I am in 1st year and trying to write my first conference paper which is on my lit review. Supervisor said that I have not read all the literature, which I accept, but then threw in a curveball that I should now look through all PhD theses in my area! Not going to happen for the purposes of this lit review - so how do I put it that I am not saying that I have read everything but that I have read everything that I reference in my paper or that I have found - I am worried about questions at the conference that start along that theme!!

Any tips please??

Thx!

Sorry - meant to say that I wouldn't be able to include the PhD theses review in my lit review for this conference paper!! Sorry!! :$

Hi,

I'm in my first year too. I've just presented some of my literature review at a conference (last week). How I went about it was to choose an issue in the literature and focus the paper around that. I then made sure I had covered the relevant literature for what I would be talking about.

I basically gave a critical view of a the literature, highlighting the underlying assumptions and potential consequences of a particular change happening in my research area (social science). I wasn't critical about the change, but just highlighted some issues with it that may need addressing. It seemed to go down well. I wasn't saying "this is what the literature says" but more "this is the current situation, these are some concerns I have with it that should be considered"

I was worried it may be controversial, but it was well received!!!

Good luck - I only had 15 minutes and don't think I could have physically covered my whole literature area in the time! I also didn't touch on any PhD theses.