Literature Reviews
What is the purpose of a literature review?
- First, it should analyze critically a body of research. This does not mean to simply summarize what other studies do, but rather to identify and discuss strengths and weaknesses.
- Second, the literature review should put your own study in the context of others. Are there other studies on the same topic?
- Third, your review should highlight your study’s contribution. How does your study differ from others?
- Fourth, the literature review establishes your scholarly credentials by showingyou have done your homework.
What should a literature review contain?
- Begin with comments about the body of research as a whole.
- Generally speaking, a review should progress from the broad to the particular.
- Do the studies focus on methodological issues, or data issues, or some other issue?
- Have the studies been mostly empirical, or theoretical, or both?
- Have they focused on a similar set of questions?
- Do they mostly date from a certain period?
- Organize your review according to a theme (data, methodology, results, etc).
- Begin paragraphs with a sentence that puts in explicit context what follows (In other words, use topic sentences).
- Explain the merits and the shortcomings of the existing studies. Be explicit about this.
- Explain how your study will make a contribution.
Information taken from Writing a Literature Review by Paul Dudenhefer 2006
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What is a Literature Review?
Purpose of a Literature Review: Gives readers an overview of sources explored while researching a particular topic. Demonstrates how research fits into the larger field of study.
Where Can Literature Reviews be Found?: Literature reviews can be incorporated into a research paper or empirical journal article or published alone.
Synthesis: A literature review should evaluate and combine to create a new, original work. It does not mean simply describing or summarizing.
Assessment of the Sources: Assessing sources necessitates comparison and the use of language such as “however, but, although, in addition, in contrast.”
Comparison: Comparisons are essential; descriptions alone are not illuminating.
Evaluation: Strengths and weaknesses of the studies should be asserted and the study should explain what remains to be done.
- Assertions must be supported with evidence
- Many writers find it easy to describe, but balk at evaluating the work of established scientists
- Evaluation requires more thought and entails more risk than description, but without it, the paper is little more than a report.
A Literature Review is NOT:
- An annotated bibliography or list of references with a paragraph summary for each source
- A string of abstracts on a given topic
Characteristics of Literature Reviews:
- Narrow topic
- Incorporation of only scholarly material
- Analysis of methodology, statistics, results, theoretical framework, or the author’s purpose, etc.
- Acknowledgement of controversies when they appear in the article
- May summarize strengths and weaknesses of how the author conducted the study
- Few (or no) quotations; use summary instead
- Persuasive, not just “informative”
- Thesis is based on a research question and contains student’s claim and all main headings in the paper
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