How To Develop Your Research Project Chapter Two Effectively

Introduction: A literature review is a survey of academic sources on a particular project topic. It gives an overview of the ebb and flows information, permitting you to distinguish significant hypotheses, strategies, and holes in the current research.rnA literature review is to show your reader that you have read, and have a good grasp of, the main published work concerning a particular topic or question in your field.rnIt is very important to note that your review should not be simply a description of what others have published in the form of a set of summaries but should take the form of a critical discussion, showing insight and an awareness of differing arguments, theories, and approaches. It should be a synthesis and analysis of the relevant published work, linked at all times to your own purpose and rationale.rnConducting a literature review involves collecting, evaluating and analyzing publications (such as books and journal articles) that relate to your research question. There are five main steps in the process of writing a literature review:rn1. Search for relevant literaturern2. Evaluate sourcesrn3. Identify themes, debates, and gapsrn4. Outline the structurern5. Write your literature reviewrnA good literature review doesn’t just summarize sources – it analyzes, synthesizes, and critically evaluates to give a clear picture of the state of knowledge on the subject.rnAccording to Caulley (1992) of La Trobe University, the literature review should: • compare and contrast different authors’ views on an issuern• group authors who draw similar conclusionsrn• criticize aspects of the methodologyrn• note areas in which authors are in disagreementrn• highlight exemplary studiesrn• highlight gaps in researchrn• show how your study relates to previous studiesrn• show how your study relates to the literature in generalrn• conclude by summarising what the literature says THE PURPOSES OF THE REVIEW ARE: • To define and limit the problem you are working onrn• To place your study in a historical perspectivern• To avoid unnecessary duplicationrn• To evaluate promising research methodsrn• To relate your findings to previous knowledge and suggest further researchrnA good literature review, therefore, is critical of what has been written, identifies areas of controversy, raises questions and identifies areas that need further research. STRUCTURE OF THE LITERATURE REVIEW The overall structure of your review will depend largely on your own thesis or research area. What you will need to do is to group together and compare and contrast the varying opinions of different writers on certain topics. What you must not do is just describe what one writer says, and then go on to give a general overview of another writer, and then another, and so on. Your structure should be dictated instead by topic areas, controversial issues or by questions to which there are varying approaches and theories. Within each of these sections, you would then discuss what the different literature argues, remembering to link this to your own purpose.rnLinking words are important. If you are grouping together writers with similar opinions, you would use words or phrases such as: Similarly, in addition, also, againrnMore importantly, if there is disagreement, you need to indicate clearly that you are aware of this by the use of linkers such as: however, on the other hand, conversely, neverthelessrnAt the end of the review, you should include a summary of what the literature implies, which again links to your hypothesis or main question.rnA standard research literature review is expected to follow the format below:rn1. Introductionrn2. Conceptual frameworkrn3. Theoretical frameworkrn4. Empirical reviewrn5. Knowledge gap (optional)rn6. Summary of literaturernINTRODUCTION: here undergraduate or final year project students are expected to simply spell out in at least seven (7) what this chapter will contain. As we have it above conceptual framework, theoretical framework, empirical review, etc. a good introduction gives the project supervisor kind confidence in his or her project students.rnCONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK: a good conceptual framework will cover all the research objectives so as to help solve the problem of the research work. This section involves the use of diagrams to explain certain key variables in the research work. The use of diagram is usually high in MBA/MSC thesis research.rnTHEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: this section is very important in research work. Undergraduate project students, postgraduate research students are expected to search for theories that are related to their research project topic.rnFor example, consider the project topic on human resource management: work-life balancing and its effect on employee productivity; the theory that is suited for the above research topic is The Segmentation Theory, Spill-Over Theory, Compensation Theory, Resource Drain Theory, and Border Theory. A project student is expected to get the theories that are related to their research work/ topic.rnEMPIRICAL REVIEWrnThe empirical review is simply talking about the various researches done by other researchers concerning your topic or people's research works that are similar to your research work. The names of various researchers must be attached to their findings or statement.rnFor example, the use of instructional materials in teaching and learning of geography in senior secondary schools has a significant effect on the level of the academic achievement of students (Androameda, 2017)rnSUMMARY OF LITERATURErnHere the research or project students are expected to point out their view concerning all that was discussed in each section of the literature review. WHY WRITE A LITERATURE REVIEW? When you write a thesis, dissertation, or research paper, you will have to conduct a literature review to situate your research within