Conducting a Literature Review: Introduction

You will review...

• The current status of the knowledge or research about a topic, question or field
• The theoretical approach(es) used in studying this particular topic or question
• The data collection tools and procedures used and their implications on the body of knowledge
• The future direction(s) on a topic in terms of theory, methodology, questions for further study, and so on

Traditional or narrative literature review

• Critiques and summarizes a body of literature
• Draws conclusions about the topic
• Identifies gaps or inconsistencies in a body of knowledge
• Requires a sufficiently focused research question

Systematic literature review

• More rigorous and well-defined approach
• Comprehensive
• Published and unpublished studies relating to a particular subject area
• Details the time frame within which the literature was selected
• Details the methods used to evaluate and synthesize findings of the studies in question

Meta-analysis

• A form of systematic review (reductive)
• Takes findings from several studies on the same subject and analyzes them using standardized statistical procedures
• Integrates findings from a large body of quantitative findings to enhance under-standing (study=unit of analysis)
• Draws conclusions and detect patterns and relationships

From the University of Toledo.

Thanks to Sharon Leslie at Georgia State University for sharing her Literature Review LibGuide