"Scholarly Writing: Strengthening Your Literature Review"

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Presented by Dr. Sonja Foss, Professor of Communication, University of Colorado, and Dr. William Waters, an assistant professor of English at the University of Houston-Downtown.

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You've written a literature review before -- perhaps many, many times. But are you happy with the process and results? Most scholars aren't. Perhaps you have a method that works to compile and synthesize the relevant literature, but what you write is a tedious list of studies that readers are likely to skip over. Or perhaps you sit at your desk facing several huge piles of books and several piles of articles asking yourself "How am I supposed to begin to tackle and process all of this material? Isn't there a more useful way to organize a literature review?" Even if you felt like you could get through it, how are you supposed to keep track of everything you read? How will you synthesize it and put it all together?

In this teleconference, Foss and Waters will share a method you can use that will make processing and writing your literature efficient and manageable. It is also a method that allows you to make connections among your literature in an original and unique way -- connections that elevate the quality of your thesis, dissertation, or articles. There's an added bonus, too. After you've completed the process, the literature review almost writes itself.

Join us for this teleconference, which will cover:

• The purpose of the literature review
• Identifying the literature to review
• Coding the literature
• Creating a conceptual schema for your literature review
• Writing it up

Sonja K. Foss is a professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Colorado Denver. Her research and teaching interests are in contemporary rhetorical theory and criticism, feminist perspectives on communication, the incorporation of marginalized voices into rhetorical theory and practice, and visual rhetoric. She is the author or coauthor of the books Destination Dissertation: A Traveler's Guide to a Done Dissertation, Rhetorical Criticism, Contemporary Perspectives on Rhetoric, Inviting Transformation, Feminist Rhetorical Theories, and Women Speak. Her essays in communication journals have dealt with topics such as invitational rhetoric, agency in the film Run Lola Run, feminine spectatorship in Garrison Keillor's monologues, visual argumentation, and body art. Dr. Foss earned her Ph.D. in communication studies from Northwestern University and previously taught at Ohio State University, the University of Oregon, the University of Denver, Virginia Tech, and Norfolk State University.

William Waters is an assistant professor of English at the University of Houston-Downtown. His research and teaching interests are in writing theory and practice, the history of the English language, linguistics, and modern grammar. He is the coauthor of Destination Dissertation: A Traveler's Guide to a Done Dissertation and was the managing editor of La Puerta: A Doorway into the Academy. He also has published several poems in national journals. Dr. Waters earned his Ph.D. in language and linguistics from the University of New Mexico and previously taught at the University of Maine; University College in Galway, Ireland; and Cheongbuk National University in Korea.

Please note: Recordings may not be copied, shared, or distributed.

Handouts:
Foss/Waters Handout PDF 1
Foss/Waters Handout PDF 2
Foss/Waters Handout PDF 3

Contact information for Sonja K. Foss and William Waters:
Sonja K. Foss: Sonja.Foss@ucdenver.edu
William Waters: watersw@uhd.edu

Destination Dissertation: A Traveler's Guide to a Done Dissertation
by Sonja Foss and William Waters.
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