This document discusses the importance and process of conducting a literature review. It defines a literature review as a critical analysis of previous scholarly research on a topic. The key points made are: 1) A literature review provides context for a research problem and helps identify gaps or inconsistencies in existing knowledge. 2) Sources for a literature review can come from primary research directly conducted by authors or from secondary sources that analyze and summarize other studies. 3) Steps for an effective literature review include developing a bibliography, organizing sources thematically, identifying additional areas needing more research, writing individual sections, and integrating those sections.

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PRESENTED BY,
Mrs.Rijo Lijo
Lecturer
REVIEW OF
LITERATURE

2. Review of literature is one of the most important steps in the
research process. Research studies are usually undertaken within the
context of an existing knowledge base, because research cannot be
conducted in an intellectual vacuum. Before starting any research, a
literature review of previous studies and experiences related to the
proposed investigations has to be done.
INTRODUCTION

3. 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.

4. “Literature review is defined as broad, comprehensive , in
depth, systematic and critical review of scholarly publicat
ion, unpublished printed or audio visual materials and p
ersonal communications”.
- S. K. Sharma, 2005.

5. IMPORTANCE OF LITERATURE REVIEW
 Identification of a research problem & development or r
efinement of research questions.
 Generation of useful research questions or projects/activ
ities for the discipline.
 Orientation to what is known & not known about an area
of inquiry to ascertain what research can best contribute
to knowledge.

6.  Determination of any gaps or inconsistencies in a body
of knowledge.
 Discovery of unanswered questions about subjects, con
cepts or problems.
 Determination of a need to replicate a prior study indiffe
rent study settings or different samples or size or differe
nt study populations.

7.  Description of the strengths & weaknesses of design/m
ethods of inquiry & instruments used in earlier research
work.
 Development of hypothesis to be tested in a research
study.
 Helps in planning the methodology of the present resea
rch study.

8. PURPOSE OF LITERATURE REVIEW
 Describe the relationship of each study to other research
studies under consideration.
 Identify new ways to interpret & shed light on any gaps i
n previous research.
 Resolve conflicts amongst seemingly contradictory previ
ous studies.

9.  Identify potential relationship between concepts and to
identify researchable hypothesis.
 Learn how others have defined and measured key conc
epts.
 Identify data sources that other researchers have used.
 Develop alternative research projects.

10. SOURCES OF LITERATURE REVIEW
Literature can be reviewed from two sources
Secondary sources
Primary sources

11. PRIMARY SOURCES
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.

12. Example of a primary source: An original qualitative on p
atient experiences in the ICU: Hupcey, J. E. (2000). Feeli
ng safe the psychosocial needs of ICU patients. Journal
of Nursing Scholarship, 32:361-367.

13. SECONDARY SOURCES
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 p
atient 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

14. RESOURCES OF LITERATURE REVIEW

15. STEPS OF LITERATURE REVIEW
Bibliography Thematic
organization
More reading
Write
individual sections.Integrate sections.

16. ELEMENTS OF LITERTAURE REVIEW.
 INTRODUCTION.
 BODY.
 CONCLUSION.

17. POINTS TO BE CONSIDERED FOR LITERATURE REVIEW
 Be specific & be succinct.
 Be selective.
 Focus of current topics.
 Focus on sources of evidences.
 Reference citation.
 Avoid abbreviations.
 Simple and accurate sentence structure.