Literature review

Durdonabonu Davronova
[email protected]

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Learning objectives
• To understand the critical nature of working with literature throughout the
research process
• To understand the ways in which literature can inform the research process
• To become familiar with various types of literature and their role in illuminating
your research project
• To develop a range of skills for effectively sourcing appropriate literature
• To be able to critically annotate relevant sources
• To become familiar with the steps involved in writing an effective literature
review

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What is a literature review?
In essence, a literature review is a The literature in a research study
comprehensive overview of prior accomplishes several purposes: (a) It
research regarding a specific topic. shares with the reader the results of
The overview both shows the other studies that are closely related
reader what is known about a topic, to the study being reported (Fraenkel
and what is not yet known, thereby & Wallen, 1990. (b) It relates a study
setting up the rationale or need for to the larger, ongoing dialog in the
a new investigation, which is what literature about a topic, filling in gaps
the actual study to which the and extending prior studies (Marshall
literature review is attached seeks & Rossman, 1989). (c) It provides a
to do. framework for establishing the
importance of the study.

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What does a literature review include?
First and foremost, literature reviews include a comprehensive overview of a general topic. For
example, if there was a study on whether alcohol abuse leads to the tendency to commit violent
crimes, then it would need to have an overview of substance abuse issues (not just alcohol abuse)
and how such may influence all types of crime. First, the review of this literature should start with
the general topic of substance abuse and how it influences committing all types of crime. Then, it
should discuss different types of substance abuse (i.e. prescription drug abuse, alcohol abuse, etc.).
Next, it would need to discuss the influence of substance abuse on general types of crime (i.e. petty
theft, property crimes, violent crimes, etc.). Finally, it would need to focus on the primary subtopics
of alcohol abuse (i.e. psychological affects, behavioral affects, etc.) and its direct influence on
committing violent crimes. In essence, the literature review goes from a broad overview to a
specific focus by using subtopics of the general research question to guide the focus to a specific
research question that the author wants to address.

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Literature review
A preliminary literature review A full (comprehensive) literature
review
allows the researcher to get a feel
for the topic and the issues is a far more comprehensive study
involved and understand how the which is part of the research process
proposed research would fit into itself rather than part of the
them. This is done as preparation preparation for research. The bulk of
for research this study should be done prior to
embarking on experimentation or
data collection, so that the results
of the study can be used during
these activities. However, during the
research itself you should 'top up'
your knowledge of recent
developments by reading current
publications.

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Literature review
Main purpose of the literature review is to support • Ensures that you are not “reinventing the wheel”.
the research question
• Demonstrates whether you are aware of what others
have already done in the area that you want to
research and what gaps are there to be filled.
How/When?
• Indicates your ability to integrate and synthesize the
• Bring clarity and focus to research problem
existing literature
• Improve methodology
• Inform about previously used procedures and
• Broaden knowledge base in research area methods can provide the ones that you are
proposing, which procedures and methods have
• Contextualize findings
worked well for them, and what problems they have
faced with them.
• Help select a methodology that can provide valid
answer to your research questions

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The role and types of literature
Literature will help you: Literature types include:
• Explore a topic • Books
• Define a question • Journals
• Articulate a rationale • Grey literature
• Theoretically inform your study • Official publications
• Develop appropriate design • Archives
• Write a formal literature review • Reference materials / Writing aids
• As a source of primary data

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Types of Literature Reviews
Narrative Review
Descriptive and typically provides a broad overview of a topic without following any
specific methodology. It enables researchers to present a simple, organized narrative with
key focus points, theories, and conclusions drawn from existing literature on the subject.
Narrative literature reviews are useful when studying complex ideas or when working on
emerging areas of research where multiple perspectives are necessary. However, given that
it offers a wide and often general perspective on a subject, it could lead to bias due to the
subjective nature of selection and interpretation of knowledge.

Systematic Review
A systematic literature review follows a structured approach to gathering, analyzing, and
synthesizing the information collected. It has specific, predefined criteria for choosing
literature across multiple databases. Researchers undertaking systematic literature reviews
are required to establish clear parameters for the kind of literature that they will be
studying.

Meta-analysis
A statistical technique that combines quantitative data from different literary sources to
derive conclusions. It is a kind of review that is particularly useful when individual studies
report conflicting results. Researchers use meta-analysis to identify quantitative patterns
and relationships across studies, allowing them to arrive at more accurate conclusions.

