REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

A review of literature is a classification and evaluation of what accredited scholars

and researchers have written on a topic, organized according to a guiding concept
such as a research objective, thesis or the problem / issue to be addressed. It is the
scholarly core of the dissertation. It is an analysis and synthesis of the source
materials, written in a specific style which flows from broad to narrow and takes
into account both the theoretical and empirical issues. The main purpose of the
review of literature is to report on original research or experimentation in order to
make such information available to the rest of the scholarly world.

According to Best & Kahn (1989), Review of related literature is the summary of
writings of recognized authorities and of previous research provides evidence that
the researcher is familiar with what is already known and what is still unknown and
untested. Since effective research is based upon past knowledge, this step helps to
eliminate the duplication of what has been done and provides useful hypotheses
and helpful suggestions for significant investigation. Citing studies that show
substantial agreement and those that seem to present conflicting conclusions
helps to sharpen and define understanding of existing knowledge in the problem
area, provides a background for the research project and makes the reader aware
of the status of the issue. Only those studies that are plainly relevant, competently
executed and clearly reported should be included.

A literature review is a comprehensive summary of previous research on a topic.

The literature review surveys scholarly articles, books, and other sources relevant
to a particular area of research. The review should enumerate, describe,
summarize, objectively evaluate and clarify this previous research. It should give a
theoretical base for the research and help you (the author) determine the nature of
your research. The literature review acknowledges the work of previous
researchers, and in so doing, assures the reader that your work has been well
conceived. It is assumed that by mentioning a previous work in the field of study,
that the author has read, evaluated, and assimiliated that work into the work at
hand.

A literature review creates a "landscape" for the reader, giving her or him a full
understanding of the developments in the field. This landscape informs the reader
that the author has indeed assimilated all (or the vast majority of) previous,
significant works in the field into her or his research.

"In writing the literature review, the purpose is to convey to the reader what
knowledge and ideas have been established on a topic, and what their strengths
and weaknesses are. The literature review must be defined by a guiding concept
(eg. your research objective, the problem or issue you are discussing, or your
argumentative thesis). It is not just a descriptive list of the material available, or a
set of summaries.

In general, the purpose of the literature review should:

• provide a context for the research

• identify seminal works and scholars in the field

• acknowledge existing theories, points of view, hypotheses, etc. in the field of

research

• justify the research

• clear up misconceptions about previous research

• ensure the research has not been done before (or if it is repeated, that it is
marked as a "replication study")

• show where the research fits into the existing body of knowledge

• enable the researcher to learn from previous theory on the subject

• illustrate how the subject has been previously studied

 highlight flaws in previous research

• outline gaps in previous research

• show that the work is adding to the understanding and knowledge of the field

• help refine the topic, refocus the topic, or even contribute to the topic's
evolution.
LITERATURE REVIEW

In essence, a literature review identifies, evaluates and synthesises the relevant literature
within a particular field of research. It illuminates how knowledge has evolved within the
field, highlighting what has already been done, what is generally accepted, what is
emerging and what is the current state of thinking on the topic. In addition, within
research-based texts such as a Doctoral thesis, a literature review identifies a research
gap (i.e. unexplored or under-researched areas) and articulates how a particular research
project addresses this gap.

What is meant by the term literature?

Literature refers to a collection of published information/materials on a particular area of

research or topic, such as books and journal articles of academic value. However, your
literature review does not need to be inclusive of every article and book that has been
written on your topic because that will be too broad. Rather, it should include the key
sources related to the main debates, trends and gaps To review the literature means to
be able to identify:

 what has been established, discredited and accepted in your field

 areas of controversy or conflict among different schools of thought
 problems or issues that remain unsolved
 emerging trends and new approaches
 how your research extends, builds upon, and departs from previous research.
 A review of literature presents much more than a summary of relevant sources.
The act of reviewing involves evaluating individual sources as well as
synthesising these sources in order to gain a broad view of the field. At this ‘field
level’, a literature review discusses common and emerging approaches, notable
patterns and trends, areas of conflict and controversies, and gaps within the
relevant literature. When you can clearly observe these things, you will be able to
situate your own research and contribute to ongoing debates within the field.

In other words, when reviewing the literature, “not only do you need to engage
with a body of literature, you also need to be able to compare, contrast,
synthesize, and make arguments with that literature in ways that indicate a
readiness to contribute to the literature itself” (O’Leary, 2010,p.18)

A literature review should not include every single source that you have read. It’s
important to be selective about the sources you choose to address. Ensure the
sources you analyse are directly relevant to your research question(s) and topic.
It’s important also that you think critically about the credibility and reliability of
sources.
Another way of managing sources and arguments presented in them is to use a
literature review matrix (also called synthesis matrix). Literature review matrix is a
table in which you can represent the views, ideas, or data according to thematic
categories that correspond to your research project.

