Conducting Research for a Literature Review
- A “lit review” is a work (or section of a work) that presents the historical context AND current situation about a certain topic using writings by experts in the field.
- The literature review adds to the ongoing scholarly conversation around a topic, by identifying past research and showing how the current research contributes to the body of knowledge. Authors provide context for a thesis by reviewing scholarly articles, books, dissertations, conference proceedings and other resources which are relevant to a particular issue.
Purpose of a Literature Review
- Identifies gaps in current knowledge
- Helps you to avoid reinventing the wheel by discovering the research already conducted on a topic
- Sets the background on what has been explored on a topic so far Increases your breadth of knowledge in your area of research
- Helps you identify seminal works in your area
- Allows you to provide the intellectual context for your work and position your research with other, related research
- Provides you with opposing viewpoints
- Helps you to discover research methods which may be applicable to your work
Greenfield, T. (2002). Research methods for postgraduates. 2nd ed. London: Arnold.
1) Planning: identify the focus, type, scope and discipline of the review you intend to write.
2) Reading and Research: collect and read current research on your topic. Select only those sources that are most relevant to your project.
3) Analyzing: summarize, synthesize, critique, and compare your sources in order to assess the field of research as a whole.
4) Drafting: develop a thesis or claim to make about the existing research and decide how to organize your material.
5) Revising: revise and finalize the structural, stylistic, and grammatical issues of your paper.
This process is not always a linear process; depending on the size and scope of your literature review, you may find yourself returning to some of these steps repeatedly as you continue to focus your project.
- Step-by-Step Synthesis: 5 Pre-Writing Steps to Finding the Big PictureWritten by a Ph.D student, this insightful blog post offers advice for incorporating information from sources and literature reviews into your writing.
