The document provides guidance on conducting a literature review. It defines a literature review as analyzing and synthesizing existing works to place the current study in context, avoid duplication, and identify gaps. An effective literature review compares and contrasts authors' views, groups similar conclusions, and critically evaluates methodologies. It should highlight exemplary studies, identify patterns, and show how the current study relates to prior work. When searching literature, one should use a variety of sources and evaluate their credibility. The conclusion should draw key points and discuss the need for further research.

1. Literature Review

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3. What is a Literature review?

4. What is a Literature review
The aim of a literature review is to show "that the
writer has studied existing work in the field with
insight”. It will enable you to:
1. Define and limit the problem you are working on
2. Place your study in a historical perspective
3. Avoid unnecessary duplication
4. Evaluate promising research methods
5. Relate your findings to previous knowledge and
suggest further research.

5. An effective review analyses and synthesizes material,
and it should meet the following requirements:
1. Compare and contrast different authors' views on
an issue
2. Group authors who draw similar conclusions
3. Criticise aspects of methodology
4. Note areas in which authors are in disagreement
5. Highlight exemplary studies
6. Identify patterns or trends in the literature
7. Highlight gaps and omissions in previous research
or questions left unanswered
8. Show how your study relates to previous studies
and to the literature in general
9. Conclude by summarising what the literature says

6. Basic Guidelines for a Literature Review
• Establish your research questions and organise your
literature into logical categories around topics.
• Begin the literature review with an introduction to
the topic. What is its significance and importance?
• Critically analyse the literature relevant to the
research question stating the content of the
literature, implications of this knowledge, any gaps
or deficiencies and inconsistencies or conflicting
viewpoints.
• Ensure you make your own interpretations and that
you have written a critical and evaluative review.

7. Basic Guidelines for a Literature Review
• The conclusion draws together important points
and shows how the information answers the
question.
• Establish if more research is needed, especially if
there are inconsistencies or conflicting points of
view.
• Avoid plagiarism - acknowledge sources of ideas
and quotations to add authority and credibility to
the work.

8. Searching the Literature - Locating
your Resources
• The first step towards a good literature review is
conducting a comprehensive literature search.
• An effective literature search will:
– Reduce the time spent looking for information.
– Maximise the quality and appropriateness of results.
– Help clarify the scope of your research topic.
– Assist in identifying experts and important published
works in your field.

9. When conducting your literature
search, remember to:
• Use a variety of resources to cover a range of media -
a literature review should include a range of
literature, such as books, journal articles, or Internet
sites. Theses, conference papers and government or
industry reports can also be included. Do not rely
solely on electronic full-text material which is more
easily available.
• Be aware of the importance of evaluating information.
Is a journal refereed/peer reviewed? Is a source
authoritative?
• Use reference sources such as dictionaries to assist in
defining terminology. Encyclopedias may be useful in
introducing topics and listing key references.

10. When conducting your literature
search, remember to:
• Conduct initial searches by subject. You can also do
author searches and search using citation indexes
(i.e. Scopus).
• Some databases allow you to save searches and set
up email alerting, ensuring that your literature
search is up to date.
• Ensure you take care with recording your references.
Keep systematic and accurate records. Software such
as EndNote can assist.
• Aim to find the most important relevant material
early. Read as you go and make critical and
evaluative notes as you read.

11. Search Strategies
• The literature review relates to your research questions so
think of the key concepts surrounding them.
• Establish terminology and key words. A thesaurus can assist
you.
• Construct a search strategy. Use Boolean operators (AND,
OR, NOT).
• The absence of research in the literature may help confirm
that this is an area which needs further research; broaden
your search by looking for literature in related fields.
• Determine the scope of your literature search. The breadth
of reading may depend on whether it is a new research
area, where reading will need to be more extensive, or a
well-researched area where reading may be more focused.

12. A Final Checklist
Selection of sources
1. Have you indicated the purpose of the review?
2. Are the parameters of the review reasonable?
3. Why did you include some of the literature and
exclude others?
4. Which years did you exclude?
5. Have you emphasised recent developments?
6. Have you focussed on primary sources with only
selective use of secondary sources?
7. Is the literature you have selected relevant?
8. Is your bibliographic data complete?

