What Is A Literature Review And Why It So Important For A Dissertation?

What is a literature review?

It is an assessment of previously done research work on the chosen area of your research. The basic aim of writing a literature review is to appraise, summarize and understand the researches that have already taken place. It not only helps in building a foundation for a research but also establishes clear grounds for your thesis.

Now that you know what is a literature review ?We must proceed to find out why it is a mandatory part of writing a thesis.

Following are some of the very crucial reason of conducting such a review:

1-It helps in tracing out the ambiguity and flaws in the previously done research works.
2-It displays the link of each research work to the others.
3-It helps in bridging the gap between any previous studies.
4-It helps in clearing way for further research work.
5-It enhance one is knowledge about the related subject.

What does a perfect literature review posses?

1-A perfectly written review should trace out controversy in the literature.
2-It signifies the similarities and differences in each work.
3-It directly connects back to the research question.
4-It delivers:

Overview of the subject
Issue/problem to be solved through research work
Objectives of LR

Four crucial steps in writing LR:

Problem identification and formulation:

If you really want to know how to write a literature review example then you should make the subject matter very clear in your head which will be your Problem. An ideal way to identify a problem is to analyze the topic, write different issues popping in to your mind and select the best one out of them.

Search for the material:

You know the topic and you know the issue, therefore, now you can easily dig out information on it from any source you like. Only try to gather pertinent material in order to save your precious time in the end for exclusion takes a lot of time.

Data appraisal:

Here, you have to determine which literature has contributed the most in the topic of your research work. Furthermore, at this stage you can also get rid of the irrelevant data as well to make your LR look specific and narrow.

Analysis:

You will analyze the data and find out what you have culminated from the research work you have done. Here you will provide a final concluding statement to end your LR where your final interpretation will be presented as well.
Organizational pattern to write LR:

Introduction:

Define the topic with reasons of conducting a research work.

Body:

It is where you will discuss sources of previously done research work on the same topic of yours. You can arrange the body of your LR in following three ways.

Chronologically
Thematically
Methodologically

Conclusion:

Wrap up your work by providing a summary of major contributions, analyze current positions, flaws, and contradictions in the conclusion of your LR.