How do I complete a literature review?

Question

How do I complete a literature review?

Answer

A literature review entails surveying key journal articles and academic textbooks written on a subject and outlining the trends in research. Furthermore, in doing this you will be expected to examine challenges that still remain, explore alternative views and findings, critically examine the methodology and question the validity of studies being reviewed. Some notes to keep in mind:

• Make sure that all the literature reviewed in your work has been fully cited within the main text and included in a full referencing list at the end.
• Do not attempt to cover all literature relating to a topic. A literature review can be written for a research paper or as an individual task on its own. The key thing to remember is to focus on specific and relevant factors, theories and empirical results. In other words, set boundaries to your literature review.
• Lastly, remember that a literature review is not simply reporting or summarising the existing literature, there must be analytical considerations.

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