ECTS credits: 4
Level of course: PhD
 Type of course: Elective
 Duration: 1 semester
 Study start: 9,10,11th of May 2017
 Year of study: 2017
 Study place: Bodø Campus
 Faculty responsible: HHN
 Language of instruction: English

Faculty:
Professor Tommy Høyvarde Clausen, Nord University Business School
Professor Anders Örtenblad, Nord University
Professor Dermot Breslin, Chief-Editor of International Journal of Management Reviews
Senior advisor from the Library at Nord University

Administrative coordinator: Grete Knudsen
Course responsible person: Tommy Høyvarde Clausen


Costs:
No costs except syllabus literature. However, external course participants must be prepared to cover travel and accommodation expenditures.

Course evaluation:
The PhD course will be evaluated by the students after the last session though a discussion with the course responsible. In addition, an anonymous online survey (Questback) will be implemented and submitted to course participants asking for feedback on the course, including how it can be improved.


Course contents:
Providing a good review of the scholarly literature is an essential part of most research projects, such as a PhD thesis. However, this can be a difficult task. The PhD course therefore has a twofold purpose: (1) To introduce the genre of literature review to PhD students more generally and (2) to give PhD students skills and knowledge for how to conduct a good individualized review of the scholarly literature on a specific topic. Particular emphasis in the PhD course will be given to what is called systematic literature reviews.


Learning outcomes:
After successfully completing the course the participants:

Knowledge:
Will have acquired sophisticated understanding of the purpose and role of a literature review in a research project

Will know what constitutes a good and comprehensive review of the literature that advances knowledge, theory and research within the field

Will have achieved an advanced understanding of how different methods and approaches for reviving the literature can advance research on a specific issue.


Skills:
Will have acquired advanced methodological skills in how to carry out an individualized review of the literature.

Will have the skills to position own research relative to prior scholarly literature on a given topic in order to contribute to the scholarly development and accumulation of knowledge

Will have obtained skills in writing-up their own review of the literature that can be published in a recognized peer-reviewed international journal and/or be included in a PhD thesis.


General competence:
Will be able to plan and carry out a literature review of a high international standard

Will be able to critically discuss and evaluate the quality of scholarly reviews of the literature

Will have learnt how to use literature review as a scholarly method to synthesize prior knowledge, identify gaps in the scholarly knowledge, and to advance theory in management and business research,

Will have acquired an elaborated understanding of the major methods and approaches that can be used to review the scholarly literature on a specific topic


Especially recommended elective courses:
No.

Offered as a free-standing course:
Yes

Prerequisites:
Must fulfill the requirements for admission to the PhD program.
As a part of the admittance process, applicants need to enclose an extended abstract (1-2 pages) where they briefly outline their idea for a literature review.

Mode of delivery:
Face-to-face

Learning activities and teaching methods:
Compulsory lectures, presentations/discussions of (ongoing) literature reviews and (group) discussions.

Assessment methods and criteria:
To pass the course, participants need to be present during the entire course. Moreover, to pass the course participants need to submit a paper that will be evaluated (pass/no pass). The paper could be a first draft of the literature review to be included in the introduction (Kappe) of a PhD thesis, a first draft of a systematic literature review that later could be submitted to a scientific journal, or a course paper that discuss issues discussed during lectures and/or topics in the course readings. The paper should be between 15-25 pages (Times new roman, 1.5 line spacing, references excluded).


Work placement:
Not applicable.

Required reading:

Jones, O. and Gatrell, C. (2014), “Editorial: The Future of Writing and Reviewing for IJMR”, International Journal of Management Reviews, Volume 16, Issue 3, Pages 249–264.
Macpherson, A. and Jones, O. (2010), “Editorial: Strategies for the Development of International Journal of Management Reviews”, International Journal of Management Reviews, Volume 12, Issue 2, Pages 107–113.
Jesson et al (2011). Doing your literature review. Sage Publications (192 pages)

Booth et al (2016). Systematic approaches to a successful literature review. Sage Publications (336 pages).


The reading list is subject to amendments at semester start.

Overlapping courses:
None (at HHN)
The course will accept max 30 participants and will only be run if at least 10 participants register for the course.

Deadlines
 
5th April 2017
Registration deadline

1st August 2017
Delivery of full course paper


Schedule
(detailed program will soon be ready)
 
9th of May
Morning 11.00-12.00
Afternoon 13.00-17.00

10th of May
Morning 09.00-12.00
Afternoon 13.00-17.00

11th of May
Morning 09.00-12.00
Afternoon 13.00-16.00