As you fill out your matrix, you will begin to get a clearer view of how different sources
are related, and recognise patterns that may not have been immediately visible before.
For example, you may see a correlation between sample sizes and types of conclusions,
or between specific kinds of aims and the methods chosen to address them. Because
information is arranged in thematic columns, you can get a useful overview of all aims,
or all methods at a glance. You can add new columns as your understanding improves.
Thus the review matrix can also be a powerful tool for synthesising the patterns you
identify across literature, and for formulating your own observations.

Science and technology

 In scientific and technical disciplines, including medicine and health sciences, the
literature review is often more narrowly framed around a specific discipline or research
area than in the humanities.

A successful scientific literature review will not only identify the current gap in
knowledge, but also position your own research project as a viable way of addressing it.
You thus need to build a solid argument to convince the reader that your theoretical and
methodological approach is likely to result in a worthwhile contribution to knowledge.

In writing the review, it is important to identify the overarching themes that show you
have a thorough grasp of the big picture, and to ensure your observations are supported
by sufficient evidence. When reviewing and critiquing existing trends and methods,
consider their design, scale and scope, and point out where findings are not comparable
or are difficult to compare.

Steps in Writing the Review of Related Literature

1. Narrow your topic and select papers accordingly

• Consider your specific area of study. Think about what interests you and what
interests other researchers in your field.

• Talk to your professor, brainstorm, and read lecture notes and recent issues of
periodicals in the field.

• Limit your scope to a smaller topic area (ie. focusing on France's role in WWII
instead of focusing on WWII in general).

2. Search for literature

• Define your source selection criteria (ie. articles published between a specific
date range, focusing on a specific geographic region, or using a specific
methodology).
• Using keywords, search a library database.
• Reference lists of recent articles and reviews can lead to other useful papers.
• Include any studies contrary to your point of view.
3. Read the selected articles thoroughly and evaluate them
• Evaluate and synthesize the studies' findings and conclusions.
• Note the following: o assumptions some or most researchers seem to make o
methodologies, testing procedures, subjects, material tested researchers use o
experts in the field: names/labs that are frequently referenced o conflicting
theories, results, methodologies o popularity of theories and how this has/has not
changed over time.
4. Organize the selected papers by looking for patterns and by developing subtopics
• Note the following: o Findings that are common/contested o Important trends in
the research o The most influential theories o Tip: If your literature review is
extensive, find a large table surface, and on it place post-it notes or filing cards to
organize all your findings into categories.
 ▪ Move them around if you decide that (a) they fit better under different headings,
or (b) you need to establish new topic headings.
• Develop headings/subheadings that reflect the major themes and patterns you
detected
5. Develop a thesis or purpose statement
• Write a one or two sentence statement summarizing the conclusion you have
reached about the major trends and developments you see in the research that
has been conducted on your subject.

