Conclusion
When you began looking through this book, you may have already been an accomplished researcher and writer. As a student, you may have had both research and writing experiences as an undergraduate that prepared you for your first graduate-level literature review. For most graduate students, however, many of the concepts and skills needed to successfully complete this high-stakes document will be new. And, while developing these skills is not always a linear process, the effort put into acquiring them will serve you throughout both your academic and professional life.
Here is a quick review of the main points from each of the chapters in this book:
- The purpose of a literature review is to survey the current state of knowledge in the area of inquiry; to identify key authors, articles, theories, and findings in that area; and to identify gaps in knowledge in that research area. (Chapter 1)
- Some common errors in many first-time literature reviews include:
- Accepts another researcher’s finding as valid without evaluating methodology and data
- Neglects to consider or mention contrary findings and alternative interpretations
- Findings are not clearly related to one’s own study or findings are too general.
- Allows insufficient time to define best search strategies and writing
- Simply reports individual studies rather than synthesizing the results
- Problems with selecting and using most relevant keywords and descriptors are evident.
- Relies too heavily on secondary sources
- Does not record or report search procedures
- Summarizes rather than synthesizes (Chapter 1)
- By understanding what the literature in your field is, as well as how and when it is generated, you begin to know what is available and where to look for it. (Chapter 2)
- Most graduate-level literature reviews begin with choosing a relevant, appropriate, interesting topic and then changing it. (Chapter 3)
- Search and discovery of the literature is an iterative process. There are many places to look and many tools and techniques to use to find resources. Advanced researchers master this skill early on and refine it with each project. (Chapter 4)
- You searched the literature and found lots of relevant resources. How do you now determine whether each item is an appropriate fit for your own review? (Chapter 5)
- How will your resources be organized (alphabetically or chronologically)? By broad general theme or theory? Based on a type of methodology or population? What citation management program or software are you going to use to keep track of all your references? (Chapter 6)
- Your literature review is not a summary of all the articles you read but rather a synthesis that demonstrates a critical analysis of the papers you collected as well as your ability to integrate the results of your analysis into your own literature review. (Chapter 7)
- Like any effective argument, the literature review is about both content and form. It should have logical and smooth flow, a clea