LIBRARY
SWK 327: Social Work Research Methods: Literature Review
What is a Literature Review?
A literature review is a systematic review of the published literature on a specific topic or research question designed to analyze-- not just summarize-- scholarly writings that are related directly to your research question. That is, it represents the literature that provides background information on your topic and shows a correspondence between those writings and your research question. This guide is designed to be a general resource for those completing a literature review in their field.
What a Literature Review is NOT:
Keep in mind that a literature review defines and sets the stage for your later research. While you may take the same steps in researching your literature review, your literature review is not:
- Not an annotated bibliography in which you summarize each article that you have reviewed. A lit review goes beyond basic summarizing to focus on the critical analysis of the reviewed works and their relationship to your research question.
- Not a research paper where you select resources to support one side of an issue versus another. A lit review should explain and consider all sides of an argument in order to avoid bias, and areas of agreement and disagreement should be highlighted.
Recommended Resources
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Writing Literature Reviews
by
ISBN: 9781351858915Publication Date: 2017-04-05This useful guide educates students in the preparation of literature reviews for term projects, theses, and dissertations. The authors provide numerous examples from published reviews that illustrate the guidelines discussed throughout the book. New to the seventh edition: Each chapter breaks down the larger holistic review of literature exercise into a series of smaller, manageable steps Practical instructions for navigating today's digital libraries Comprehensive discussions about digital tools, including bibliographic and plagiarism detection software Chapter activities that reflect the book's updated content New model literature reviews Online resources designed to help instructors plan and teach their courses (www.routledge.com/9780415315746). -
Literature Reviews Made Easy
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ISBN: 9781617351914Publication Date: 2010-10-01This book is designed to help you achieve one specific goal. It's not designed to give you the philosophies of conducting research. It's not designed to give you a background in a specific academic discipline or a specific topic. It's not designed to give you theory. It's designed specifically to instruct you in the practicalities of the writing process used to create strong, thorough, and potentially bulletproof literature reviews. This book is the culmination of years of research experience. It's also the culmination of several years of teaching writing and critical thinking to doctoral students. Although it began as a tool for doctoral students, it has been expanded to be useful for everyone from senior high school students through doctoral candidates working on developing their first literature review or a larger literature review than they normally develop. It has been created for everyone from academics to new business entrepreneurs with good ideas who are trying to write their first reviews to support the new idea they're proposing.
Remember
Why is a Literature Review Important?
A literature review is important because it:
- Explains the background of research on a topic.
- Demonstrates why a topic is significant to a subject area.
- Helps focus your own research questions or problems
- Discovers relationships between research studies/ideas.
- Suggests unexplored ideas or populations
- Identifies major themes, concepts, and researchers on a topic.
- Tests assumptions; may help counter preconceived ideas and remove unconscious bias.
- Identifies critical gaps, points of disagreement, or potentially flawed methodology or theoretical approaches.
- Indicates potential directions for future research.