1. The literature review’s objective
One might write literature reviews as stand-alone papers, portions of thesis, dissertations, research papers, or other academic works to set their own research in the perspective of the body of knowledge already known in the field. There are a number of reasons why researchers would choose to write a literature review, including:
- provide a clear picture of the studies that have already been done on a certain subject and the current trends in those studies.
- putting one’s research in the context of what is already known about the topic.
- recognizing the approaches and methodologies used by other academics in addressing their research questions.
- giving researchers the chance to communicate their findings in a clearer and more effective way.
- proving one’s knowledge of the research issue and its background in academic settings.
- creating a theoretical framework and approach to support one’s own research ideas.
- The goal should be distinct and particular based on the setting, goals, and research questions.
2. The research study’s intended audience
A thorough awareness of the intended audience should be the cornerstone of any effective literature study. The ideal readers could be researchers, generalists in a variety of fields, or experts in a particular field. The style, tone, and content of a review are influenced by the type of audience it is intended for.
3. The kind of evaluation that is necessary
Written literary reviews should be of a certain type depending on the discipline and goal. The following are typical forms of literature reviews in research:
- Integrative review that satisfies the same requirements for precision, consistency, and repeatability as original research.
- An analysis of past research that looked at studies conducted over time
- reviews that argue.
- reviews of methods.
- a methodical evaluation.
- Theoretical literature review.
- either conventional or narrative literature reviews.
- Reviews that are critical
- Reviews of scoping
- Bibliographies with annotations
- Depending on the context of the research, one should select the review kind that is most related and appropriate.
4. The literature review’s breadth
The publications to be used—peer-reviewed papers, books, government documents, journals, and other sorts of publications—as well as the kinds of discipline databases to search—such as those in the social sciences, healthcare, and nursing, among other fields—are determined by the scope of the literature review. In order to choose pertinent materials based on the particular study area or shared interests in the field, one must first narrow down their topic.
5. The fundamental components of the review of literature
A literature review’s three main sections are its introduction, body, and conclusion. Each section’s material varies according to the review goal.
a). Overview
To aid readers in understanding the background, it is important to clearly state the goal and objective of the literature review in the introduction section.
b). The main section
The primary text compares and contrast’s themes and conclusions and identifies gaps in the body of literature by means of synthesis, analysis, critical assessment, and discussion of sources. The literature review length will determine how many subsections to include in the body. The methods utilized to examine the sources dictate the content of each part.
c). The Verdict
A summary of the main conclusions and their relevance to the topic are covered in the closing section. In addition to demonstrating how the conclusions and pertinent theories relate to the field and practice, one should give the intended audience a synopsis of the analysis and evaluation of the reviewed materials.
d). List of References
Include a bibliography or source section at the conclusion of your research paper while writing literature reviews. It is necessary to carefully format the references based on the various citation styles and recommended publication manuals.
6. The literature review’s form and organization
Following the conclusion of the literature study process, it is critical to think about the best organizational strategy to use. Efficient literature review writing requires careful consideration of its aims, themes, significant arguments, and discovered gaps. Categorizing sources into groups based on themes, methods, or chronological order is also crucial.
The examination of scholarly articles in chronological order
A chronological literature review shows the evolution of academic viewpoints on a certain subject over time by arranging the material according to publication dates.
Review by theme
In research, thematic evaluations entail arranging the sources according to the recurrent key themes found to identify any discrepancies or commonalities in the viewpoints of the writers.
Methodological strategy
When the sources came from different disciplines using different approaches, the literature review’s methodological structure made sense.
7. Making use of pertinent search terms
Search terms associated with the research question facilitate the identification of pertinent literature, extant theories, and corroborating data pertaining to the subject matter under investigation. Including the appropriate keywords in the literature search makes it quick and efficient.
- When drafting a review of the literature for a study, some things to think about are as follows:
- The sources’ relevance to the study.
- Periods of time within which the foundations were published.
- The necessary level of synthesis and assessment of the review’s main conclusions.
- scholarly publications included as opposed to professional ones.
- The act of copying.
- technical precision.
Scholars and researchers can have a smooth writing process for the review of literature research by carefully taking these things into account. To guarantee that the works they submit are fully compliant with all the requirements, guidelines, and instructions within the given deadlines, one can seek professional assistance if they are having trouble writing chronological, topical, methodological, systemic reviews, or a bibliography with annotations for a research paper.