A literature review provides a sense of informed advice on a topic. The review provides the most important scholarly work source on poetry, a topic, or a drama.
The audience and intention of doing a literature review
A researcher should have an idea of what the rest of the people already know concerning their topic before adding more knowledge on the topic. The reasons for the thorough research about the topic of interest are; firstly, to avoid duplicating content that already exists in other scholarly sources. Secondly, the researcher’s work needs connected work that has been done by other scholars and researchers who have dealt with the same before. Thirdly, the researcher may wish to locate a gap that needs to be addressed when carrying out their research on a particular topic. Finally, a researcher should make the audience familiar with what is already written on the particular topic.
The literature review audience consists of members who are found in the field of the writer. As such, the colleagues in that particular field may not be professionals in dealing with the research topic of the writer’s interest. A writer doing research needs to realize the audience so that they can offer the right content.
Literature review forms
The writers, students, or researchers may write a literature review after an introduction before writing on the methods section. It is the case if the literature review is a single section of a lengthy article of research. At the end of such research, a researcher would identify an existing gap in that field and then develop some research questions to be answered when conducting research.
When a researcher has to submit a literature review as stand-alone documents, the conclusion will point to the disadvantages and the gaps to be addressed in that particular research field.
What a writer needs to do as they review the literature
- Defining and clarifying the question, topic, problem, or issue on the work they are doing.
- Explain knowledge available about the topic by summarizing the vital sources on the topic and stating how the sources are connected, including similarities and differences.
- Give suggestions on how the writers and researchers may expand the topic, solve the problem, and answer the question.
A literature review writer has to develop a topic and then research how the other researchers have addressed the topic in their work.
The order of the summary does not define a literature review
Some writers make the mistake of arranging a literature review to make the summary come in a particular order. The writer may state their first source then gives information on how the source addresses the question or issue. Having discussed the first source, they then move to the second, third, and so on until the paper’s conclusion. Such a research paper will not synthesize a particular source, therefore not meeting the literature review requirements.
Organize the literature review according to the theme or topic that a source addresses. The writer has to examine their source and ask the theme or question which they are handling. The researcher needs to know how the approaches are taken to solve a particular problem and respond to a particular problem or question.
Conclusion
There are steps to consider when doing a literature review. A researcher has to identify a topic to discuss and give out their view, citation of their work, and finally write their conclusion.