13. Search Strategies
• Decide whether to be comprehensive or selective in
your coverage? What is your rationale? There are
inherent difficulties in attempting to be
comprehensive.
• How far back you should search may depend on the
topic. You might only include historical landmark
studies while including a broader approach to more
current research.
• Depending upon the relevance to your topic, it may
be useful to start with the most recent sources and
search backwards.

14. Places to Search for Reading Material
Scholarly databases such as:
• EBSCO: the Megafile Premier contains databases for
many disciplines.
• Web of Science: Science Citation Index, Social Sciences
Citation Index, and Arts & Humanities Citation Index.
• Scopus (Elsevier): covers scientific, technical, medical
and social science literature.
• ScienceDirect: contains literature for the sciences,
including the social sciences.
• JSTOR: archival database, most journals full-text from
vol. 1 to approximately 2 years ago.
• ProQuest: contains databases for many disciplines

15. A Final Checklist
Critical evaluation of the literature
1. Have you organised your material according to issues?
2. Is there a logic to the way you organised the material?
3. Does the amount of detail included on an issue relate to
its importance?
4. Have you been sufficiently critical of design and
methodological issues?
5. Have you indicated when results were conflicting or
inconclusive and discussed possible reasons?
6. Have you indicated the relevance of each reference to
your research?

16. A Final Checklist
Interpretation
1. Has your summary of the current literature
contributed to the reader's understanding of
the problems?
2. Does the design of your research reflect the
methodological implications of the literature
review?

17. A Final Checklist
Note:
• The literature review will be judged in the
context of your completed research.
• The review needs to further the reader's
understanding of the problem and whether it
provides a rationale for your research.

18. Further Reading
• Biggam, J. (2011). Succeeding with your master's dissertation: A step-by-step handbook. Maidenhead:
McGraw-Hill International Ltd.
• Burton, S. and Steane, P. (2004). Surviving your thesis. New York : Routledge.
• Caulley, D. N. (1992). Writing a Critical Review of the Literature. La Trobe University: Bundoora.
• Fink, A. (2009). Conducting research literature reviews : From the Internet to paper. Thousand Oaks, CA:
Sage Publications.
• Harzing, A. (2010). The publish or perish book: Your guide to effective and responsible citation analysis.
Melbourne : Tarma Software Research Pty Ltd.
• Haywood, P. and Wragg, E. D. (1982). Evaluating the Literature. Rediguide 2, University of Nottingham
School of Education.
• Huff, A. S. (2009). Designing research for publication. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
• Jesson, J. K. (2011). Doing your literature review: Traditional and systematic techniques. Los Angeles:
Sage Publications.
• Lyons, P. (2010). The dissertation: from beginning to end. New York : Oxford University Press.
• Mertens, D. (2010). Research and evaluation in education and psychology: Integrating diversity with
quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
• Murray, R. (2011). How to write a thesis. Maidenhead : McGraw-Hill International Ltd.
• Oliver, P. (2102). Succeeding with your literature review: A handbook for students. Maidenhead:
McGraw-Hill Education.
• Polonsky, M. J. and Waller, D. S. (2005). Designing and managing a research project: A business student's
guide. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications
• Ridley, D. (2008). The literature review: A step-by-step guide for students. London: Sage Publications.
• Rudestam, K. E. and Newton, R. R. (2007). Surviving your dissertation: A comprehensive guide to content
and process. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.

19. Synthesising Literature

20. Synthesising Literature
• Understand:
– The difference between summary & synthesis
– The appropriate use of each
– How to achieve each

21. Academic writing: the difference between
Argument &
• Uses critical analysis to make
an informed opinion
• Presents information relevant
to a specific perspective, or
position
• Acknowledges other points of
view
• Answers possible challenges
4
Information
• Outlines or shows a situation
without analysis
• Presents all information with
no focussed position
• Does not consider other
points of view

22. What is synthesis?
• Contextualise your own argument / research
• Draw together sources that agree/disagree
• Evaluate their strength and relevance
• Weave them into your argument
This is much more than simply finding relevant
information and presenting it to the reader.

