INTRODUCTION

Review of literature is one of the most

important steps in the research process.
It is an account of what is already known about
a particular phenomenon.
The main purpose of literature review is to
convey to the readers about the work already
done & the knowledge & ideas that have been
already established on a particular topic of
research.
Literature review is a laborious task, but it
is essential if the research process is to be
successful.
REVIEW
A literature review uses as its database reports of
primary or original scholarship & does not report
new primary scholarship itself. The primary reports
used in the literature may be verbal, but in the vast
majority of cases, report are written documents.
The types of scholarship may be empirical,
theoretical, critical/analytic, or methodological in
nature. Second a literature review seeks to
describe, summarize, evaluate, clarify &/or
integrate the content of primary reports.
…(H.M. Cooper,
1988)
 t…
• A literature review is an evaluative report of information
found in the literature related to selected area of study. The
review describes, summarizes, evaluates & clarifies this
literature. It gives a theoretical base for the research & helps
to determine the nature of research.
…(Queensland University,
1999)
• A literature review is a body of text that aims to review the
critical points of knowledge on a particular topic of research.
…(ANM,
2000)
• A literature review is an account of what has been already
established or published on a particular research topic by
accredited scholars & researchers.
Identification of a research problem & development or
refinement of research questions.
Generation of useful research questions
or projects/activities for the discipline.
Orientation to what is known & not known about an
area of inquiry to ascertain what research can
best contribute to knowledge.
Determination of any gaps or inconsistencies in a body
of knowledge.
Discovery of unanswered questions about subjects,
concepts or problems.
Determination of a need to replicate a prior study in
different study settings or different samples or size or
dfiewrwewn.drtajysesthupaddti yar.bpol ogsppout.cloam tions.
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Identification of relevant theoretical or
conceptual framework for research problems.
Identification or development of new or refined
clinical interventions to test through empirical
research.
Description of the strengths & weaknesses of
design/methods of inquiry & instruments used in
earlier research work.
Development of hypothesis to be tested in a research
study.
Helps in planning the methodology of the present
research study.
It also helps in development of research instruments.
Idewnwwt.idfriaj cyeashtpiaoditnb.arool fgsspouc.tiotmable design & data
collection methods for a research study.
The purpose of a literature review is to convey to
the reader previous knowledge & facts established
on a topic, & their strength & weakness.
The literature review allows the reader to be
updated with the state of research in a field & any
contradictions that may exist with challenges
findings of other research studies.
It helps to develop research investigative tools & to
improve research methodologies.
It also provide the knowledge about the problems
faced by the previous researchers’ while
studying same topic.
Besides enhancing researchers’ knowledge about
thewwtwod. pajriyces,hpwdaitrairtb. inogl gspoaco.t lmiterature review helps to:
 t…
Place each in the context of its contribution to the
understanding of subject under review.
Describe the relationship of each study to other
research studies under consideration.
Identify new ways to interpret & shed light on any
gaps in previous research.
Resolve conflicts amongst seemingly contradictory
previous studies.
Identify areas of prior scholarship to prevent
duplication of effort.
Point a way forward for further research.
See what has & has not been investigated.
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 t…
Develop general explanation for observed variations
in a behavior or phenomenon.
Identify potential relationship between concepts & to
identify researchable hypothesis.
Learn how others have defined & measured key
concepts.
Identify data sources that other researchers have
used.
Develop alternative research projects.
Discover how a research project is related to the
work of others.
Place one’s original work (in case of thesis or
diswswew.rdrtajayetsihopandit)arcbl.oognsptoeco.txmt of the existing
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Literature can be reviewed
from two sources:
1. Primary sources
2. Secondary sources

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Sources
Literature review mostly relies on primary sources,
i.e. research reports, which are description of studies
written by researchers who conducted them.
A primary sources is written by a person who
developed the theory or conducted the research, or is
the description of an investigation written by the
person who conducted it.
Most primary sources are found in
published literature.

 A credible literature review reflects the use of mainly

primary sources.
Sources
Secondary source research documents are
description of studies prepared by someone other
than the original researcher.
They are written by people other than the
individuals who developed the theory or conducted
the research.
The secondary sources may be used when
primary sources are not available

even the results of their own research.

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 Magazines
& Electronic
newspape database
rs

Research Books
Resources
Reports of
literature
Encyclopedia review
Journals
&
dictionary

Theses Conference
papers
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1. Electronic Sources:
Computer-assisted literature search has
revolutionized the review of literature.
These searches, however, for a variety of
reasons may not provide the desired
references.
Electronic literature search through web may
be very useful, but sometimes it can be time
consuming & unpredictable because there are
many website & web pages that can lead to
information overload & confusion.
ho w e v e r , c u r r e n tly it is one of the
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2. Printed Sources:
Printed sources are also used for literature review.
Printed research summary may be located from
published abstracts
References of the other printed sources may be
located through indexes
 Count
…

Journal paper
Online database
Research reports
Unpublished dissertations &
theses
Magazines & newspapers
Conference papers &
proceedings Encyclopedias &
dictionaries Books

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STEPS FOR LITERATURE
REVIEW
 Thematic More
Bibliography
Organization reading