6. Write the paper

• Follow the organizational structure you developed above, including the headings
and subheadings you constructed.
• Make certain that each section links logically to the one before and after.
• Structure your sections by themes or subtopics, not by individual theorists or
researchers. o Tip: If you find that each paragraph begins with a researcher's
name, it might indicate that, instead of evaluating and comparing the research
literature from an analytical point of view, you have simply described what
research has been done.
• Prioritize analysis over description. For example, look at the following two
passages and note that Student A merely describes the literature, whereas Student
B takes a more analytical and evaluative approach by comparing and contrasting.
You can also see that this evaluative approach is well signalled by linguistic
markers indicating logical connections (words such as "however," "moreover") and
phrases such as "substantiates the claim that," which indicate supporting evidence
and Student B's ability to synthesize knowledge.
▪ Student A: Smith (2000) concludes that personal privacy in their living
quarters is the most important factor in nursing home residents' perception of
their autonomy. He suggests that the physical environment in the more public
spaces of the building did not have much impact on their perceptions. Neither
the layout of the building nor the activities available seem to make much
difference. Jones and Johnstone make the claim that the need to control one's
environment is a fundamental need of life (2001), and suggest that the
approach of most institutions, which is to provide total care, may be as bad as
no care at all. If people have no choices or think that they have none, they
become depressed.
 Student B: After studying residents and staff from two intermediate care
facilities in Calgary, Alberta, Smith (2000) came to the conclusion that
except for the amount of personal privacy available to residents, the physical
environment of these institutions had minimal if any effect on their
perceptions of control (autonomy). However, French (1998) and Haroon
(2000) found that availability of private areas is not the only aspect of the
physical environment that determines residents' autonomy. Haroon
interviewed 115 residents from 32 different nursing homes known to have
different levels of autonomy (2000). It was found that physical structures,
 such as standardized furniture, heating that could not be individually
regulated, and no possession of a house key for residents limited their
feelings of independence. Moreover, Hope (2002), who interviewed 225
residents from various nursing homes, substantiates the claim that
characteristics of the institutional environment such as the extent of
resources in the facility, as well as its location, are features which residents
have indicated as being of great importance to their independence.
7. Review your work
• Look at the topic sentences of each paragraph. If you were to read only these
sentences, would you find that your paper presented a clear position, logically
developed, from beginning to end? The topic sentences of each paragraph should
indicate the main points of your literature review.
• Make an outline of each section of the paper and decide whether you need to
add information, to delete irrelevant information, or to re-structure sections.
• Read your work out loud. That way you will be better able to identify where you
need punctuation marks to signal pauses or divisions within sentences, where you
have made grammatical errors, or where your sentences are unclear.
• Since the purpose of a literature review is to demonstrate that the writer is
familiar with the important professional literature on the chosen subject, check to
make certain that you have covered all of the important, up-to-date, and pertinent
texts. In the sciences and some of the social sciences it is important that your
literature be quite recent; this is not so important in the humanities.
• Make certain that all of the citations and references are correct and that you are
referencing in the appropriate style for your discipline. If you are uncertain which
style to use, ask your professor. • Check to make sure that you have not
plagiarized either by failing to cite a source of information, or by using words
quoted directly from a source. (Usually if you take three or more words directly
from another source, you should put those words within quotation marks, and cite
the page.)

• Text should be written in a clear and concise academic style; it should not be
descriptive in nature or use the language of everyday speech.

• There should be no grammatical or spelling errors.

• Sentences should flow smoothly and logically.

THE LITERATURE REVIEW: A FEW TIPS ON CONDUCTING IT

Besides enlarging your knowledge about the topic, writing a literature review
lets you gain and demonstrate skills in two areas:

1. information seeking: the ability to scan the literature efficiently, using manual or
computerized methods, to identify a set of useful articles and books

2. critical appraisal: the ability to apply principles of analysis to identify unbiased

and valid studies.
A literature review must do these things:

a) be organized around and related directly to the thesis or research question you
are developing b) synthesize results into a summary of what is and is not known

c) identify areas of controversy in the literature

d) formulate questions that need further research

Ask yourself questions like these:

1. What is the specific thesis, problem, or research question that my literature

review helps to define?

2. What type of literature review am I conducting? Am I looking at issues of theory?

methodology? policy? quantitative research (e.g. on the effectiveness of a new
procedure)? qualitative research (e.g., studies of loneliness among migrant
workers)?

3. What is the scope of my literature review? What types of publications am I using

(e.g., journals, books, government documents, popular media)? What discipline am
I working in (e.g., nursing psychology, sociology, medicine)?

4. How good was my information seeking? Has my search been wide enough to
ensure I’ve found all the relevant material? Has it been narrow enough to exclude
irrelevant material? Is the number of sources I’ve used appropriate for the length
of my paper?

TYPES OF LITERATURE REVIEW:

Literature reviews exist within different types of scholarly works with varying foci
and emphases. Short or miniature literature reviews can be presented in journal
articles, book chapters, or coursework assignments to set the background for the
research work and provide a general understanding of the research topic.

However, the focus of a literature is to identify gaps and argue for the need for
further research. Depending on the purpose of the writer and the context in which
the literature review will be presented, a selective or comprehensive approach may
be taken.
In the selective approach, a single or limited number of sources are reviewed
(e.g. as in an annotated bibliography assignment, or the introduction of a
journal article).
 A comprehensive approach requires the review of numerous books and articles (e.g.
as in a review article), which can be presented as a substantial chapter in a
research thesis or published on its own as a scholarly review article.
ACTIVITY 1
FILLING IN THE CHART:

What do you think a literature review is, and what is it not?Write the
following statements under the right heading.
A literature review is. . . A literature review is
not. . . .

* Simply a collection of texts that you think are interesting or every text that you
have read..
* A synthesis of a range of sources.
* A descriptive summary of each and every text.
* A place to present an argument, a clear articulation of your own position in
relation to relevant literature.
* Presented as a list in which you discuss each text in turn.
* A place to make explicit connections between previous research and your own.
* A compilation of all material related to your research field, regardless of
relevance to your project.
* A critical evaluation of sources related to your research topic.