Literature Reviews
- Getting started
What is a literature review?
Why conduct a literature review, stages of a literature review, lit reviews: an overview (video), check out these books.
- Types of reviews
- 1. Define your research question
- 2. Plan your search
- 3. Search the literature
- 4. Organize your results
- 5. Synthesize your findings
- 6. Write the review
- Artificial intelligence (AI) tools
- Thompson Writing Studio This link opens in a new window
- Need to write a systematic review? This link opens in a new window
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Definition: A literature review is a systematic examination and synthesis of existing scholarly research on a specific topic or subject.
Purpose: It serves to provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of knowledge within a particular field.
Analysis: Involves critically evaluating and summarizing key findings, methodologies, and debates found in academic literature.
Identifying Gaps: Aims to pinpoint areas where there is a lack of research or unresolved questions, highlighting opportunities for further investigation.
Contextualization: Enables researchers to understand how their work fits into the broader academic conversation and contributes to the existing body of knowledge.
tl;dr A literature review critically examines and synthesizes existing scholarly research and publications on a specific topic to provide a comprehensive understanding of the current state of knowledge in the field.
What is a literature review NOT?
❌ An annotated bibliography
❌ Original research
❌ A summary
❌ Something to be conducted at the end of your research
❌ An opinion piece
❌ A chronological compilation of studies
The reason for conducting a literature review is to:
Literature Reviews: An Overview for Graduate Students
While this 9-minute video from NCSU is geared toward graduate students, it is useful for anyone conducting a literature review.
Writing the literature review: A practical guide
Available 3rd floor of Perkins
Writing literature reviews: A guide for students of the social and behavioral sciences
Available online!
So, you have to write a literature review: A guided workbook for engineers
Telling a research story: Writing a literature review
The literature review: Six steps to success
Systematic approaches to a successful literature review
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Doing a systematic review: A student's guide
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- Last Updated: May 17, 2024 8:42 AM
- URL: https://guides.library.duke.edu/litreviews
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Conducting a literature review: why do a literature review, why do a literature review.
- How To Find "The Literature"
- Found it -- Now What?
Besides the obvious reason for students -- because it is assigned! -- a literature review helps you explore the research that has come before you, to see how your research question has (or has not) already been addressed.
You identify:
- core research in the field
- experts in the subject area
- methodology you may want to use (or avoid)
- gaps in knowledge -- or where your research would fit in
It Also Helps You:
- Publish and share your findings
- Justify requests for grants and other funding
- Identify best practices to inform practice
- Set wider context for a program evaluation
- Compile information to support community organizing
Great brief overview, from NCSU
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- Last Updated: Apr 25, 2024 1:10 PM
- URL: https://guides.lib.berkeley.edu/litreview
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Conducting a Literature Review
Benefits of conducting a literature review.
- Steps in Conducting a Literature Review
- Summary of the Process
- Additional Resources
- Literature Review Tutorial by American University Library
- The Literature Review: A Few Tips On Conducting It by University of Toronto
- Write a Literature Review by UC Santa Cruz University Library
While there might be many reasons for conducting a literature review, following are four key outcomes of doing the review.
Assessment of the current state of research on a topic . This is probably the most obvious value of the literature review. Once a researcher has determined an area to work with for a research project, a search of relevant information sources will help determine what is already known about the topic and how extensively the topic has already been researched.
Identification of the experts on a particular topic . One of the additional benefits derived from doing the literature review is that it will quickly reveal which researchers have written the most on a particular topic and are, therefore, probably the experts on the topic. Someone who has written twenty articles on a topic or on related topics is more than likely more knowledgeable than someone who has written a single article. This same writer will likely turn up as a reference in most of the other articles written on the same topic. From the number of articles written by the author and the number of times the writer has been cited by other authors, a researcher will be able to assume that the particular author is an expert in the area and, thus, a key resource for consultation in the current research to be undertaken.
Identification of key questions about a topic that need further research . In many cases a researcher may discover new angles that need further exploration by reviewing what has already been written on a topic. For example, research may suggest that listening to music while studying might lead to better retention of ideas, but the research might not have assessed whether a particular style of music is more beneficial than another. A researcher who is interested in pursuing this topic would then do well to follow up existing studies with a new study, based on previous research, that tries to identify which styles of music are most beneficial to retention.
Determination of methodologies used in past studies of the same or similar topics. It is often useful to review the types of studies that previous researchers have launched as a means of determining what approaches might be of most benefit in further developing a topic. By the same token, a review of previously conducted studies might lend itself to researchers determining a new angle for approaching research.
Upon completion of the literature review, a researcher should have a solid foundation of knowledge in the area and a good feel for the direction any new research should take. Should any additional questions arise during the course of the research, the researcher will know which experts to consult in order to quickly clear up those questions.
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IMAGES
VIDEO
COMMENTS
Conduct a Literature Review This chapter describes the steps taken to conduct a literature review. Although the following sections provide detail on these steps, this initial section presents an overview, or a road map, of this process. As shown in Figure 3.1, the first step in conducting a literature review is to
in undertaking a traditional or narrative review of the Table 2. The literature review process • Selecting a review topic • Searching the literature • Gathering, reading and analysing the literature • Writing the review • References literature {Table 2). The first step involves identifying the subject ofthe literature review.
