what is a literature review

what is a literature review

Importance of Literature Review in Research

1. Definition and Purpose of a Literature Review

A well-done integrative review meets the same standards as primary research in regard to clarity, rigor, and replication. Indeed, it is quite common for researchers to do integrative literature reviews for the purpose of data to base primary research on. For instance, a researcher will use an integrative review to build support for a new research study. Primarily, researchers will use a literature review to set the stage for a new study. In this instance, the study is to understand ways to create and integrate a lighting system that is cost efficient with the capabilities of providing exceptional light so that a person may have a way to see and understand.

A literature review surveys books, scholarly articles, and any other sources relevant to a particular issue, area of research, or theory, and by doing so, provides a description, summary, and critical evaluation of these works. Literature reviews are designed to provide an overview of sources you have explored while researching a particular topic and to demonstrate to your readers how your research fits within a larger field of study.

2. Benefits of Conducting a Literature Review

Conducting a literature review also promotes an opportunity to enhance or possibly even develop new methods for research into that specific field. This is done through understanding what methods have been previously used and giving thought to how they could be improved.

It helps in the development of critical analysis of various aspects of the research, thus identifying any potential contributions and differences this field of knowledge may have. This then allows the researcher to look at their research and to see where it may fit into the grand scheme of things.

An effective literature review aids in setting a firm foundation for your research into the current knowledge in a certain field, which then allows for a connection between what you know, what you’re going to research, and what significance your research will be towards contributing to the field.

It is essential to understand that a literature review encompasses the entirety of the past work of a profound scholar by using the requisite literature such as books, journals, etc. to embody the significance of the intended research, thus bridging the gap between the thinking of the researcher and the scholar’s interpretation. Mainly, a literature review has the following functions.

3. Steps to Conducting a Literature Review

The literature review should be conducted early in the research process, directly after the researcher chooses a topic. The research topic does not have to be a statement, however, it must be specific enough to satisfy the need of not only the researcher, but the clinicians, patients or other individuals involved. The topic will usually be a term, for example, “postoperative pain”, “type two diabetes” or even something more specific such as a medication or treatment. Step one is crucial for defining the problem or question that the researcher wants to answer through the review and by doing so, it will help that an appropriate research design is chosen. The purpose in doing the literature review is to identify any previous research or to identify any existing tools that have not been previously reviewed. By identifying the available research, the researcher can determine what has been done in the field, what has been changed in recent times, and what the level of current knowledge is. This will help to answer the question of whether the problem has been resolved, and whether the identification of new ground is worth pursuing. If identifying a gap in the previous research is the purpose of the review, then the following are the steps to achieving a successful literature review: A literature search is a comprehensive survey of publications in a specific area of interest or research, the purpose of which is to determine what is known about a topic. This will involve identifying the area of research, setting specific search goals, identifying the source-types to be searched, selecting a specific search method and finally, examining the search results. A good literature search will use numerous resources, and done in an organized and structured manner. This is important if the best available evidence is to be uncovered. With the increasing use of computer technology, the internet and online databases, it is important to note that the tradition method of using libraries and reading through recently published articles still remains a good means of achieving the most recent and best-quality evidence.

4. Common Challenges in Literature Review

iii. Literature organization: Too often, much of the effort expended during the review of the literature is organizational- the work ends up being a huge, elaborate outline or summary with a wasted effort at the end. A clear and structured literature review leads the way to successful initial research because it pre-empts the introduction of new ideas with old evidence and paves the way to interpreting data at the analysis stage. Such a review provides an overview of the methods and results of the pieces of literature that are most pertinent, while leaving the less relevant materials out. While those are certainly benefits, it is entirely possible to overemphasize literature organization. At a point, the organization becomes the focus of the writer, instead of reading and analysis. A writer may craft an intricate model for reviewing the literature, but it might not adequately capture the way the writer thinks about the topic or the best method for a given piece of literature. If the method has inadequacies, it will be difficult to see how to improve it without continuously adding to more and more complex annotations. A model may unintentionally leave out pieces of literature and not provide a clear method for how to incorporate newly discovered literature. This can bring the entire system to a halt necessitating a complete overhaul of the model. An organizational model is useless without strong and instantaneous ability to perceive how a piece of literature will fit into it, and a strong model may inhibit changing to a new model though it is what is needed. It is often the case that the energy for creation of an intricate model is better spent just reading the literature and deciding on the best methods ad hoc.

ii. Inclusive search: Many researchers run into problems at this stage. As they begin to find more and more literature, it seems essential to include everything available and they use an overly inclusive criteria to evaluate what literature gets read and what data gets extracted. The result is a huge mess of literature that is impossible to organize, read, and retrieve. Full awareness of the problem does not always prevent it, as a researcher may become so convinced in the importance of the topic as to think that it cannot be adequately proved or explained without all the available literature. This is generally not the case. A topic can often be sufficiently addressed with a representative sample of available literature and a single piece of literature often can provide multiple types of evidence on the topic. Always keep in mind your research questions, as they should be the determining factor in how much is enough. Any evidence or information that does not help answer your research questions or is not directly tied to your conclusion should be excluded. This may often mean excluding whole types of literature or categorically rejecting some pieces of literature.

i. Unfocused search: Quite often, writers are not really clear as to what they hope to find. After reading abstracts and summaries, it can be difficult to determine what articles and books will be most helpful. Uncertainty regarding the extent of the search can introduce more serious problems. For example, a writer may begin doing a search with the intent to prove that women are under-represented in film. However, a lack of specified hypotheses and research questions could lead the writer into a large and unwieldy body of literature. After several intensive weeks of review on this topic, the writer may realize that there is an abundant amount of data on the portrayal of women in various forms of media, and that this body of literature is way too broad. It would then become necessary to refine the topic and again spend an extensive amount of time researching the new topic.

Unfortunately, researchers are not immune to troubles with finding the best literature for their topics. They can confront many troubles along the way, including:

5. Tips for Writing an Effective Literature Review

1. Use a persuasive tone in your response. To develop the review in a holistic manner, it is imperative to adopt a persuasive tone to ensure that the debate and arguments are convincing to the reader. Employing a persuasive reflective style will give the author the opportunity to convince the reader of the importance of the study and its predicted outcomes. There are many different kinds of persuasive writing, including proposals, comparisons, critiques, and many others. It is essential that the author identifies the most persuasive style for their research and targets it with the writing. By doing this, the review will demonstrate clear direction and understanding of the topic. An effective method of ensuring the writing is persuasive is by integrating a theory with the purpose to prove or disprove it. This is an important strategy and keeps the review interesting and compares differing arguments. By using a persuasive tone, the author will create many connections to the reviewed work and establish their own ideas with a clear understanding of the topic.