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How to review literature.

Article Excerpt
I have been teaching research methodology and statistics for some 15 years now and have a good feel for the issues that are usually problematic for new researchers, whether they are clinicians or students. Reviewing the literature is a common problem area. Novice researchers often hear the term used and nod wisely, assuming that the ability to do this effectively will (maybe by osmosis) emerge once they start to read. This does not happen. What does happen is that the pile of articles accumulated gets larger by the day and simply adds to the confusion and apparent enormity of the task.

Fear not, clarification is at hand! One of the main problems with reviewing literature arises as a result of not understanding how the research process works; hence, the real purpose of reviewing the literature is not abundantly clear. Many people starting out in research find themselves faced with the task of reviewing literature, often because it seems a gentle way to start in research or because someone else inflicts it upon them. It is not an exercise in its own right, but a precursor to a better understanding of the field you wish to explore.

What Is the Literature Review?

A literature review is just a classification and evaluation of what scholars and researchers have written on a topic. Literature reviews then can be organized according to a guiding concept, such as a research objective, thesis or central problem.

An analogy I often use is that it's rather like me asking you to bake a particular type of cake and bring it in next week so that I could enter it into a competition. Most people would need some guidance. Their first stop would be a cookbook (or, more likely, several to compare types of cakes, ingredients required, length of time to prepare and cook). This is your literature review. You have a task to accomplish and questions to answer; thus, you find the most up-to-date,...

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