How to Write a Literature Review

• A literature review summarizes journal articles, books, and other documents to describe information on a specific research topic.
• A theoretical framework is a structure that supports a theory, guides research, and provides context for findings.

Key Steps in Conducting a Literature Review

• Locate: Find relevant literature on given topic
• Identify: Select key literature relevant to research question
• Evaluate: Critically assess the quality and relevance of selected literature
• Organize: Arrange literature into subtopics/themes for analysis
• Write: Compose the review, summarizing and synthesizing

Facts

• A review summarizes journal articles, books, and documents on a research topic
• A review's structure includes an introduction, main body, and conclusion
• Key steps: Locate, Identify, Evaluate, Organize, and Write.
• A review organizes the literature into subtopics and shows the necessity of a study.
• Both quantitative and qualitative studies are important to include

Concept comparisons

• Literature Review: A basic summary of research, provides context and identifies knowledge gaps
• Systematic Review: A rigorous approach to reviewing literature, often with specific criteria
• Meta-Analysis: Combines results from multiple studies to find overall trends.
• A review must also provide a historical background of the subject being studied
• Common errors include relying on secondary sources and overlooking international studies
• Use academic databases/libraries for credible sources
• Consider theoretical frameworks when conducting

Main Ideas

• A literature review is essential for understanding the current state of research on a topic
• A review identifies gaps in the literature that research could address
• A review is an account of what has been published on a topic by scholars/researchers
• A review summarizes books, articles, and other documents
• A review describes the past and current state of information on a study's topic
• A review organizes literature into subtopics
• A review documents the need for the proposed study
• A review provides explanation of the frameworks underpinning the research

Purpose of a Literature Review

• Find information that already exists on a topic
• Show relationships between studies/theories
• Provide context for the given research
• Identify conclusions, theories, and ideas, and establish similarities/differences
• Identify gaps in research
• Identify people working in the field
• Identify main methodologies and research techniques
• Identify major works

Important Points

• A review must briefly provide a background of the subject
• A review must adequately present all available materials
• A review should develop the theoretical framework
• A review must present a summary in relation to the framework considered for the study

Errors to Avoid

• Relying on secondary materials/sources
• Focusing exclusively on the findings in research reports
• Overlooking sources, especially from developing countries

Steps in conducting a literature review

• Identify key terms
• Locate literature
• Critically Evaluate and Select
• Organize the Literature
• Write a Literature Review

Literature Review Structure

• Part 1: Introduction, explains the topic and sources used
• Part 2: Main Body, analyzes/synthesizes existing research
• Part 3: Conclusion, presents a general consensus or any gaps

Learn how to write literature reviews, a summary of scholarly articles on a certain topic. Steps include locating, identifying, evaluating, organizing and writing. A literature review's structure includes an introduction, main body, and conclusion.