Introduction > Reviewing Literature > Quick Quiz

Quick Quiz


Test your understanding of literature reviews by answering these short questions.:

Question 1. Which of the following statements is correct? Literature reviews are conducted:

  1. at the last minute, a week before the official deadline
  2. to increase your understanding of a topic
  3. to identify potential areas for research
  4. to duplicate previous research
  5. to compare previous findings.
Question 2. Given the title ‘The Detrimental Effect of Pine Weevil Infestation on the UK Forestry Industry’ identify FOUR potential sub-headings for a literature review on this topic.
Question 3. Using the Harvard referencing system, identify the errors in the following references:

Doube, B.M. (1990)A functional classification for analysis of the structure of dung beetle assemblages. Ecological Entomology, 15, 371-383.

Hanski, I. 1987. Colonization of ephemeral habitats. - In: Gray, A.J., Crawley, M.J. and Edwards, P.J., Colonization, succession and stability. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford, pp. 155- 186.

Connell, J.H. (1983) On the prevalence and relative importance of intraspecific competition: Evidence from field experiments. Am. Nat., 122, 661-696.

Wilsey, B.J. & Potvin, C. 2000. Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning: importance of species evenness in an old field. - Ecology 81: 887-892.
Question 4. When deciding if a research paper is relevant to your literature review, arrange the following sections of a paper into an order that may help you to make the most effective use of your time:

  1. discussion
  2. materials and methods
  3. conclusion
  4. abstract
  5. title
  6. results
  7. references
  8. introduction.
Question 5. When conducting your literature review, you’ve found two papers by different authors who have conducted very similar research, yet presented very different results. Give THREE reasons why their results may be different.
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