existing knowledge. The literature review gives you a chance to: • Demonstrate your familiarity with the topic and scholarly contextrn• Develop a theoretical framework and methodology for your researchrn• Position yourself in relation to other researchers and theoristsrn• Show how your research addresses a gap or contributes to a debaternYou might also have to write a literature review as a stand-alone assignment. In this case, the purpose is to evaluate the current state of research and demonstrate your knowledge of scholarly debates around a topic.rnThe content will look slightly different in each case, but the process of conducting a literature review follows the same steps. Step 1: Search for relevant literature Before you begin searching for literature, you need a clearly defined topic.rnIf you are writing the literature review section of a dissertation or research paper, you will search for literature related to your research problem and questions.rnIf you are writing a literature review as a stand-alone assignment, you will have to choose a focus and develop a central question to direct your search. Unlike a dissertation research question, this question has to be answerable without collecting original data. You should be able to answer it based only on a review of existing publications.rnSearch for literature using keywords and citationsrnStart by creating a list of keywords related to your research topic and question. Some useful databases to search for journals and articles include: • Your university’s library catalogrn• Google Scholarrn• JSTORrn• EBSCOrn• Project Muse (humanities and social sciences) • Medline (life sciences and biomedicine) • EconLit (economics) • Inspec (physics, engineering, and computer science)rnRead the abstract to find out whether an article is relevant to your question. When you find a useful book or article, you can check the bibliography to find other relevant sources.rnTo identify the most important publications on your topic, take note of recurring citations. If the same authors, books or articles keep appearing in your reading, make sure to seek them out.rnYou can find out how many times an article has been cited on Google Scholar – a high citation count means the article has been influential in the field, and should certainly be included in your literature review.rnWhat can proofreading do for your paper?rnScribbr editors not only correct grammar and spelling mistakes, but also strengthen your writing by making sure your paper is free of vague language, redundant words, and awkward phrasing. Step 2: Evaluate and select sources You probably won’t be able to read absolutely everything that has been written on the topic – you’ll have to evaluate which sources are most relevant to your questions.rnFor each publication, ask yourself: • What question or problem is the author addressing? • What are the key concepts and how are they defined? • What are the key theories, models and methods? Does the research use established frameworks or take an innovative approach? • What are the results and conclusions of the study? • How does the publication relate to other literature in the field? Does it confirm, add to, or challenge established knowledge? • How does the publication contribute to your understanding of the topic? What are its key insights and arguments? • What are the strengths and weaknesses of the research?rnMake sure the sources you use are credible and make sure you read any landmark studies and major theories in your field of research.rnThe scope of your review will depend on your topic and discipline: in the sciences, you usually only review recent literature, but in the humanities, you might take a long historical perspective (for example, to trace how a concept has changed in meaning over time).rnTake notes and cite your sourcesrnAs you read, you should also begin the writing process. Take notes that you can later incorporate into the text of your literature review.rnIt is important to keep track of your sources with citations to avoid plagiarism. It can be helpful to make an annotated bibliography, where you compile full citation information and write a paragraph of summary and analysis for each source. This helps you remember what you read and saves time later in the process.rnYou can use our free citation generator to quickly create correct and consistent APA citations or MLA format citations. Step 3: Identify themes, debates, and gaps To begin organizing your literature review’s argument and structure, you need to understand the connections and relationships between the sources you’ve read. Based on your reading and notes, you can look for: • Trends and patterns (in theory, method or results): do certain approaches become more or less popular over time? • Themes: what questions or concepts recur across the literature? • Debates, conflicts, and contradictions: where do sources disagree? • Pivotal publications: are there any influential theories or studies that changed the direction of the field? • Gaps: What is missing from the literature? Are there weaknesses that need to be addressed?rnThis step will help you work out the structure of your literature review and (if applicable) show how your own research will contribute to existing knowledge. Step 4: Outline your literature review’s structure There are various approaches to organizing the body of a literature review. You should have a rough idea of your strategy before you start writing.rnDepending on the length of your literature review, you can combine several of these strategies (for example, your overall structure might be thematic, but each theme is discussed chronologically).rnChronologicalrnThe simplest approach is to trace the development of the topic over time. However, if you choose this strategy, be careful to avoid simply listing and summarizing sources in order.rnTry to analyze patterns, turning points and key debates that have shaped the direction of the field. Give your interpretation of