About literature reviews

Ross Woods, 2022, '23, '24, with thanks to Μιchαel Jοnes, Stephen Whιteheαd, Yunlοk Lee, Βαrry Tse, Jοse Sοαres Αugustο, & Μαrcια J. Βαtes.

A literature review is an integrated analysis of what is already known about your topic. It is usually limited to published information, and sometimes within a certain time period. It normally organizes material into an outline that is easy for readers to follow, and contains summaries with critique or interpretation. It might give a new interpretation of old material, combine new and old interpretations, or trace the progression of the field, including the major debates. Some earlier work may be seminal in nature, providing a rich historical understanding of the topic, making it much more meaningful and interesting.

It will present the key theory(s) informing the study and also offer a critical analysis of competing theories, explaining why a particular theory has been chosen to inform your research.

Different fields (and perhaps different institutions) have different views on the kinds of literature that may be reviewed. In some fields, researchers recognize research only when it has been published in a reputable journal, so they try to identify the leading edge in the journal literature. Other fields, however, are not so narrow and permit or even require other kinds of primary and secondary sources. For example, monographs may be essential.

Why

Your literature review shows:

  1. the state of current research related to your topic,
  2. current trends and directions,
  3. how your proposed research fits in to make a valuable contribution to research in that area, and why the problem worth researching,
  4. you are not duplicating work that has already been done (which will save you time in the long run),
  5. what assumptions are current, including theoretical or conceptual frameworks (and whether you need to modify them),
  6. any contradictions in the literature,
  7. which avenues are more promising, which ones will most probably go to a dead end, and which might be too expensive,
  8. what patents are already granted in the area and how to circumvent them, and
  9. gaps in current knowledge where there is little of no literature, aspects of the problem that could be explored, or areas already explored without success.

A literature review has other benefits. First, if your topic is to to validate findings of existing research, your literature review will help you to know what aspects need to be replicated. Second, when you have drawn your conclusions, you might use parts of the literature review again, to compare your findings with existing knowledge and show how your findings have modified knowledge of the topic. Third, you might find that literature in other fields is helpful when underlying principles are similar. Other fields might have faced similar difficulties, solved some problems, or created new methods that will be helpful to you. This will not only save you time, but also show that that you are thinking broadly across your field.

Literature reviews and methodology

A review of the literature also includes learning from others about their methodologies, so that you can choose the most appropriate, valid and reliable methodology. This includes the best way to do some things, what kinds of factors you should anticipate (and what to do about them), what not to do, and how a basic method can be modified. It will be helpful when you design your own methodology and give you ideas on modifications. It might also save you lots of time if an existing method or instrument has already been proven to be suitable and you can borrow it for your own research.

Critique

Question everything about the studies you review, don’t just summarize them. Why this sample? Was it large enough? Did it include my target population? What characteristics of your target population did these former studies address? Which characteristics did they fail to capture? Where's the proof in their studies that justifies why your study is needed? One researcher reported, I struggled for months to understand how to switch from summarizing literature to critiquing it, but once I figured it out, it was incredibly empowering!