Scoping Review
Aims to map existing literature on a topic and provides researchers with an overview of
available evidence, enabling them to identify potential gaps in research. Unlike systematic
reviews, scoping reviews do not seek to answer specific research questions but rather
explore broader topics.

Critical Review
Researchers can use critical literature reviews when they need in-depth knowledge of a
subject. This kind of review helps researchers assess and evaluate the strengths,
weaknesses, and relevance of existing literature, consequently enabling them to identify
gaps in research and suggest areas for further investigation.

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Accessing databases
The ever-increasing availability of literature requires students to
develop proficient keyword search skills to access a variety of
electronic databases and search engines. Databases you can call on
include:
• Those integrated into your library's overall search
engine (https://intranet.wiut.uz/LibraryLRC/Index)
• Google Scholar
• Discipline-based databases

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Finding Open Access Articles
• DOAJ - https://doaj.org/
• PubMed Central - https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
• ResearchGate - https://www.researchgate.net/

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Managing literatures
The ever-increasing availability of literature also requires students to
quickly cull vast amounts of written work for relevance and quality.
You will need to:
• Assess relevance
• Assess quality
• Keep good track of references
• Annotate references

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Annotate references
• Mendeley cite -
https://www.mendeley.com/reference-management/mendeley-cite
• Zotero - https://www.zotero.org/
• EndNote - https://endnote.com/
• MyBib - https://www.mybib.com/

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Why referencing is important?
• Avoiding plagiarism Popular referencing styles:
• Giving credit • Harvard
• APA
• MLA

Which referencing style to choose?

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Writing the formal literature review (1/4)
• The formal literature review is a very specific piece of argumentative writing
designed to:
 Inform your readers of your topic.
 Establish your credibility as a researcher.
 Argue the need for, and relevance of, your work.
• Literature review: A criti cal and purposive review of a body of
knowledge including findings and theoretical and methodological
contributions.

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Writing the formal literature review (2/4)
The process:
• Make doing the review an ongoing • Read and annotate each relevant
process. article.
• Read quite a few good, relevant • Sort and organize your
reviews. annotations.
• Identify the variables in your • Develop a potential outline for
study. your literature review.
• Develop a list of synonyms or • Write purposefully.
alternatives. • Use a search engine.
• Systematically log your relevant
readings.

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Writing the formal literature review (3/4)

• Compile citations with • Use the literature to back up

abstracts. your arguments.
• Read abstracts and cull all • Adopt an appropriate style
irrelevant articles. and tone.
• Assess whether you need to • Get plenty of feedback.
dig deeper or focus your • Be prepared to redraft.
review.

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Writing the formal literature review (3/4)

• Compile citations • Use the literature to back up

with abstracts. your arguments.
• Read abstracts and cull all • Adopt an appropriate style
irrelevant articles. and tone.
• Assess whether you need to • Get plenty of feedback.
dig deeper or focus your • Be prepared to redraft.
review.

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Writing the formal literature review (4/4)
Writing styles can vary. Writing can take the form of:
• Descriptive writing: describing offering facts/ information.
• Analytical writing: organizing information into logical groupings. It
also compares, contrasts and explores relationships.
• Critical writing: assessing works and ascribing value.
• Persuasive or argumentative writing: organize critiques so you
can make points.

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General approaches to literature review
There are four general approaches to structuring a Literature
Review, depending on the main relationship you are creating between
the texts you are reviewing, and how they serve your research aims:
• The Sequential approach
• Thematic approach
• Funnel approach
• Mixed approach

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The Sequential approach
This approach is useful if your central aim is to:
•Chart the developments in your chosen field in a way that
highlights causality and consequence (for instance, how
one piece of research informed or gave rise to another and
so on)
•Use a chronological sequence to demonstrate how an
issue or research area has evolved over time

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Thematic approach
Sometimes, your literature review might aim to bring together
previously unrelated areas of research, and there is no linear
structure to that relationship – you simply identify the different
themes under which you want to organise it, depending on which
texts you want to talk about as a group. You might choose to arrange
your review into different themes, contexts, schools of thought,
subject disciplines, or by methods, theories and approaches.

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Funnel approach
The funnel structure moves from the broad to the detailed, the general to the
specific, or from the abstract to the concrete. So, you start with the broader
aspects of your topic (the contextual background, for instance) and then
gradually narrow your focus until you reach the specific aspect of the topic that
you will be addressing. You might equally be looking at the more abstract,
theoretical work on your subject before moving to more concrete case studies in
which those approaches have been applied, or more general treatments to more
detailed and smaller scale studies. That way, you are guiding your reader and
helping them build their understanding of your topic: providing them with the
background information and context they need in order to grasp your main
ideas.

