LITERATURE REVIEW?

The Literature Review examines recent research studies, company data or industry report that act as a basis for proposed study.

The section begins with the related literature and relevant secondary data from a comprehensive perspective moving to more specific studies, that are associated with the research problem.

Literature Review

A Literature Review is summary of research that has been published about a particular subject.

It provides the reader with an idea about the current situation in terms of what has been done and what we know.

Sometimes it includes suggestions about what needs to be done to increase the knowledge and understanding of a particular problem.

Review of Literature ?

A Literature Review is an account of what has been published on a topic by accredited scholars and researchers.

As a piece of writing, the Literature Review must be defined by a guiding concept e.g. your research objective, the problem or issue you are discussing etc.

Literature Review?

Besides enlarging your knowledge about the topic, Literature Review lets you gain and demonstrate skills in two areas:

Information seeking : The ability to scan the literature efficiently using manual or computerized methods to identify a set of useful articles and books

Critical appraisal : The ability to apply principles and analysis to identify unbiased and valid studies.

What Literature Review should do ?

Be organized around and related directly to the research problem.

Synthesize results into a summary of what is and what is not

Identify areas of controversy in the literature.

Formulate question that need further research.

Ask these questions

What is the specific thesis or research question that my Literature Review helps me to define?

What type of Literature Review am I conducting? Am I looking at issues of theory? Methodology? Quantitative research or Qualitative research?

What is the scope of Literature Review? What type of publications am I using ?What discipline am I working in?

Ask these Questions

How good was my information seeking? Has my search been wide enough to ensure I have found all the relevant material? Is number of sources I have used appropriate for the length of my research?

Have I critically analyzed the literature I use? Do I follow through a set of concepts and questions, comparing items to each other in the ways they deal with them?

Ask these Questions

How I cited and discussed studies contrary to my perspective?

Will the reader find my literature review relevant, appropriate and useful?

Literature Review

If the problem has historical background, begin with the earliest references

Avoid the extraneous details of literature. Do a brief review of information, not a

comprehensive report. Always refer to original source. If you find something of interest in a

quotation find the original publication and ensure that you understand it.

Literature Review

This will help you to avoid any errors of interpretation or transcription.

Emphasize the important results of cohesions of other studies.

The relevant data and trends from previous research.

Whether particular methods or designs that could be duplicated or should be avoided.

Literature Review

Discuss how the literature applies to the study the researcher is proposing.

Show weaknesses or faults in the design. If your proposal solely deals with secondary

data, discuss the relevance of the data and the bias or lack of bias inherent in it.

The Literature Review may also explain the need for the proposed work to appraise the shortcomings and or informational gaps in secondary data analysis.

Literature Review

The above analysis may go beyond ------ --- Scrutinizing the availability or

conclusions of past studies and their data.

---- Examining the accuracy of secondary data sources

----- The credibility of these sources. ----- The appropriateness of earlier

studies.

Literature Review

The articles used must be from professional journals, which means we can trust that the authors are trained professionals and others have examined their work.

Be sure you feel comfortable with your choices ,since it is difficult to summarize ideas that you don’t understand.

Once you have found the articles, read and take notes.

Write Literature Review from your notes.

Literature Review

Close Literature Review section by summarizing the important aspects of the literature and interpreting them in terms of your problem.

Refine the problem as necessary in the light of your findings.

Literature Review

In general Literature search has the following steps :

Define your research question. Consult encyclopedia, handbooks and

textbooks to identify key terms, people or events relevant to your research problem.

Apply these key terms, people or events in searching indexes, biographies and the work to identify specific secondary data.

Literature Review

Locate and review specific secondary sources for relevance.

Evaluate the value of each source and its content.

Literature Review Chapter

A Literature Review chapter usually has three sections :

1.Introduction : Introduce your topic and briefly explain why this literature is significant or important for study.

Literature Review Chapter

2.Summary of articles: In a paragraph or two for each study,

briefly explain the purpose, how it was conducted and the major findings.

When referring to an article, use last name of author or authors and date of publication in the text.

Literature Review Chapter

3.Conclusions : Briefly summarize the major findings of studies chosen.

References : List the studies used on a separate page according to APA style format.