how and why certain developments occurred.rnThematicrnIf you have found some recurring central themes, you can organize your literature review into subsections that address different aspects of the topic.rnFor example, if you are reviewing literature about inequalities in migrant health outcomes, key themes might include healthcare policy, language barriers, cultural attitudes, legal status, and economic access.rnMethodologicalrnIf you draw your sources from different disciplines or fields that use a variety of research methods, you might want to compare the results and conclusions that emerge from different approaches. For example: • Look at what results have emerged in qualitative versus quantitative researchrn• Discuss how the topic has been approached by empirical versus theoretical scholarshiprn• Divide the literature into sociological, historical, and cultural sourcesrnTheoreticalrnA literature review is often the foundation for a theoretical framework. You can use it to discuss various theories, models, and definitions of key concepts.rnYou might argue for the relevance of a specific theoretical approach, or combine various theoretical concepts to create a framework for your research. Step 5: Write your literature review Like any other academic text, your literature review should have an introduction, the main body, and a conclusion. What you include in each depends on the objective of your literature review.rnIntroductionrnThe introduction should clearly establish the focus and purpose of the literature review.rnDissertation literature review you are writing the literature review as part of your dissertation or thesis, reiterate your central problem or research question and give a brief summary of the scholarly context. You can emphasize the timeliness of the topic (“many recent studies have focused on the problem of x”) or highlight a gap in the literature (“while there has been much research on x, few researchers have taken y into consideration”). Stand-alone literature review you are writing a stand-alone paper, give some background on the topic and its importance, discuss the scope of the literature you will review (for example, the time period of your sources), and state your objective. What new insight will you draw from the literature?rnBodyrnDepending on the length of your literature review, you might want to divide the body into subsections. You can use a subheading for each theme, time period, or methodological approach.rnAs you write, you can follow these tips: • Summarize and synthesize: give an overview of the main points of each source and combine them into a coherent wholern• Analyze and interpret: don’t just paraphrase other researchers—add your own interpretations where possible, discussing the significance of findings in relation to the literature as a wholern• Critically evaluate: mention the strengths and weaknesses of your sourcesrn• Write in well-structured paragraphs: use transitions and topic sentences to draw connections, comparisons, and contrastsrnLiterature review paragraph examplernThe example below is taken from the body of a literature review on the relationship between national identity and nature conservation. This paragraph discusses how humanities scholars have approached the concept of wilderness.rnEarly work in environmental humanities tended to take a sharply critical approach to the wilderness, focusing on the cultural construction of supposedly ‘natural’ landscapes. The rise of climate change awareness in the 1980s had been framed by narratives about “the end of nature” (McKibben 1989), in which a once-pristine wilderness is degraded by humans to the point of disappearance. In response to this popular discourse, environmental historian William Cronon critiqued the concept of pure, pristine nature to be preserved from human influence, arguing that ideas like “wilderness” are themselves products of particular human cultures and histories. In his influential essay ‘The Trouble with Wilderness’ (1995), Cronon traces how the ideal of untouched wilderness, anxiety over its loss, and the political will to preserve it has been central to American national identity, entwined with religious motifs and colonial frontier mythologies. Following Cronon, the racial and class politics of wilderness preservation was a theme taken up by several scholars in the late 1990s and early 2000s, who researched the material effects of conservation politics on indigenous and rural Americans (Catton 1997; Spence 1999; Jacoby 2001). The US National Park system became the dominant paradigm for analyzing relations between conservation, nationhood, and nationalism. However, this approach has sometimes led to a narrowly US-centric perspective that fails to engage closely with the meanings and materialities of “wilderness” in different contexts. Recent work has begun to challenge this paradigm and argues for more varied approaches to understanding the socio-political relations between nations and nature.rnThe example combines the thematic and chronological approaches. This section of the literature review focuses on the theme of wilderness, while the paragraph itself is organized chronologically.rnConclusionrnIn conclusion, you should summarize the key findings you have taken from the literature and emphasize their significance.rnDissertation literature review if the literature review is part of your thesis or dissertation, show how your research addresses gaps and contributes new knowledge, or discuss how you have drawn on existing theories and methods to build a framework for your research.Stand-alone literature review if you are writing a stand-alone paper, you can discuss the overall implications of the literature or make suggestions for future research based on the gaps you have identified.rnWhen you’ve finished writing and revising your literature review, don’t forget to proofread thoroughly before submitting it. Our quick guide to proofreading offers some useful tips and tricks!