What does mean literature review?and how to write a good literature review?
We can consider a literature review as a “knowledge map”, which analyzes and synthesizes prior literature about a specific subject.
A literature review is a search and evaluation of the available literature in your given subject or chosen topic area. It documents the state of the art with respect to the subject or topic you are writing about.
A literature review is a comprehensive study and interpretation of the works of various authors and researchers in a particular field of study. It provides an overview of the existing research and evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of the existing knowledge on a particular topic.
To write a good literature review, you should follow these steps:
It is important to keep in mind that a literature review is not simply a summary of existing research, but rather a critical evaluation of it. You should aim to provide a balanced and comprehensive overview of the existing research on your topic, and to identify any gaps or areas for future research.
Conducting a literature review involves a systematic and comprehensive search and evaluation of existing literature on a specific topic. Here are the general steps to conduct a literature review:
Overall, conducting a literature review requires careful planning, thorough research, and critical evaluation of the existing literature. It is an important step in the research process and can help you to identify gaps in the literature and areas for future research.
The guidance / illustrations as per the following publications may further help:
- Baker, M. J. (2000) Writing a Literature Review, The Marketing Review, 1, 2, pp. 219-247.
- Callahan, J. L. (2014) Editorial: Writing Literature Reviews: A Reprise and Update, Human Resource Development Review, 13, 3, pp. 271-275.
- Denney, A. S. and Tewksbury, R. (2013) How to write a literature review, Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 24, 2, pp. 218-234.
- Feak, C. B. and Swales, J. M. (2009) Telling a Research Story: Writing a Literature Review. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press.
- Galvan, J. L. (2017) Writing Literature Reviews : A Guide for Students of the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Sixth edn. New York, NY: Routledge.
- Hart, C. (2007) Doing a Literature Review: Releasing the Social Science Research Imagination.London: SAGE Publications Ltd.
- Maier, H. R. (2013) What constitutes a good literature review and why does its quality matter?, Environmental Modelling and Software, 43, 1, pp. 3-4.
- Oxman, A. D. and Guyatt, G. H. (1988) Guidelines for reading literature reviews, Canadian Medical Association journal, 138, 8, pp. 697-703.
- Pautasso, M. (2013) Ten Simple Rules for Writing a Literature Review, PLoS Computational Biology, 9, 7, pp. 1-4.
- Randolph, J. J. (2009) A Guide to Writing the Dissertation Literature Review, Practical Assessment, Research and Evaluation, 14, 13, pp. 1-12.
- Rowley, J. and Slack, F. (2004) Conducting a literature review, Management research news, 17, 6, pp. 31-39.
- Sümer, B. (2011) The Importance of Literature Review in Research Design, in Tomanić-Trivundža, I., Carpentier, N., Nieminen, H., Pruulmann-Venerfeldt, P., Kilborn, R., Sundin, E. and Olsson, T. (eds.) Critical Perspectives on the European Mediasphere. Ljubljana: Faculty of Social Sciences: Založba FDV, pp. 219-227.
- Snyder, H. (2019) Literature review as a research methodology: An overview and guidelines, Journal of Business Research, 104, 1, pp. 333-339.
- Webster, J. and Watson, R. T. (2002) Analyzing the past to prepare for the future: Writing a literature review, MIS quarterly, 26, 2, pp. xiii-xxiii.
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