What is a literature review and what does the word "literature" mean
in this context? The literature is a body of knowledge
on a particular topic based on research, and put into the
public
domain through
publication in books, journals and on the internet.
In
a literature review you will be asked to critically assess
literature relevant to a specific topic. This means
you are
able to:
- identify what is known
- identify what still needs to be researched
- analyse analytical approaches taken
- justify solutions to problems or recommendations
If your
literature review is part of a wider project you'll also
need to:
- develop possible hypotheses for a research project
- justify
your choice of approaches
As with all academic
tasks, the best way to approach writing a literature
review is to understand the
reason for doing
it. For example, you may be writing:
An experimental
report
Here you may need to show how your review of previous
findings reported in the literature allows you
to identify the gap
in knowledge and to formulate the aims of the
present experiment. You may also need to justify your choice
of methods. In
other words, you use the literature and your
assessment
of it to
justify
the reason for conducting the present experiment and/or the approach taken (see Report
writing).
A
research proposal
This is very similar to writing an experimental
report but the main focus of the task is to
justify the
need for the
research and the approach you propose, and because of
this the literature review must be more thorough.
Depending
on the field, the
literature review will lead you to the formulation
of the aims and objectives
or the aims and hypotheses of the research.
A
case study
Here the use of literature is crucial in two
ways. Firstly, this is where you will find
the concepts,
theories and
analytical tools to analyse
the problem.
For example, in environmental
courses
you may need to justify the use of a particular
definition of sustainability; in psychology
courses you could
justify the use
of a particular developmental theory; and
in management courses you may need to justify
the use of SWOT
analysis as the best
approach. Secondly, you'll use the research
findings reported in the literature to support
your recommendations,
or proposed
solution or design, etc. Using this approach
forces you to go beyond commonsense understandings
and
solutions, and grounds
your analysis and solutions in
research, making
it
scholarly, convincing and reliable (see Case
studies).
Review of articles
You could be asked, for example, to find
a number of recent articles on a given
topic and review
each of
them separately
and then
write an integrated discussion of this
literature. In addition to developing your understanding
of the topic
as a whole,
such an assignment aims to also give you
the
opportunity to learn
how to critically assess a body
of literature and to write a mini-review. Remember that
a review of articles
is not
a summary
of each article in isolation. You need
to
relate them to each other in an integrated
and critical
way. Think
about
what unites
the various authors and in what ways do
they disagree.
In terms of doing a critical literature
review, it is essential to:
- Keep your topic
in mind to avoid being sidetracked - not everything you read
is
equally relevant
to your task
or topic,
other writers
may have approached the topic from a
different angle or with a different purpose. And
even if things are
interesting they
may not necessarily be relevant.
- Choose your sources carefully to ensure
you read the most authoritative, relevant
and up
to date
literature. Authoritative
articles are
the ones published in academic journals
rather than the
popular press.
- Develop and maintain a questioning
attitude to what you read. For example,
ask
yourself:
What are the findings? What evidence
is presented? How good is the evidence?
What
are the implications
of the
findings?
Do the
findings justify the conclusions? Are
other interpretations possible? and so
on.
- Keep building a bigger picture by starting
your reading with the most relevant,
recent and comprehensive
article.
Identify
the main findings, issues and controversies.
Read each subsequent source in relation
to the previous
one -
does it say anything
new? Does it agree with the previous
source? Disagree? This will help you
to integrate
and develop a cohesive
picture
of what
is known and what is not known so if
you are writing a proposal you can now
identify
and
justify your
aims, or
if you are
using the literature to analyse and propose
solutions to a problem
(as in case
studies), you can decide
what in the literature will help you
do and
justify these things.
Useful links in this kit
Report Writing
Case studies
