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Crafting a literature review for your dissertation can be a daunting task.

It requires meticulous
research, critical analysis, and effective organization to synthesize existing scholarly works into a
cohesive narrative that supports your research objectives. However, with the right approach and
guidance, you can navigate through this challenge successfully.

One of the key aspects of organizing a literature review is to establish a clear structure. Begin by
defining the scope and objectives of your review, identifying key themes or concepts relevant to
your research topic. Then, categorize the literature into sections based on these themes, ensuring a
logical flow of ideas throughout your review.

As you delve into the literature, critically evaluate each source to assess its relevance, credibility, and
contribution to your research. Take note of key findings, methodologies, and theoretical frameworks
employed by different authors, and identify any gaps or inconsistencies in the existing literature that
your study aims to address.

To maintain coherence and clarity in your literature review, consider using a systematic approach to
document and analyze the literature. This may involve creating annotated bibliographies, concept
maps, or tables to organize key concepts, theories, and empirical findings.

Additionally, ensure that your literature review is not merely a summary of existing works, but rather
a synthesis that provides insights into the relationships, debates, and trends within the field. Aim to
construct a narrative that highlights the evolution of ideas and perspectives over time, while also
demonstrating the significance of your research within this broader context.

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Once you read it, you will not need a second document or guidance for writing a custom literature
review. While this can be time consuming, it is the proper way to undertake a literature review. Now
consider some typical ways of organizing the sources into a review: Chronological: If your review
follows the chronological method, you could write about the materials above according to when they
were published. Your role as a reviewer is to evaluate what you read, so that your review is not a
mere description of different articles, but rather a critical analysis that makes sense of the collection
of articles that you are reviewing. Finally, double check that you’ve documented your sources and
formatted the review appropriately for your discipline. Chronological The simplest approach is to
trace the development of the topic over time. They should arise out of your organizational strategy.
In fact, that might be how you stumbled across my page. Types of reviews 1. Define your research
question 2. An identification of future directions for research on the topic. Whether the search is
comprehensive or not, whether it involves a methodical approach for data extraction and synthesis or
not, it is important that the review documents in an explicit and transparent manner the steps and
approach that were used in the process of its development. Reference and respond to existing
research, showcasing your awareness of ongoing academic discussions. Helps in exhibit proficiency
over the research area. Interestingly, their research appeared to be the first research to link individual
resilience factors with community resilience factors. This PDF contains a red highlighter mark that
describes the key points. Opting out of this will opt you out of all cookies, except for those needed
to run the website. Types of Literature Reviews What are the parts of a Literature Review. The focus
of a literature review, however, is to summarize and synthesize the arguments and ideas of others
without adding new contributions. Keep it simple, keep it diverse, and keep it relevant to your study.
Chapter V, “ The Literature Review,” describes a variety of methods to help you organize the
themes. You may also like How to improve your h-index How to write a methods section of a
research paper Privacy overview. Any lit review is only as good as the research it discusses; make
sure your sources are well-chosen and your research is thorough. Hoboken, nj: Wiley-Blackwell;
2008. Jesson J., Matheson L., Lacey F.M. Doing your literature review: traditional and systematic
techniques. Download the PDF and learn the best way of writing an effective thesis literature review
for engaging and impressing the readers. Use a citation manager, such as EndNote as the repository
for your citations. Nova has also worked as a technical and scientific writer. Writing a Literature
Review The basic components of a literature review include: a description of the publication; a
summary of the publication's main points; a discussion of gaps in research. The purpose is to develop
a body of literature that establishes a contrarian viewpoint. Take notes that you can later incorporate
into the text of your literature review. For example: Look at what results have emerged in qualitative
versus quantitative research Discuss how the topic has been approached by empirical versus
theoretical scholarship Divide the literature into sociological, historical, and cultural sources
Theoretical A literature review is often the foundation for a theoretical framework.
How do you pick the important stuff from a bunch of studies and tell a clear story that makes a
difference. A flow diagram shows the number of studies identified, screened, and included or
excluded at each stage of study selection. Check out the theories, models, and methods used in the
research. Instantly correct all language mistakes in your text Be assured that you'll submit flawless
writing. Methodological If you draw your sources from different disciplines or fields that use a
variety of research methods, you might want to compare the results and conclusions that emerge
from different approaches. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and
we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. The content will look
slightly different in each case, but the process of conducting a literature review follows the same
steps. She is majorly involved in developing and reviewing online content plans that engage and
resonate with audiences. Like descriptive reviews, the research questions are generic and usually
relate to publication patterns and trends. And a review does not necessarily mean that your reader
