what is literature review and its importance

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Why is it important to do a literature review in research?

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“A substantive, thorough, sophisticated literature review is a precondition for doing substantive, thorough, sophisticated research”. Boote and Baile 2005

Authors of manuscripts treat writing a literature review as a routine work or a mere formality. But a seasoned one knows the purpose and importance of a well-written literature review. Since it is one of the basic needs for researches at any level, they have to be done vigilantly. Only then the reader will know that the basics of research have not been neglected.

Importance of Literature Review In Research

The aim of any literature review is to summarize and synthesize the arguments and ideas of existing knowledge in a particular field without adding any new contributions. Being built on existing knowledge they help the researcher to even turn the wheels of the topic of research. It is possible only with profound knowledge of what is wrong in the existing findings in detail to overpower them. For other researches, the literature review gives the direction to be headed for its success.

The common perception of literature review and reality:

As per the common belief, literature reviews are only a summary of the sources related to the research. And many authors of scientific manuscripts believe that they are only surveys of what are the researches are done on the chosen topic. But on the contrary, it uses published information from pertinent and relevant sources like

Scholarly books
Scientific papers
Latest studies in the field
Established school of thoughts
Relevant articles from renowned scientific journals

and many more for a field of study or theory or a particular problem to do the following:

Summarize into a brief account of all information
Synthesize the information by restructuring and reorganizing
Critical evaluation of a concept or a school of thought or ideas
Familiarize the authors to the extent of knowledge in the particular field
Encapsulate
Compare & contrast

By doing the above on the relevant information, it provides the reader of the scientific manuscript with the following for a better understanding of it:

It establishes the authors’ in-depth understanding and knowledge of their field subject
It gives the background of the research
Portrays the scientific manuscript plan of examining the research result
Illuminates on how the knowledge has changed within the field
Highlights what has already been done in a particular field
Information of the generally accepted facts, emerging and current state of the topic of research
Identifies the research gap that is still unexplored or under-researched fields
Demonstrates how the research fits within a larger field of study
Provides an overview of the sources explored during the research of a particular topic

Importance of literature review in research:

The importance of literature review in scientific manuscripts can be condensed into an analytical feature to enable the multifold reach of its significance. It adds value to the legitimacy of the research in many ways:

Provides the interpretation of existing literature in light of updated developments in the field to help in establishing the consistency in knowledge and relevancy of existing materials
It helps in calculating the impact of the latest information in the field by mapping their progress of knowledge.
It brings out the dialects of contradictions between various thoughts within the field to establish facts
The research gaps scrutinized initially are further explored to establish the latest facts of theories to add value to the field
Indicates the current research place in the schema of a particular field
Provides information for relevancy and coherency to check the research
Apart from elucidating the continuance of knowledge, it also points out areas that require further investigation and thus aid as a starting point of any future research
Justifies the research and sets up the research question
Sets up a theoretical framework comprising the concepts and theories of the research upon which its success can be judged
Helps to adopt a more appropriate methodology for the research by examining the strengths and weaknesses of existing research in the same field
Increases the significance of the results by comparing it with the existing literature
Provides a point of reference by writing the findings in the scientific manuscript
Helps to get the due credit from the audience for having done the fact-finding and fact-checking mission in the scientific manuscripts
The more the reference of relevant sources of it could increase more of its trustworthiness with the readers
Helps to prevent plagiarism by tailoring and uniquely tweaking the scientific manuscript not to repeat other’s original idea
By preventing plagiarism , it saves the scientific manuscript from rejection and thus also saves a lot of time and money
Helps to evaluate, condense and synthesize gist in the author’s own words to sharpen the research focus
Helps to compare and contrast to show the originality and uniqueness of the research than that of the existing other researches
Rationalizes the need for conducting the particular research in a specified field
Helps to collect data accurately for allowing any new methodology of research than the existing ones
Enables the readers of the manuscript to answer the following questions of its readers for its better chances for publication
What do the researchers know?
What do they not know?
Is the scientific manuscript reliable and trustworthy?
What are the knowledge gaps of the researcher?

