Process of Literature Review

Definition of a Literature Review

A literature review

• surveys scholarly articles, books and other sources (e.g. dissertations, conference proceedings) relevant to a particular issue, area of research, or theory. 
• provides a short description and critical evaluation of work critical to the topic.
• offers an overview of significant literature published  on a topic.

How To Write A Literature Review

• Research Tips
•  RefWorks/EndNote/Mendeley

Read the Material Closer

•Step 1: read the abstract

§Decide whether to read the article in detail

•Step 2: read introduction

§It explains why the study is important

§It provides review and evaluation of relevant literature

•Step 3: read Method with a close, critical eye

§Focus on participants, measures, procedures

•Step 4: Evaluate results

§Do the conclusions seem logical

§Can you detect any bias on the part of the researcher?

•Step 5: Take discussion with a grain of salt

§Edges are smoothed out

§Pay attention to limitations

Analyze the Literature
•Take notes as you read through each paper that will be included in the review

•In the notes include:

   purpose of study reviewed

   synopsis of content

   research design or methods used in study

   brief review of findings

•Once notes complete organize common themes together. Some people do this in a word

document, others use index cards so they can shuffle them.

•Some people construct a table of info to make it easier to organize their thoughts.

•As you organize your review, integrate findings elicited from note taking or table

 making process.

Construct The Literature Review

•           Summarize individual studies or articles       

§   Use as much or as little detail as each merits according to its comparative importance in the literature

§   Space (length) denotes significance.

§   Don’t need to provide a lot of detail about the procedures used in other studies.

§   Most literature reviews only describe the main findings, relevant methodological issues, and/or major conclusions of other research.

• Discuss major areas of agreement or disagreement

• Tie the study into the current body of literature 

•  make logical interpretations from the literature reviewed

•If there is no discussion of the relevance of the overview to other work in the field, or if there is no interpretation of the literature, it may signal the author has not thoroughly investigated the topic.

Source: Internet