A literature review is an overview of a topic based on the research that has been conducted.
A literature review focuses on themes, controversies, contrasting/comparing literatures, studied populations, environments in which studies took place, history of the research topic, advancements, setbacks or more.
Purpose:
A literature review is NOT equal to an annotated bibliography
The review does not need to be exhaustive; the objective is not to list as many relevant books, articles, reports as possible. However, the review should contain the most pertinent studies and point to important past and current research and practices in the field.
When writing your literature review, use the researcher’s names instead of titles.
Example 1.
Avoid : In their book (article, etc.) Decolonising the University, Bhambra et al. suggest that….
Instead: Bhambra et al. (2018) offer five tenets for decolonizing….
Example 2.
Avoid : Published in the Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research, Colin Firth’s observations on speech impediments among British royal family members revealed abusive…
Instead: Observations on speech impediments in the British royal family (Firth, 2004), revealed abusive upbringing…
Better Yet : Observations on speech impediments experienced by members of the European privileged classes in the pre-World War 2 era revealed abusive parenting practices (Churchill, W. 1945; Firth, C. et al., 2004; Newhart, R. 1972; Roberts, J. 2010)
APA Guidelines to keep in mind
1. Make sure to cite declarative statements in each paragraph.
** declarative statements that originate from literature, reliable statistics or empirical studies are all statements that someone else has established other than you. These declarative statements need substation, in other words you need to validate by citing research.
** However, if a declarative statement originated from you, there is no need for substantiation
2. Make sure to use multiple sources and continue citing as you incorporate these new sources in each paragraph.
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