Writing a Literature Review

A literature review is a critical evaluation of the existing research on a particular topic. It summarizes and synthesizes existing information to provide an overview of what has been studied and where there are gaps in knowledge. Writing a literature review can be challenging, but it’s also an essential part of any academic project or dissertation. Here are some steps to help you get started:

1: Identify your research question

Before writing your literature review, it is important to define the research question that must be answered. This will help you narrow down your search for relevant literature and make sure that the sources you choose are related to your topic.

2: Search for relevant literature

Once you have identified your research question, it’s time to start searching for relevant literature. You can use online databases such as Google Scholar or library catalogues to find scholarly articles, books, and other resources related to your topic. Some of the well known repositories for academic articles are IEEE Xplore, Springer, Elsivier, Taylor & Francis, PUBMED, and MDPI. Make sure that the sources you choose are reliable and up-to-date. It is preferred to use the articles published in the last 5 years.

3: Read and analyze the literature

Once you’ve identified relevant sources, it’s time to read them. Try to identify any common themes or ideas that emerge from the literature. Make sure to take notes as you read so that you can easily refer back to your findings later on when writing your review.

4: Organize and structure your review

Now that you have a good understanding of the existing research on your topic, it’s time to organize and structure your review. Start by creating an outline that will help you stay focused as you write. You can also use a visual tool such as a mind map to help you organize the information in a logical way.

5: Write your literature review

Now that you have organized and structured your findings, it’s time to start writing. Your introduction should give an overview of the research question and explain why it is important or relevant. The body of your review should include a summary of each source and an analysis of how it contributes to the overall research on the topic. Finally, you should provide a conclusion that summarizes the main points from your review and provides recommendations for further research.

6: Research Gap

A Research gap is an essential part of the research and must be identified after the literature review. Simply said, a research gap is a area for which there is either missing information or inadequate knowledge, which makes it difficult to develop a conclusion in response to a query. When one considers the magnitude of previously conducted research, the task of identifying research gaps may seem to be insurmountable or even impossible. Although there are a variety of approaches in a variety of fields, the majority of those approaches can be broken down into a few phases, which are as follows:

• Identify your major motivating issue/question

• Determine the most important phrases connected to this matter.

• Conduct a literature review, looking for the aforementioned key phrases and locating articles that are pertinent to the topic.

• Examine the research that was referenced in the important articles that you found in the stage before this one.

• Determine which aspects of your major motivating problem aren't covered by the existing research and write them down.

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