This document discusses the importance and sources of literature reviews. It defines a literature review as aiming to comprehensively review knowledge on a research topic. Literature reviews provide guidance on a topic, help identify research gaps and questions, and inform methodology. Primary sources directly report original research, while secondary sources summarize and interpret prior work. Relevant literature can be searched through electronic databases, journals, books and more. A good literature review is comprehensive, up-to-date, systematic, unbiased, and clearly organized with an introduction, body, and conclusion.
2. DEFINITION
• “A literature review is a body of text that aims
to review the critical points of knowledge on a
particular topic of research”. - ANA, 2000.
• “Literature review is defined as broad,
comprehensive , in depth, systematic and
critical review of scholarly public at ion,
unpublished printed or audio visual materials
and personal communications”. - S. K.
Sharma, 2005.
3. IMPORTANCE OF LITERATURE REVIEW
Literature
• Reviews provide a handy guide to a particular
topic.
• For professionals they are useful reports that
keep the up-to date with what is current in
field.
4. Review relevant literature can help in
fulfillment of the following objective:-
• Identification research problem and development
or refinement of research questions.
• Generation of fulfill research questions or
projects/activities for the discipline.
• Determination of any gaps or inconsistencies in
body of knowledge.
• Development of hypothesis to be tested in
research study.
• Helps in planning the methodology of the present
research study.
5. Continued…
• Orientation to what is known & not known about
an area of inquiry to ascertain what research can
best contribute to knowledge.
• Discovery of unanswered questions about
subjects, concepts or problems.
• Determination of a need to replicate a prior study
indifferent study settings or different samples or
size or different study populations.
• Description of the strengths & weaknesses of
design/m ethods of inquiry & instruments used in
earlier research work.
7. PRIMARY SOURCES
• Primary sources are original, peer reviewed
and published research journal articles
reported by original researchers.
• Primary sources are the research reports
which are description of studies written by
researchers who conducted them.
8. Continued…
• A primary sources is written by a person who
developed the theory or conducted the research,
or is the description of an investigation written
by the person who conducted it.
• Example of a primary source: An original
qualitative on patient experiences in the ICU:
Hupcey, J. E. (2000). Feeling safe the psychosocial
needs of ICU patients. Journal of Nursing
Scholarship, 32:361-367.
9. Printed Sources
• Printed research summary may be located
from published abstracts such as Nursing
Research, Abstract, Psychological Abstracts,
Dissertation Abstract
• International, Masters Abstract International,
etc.
10. Continued…
• References of the other printed sources may
be located through indexes such as
cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health
Literature, Nursing Studies Index, & Index
Medicus.
• Following are the main printed sources that
can be used to review the relevant literature:
Journals: There are several National &
International journals which can be used to
review the research related
11. Name of national nursing journals
• Nursing & Midwifery Research Journal
• Indian journal of Nursing Research &
Midwifery
• The nursing Journal of India
• Nightingale Nursing Times
• International Journal of Nursing Education
• Indian Journal of Nursing Studies
12. Names of international journals
• Nursing Research
• Research in Nursing & Health
• Nursing Sciences Quarterly
• Western Journal of Nursing Research
• Applied Nursing Research
• Biological Research for Nursing
• Advances in Nursing Sciences
• Clinical Nursing Research
• Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing
• Journal of Qualitative Research
• American Journal of Nursing
13. SECONDARY SOURCES
• In secondary sources the authors complies
and summarize the findings of the work done
by others and gives interpretation of theses
finding, when primary sources are not
available.
14. Continued…
• Secondary source research documents are
description of studies prepared by someone
other than the original researcher.
• Example of a Secondary Source: A literature
review on patient experiences in the ICU:
Stein-Parbury, J. & Mckinl ey,S. (2000) patient
experiences of being in an intensive care unit:
a select literature review. American Journal of
critical care, 9:20-27
15. Continued…
• The main sources from where literature can be
searched are as follows:-
• Electronic database
• Books
• Journals
• Conference papers
• Theses
• Encyclopedia and dictionary
• Research report magazines and newspapers.
16. LOCATION/ ONLINE SEARCH
• CINAHL – Cumulative Index To Nursing And Allied Health
Literature
• MEDLINE – Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieved
System Online
• Pubmed – www.pubmed.com
• British Nursing Index – www.rcn.org.uk/elibrary
• Medline plus – www.medlineplus.gov
• Cochrane database of system reviews – www.cochrane.org
• ERIC – www.eric.ed.gov
• PsycINFO - www.psycinfo.com
• Dissertation abstracts online
• Online journals
18. Introduction
• The introduction should clearly establish the
focus and purpose of the literature review.
• Define your topic and provide an appropriate
context for reviewing the literature;
• Establish your reasons – (Point of view – for
Reviewing the literature)
• Explain the organization – (Sequence of the
review)
19. Continued…
• State the scope of the review – What is included
and what isn’t included.
• For example, if you were reviewing the literature
on obesity in children you might say something
like: there are a large number of studies of
obesity trends in the general population.
However, since the focus of this research is on
obesity in children, these will not be reviewed in
detail and will only be referred to as appropriate.
20. Body
• Depending 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. As 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 whole
21. Continued…
• 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 whole
• Critically evaluate: mention the strengths and
weaknesses of your sources
• Write in well-structured paragraphs: use
transition words and topic sentences to draw
connections, comparisons and contrasts.
22. Conclusion
• The conclusion should:
• summarize the important aspects of the existing
body of literature;
• evaluate the current state of the literature
reviewed;
• identify significant flaws or gaps in existing
knowledge;
• outline areas for future study;
• link your research to existing knowledge.
23. Characteristics of a Good Quality
Review of Literature
❖ A good review of literature must be comprehensive.
❖ It should include up-to-date references.
❖ It should be systemic.
❖ It should be reproducible.
❖ It should be free from bias.
❖ It should be well written.
❖ It should be in the form of sum of its parts.
❖ It should be clearly searched and selected.
❖ Accurate references should be given in the review.
24. POINTS TO BE CONSIDERED
• Be specific
• Be selective
• Focus of current topics
• Ensure evidence for claims
• Focus on sources of evidences
25. Continued…
• Account of contrary evidences
• Reference citation
• Organization of literature review
• Referring original source
• Avoid abbreviations
• Simple and accurate sentence structure.
26. Conclusion
• A literature review is an account of the
previous efforts and achievements of
researchers on a phenomenon.
• It helps to compare with other previous study.
• And a good review of literature is the
foundation for a good research.