Importance of Literature Review in Research Methodology

What is Literature Review?

    A literature review is a systematic overview of previous subject studies.  The literature review surveys journals, books, and other sources related to a specific study field.  This previous research should be listed,  defined, summarized, critically assessed, and explained.   

OR

A literature review is a survey of academic sources (such as books, journal articles, and theses) relevant to a particular subject or research issue. It is sometimes written as part of a thesis, dissertation, or research paper to position the work concerning established knowledge.

Objectives behind to write the literature review

A literature review at the beginning of a research project has many reasons:

•    To familiarize yourself with the latest state of awareness
•   To ensure you don't just replicate what others have done
•   Identify information gaps and unsolved issues your study should fix
•   Developing the theoretical structure and approach
•   Overview of main findings and debates on the subject 
•   Writing the literature review reveals how the work applies to current studies and what new findings it can lead to. 
•  Identify the need for additional research (justifying the research) Identify the relationship between works as they relate to the subject and other works. Place your own studies within established literature to argue that more study is required.

Where is the position of Literature Review in Thesis/Research Paper/Proposal?

The literature review a portion of the article/proposal is a description or overview of all the research that the author has read before conducting his / her own research. This section can be part of the introduction or in the Background section.

The literature review typically comes close to the beginning of your thesis or dissertation.  After the introduction, the study is based on a scholarly area and leads directly to your theoretical structure or methodology.

How do I decide my Literature review size?

In the absence of any specific guidelines on the length of the literature review, the general rule of thumb is that it should be proportionate to the length of your entire article.  If your paper is 15 pages long, 2-3 pages might be appropriate for a literature review.

What are the attributes of a good literature review? 

A successful literature review is NOT merely a list detailing or summarizing a number of articles; a literature review is a discursive prose that leads to a conclusion by justification or argument. A good analysis of the literature shows signs of synthesis and comprehension of the subject.

 In addition to summarizing the details, a good literature review will also point out shortcomings in experimental procedures as well as potential theoretical conflicts. It builds on existing knowledge by finding gaps in the literature available and recommending potential research directions.

In a literature review, how old should literature be?

For study in the arts, humanities, literature, history, etc., a strong rule of thumb is to use sources published in the past 10 years.

What will be the first step in Literature Review Writing?

Gather literature that discusses the issue of your study. Study and take notes on literature: explain, summarize, evaluate, and define key concepts. Synthesize literature: compare & contrast, judge, view objectively, so you can draw conclusions.

Conclusion

The literature review must be undertaken by the researcher in a very careful and intentional manner before beginning the primary study, thought to be the first significant brick for building a solid foundation for successful research later.  Normally, in writing the literature review for their subjects, inexperienced researchers have very little experience, sometimes feel lost, and do not know where the starting point for performing the review is.  Some helpful tips mentioned above will provide some recommendations for beginners to consider and make a persuasive literature review.  In addition, the two examples presented are also realistic works in which more beneficial experiences from previous researchers can be sought by the novice.  In our opinion, this study is not a thorough material for writing an outstanding review, but we agree that it may provide some clues to newcomer researchers to consider and perform a fair literature review that will later be a solid basis for developing primary research.