How To Review

RESEARCH LITERATURE

Literature Review: Defined

 It is defined by Fink (2019) as a systematic, explicit and reproducible method of identifying,

evaluating, synthesizing the existing body of completed and recorded work produced by
researchers, scholars and practitioners.

 According to Leite et. al. (2019), it is a unique opportunity to assess and contrast various
arguments and theories, not simply summarize them.

Traditional vs. Modern Literature Search

Printed Digital

Books E – books

Encyclopedia Online Journal Articles

Newspapers Web pages

Magazines Online Magazines

Articles Educational Videos and Tutorials

Conference Proceedings Virtual Lectures

Printed Theses, Dissertations E – proceedings and E – abstracts

 Time-consuming  Saves time by using keywords

 Often not up-to-date  State-of-the-art

 Ease of use  Navigation can be intimidating

Why Reviewing the Literature is Important in Research

 Lingard (2015) recently invoked the “journal-as-conversation” metaphor as a way of

understanding how one’s research fits into the larger medical education conversation.

• It describes how the proposed research is related to prior research in statistics.

• It shows the originality and relevance of your research problem. Specifically, your research is
different from other statisticians.

• It justifies your proposed methodology.

• It demonstrates your preparedness to complete the research.

 To know what concepts and theories have been applied to the topic
 Note:

A literature review in a manuscript is usually ≥ 20 pages. It should be long enough to convince

your committee that you have thoroughly explored the research topic.

• In your literature search you will:

– discover what statistical knowledge exists related to you research topic

– increase your statistical knowledge in your research area

– find gaps (and possibly errors) in published research

– generate new original ideas

– avoid duplicating results of other statisticians

– justify the relevance of your proposed research

When should the Literature Review in Research be done?

Beginning?

Middle?

End?

The Literature Review process is ITERATIVE

Reviewing the Literature answers 2 important questions before you GET STARTED:
 1. What has already been done?

(What questions have been answered already.)

2. What is there left for me to do?

(Identify gaps)

Websites you can visit for your Literature Review

 researchgate.net

 quora.com

 ETC…

BUTTTTT…Exercise CAUTION in processing the overwhelming information online.

Recommended Search Engines for Scholarly Literature

 Google scholar gives you quick access to wide collection of materials related to your topic such
as:

• Journal articles

• Book chapters

• Theses

• Abstracts

• Court opinions

• PubMed – free resource supporting research in the biomedical and life science areas

• Scopusa - abstract and citation database of Elsevier specializing in scientific, technical, and
medical content

• Web of Sciencea

• Education Resource Information Center (ERIC)

• Cumulative Index of Nursing & Allied Health (CINAHL) a

• PsycINFOa

• Youtube – tutorials, lecture videos, short animation

REMINDER

In evaluating your review of related literature (in a single research study), you should trust research
findings after different researchers have replicated the findings.

In evaluating and analyzing selected works, do not consider materials that do not directly explain
concepts related to your research.
Do not employ heavy paraphrasing.
Original Text
Global awareness refers to the learners’ ability to
engage in diverse learning practices throughout the
world.
Paraphrased
Global awareness refers to the learners’ ability to
participate in different learning practices throughout
the world.

Make your text as original as possible.

You like the examples or illustrations that several authors have used to prove a point, and you want to
collect them all and use them in a list in your own paper. In this case, include a citation after each separate
example to indicate where you found them.