Literature Review . and Focusing the Research. In This Chapter • • Two major reasons for conducting a literature review are explained: as a basis for conducting your own research or as an end in itself. •• A nine-step process for conducting a literature review is outlined: 1. Development of the focus of your research. 2.
Literature reviews establish the foundation of academic inquires. However, in the planning field, we lack rigorous systematic reviews. In this article, through a systematic search on the methodology of literature review, we categorize a typology of literature reviews, discuss steps in conducting a systematic literature review, and provide suggestions on how to enhance rigor in literature ...
Conducting a Literature Review The literature review is an integral part of any research project and is undertaken as a means of surveying what research has been conducted previously on a particular topic. There are many reasons for conducting a literature review, but one of the primary reasons is to establish a base line of
When writing a literature review it is important to start with a brief introduction, followed by the text broken up into subsections and conclude with a summary to bring everything together. A summary table including title, author, publication date and key findings is a useful feature to present in your review (see Table 1 for an example).
Conducting Your Literature Review. 3. A. literature reviewis an overview of the available research for a specific scientific topic. Literature reviews summarize existing research to answer a review question, provide the context for new research, or identify important gaps in the existing body of literature. We now have access to lots of ...
Where the emphasis is on an investigation or analysis of the literature (analytical evaluation) then your literature review is concentrating on the nature of the problem, its cause and effect as a basis for action to solve it. FORMATIVE When a literature review emphasizes explanation of what you believe the knowledge stemming from
Ideally, a systematic review should be conducted before empirical research, and a subset of the literature from the systematic review that is closely related to the empirical work can be used as background review. In that sense, good stand-alone reviews could help improve the quality of background reviews.
literature review is an aid to gathering and synthesising that information. The pur-pose of the literature review is to draw on and critique previous studies in an orderly, precise and analytical manner. The fundamental aim of a literature review is to provide a comprehensive picture of the knowledge relating to a specific topic.
An overview of the subject, issue or theory under consideration, along with the objectives of the literature review. Division of works under review into categories (e.g. those in support of a particular position, those against, and those offering alternative theses entirely)
This guide to conducting literature reviews includes strategies for defining the research question, using search tools and managing citations, and ensuring an unbiased summary of existing research ...
Apart from the above reasons for writing a review (i.e., proof of knowledge, a publishable document, and the identification of a research family), the scientific reasons for conducting a literature review are many. Gall, Borg, and Gall (1996) argue that the literature review plays a role in: • delimiting the research problem,
6.2 An Outline for Preparing a Literature Review. 1. Generate a list of references: † Make a preliminary list of statistical literature that is relevant to your research topic. Your advisor can help you with this. † Now you have to 'procure' (get copies of) the literature on the list. How much time this takes can vary greatly. Some books and journals may be available from
Some Issues in Liter ature R eview. 1. A continuous and time consuming process runs. through out r esearch work (more whil e selecting. a resear ch problem and writing 'r eview of. liter ature ...
PDF | Literature review is a compulsory component in a research process. ... Hart contributes additional reasons for reviewing the literature, ... Conducting a systematic literature review is an ...
Examples of literature reviews. Step 1 - Search for relevant literature. Step 2 - Evaluate and select sources. Step 3 - Identify themes, debates, and gaps. Step 4 - Outline your literature review's structure. Step 5 - Write your literature review.
Perform Searches and Screen Results. Identify and collect literature relevant to answering your research question(s); you want to feel confident that the evidence base you have identified for your review includes all relevant literature. Confirm the Body of Evidence. Consider modifications or refinements of your research question(s) based on ...
Conducting a Literature Review. So far we have discussed the initial stages of any a typical research project: hypothesis formation, conceptualization, measurement, and the development of a suitable research design. At some point early in the process it is important to spend time reading others' reports of similar research.
What is a literature review? Definition: A literature review is a systematic examination and synthesis of existing scholarly research on a specific topic or subject. Purpose: It serves to provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of knowledge within a particular field. Analysis: Involves critically evaluating and summarizing key findings, methodologies, and debates found in ...
Besides the obvious reason for students -- because it is assigned! -- a literature review helps you explore the research that has come before you, to see how your research question has (or has not) already been addressed. You identify: core research in the field. experts in the subject area. methodology you may want to use (or avoid)
A literature review is a surveys scholarly articles, books and other sources relevant to a particular. issue, area of research, or theory, and by so doing, providing a description, summary, and ...
Literature reviews are essential in moving our evidence-base forward. "A literature review makes a significant contribution when the authors add to the body of knowledge through providing new insights" (Bearman, 2016, p. 383).Although there are many methods for conducting a literature review (e.g., systematic review, scoping review, qualitative synthesis), some commonalities in ...
While there might be many reasons for conducting a literature review, following are four key outcomes of doing the review. Assessment of the current state of research on a topic. This is probably the most obvious value of the literature review. Once a researcher has determined an area to work with for a research project, a search of relevant ...