1. Developing Literature Review Training Module for Institute of Research Promotion (IRP)

2. Training agenda Literature review – What and why
Searching and finding print and online sources
Evaluating sources for relevance and reliability
Reading critically
Analyzing and synthesizing findings
Writing and presenting literature review
Citing sources in text and reference list / bibliography
Avoiding plagiarism

3. Literature review - Definition
A body of text that aims to review the critical points of current knowledge on a particular topic
A comprehensive survey of publications in a specific field of study or related to a particular line of research
Non-quantitative summary of existing published literature made by experts who select and weigh findings available from the literature
A summary and interpretation of research findings reported in the literature
A process and documentation of the current relevant research literature regarding a particular topic or subject of interest

4. Purposes of literature review
Define and limit problem
Develop familiarity with topic
Limit research to a subtopic within larger body of knowledge
Place study in historical perspective
Analysis of way in which study relates to existing knowledge
Avoid unintentional and unnecessary replication
Awareness of prior studies so as to avoid unneeded replication
Replication is reasonable if it is needed to verify prior results, investigate results that failed to be significant, or relate problem to a specific site

5. Purposes of literature review
Select promising methods and measures
Knowledge of and insight into specific research designs for investigating a problem
Awareness of specific instruments, sampling procedures, and data analyses
Relate findings to previous knowledge and suggest future research needs
Relating prior research to what is known places current study in perspective
This knowledge allows researcher to focus problem on what is not known
Develop research hypotheses
Suggestions for specific research hypotheses

6. Literature review designs
Narrative review
Selective review of the literature that broadly covers a specific topic.
Does not follow strict systematic methods to locate and synthesize articles.
Systematic review
Utilizes exacting search strategies to make certain that the maximum extent of relevant research has been considered.
Original articles are methodologically appraised and synthesized.
Meta-analysis
Quantitatively combines the results of studies that are the result of a systematic literature review.
Capable of performing a statistical analysis of the pooled results of relevant studies.

7. When we need to do a literature review
At the beginning of the research project
Proposal
Chapter 2, 1 & 3 (LR, Intro, Methd)
Constantly update during the research
When writing the discussion and conclusion chapters

8. What is literature Books Journals Conference papers
Theses and dissertations
Bibliographies
Maps
Internet
Indexes/Abstracts
Audio-visual material
CDs/DVDs
Electronic databases
Government reports
Magazines
Newspapers
Grey literature
Interviews and other unpublished research

9. Three types of literature

10. Structure of review articles
Literature reviews are in reality a type of research
Should conform to the anatomy of a typical scholarly article
Abstract
Introduction
Methods
Results
Discussion
Conclusion
References

11. Structure of literature review
Introduction
Gives a quick idea of the topic of the literature review, such as the central theme or organizational pattern.
Body
Contains your discussion of sources.
Conclusions/Recommendations
Discuss what you have drawn from reviewing literature so far. Where might the discussion proceed?

12. Organization of literature review
A general organization looks like a funnel
Broader topics
Subtopics
Studies like yours

13. Making links between studies
Agreements
Similarly, author B points to…
Likewise, author C makes the case that…
Author D also makes this point…
Again, it is possible to see how author E agrees with author D…
Disagreements
However, author B points to…
On the other hand, author C makes the case that…
Conversely, Author D argues…
Nevertheless, what author E suggests…

14. Review the Literature Selected
If you don’t have a theoretical framework of themes in mind to start with, use separate sheets of paper for each article or book.
Theoretical Framework
Conceptual Framework

15. Theoretical Framework
Examine the literature can be a never ending task
As you start reading the literature:
You will discover that the problem you wish to investigate have its roots in a number of theories that have been developed from different perspective
Info obtained from different books and journals now needs to be sorted under the main themes and theories

16. Theoretical Framework
Highlighting agreements and disagreements among the authors and identifying the unanswered questions or gaps.
Literature deals with a number of aspects that have direct or indirect bearing on your research topic
Lit Review should sort out the information, within the framework
Unless you review the lit in relation to this framework, you will not be able to develop a focus in your lit search.

17. Theoretical Framework
Until you go through the literature you cannot develop a theoretical framework and until you have developed a theoretical framework, you can not effectively review the literature.
Please discuss given material…..

18. Conceptual Framework
Conceptual FW stems from the T-FW and concentrates, usually, on one section of that T-FW which becomes the basis of your study.
The T-FW includes all the theories that have been put forward to explain the relationship between fertility and mortality. However, out of these, you may be planning to test only one, the fear of non-survival. Hence the conceptual FW grows out of the T-FW; and relates to the specific RP concerning the fear of non-survival theory.

19. The Writing Process
Rough Draft
Final Draft
Edit
Edit Again

20. A Good Literature Review is:
Focused - The topic should be narrow. You should only present ideas and only report on studies that are closely related to topic.
Concise - Ideas should be presented economically. Don’t take any more space than you need to present your ideas.
Logical - The flow within and among paragraphs should be a smooth, logical progression from one idea to the next
Developed - Don’t leave the story half told.
Integrative - Your paper should stress how the ideas in the studies are related. Focus on the big picture. What commonality do all the studies share? How are some studies different than others? Your paper should stress how all the studies reviewed contribute to your topic.
Current - Your review should focus on work being done on the cutting edge of your topic.

21. Common errors in reviewing literature
Hurrying through review to get started could mean that you will miss something that will improve your research.
Relying too heavily upon secondary sources.
Concentrating on findings rather than methods.
Overlooking sources other than academic journals. Don’t forget newspaper articles, magazines, blogs, etc.
Searching too broad or too narrow of a topic.
Inaccuracy in the compiling of bibliographic information.