This document provides guidance on conducting an effective literature review for research. It defines a literature review as an account of what has been published on a topic by other scholars. There are two main types of sources: primary sources that are directly being written about and secondary sources that discuss other researchers' work. An effective literature review is not just a list of sources, but includes evaluating and commenting on previous research, identifying areas of agreement and disagreement, and assessing source quality and findings. The literature review should be organized based on the research question and help define the thesis, identify gaps, avoid repetition, and position the research in the existing literature.

1. Prof. M.K.Ghadoliya , Director, Jaipur National
University, Jaipur

2.  Many Research students are instructed,
as part of their research, to perform a
literature reviewliterature review, without understanding
what it is.
Read more: http://www.experiment-resources.com/what-is-a-literature-review.html#ixzz1QGfAxinx

3.  Two types of Sources:
 Primary: Primary sources are “materials that you are
directly writing about, on the basis of the raw materials of
your own research.”
 Secondary: Secondary sources are “books and articles
in which other researchers work results of their research
based on (their) primary data or sources.”

4.  A review of literature is an account of what has
been published on a topic by other scholars and
researchers.
 A separate Chapter in M.Phil/Ph.D. thesis should
highlight your review.
 It should not be in a mechanical way. A
researcher should comment on the review and
clearly write his opinion.

5. • Purpose is to convey what knowledge and ideaswhat knowledge and ideas
have been established on a topic, and whathave been established on a topic, and what
their strengths and weaknesses are.their strengths and weaknesses are.
• As a piece of writing, the literature review must be
defined by a guiding conceptdefined by a guiding concept (e.g., our research
objective, the problem or issue you are discussing, or
your argumentative thesis).
• It is not just a descriptive list of the material available,
or a set of summaries

6. ◦ Only chronological arrangement of all of the
sources is not the review, but an evaluation of the
previous research together is essential,
◦ All sides of an argument must be clearly explained, to
avoid bias, and areas of agreement and disagreement
should be highlighted.
◦ good literature review should also have some
evaluation of the quality and findings of the research.

7. • to identify gapsidentify gaps in the research area
• to avoid repeatationavoid repeatation
• to carry on from where others have alreadycarry on from where others have already
completedcompleted
• to identify and contact other people working in theidentify and contact other people working in the
same fieldssame fields
• to the refresh the of knowledgethe refresh the of knowledge the debate going on
the subject

8. • to identify other researchers viewsother researchers views
• to put your work into wider perspectiveput your work into wider perspective
• to identify methodsmethods that could be relevant to your
project.
• to identify seminal worksidentify seminal works in your area
• to provide the intellectual context for your own
work, enabling you to position your project inproject in
relationrelation to other work

9. • Besides enlarging the knowledge about the
topic, writing a review lets you gain and
demonstrate skills in two areas:
1. information seeking: the ability to scan the
literature efficiently, using manual or computerized
methods, to identify a set of useful articles and
books
2. critical appraisal: the ability to apply principles
of analysis to identify unbiased and valid studies

10.  be organized around and related directly to the
thesis or research question we are developing
 synthesize results into a summary of what is and
is not known
 identify areas of controversy in the literature
 formulate questions that need further research

11.  What is the specific thesis, problem, or
research question that my literature review
helps to define?
 What type of literature review am I conducting?
Am I looking at issues of theory? methodology?
policy? quantitative research (e.g. on the
effectiveness of a new procedure)? qualitative
research (e.g., studies )?

12. • What is the scope of my literature review?
• What types of publications am I using (e.g., journals,
books, government documents, popular media)?
• What discipline am I working in (e.g., para-Medical,
Engineering, Humanities, Pharmacy, Education,
Journalism, Management?
• How good was my information seeking? Has my
search been wide enough to ensure I've found all the
relevant material? Has it been narrow enough to
exclude irrelevant material? Is the number of sources
I've used appropriate for the length of my paper?

13. • Have you critically analysed the literature You
use?
• Have you followed through a set of concepts and
questions, comparing items to each other in the
ways they deal with them?
• Instead of just listing and summarizing items, do
Assess and discuss strengths and weaknesses?
• Will the reader find my literature review relevant,
appropriate, and useful?

14. • Has the author formulated a problem/issue?
• Is it clearly defined? Is its significance (scope,
severity, relevance) clearly established?
• Could the problem have been approached more
effectively from another perspective?
• What was the author's research orientation (e.g.,
interpretive, critical, or scientific)?
• What was the author's theoretical framework (e.g.,
psychological, developmental, feminist)?

15. • Has the author evaluated the literature relevant to the
problem/issue? Does the author include literature
taking positions she or he does not agree with?
• In a research study, how good are the basic
components of the study design (e.g., population,
intervention, outcome)?
• How accurate and valid are the measurements? Is the
analysis of the data accurate and relevant to the
research question? Are the conclusions validly based
upon the data and analysis?

16. • How does the author structure the argument?
where it breaks down logically (e.g., in
establishing cause-effect relationships)?
• In what ways does this book or article contribute
to our understanding of the problem under study,
and in what ways is it useful for practice? What
are the strengths and limitations?
• How does this book or article relate to the specific
thesis or question I am developing?

17.  Include references carefully for all the books,
articles, web site and give their complete address
separately following the standard pattern of you
discipline.
 Do not include review of studies that you have not
seen yourself otherwise you will face the problems
in Viva voce examination.
 Follow the pattern of your discipline while giving
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