23. Synthesising means recognising…
• … the connections between studies
• … how researchers are linked or separated
by the line of argument they take, or by their
specific conclusions, results, methods
• … broader “schools of thought” on a topic,
paradigms and underpinning assumptions
8

24. Synthesis: What not to do
•Smith (1999) states that women are better than men at
reading body language. Brown (2000) found in his study
that women are good at reading facial expressions.
Green (2003) presented results on gender difference in
ability to appreciate body language messages in
communication. He reports that women perform better
in certain circumstances. In contrast, Wright (1998)
mentions no significant difference between the sexes in
communication.

25. Synthesis: What not to
do
• Smith (1999) states that women are better than men at
reading body language. Brown (2000) found in his study
that women are good at reading facial expressions.
Green (2003) presented results on gender difference in
ability to appreciate body language messages in
communication. He reports that women perform better
in certain circumstances. In contrast, Wright (1998)
mentions no significant difference between the sexes in
communication.

26. Synthesis:
better
Smith (1999) and Green (2003) state that
women are better than men at reading body
language. Similarly, Brown (2000) in his study
of the reading of facial expressions found that
women performed better than men in such
tasks. However, earlier work by Wright (1998)
found no difference.

27. Synthesis: better
Smith (1999) and Green (2003) state that
women are better than men at reading body
language. Similarly, Brown (2000) in his study
of the reading of facial expressions found that
women performed better than men in such
tasks. However, earlier work by Wright (1998)
found no difference.

28. There is general agreement in the literature (Smith, 1999;
Green, 2003; Hunter, 2012; Mickelby, 2010) that body language,
including facial expression plays an important part in
communication. However, the question of whether one sex is
better than the other at reading body language remains
unresolved. While studies by Smith (1999), Brown (2000) and
Green (2003) generally claim that women are superior to men at
understanding body language, Wright (1998) has found no
difference. Furthermore, methodological problems raise
questions about the positive results. For example, Brown's
(2000) work looked solely at facial expressions asking
participants to make judgements by looking at photographs.
Whether these findings would be valid in real-life situations was
not explored. In addition, Green (2003) used university
students with a mean age of 21 as her sample, and one might
question whether this sample is representative of the wider
population...

29. Synthesis: Signs of ‘reporting’
Green (2002) discovered …. In 2006, Black conducted
experiments on … and discovered that …. Later, Brown
(2012) illustrated this in ….

30. Synthesis: Integrating your ‘voice’
•There seems to be general agreement on X (for
example, Green 2002, Black 2006, White 2011,
Brown 2012), but Green (2002) reports X as a
consequence of Y, whereas Black (2006) puts X
and Y as …. While Green's work has some
limitations in that it …., its main value lies in ….
This means that….

31. How to Synthesise: Try a matrix
Key idea 1 Key idea 2 Key idea 3
Source 1
Source 2
Source 3

32. Bringing this all together
For any of your assignments or research projects:
1. use the evidence you have taken from a range of
sources
2. to write your own synthetic argument
3. written in a style appropriate for your audience and
your purpose
An individual consultation with a Learning Adviser might
be useful to get feedback on your writing.

33. Big picture advice
Start to read like a writer – pay attention to the way
evidence is integrated into the writer’s own argument,
alongside their voice.
Then start to write like a reader - consider how you
can best showcase your ideas alongside the ideas of
others, and convince the reader of your argument.

34. References 22
Cottrell, S. (2003). The Study Skills Handbook (2nd Ed.). Basingstoke:
Palgrave Macmillan.
Greene, L. (2010). Writing in the life sciences. A critical thinking approach.
Oxford, New York: OUP. pp. 123-124
Monash University (2006). Writing Literature Reviews. Retrieved April 4,
2012 from http://staging-www.monash/edu/au/lls/llonline/writing/general/lit-
reviews/index.xml
North Carolina State Writing and Speaking Tutorial Service (2006).
Contributors were Laura Ingram, James Hussey, Michelle Tigani, and Mary
Hemmelgarn. Special thanks to Stephanie Huneycutt for providing the
sample matrix and paragraph.
http://www.ncsu.edu/tutorial_center/writespeak
RMIT Study and Learning Centre, RMIT (n.d.). Writing the literature review
/ using the literature. Retrieved July 29, 2009 from
http://www.dlsweb.rmit.edu.au/lsu/content/2_AssessmentTasks/asess_pdf
/ PG%20lit%20review.pdf