What comes to your mind when you read or hear the word LITERATURE REVIEW?
What comes to your mind may include;
- Reviewing previous research
- Dealing with journals, books, and newspapers
- Examining theories
- Looking for evidence
DEFINITION: A literature review is an examination (not an information dump) of the research that has been conducted in a particular field of study. These are descriptions of previous knowledge in the area of study. The available literature is reviewed to determine if there is already a solution to the problem (Robindos Research Consultancy, 2020). Hart (1998) defines it as:
“The selection of available documents (both published and unpublished) on the topic, which contain information, ideas, data and evidence. This selection is written to fulfil certain aims or express certain views on the nature of the topic and how it is to be investigated, and the effective evaluation of these documents in relation to the research being proposed.”
- At Robindos Research Consultancy we assist our clients to write literature review that is intensive, extensive, and exhaustive.
Structure of literature review!!!
There is no fixed structure writing a literature review and usually universities and supervisors provide their preferred structure. However, the common structure at Robindos Research Consultancy, 2020) is as follows;
- Introduction
- Body: Under-subheadings related to the objectives/hypotheses/questions of research
- Chapter summary
Why do we write literature review?
- To identify knowledge gaps to be filled by a study
- To identify areas for further research
- To help researchers develop a thorough understanding of and insight into previous researches that are related to their research questions
- To revise existing solutions that might require some revision or even to be discarded because existing solutions do not always explain new observations
Sources of Literature Review!!!
Sources of literature review abound which include but are not limited to;
- Internet
- Journals
- Empirical research articles (Best)
- Text books
- Newspapers
- Reports, government, company, conferences
- Other projects and dissertations
