A literature review evaluating the influence of leadership and management theory on library and information science/information services thinking and practice
Select ONE Topic:
Balanced scorecard
Women or ethnic minorities in leadership
Managing stress
Organisational culture
Organisational learning
Customer relationship management
Outsourcing
Risk management
Technological innovation
Managing volunteers
Initial Approach
Note the overall requirement:
A literature review evaluating the influence of management theory on library and information science/services thinking and practice
Select your topic:
You may find it useful to scope the topic by doing a preliminary search
Decide on:
The terms to be used in your search
Where you will carry out your search
Word count: 1400 words excluding title, abstract and references
Informative abstract required
The informative abstract gives the principal argument and summarises key data, providing the reader with an overview of the content which may include objectives,
methods, results and conclusions of the study. In a lengthier abstract it may be “structured” with the use of headings and have more than one paragraph.
Possible Structure
Introduce your research topic (what it is, why it is worth examining)
Briefly outline the organisation of the review; if there is a major controversy, describe it and explain that you will present research supporting one side and then
the other
Define any key terms or concepts
Describe the key studies in detail, comparing and evaluating the studies, including comparing and contrasting the Management and LIS literatures
Discuss the implications of the studies for practice
Conclusions and recommendations: Discuss what may be learned from reviewing literature and where the research may lead
After reading your review your reader should be convinced by your arguments, and have a good overview of the key aspects of the topic
Some Tips
Be analytical and evaluative not descriptive
Look out for developments in the literature over time
Look out for themes and/or strands of thought
Form an argument but ensure it is evidenced, not just,
‘some say…others say…I say…’
Think about voice – active, passive
Quote where necessary but do not string together lots of quotations with very little commentary
Feel free to use headings to break up the text and signal structure
