The document outlines the key steps and purposes of conducting a literature review. It discusses finding relevant sources such as books, articles, and conference papers. The basic steps include searching literature, evaluating sources, identifying themes and gaps, outlining the structure, and writing the review. The review aims to provide context on previous research, identify relationships between studies, and determine areas for further research. Guide questions are also presented to help structure the review.

1. Part II Research Review
Authors
1.Sheleme M (Msc,phd MEng) shelememosisa@gmail.com

2. Outlines
 What is Literature Review
 The purpose of Literature Review
 Source of Literature Review
 Basic steps of Literature Review

3. What is Literature review?
 A literature review is a comprehensive summary of previous research on a topic. The
literature review surveys scholarly articles, books, and other sources relevant to a
particular area of research
 The review should enumerate, describe, summarize, objectively evaluate and clarify
this previous research.

4. The purpose of a literature review
 Provide foundation of knowledge on topic
 Identify areas of prior scholarship to prevent duplication and give credit to other researchers
 Identify inconstancies: gaps in research, conflicts in previous studies, open questions left
from other research
 Identify need for additional research (justifying your research)
 Identify the relationship of works in context of its contribution to the topic and to other works
 Place your own research within the context of existing literature making a case for why
further study is needed.

5. SOURCES OF LITERATURE REVIEW
1. FINDING BOOKS AND EBOOKS
Books:-Books are ―essential guides to understanding theory and for helping you to validate the need for
your study, confirm your choice of literature, and certify (or contradict) its findings.‖
Ebooks:-Ebooks appear on various publisher and platforms, such as Springer, Cambridge, ebrary
(ProQuest), EBSCO, and Safari to name a few.
The Library Catalog:-In general, everything owned or licensed by a library is indexed in ―the library
catalog‖.
https://press.rebus.community/literaturereviewsedunursing/chapter/chapter-4-evaluating-sources/

6. SOURCES OF LITERATURE REVIEW
2. FINDING SCHOLARLY ARTICLES
Databases:- Anyone with an internet connection has free access to public databases such as PubMed and
ERIC. There are different types of databases that include:
Indexes– with citations only
Abstract databases – with citations and abstracts only
Full text databases – with citations and the full text of articles, reports, and other materials
Citation searches:-A citation is a reference to an item that gives enough information for you to identify it
and find it again if necessary.
Generally, citations include four elements: Author, Title, Source, Date
https://press.rebus.community/literaturereviewsedunursing/chapter/chapter-4-evaluating-sources/

7. SOURCES OF LITERATURE REVIEW
3.FINDING CONFERENCE PAPERS
world cat:- use keywords from the conference name (NOT the article title)
Google scholar:-Search by keyword and add the word ‗conference‘ and the year to your search
Professional Societies & Other Sponsoring Organizations:-Listings of conference proceedings are often
under a ―Publications‖ or ―Meetings‖ tab/link.
https://press.rebus.community/literaturereviewsedunursing/chapter/chapter-4-evaluating-sources/

8. SOURCES OF LITERATURE REVIEW
4. FINDING DISSERTATIONS:-In addition to journal articles, original research is also published in books,
reports, conference proceedings, theses and dissertations. Both theses and dissertations are very detailed and
comprehensive accounts of research work.
https://press.rebus.community/literaturereviewsedunursing/chapter/chapter-4-evaluating-sources/
5 ADVANCED SEARCHING
SEARCH OPERATORS:-Literature review research often necessitates the use of Boolean operators to
combine keywords.
The operators – AND, OR, and NOT — are powerful tools for searching in a database or search engine.

9. BASIC STEPS OF LITERATURE REVIEW
Step 1 – Search for relevant literature
 clearly defined topic.
 search for literature related to your research problem and questions.

10. BASIC STEPS OF LITERATURE REVIEW
Step 2 – Evaluate and select sources
so it will be necessary to evaluate which sources are most relevant to your research question.
For each publication, ask yourself:
What question or problem is the author addressing?
What are the key concepts and how are they defined?
What are the key theories, models, and methods?
Does the research use established frameworks or take an innovative approach?
What are the results and conclusions of the study?
How does the publication relate to other literature in the field? Does it confirm, add to, or challenge established
knowledge?
What are the strengths and weaknesses of the research?
Make sure the sources you use are credible, and make sure you read any landmark studies and major
theories in your field of research.

11. BASIC STEPS OF LITERATURE REVIEW
Step 3 – Identify themes, debates, and gaps
To begin organizing your literature review‘s argument and structure, be sure you understand the connections
and relationships between the sources you‘ve read. Based on your reading and notes, you can look for:
Trends and patterns (in theory, method or results): do certain approaches become more or less popular
over time?
Themes: what questions or concepts recur across the literature?
Debates, conflicts and contradictions: where do sources disagree?
Pivotal publications: are there any influential theories or studies that changed the direction of the field?
Gaps: what is missing from the literature? Are there weaknesses that need to be addressed?
This step will help you work out the structure of your literature review and (if applicable) show how your own
research will contribute to existing knowledge.

12. BASIC STEPS OF LITERATURE REVIEW
Step 4 – Outline your literature review’s structure
There are various approaches to organizing the body of a literature review. Depending on the length of your
literature review, you can combine several of these strategies (for example, your overall structure might be
thematic, but each theme is discussed chronologically).

13. BASIC STEPS OF LITERATURE REVIEW
Step 5 – Write your literature review
Introduction
The introduction should clearly establish the focus and purpose of the literature review.
Body:- Summarize and synthesize: give an overview of the main points of each source and combine them
into a coherent whole
Analyze and interpret: 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
Conclusion:- summarize the key findings you have taken from the literature and emphasize their significance.
https://www.scribbr.com/methodology/literature-review/

14.  What previous research has been done in this field? (Assumes you‘ve spotted the
field you‘re in, of course).
 What are the ‗key‘ findings of these previous studies (assumes you can tell the
difference)?
 What suggestions do other researchers make for future study (assumes you have
no scruples about picking their brains for ideas for your assignment)?
 What areas have not yet been investigated(assumes all of the above has been done
first)?
 What research methods and theoretical approaches were used in previous studies(
or how did they do that)?
Guide Questions

15. Development of the Literature Review
1. Problem formulation -- which topic or field is being examined and what
are its component issues?
2. Literature search -- finding materials relevant to the subject being
explored.
3. Data evaluation -- determining which literature makes a significant
contribution to the understanding of the topic.
4. Analysis and interpretation -- discussing the findings and conclusions of
pertinent literature.