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 Do you know what is funnel?

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 Broad

Narrow

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Funnel

INTRODUCTION Introduce the problem and set the context

BACKGROUND Analyse past research more related to your research area
Highlight the development of major concepts, influential
PAST RESEARCH
studies, etc.
DETAILS Narrowing the focus to studies closest to your own

GAP Identify “the gap” where your own research fits

SUMMARY Sum up and link to your research

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Mixed approach
Often, your Literature Review has more than one function
and there is more than one key point you want to convey. For
instance, you may need to define your theoretical framework,
evaluate how other researchers have approached your topic
more generally, then outline your specific area of focus and
how it relates to the existing literature. Your finished
Literature Review will then comprise different sub-sections
that each achieve a particular aim.

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 Differences Between Writing Literature
Reviews for Quantitative and Qualitative
Studies

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Qualitative study
For qualitative research questions, literature reviews need to focus on how a
research question - that is usually broader than a hypothesis to be tested in a
quantitative study - is shown to be needed to be addressed. This means that in a
literature review for a qualitative study, there needs to be an all-inclusive approach
to the general research topic. In continuance with the above example, if the research
question is how alcohol abuse influences the tendency to commit violent crime, then
it would be necessary to include the general theme of substance abuse and how it
influences committing all forms of crime. Additionally, there needs to be only a
minor degree of focus on the methods of previous studies and more focus on the
specific findings of prior studies.

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Qualitative study
It is also important to remember that each research type has its own set of
limitations. For qualitative studies, the limitations generally are related to
particularistic (i.e. small) samples or perhaps even a small scope of settings that are
examined. It is often the case with qualitative studies that the literature review will
borrow from several different themes or arguments to construct one all-inclusive
theme. This all-inclusive theme will help in demonstrating why a new approach that
prior studies have not done or completed is needed. By drawing on multiple
themes/arguments, it will simultaneously strengthen the argument being made
throughout the current study and give confidence to the readers that the current
topic has been researched in great depth.

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Quantitative study
Literature reviews for quantitative studies need to discuss both what previous
studies pertaining to the research topic have found/concluded and how such studies
were done in terms of the specific variables used and the operationalizations of key
(especially dependent) variables. Reviews used to introduce and set up quantitative
studies also focus more heavily on the methods used in prior studies when
compared to qualitative studies. The methods that need to be present in the literature
review are both those that in previous studies are common as well as those that
represent new “advances” in how to do a particular conceptual definition,
measurement, or analysis. This will primarily depend on the specific variables and
how prior research has been conducted on the research topic.

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Quantitative study
It may be best to think of quantitative literature reviews as defining and
describing the shapes of pieces of a puzzle in order to construct the
complete focus of the intended research topic. Here, the literature
review will need to show how particular variables and/or findings are
common (or not) across the field of existing studies about the current
research topic. By providing documentation of particular variables and
findings, this approach facilitates readers having more confidence in the
validity and reliability of the findings in the current study.

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Deciding on a structure
When deciding on a structure, you might find it useful to consider the
following questions:
• What is the function of my Literature Review?
• What do I want my Literature Review to demonstrate to the reader?
What do I want them to take away from it?
• What structure would best allow me to achieve my purpose and get
my key points across, talking about the texts I want to bring together
without circling around in my writing?
Source: https://www.ncl.ac.uk/academic-skills-kit/assessment/dissertations-and-theses/structuring-a-literature-review/

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Introduction to Journals
SJR – Scientific Journal Rankings: https://www.scimagojr.com/
Leading databases for indexing high-quality research.
SCOPUS
 A large database of peer-reviewed journals, books, and conference
proceedings.
 Tracks citations and impact of research articles.
WEB OF SCIENCE
 A research database focusing on citation indexing.
 Includes high-impact journals.

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Understanding Q1-Q4 Journals
Quartile rankings
• Q1 = highest impact factor
• Q4 = lowest impact factor

• Q1 is occupied by the top 25% of journals in the list

• Q2 is occupied by journals in the 25 to 50% group
• Q3 is occupied by journals in the 50 to 75% group
• Q4 is occupied by journals in the 75 to 100% group

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ORCID-ID
ORCID – ID - a free, unique, persistent identifier (PID) for individuals
to use as they engage in research, scholarship, and innovation activities.

Let’s go and register

https://orcid.org/register

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 Thank you for attention

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