by Smith et al 2009 and Jones 2006".

Any ideas?

Liquorice_Twirls

I think it is kind of like a mini literature review related to your particular piece of research. That is, Brown (2009) researched this and concluded that, but my study is looking at a different cohort or in a different country or in a different way. I think you should be demonstrating what research has gone before, a critique of that and how the research may or may not relate to what you are doing.

Perhaps some research already done has lead you to this particular area and you could include this and show how you feel it has influenced your title, area of research, methods etc

ali-t

Thanks for the quick reply. Will this not then be replicated in main research? I was under the impression that the plan and dissertation shouldn't have replicated info in them.

I see where you are coming from though in relation to the rationale for the study and research that previously took place to create a picture about the rationale for that area of study.

spheric

If your plan is supposed to come in under 3000 words, I can't see how you'd get a proper lit review crammed in. I'd plump for a broad overview that whistles round the most important references. If you can wrangle things so that you can finish the section saying that there's a broad theme with most in agreement it should sound nice... You can then argue that something is missing, and that this is where you're work comes in.

ali-t

Thanks for your input spheric. My topic area is about how a particular variable has an impact on intervention thresholds in particular staff groupings so a review of literature that notes the impact of definitions, similar research and highlighting gaps would be possible.

Distance learning is taking its toll - I didn't realise how much I would miss having fellow students to bounce ideas off.