LITERATURE REVIEW

A literature review is a text of a scholarly paper, which includes the current knowledge including substantive findings, as well as theoretical and methodological contributions to a particular topic. 

Literature reviews are secondary sources, and do not report new or original experimental work.

A literature review can be a precursor in the introduction of a research paper, or it can be an entire paper in itself, often the first stage of large research projects, allowing the supervisor to ascertain that the student is on the correct path. 

A literature review is a critical and in-depth evaluation of previous research. It is a summary and synopsis of a particular area of research, allowing anybody reading the paper to establish why you are pursuing this particular research program.

A good literature review expands upon the reasons behind selecting a particular research question.

A literature review goes beyond the search for information and includes the identification and articulation of relationships between the literature and your field of research.

While the form of the literature review may vary with different types of studies, the basic purposes remain constant:

- Provide a context for the research

- Justify the research

- Ensure the research hasn't been done before (or that it is not just a "replication study")

- Show where the research fits into the existing body of knowledge

- Enable the researcher to learn from previous theory on the subject

- Illustrate how the subject has been studied previously

- Highlight flaws in previous research

- Outline gaps in previous research

- Show that the work is adding to the understanding and knowledge of the field

- Help refine, refocus or even change the topic

A literature review has four main objectives:

- It surveys the literature in your chosen area of study

- It synthesises the information in that literature into a summary

- It critically analyses the information gathered by identifying gaps in current knowledge; by showing limitations of theories and points of view; and by formulating areas for further research and reviewing areas of

Controversy.

- It presents the literature in an organized way

 

A literature review shows your readers that you have an in-depth grasp of your subject; and that you understand where your own research fits into and adds to an existing body of agreed knowledge.

 

Here’s another way of describing those four main tasks. A literature review:

- demonstrates a familiarity with a body of knowledge and establishes the credibility of your work.

- summarizes prior research and says how your project is linked to it.

- integrates and summarizes what is known about a subject.

- demonstrates that you have learnt from others and that your research is a starting point for new ideas.

 

Steps for Conducting a Lit Review 

1. Choose a topic. Define your research question: Your literature review should be guided by a central research question. Remember, it is not a collection of loosely related studies in a field but instead represents background and research developments related to a specific research question, interpreted and analyzed by you in a synthesized way.

- Make sure your research question is not too broad or too narrow.

- Is it manageable? Begin writing down terms that are related to your question.

- These will be useful for searches later.

- If you have the opportunity, discuss your topic with your professor.

2. Decide on the scope of your review: How many studies do you need to look at? How comprehensive should it be? How many years should it cover?

- This may depend on your assignment.

- How many sources does the assignment require?

3. Select the databases you will use to conduct your searches: Make a list of the databases you will search.

Remember to include comprehensive databases such as WorldCat and Dissertations & Theses if you need to.

Tips: Look at the Library's research guides in your discipline to select discipline-specific databases. Don't forget to look at books! Make an appointment with or contact your subject librarian to make sure you aren't missing major databases.

4. Conduct your searches and find the literature: Keep track of your searches:

- Review the abstracts of research studies carefully. This will save you time.

- Write down the searches you conduct in each database so that you may duplicate them if you need to later (or avoid dead-end searches that you'd forgotten you'd already tried).

- Use the bibliographies and references of research studies you find to locate others.

- Ask your professor or a scholar in the field if you are missing any key works in the field.

- Use RefWorks to keep track of your research citations.

5. Review the literature: Some questions to help you analyze the research: What was the research question of the study you are reviewing? What were the authors trying to discover? Was the research funded by a source that could influence the findings? What were the research methodologies? Analyze its literature review, the samples and variables used, the results, and the conclusions. Does the research seem to be complete? Could it have been conducted more soundly? What further questions does it raise? If there are conflicting studies, why do you think that is? How are the authors viewed in the field? Has this study been cited? if so, how has it been analyzed?

- Again, review the abstracts carefully.

- Keep careful notes so that you may track your thought processes during the research process.