Write
Integrate
individual
sectio
sections
ns

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Stage I – Annotated Bibliography
At this stage, researchers read articles,
books & other types of literature related to the
topic of research & write a brief critical
synopsis of each review.
After going through the reading list,
researchers will have an annotation of each
source of related literature.
Later, annotations are likely to include more
references of other work since previous
readings will be available to compare, but at
thi s p o i n t t h e i m p ortant goal is to
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Stage II – Thematic Organization
At this stage, researchers try to find
common themes of research topic &
organize the literature under these themes,
subthemes, or categories.
Here, researchers try to organize literature
under themes, which relate to each other
& are arranged in a chronological manner.
Researchers try to establish coherence
between themes & literature discussed under
theses themes.
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Stage III – More Reading
Based on the knowledge gained through primary
reading, researchers have a better understanding
about the research topic & the literature related to it.
At this stage, researchers try to discover specific
literature materials relevant to the field of study or
research methodologies which are more relevant
for their research.
They look for more literature by those authors, on
those methodologies, etc.
Also, the researchers may be able to set aside
some less relevant areas or articles which they
pursued initially.
They integrate the new readings into their
w ww ajdr. ye s hp a t dai r b. ogl s po c.t om
literature rev ie w d r a f t , r e o r g a n ize themes, &
Sections
At this stage, researchers start writing the
literature under each thematic section by using
previously collected draft of annotations.
Here they organize the related articles under
each theme by ensuring that every article is
related to each other.
Furthermore, related articles may be
grouped together by ensuring the coherence
between different segments of the literature
abstracts.
For each thematic sections, draft annotations are
used (it is a good idea to reread the articles & revise
annotations, especially the ones read initially) to
 Count
…
While writing reviews, the researchers focus
on the theme of that section, showing how the
articles relate to each other & to the theme,
rather than focusing on writing each individual
article.
The articles are used as evidence to support the
critique of the theme rather than using the
theme as an angle to discuss each article
individually.

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Stage V – Integrate Sections
In this section, researchers have a list of
the thematic sections & they tie them
together with an introduction, conclusion, &
some additions & revisions in the sections
to show how they relate to each other & to
the overall theme.

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 Introduction

Conclusio ELEMENTS Body

n

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Writing the Introduction…
While writing the introduction, following steps should
be taken care of:
Define or identify the general topic, issue, or area of
concern, thus, providing appropriate context for
reviewing the literature.
Point out overall trends in what has been published
about the topic or conflicts in theory, methodology,
evidence, & conclusion or gaps in research &
scholarship, or a single problem or new perspective
of immediate interest.
Establish the writer’s point of view for reviewing the
literature, explain the criteria to be used in analyzing
& cwowmdw.pajraeysrhipnatgdarilb.itolegsrpa.ottcuomre & organization or
Writing the Body…
Following measures need to be undertaken while
writing the body of the literature.
Group research studies & other types of literature
(reviews, theoretical articles, case studies) according to
common denominators such as qualitative versus
quantitative approaches, conclusions of authors,
specific purposes or objectives, chronology, & so on.
Summarize individual studies or articles with as much
as or as little detail as each merits according to its
comparative importance in the literature, remembering
that space denotes significance.
Assist the reader with strong ‘umbrella' sentences at the
beginning of paragraphs, signpost throughout, & brief
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‘so what’ summary sentences at intermediate points in
Writing the Conclusion…
The points to be taken care of in the conclusion are
as follows:
Summarize major contributions of significant
studies & articles to the body of knowledge under
review, maintaining the focus established in the
introduction.
Evaluate the current ‘state of the art’ for the body
of knowledge reviewed, pointing out major
methodological flaws or gaps in research,
inconsistencies in theory, & finding & areas or
issues pertinent to future study.
Cownwwcd. lruayj desehpabdityb.arpogl rsopovc.tiodming some insight into the
relationship between central topic of the literature
 POINTS TO BE
CONSIDERED FOR
LITERATURE REVIEW

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Be specific & be succinct:
Briefly state specific findings listed in an article,
specific methodologies used in a study, or other important points.
Literature reviews are not the place for long quotes or in-depth
analysis of each point.
Be selective:
Researcher should narrow down a lot of information into a
small space for literature review. Just the most important points
(i.e. those most relevant to the review’s focus) must be mentioned
in each work of review.
Focus of current topics:
Researcher needs to analyse points such as if it is a
current article, & if not, how old it is: has its claims, evidence,
or arguments been superseded by more recent work; if it is not
current, then if it is important for historical background ; etc.
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Ensure evidence for claims:
Researcher should focus on what support is given for
claims made in literature. What evidence & what type
(experimental, statistical, anecdotal, etc.) of evidences are
offered? Is the evidence relevant & sufficient? What
arguments are given? What assumptions are made, & are they
warranted?
Focus on sources of evidences:
Researchers should ensure the reliability of the sources
of the evidence or other information – if they are from
author’s own experiments, surveys, historical
records, government documents, etc. He should check
how reliable those sources are.
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Account of contrary evidences:
Does the author take into account contrary or conflicting
evidence & arguments? How does the author address disagreements
with other researchers?
Reference citation:
Any references cited in the literature review must be
included in the bibliography. The common practice is that the
reviewer does not list references in the bibliography that are not
directly cited in the literature review or elsewhere in the paper
/thesis.
Avoid abbreviations:
Avoid technical terms, jargons & abbreviations.
Simple & accurate sentence structure:
A researcher should use simple sentences &
must avoid errors of grammar & punctuation
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Organization of literature review:
A literature review is organized by subtopic, not by
individual references. In a typical literature review, the writers
may cite several references in the same paragraph & may cite the
same reference in more than one paragraph, if that source address
more than one of the subtopics in the literature review. Typically,
discussion of each sources is quite brief. The contribution the
present reviewers make is organizing the ideas from the sources
into a cogent argument or narrative that includes their
perspectives.
Referring original source:
The reviewer should focus on citing the material that
originates with each reference. This may require a careful
reading of the reference. If the reference author refers to another
source whose ideas are relevant or interesting, it is better to track
& use that original reference.