22. It helps the readers to identify the following for further reading of the scientific manuscript:

What has been already established, discredited and accepted in the particular field of research
Areas of controversy and conflicts among different schools of thought
Unsolved problems and issues in the connected field of research
The emerging trends and approaches
How the research extends, builds upon and leaves behind from the previous research

A profound literature review with many relevant sources of reference will enhance the chances of the scientific manuscript publication in renowned and reputed scientific journals .

References:

http://www.math.montana.edu/jobo/phdprep/phd6.pdf

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Literature Reviews

What is a literature review?
Steps in the Literature Review Process
Define your research question
Determine inclusion and exclusion criteria
Choose databases and search
Review Results
Synthesize Results
Analyze Results
Librarian Support
Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools

What is a Literature Review?

A literature or narrative review is a comprehensive review and analysis of the published literature on a specific topic or research question. The literature that is reviewed contains: books, articles, academic articles, conference proceedings, association papers, and dissertations. It contains the most pertinent studies and points to important past and current research and practices. It provides background and context, and shows how your research will contribute to the field.

A literature review should:

Provide a comprehensive and updated review of the literature;
Explain why this review has taken place;
Articulate a position or hypothesis;
Acknowledge and account for conflicting and corroborating points of view

From S age Research Methods

Purpose of a Literature Review

A literature review can be written as an introduction to a study to:

Demonstrate how a study fills a gap in research
Compare a study with other research that's been done

Or it can be a separate work (a research article on its own) which:

Organizes or describes a topic
Describes variables within a particular issue/problem

Limitations of a Literature Review

Some of the limitations of a literature review are:

It's a snapshot in time. Unlike other reviews, this one has beginning, a middle and an end. There may be future developments that could make your work less relevant.
It may be too focused. Some niche studies may miss the bigger picture.
It can be difficult to be comprehensive. There is no way to make sure all the literature on a topic was considered.
It is easy to be biased if you stick to top tier journals. There may be other places where people are publishing exemplary research. Look to open access publications and conferences to reflect a more inclusive collection. Also, make sure to include opposing views (and not just supporting evidence).

Source: Grant, Maria J., and Andrew Booth. “A Typology of Reviews: An Analysis of 14 Review Types and Associated Methodologies.” Health Information & Libraries Journal, vol. 26, no. 2, June 2009, pp. 91–108. Wiley Online Library, doi:10.1111/j.1471-1842.2009.00848.x.

Librarian Assistance

For help, please contact the librarian for your subject area. We have a guide to library specialists by subject .

Periodically, UT Libraries runs a workshop covering the basics and library support for literature reviews. While we try to offer these once per academic year, we find providing the recording to be helpful to community members who have missed the session. Following is the most recent recording of the workshop, Conducting a Literature Review. To view the recording, a UT login is required.

October 2 2, 2024
Last Updated: Oct 23, 2024 11:46 AM
URL: https://guides.lib.utexas.edu/literaturereviews

Libraries | Research Guides

Literature reviews, what is a literature review, learning more about how to do a literature review, sage campus course: conduct a literature review.

Planning the Review
The Research Question
Choosing Where to Search
Organizing the Review
Writing the Review

A literature review is a review and synthesis of existing research on a topic or research question. A literature review is meant to analyze the scholarly literature, make connections across writings and identify strengths, weaknesses, trends, and missing conversations. A literature review should address different aspects of a topic as it relates to your research question. A literature review goes beyond a description or summary of the literature you have read.

Sage Research Methods Core This link opens in a new window SAGE Research Methods supports research at all levels by providing material to guide users through every step of the research process. SAGE Research Methods is the ultimate methods library with more than 1000 books, reference works, journal articles, and instructional videos by world-leading academics from across the social sciences, including the largest collection of qualitative methods books available online from any scholarly publisher. – Publisher

This course guides you through the entire process of preparing a literature review, selecting and analyzing existing literature, and structuring and writing a quality literature review. Most importantly, the course develops skills in using evidence to create and present an engaging and critical argument.

Beginner | 5 hours total for all modules