A literature review surveys scholarly articles, books, dissertations, conference proceedings and other resources which are relevant to a particular issue, area of research, or theory and provides context for a thesis or dissertation by identifying past research. Research tells a story and the existing literature helps us identify where we are in the story currently. It is up to those writing a thesis or dissertation to continue that story with new research and new perspectives.
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
A Good Literature Review
- Provides a critical look at the existing research that is related or valuable to your study
- Summarizes relevant research
- Evaluates those studies
- Shows relationships between different studies
- Relates these studies to your work
It should answer questions such as:
- What research has been done on the topic?
- Who are the key researchers and experts in the field?
- What are the common theories and methodologies?
- Are there challenges, controversies, and contradictions?
- Are there gaps in the research that your approach addresses?
The process of reviewing existing research allows you to fine-tune your research question and contextualize your own work. Preparing a literature review is a cyclical process. You may find that the research question you begin with evolves as you learn more about the topic.
Source: https://guides.lib.umich.edu/litreview
Southern Illinois University Carbondale