wants you to give your personal opinion on whether or not you liked these sources. Persuasiveness -
- which of the author's theses are most convincing or least convincing. The right structure will vary
from study to study, depending on various factors. Often, the literature review is where you can
establish your research as filling a particular gap or as relevant in a particular way. The literature
review usually comes near the beginning of your thesis or dissertation. Galvan outlines a very clear,
step-by-step approach that is very useful to use as you write your review. Tip We've also compiled a
few examples, templates, and sample outlines for you below. When we say “literature review” or
refer to “the literature,” we are talking about the research ( scholarship ) in a given field. As such, it
is important to know how to know when you have uncovered the key conceptual categories
underlying your research topic. So what will it look like when you've organized your lit review notes
into topics in this lit review outline. Using relevant keywords and phrases in your search is essential,
experimenting with diverse combinations for a thorough collection of relevant sources. Eventually
those themes or topics will make their way to a computer document. This can lead directly into your
methodology section. Your interpretation of the available sources must be backed up with evidence
to show that what you are saying is valid. Note that more authentic thematic reviews tend to break
away from chronological order. Professional Practice Dissertation: A Guide for Doctoral. Consider
Whether Your Sources are Current Some disciplines require that you use information that is as
current as possible. The authors conducted a comprehensive search on multiple databases to identify
eligible reviews and subsequently used a validated instrument to conduct an in-depth quality
appraisal. A literature review discusses published information in a particular subject area, and
sometimes information in a particular subject area within a certain time period. Let's look at an
example purpose statement to see what structure it offers your literature review. Formal Literature
Review Template tru.ca Details File Format PDF Size: 113 KB Download If you do not know
anything about literature review writing, then you should download this PDF.
If you have any questions, don't hesitate to leave a comment below. This means you'll spend the vast
majority of your time gathering articles, reading and annotating them, capturing worthwhile quotes,
and outlining what will, eventually, become your literature review writing. Use caution when
paraphrasing When paraphrasing a source that is not your own, be sure to represent the author’s
information or opinions accurately and in your own words. A set of predetermined rules provides a
basis for including or excluding certain studies. A thematic review would have subtopics based upon
factors that relate to the theme or issue. Results and Why They Matter Sum up what the study
found. In a stand alone review this thesis statement will summarize and evaluate the state of the art
in this field of research. Does the work ultimately contribute in any significant way to an
understanding of the subject? II. Literature reviews can take two major forms. The most prevalent
one is the “literature review” or “background” section within a journal paper or a chapter in a
graduate thesis. If you are in doubt about how to approach a literature review, always follow up with
your rubric, syllabus, professor or teaching assistant. Galvan, J. L. (2009). Writing Literature
Reviews: A Guide for Students of the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Why conduct a literature
review, stages of a literature review, lit reviews: an overview (video), check out these books. When a
system becomes more work than the benefit it provides, it's not a good system. Format Your
Document Before you begin writing, ensure that your document is. A literature review is a survey of
credible sources on a topic, often used in dissertations, theses, and research papers. New York:
Longman. Troyka, Lynn Quittman, and Doug Hesse. 2016. Simon and Schuster Handbook for
Writers, 11th ed. University of Toronto Health Sciences Writing Centre. Was the research funded by
a source that could influence the findings. Copying and pasting the full title from the article website
or PubMed and grabbing the PMID from the back of the PubMed URL was easy. The thesis may
focus on an analysis of one of the elements of fiction drama poetry or nonfiction as expressed in the
work. For example, if you are reviewing literature about inequalities in migrant health outcomes, key
themes might include healthcare policy, language barriers, cultural attitudes, legal status, and
economic access. Now, I have medium to large sized handwriting, and the half-size index cards
(halved 5 x 7 or 3 x 5) were just fine for me. Methodological If you draw your sources from
different disciplines or fields that use a variety of research methods, you might want to compare the
results and conclusions that emerge from different approaches. Chronological order without an
overarching theme connecting them a literature review synthesizes the findings from multiple studies
and has a thesis statement highlighting a general theme of the research that emerges from the studies
and will be discussed throughout the review. This can lead directly into your methodology section.
Finally, average impact scores increased over time with two notable growth periods. Management
Information Systems Quarterly. 2002; 26 (2):11. Whitlock E. P., Lin J. S., Chou R., Shekelle P.,
Robinson K.A. Using existing systematic reviews in complex systematic reviews. In the fields of
health sciences and medical informatics, reviews that focus on examining the range, nature and
evolution of a topic area are described by Anderson, Allen, Peckham, and Goodwin (2008) as
mapping reviews. Systematic reviews that involve the rigorous application of scientific strategies
aimed at limiting subjectivity and bias (i.e., systematic and random errors) can respond to this
challenge. Historical Review Few things rest in isolation from historical precedent. Heterogeneity
between the included studies in terms of reported outcomes and measures precluded the use of meta-
analytic methods.

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