How to Plan for and Write a Literature Review

The point of a literature review (or conceptual framework or theoretical framework) is to summarize and evaluate the literature to provide direct relationships between prior studies and to provide a map of your own work.

The literature included can be any of the following:

1. Journal Articles

2. Conference Proceedings

3. Government Reports

4. Theses and Dissertations

5. Other resources such as trade publications, news and other media (sparingly)

The above sources are listed in the order that you should prioritize your use of sources when considering what constitutes important research. Government reports, dissertations and other resources should be used sparingly. Occasionally you may include books, as well.

Questions the literature review should answer:

What do we already know about the subject?

What are the current theories?

What are the relationships between the different theories/concepts in this area?

What are the gaps that exist in the discussions of the topic and the constructs you wish to include?

How will your work build on the work of others (or diverge from it) in order to address a gap or niche?

It is important that you are telling a story through outlining the constructs you wish to explore through your research question. That is in essence the point of the literature review, however, we cannot say anything without referencing what has already been said to draw our own conclusions.

Tips:

You cannot include everything. You need to decide what is most relevant and most important. Do not overlook important authors or works, but if you do not wish to build upon them, you should still mention that you are aware of them and you differ in your direction and why.

Keep your references organized in Endnote or some other reference management system. (RefWorks and Mendeley are others that are available).

Do not organize the review chronologically – you should organize papers by the ideas.

SECTIONS of the LITERATURE REVIEW

1. Introduction

   • You will include a basic introduction. You can expand upon this at the end when you compile your sections for the full paper, but for now just identify the topic and provide context for reviewing the literature. Use this section to establish your problem of practice, purpose of your research and your research question (RQ). Later you can add a written map for your reader of what sections are to come, etc.

2. Main Body

• The body of your literature review should be systematic and logical, based upon the components of your research question. It can be grouped by theory or construct.

• You will include

  • theoretical approaches/perspectives

  • concepts or issues related to your RQ

  • level of support or otherwise that they lend to one’s own hypothesis/theory.

3. Conclusion

3. • The conclusion should wrap up the literature review and prepare the reader for the next section of the paper, which will be the methods section.

[1] http://guides.library.vcu.edu/ld.php?content_id=1720465