Unit 2 Lecture 4

Review of Literature
Every scientific investigation starts with a Review of Literature. In fact, working with the
literature is an essential part of the research process which help generate ideas, helps in developing
significant questions and is regarded as instrumental in the process of research design. Review of
literature is a collective body of works done by earlier scientists and published in the form of books
or in the form of articles in journals or published as monograph etc. It provides considerable
information on the topic being researched and the various works that had gone on in the field over the
years. These materials are gathered by the researcher from many sources such as journals, books,
documents etc. It synthesises and organises the entire information in terms of its relevance and
appropriateness to the topic of research. It might give a new interpretation of old material or combine
new with old interpretations. Or it might trace the intellectual progression of the field, including major
debates. And depending on the situation, the literature review may evaluate the sources and advise the
reader on the most pertinent and relevant information. While compiling the review of literature, the
researcher must keep following point in mind;

✓ The researcher has to definitely include the materials from classic and pioneering works in the
area. In addition, the researcher should also include all the relevant research works published
more recently especially in the last 5 to 10 years.
✓ As for the types of sources to be consulted for review of literature, this includes books, journal
articles, monographs, documents, grey literature such as unpublished documents or research
papers read at some conferences etc. In addition, the internet is an important source from where
articles and abstracts could be downloaded for this purpose.
✓ Once all the materials have been gathered from different sources as mentioned above, the
researcher should organise the same according to the year of publication and the subject matter
must be organised to give meaning to the entire literature gathered keeping in view the present
research topic of interest to the researcher.

NEED FOR REVIEW OF LITERATURE:

1. Identifying variables relevant for research: A careful Review also helps the researcher in
selecting the variables lying within the scope of his interest, in defining and operationalising as
well as in identifying variables which are conceptually and practically important. Thus a
Review of the Literature, on the whole, prepares the researcher to formulate a research problem
in which conceptualisation and practically important variables are selected.
2. Avoidance of repetition: A Review of the Literature helps the researcher in avoiding any
duplication of work done earlier. A careful review always aims at interpreting prior studies and

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Unit 2 Lecture 4

indicating their usefulness for the study to be undertaken. Thus prior studies serve as the
foundation for present research.
3. Synthesis of prior works: Review of the Literature enables the researcher to collect and
synthesise prior studies related to the present study. This, in turn, helps the researcher in
building a better perspective for future research. A synthesised collection of prior studies also
helps a researcher to identify the significant overlaps and the gaps among the prior works.
4. Determining meaning and relationship among variables: A careful Review of the Literature
enables the researcher in discovering important variables relevant to the area of the present
research. When significant variables are discovered, the relationship among them can be
identified, Subsequently, the identified relationship is incorporated into different hypotheses.
Thus, for conducting a scientific study, the relationship between the different variables must be
explored by reviewing the literature so that a good context may be built up for subsequent
investigations.
5. In addition to these specific purposes, there are some general purposes of the literature review:
a. To argue for the relevance and the significance of the research question.
b. To provide the context for one’s own methodological approach
c. To establish one’s own credibility as a knowledgeable and capable researcher.
d. To argue for the relevance and appropriateness of one’s own approach.

SOURCES OF REVIEW OF LITERATURE:

Review of Literature Sources

Journals Books Abstracts Indexes Dissertations Internet

Research Review
Published Unpublished
Papers Papers

1. Journals: A research journal generally contains the publication of original research reports
with their detailed methodology and results. A referred journal is one which reports only those
articles which are carefully reviewed by the experts before publication. Most major libraries
have a periodical section where different types of research journals are made easily available.
Now a days journals can also be accessed online, some of which are paid and some are free.
The original research reports published in a journal are called research paper, on the contrary
reviews papers are short articles that give brief information regarding the work done in a

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Unit 2 Lecture 4

particular area over a period of time. Journals are regarded as more useful because they provide
the researcher with the latest and up-to-date information relevant to the area of interest.
2. Books: Books are also direct sources of the Review of Literature. Books provide the detailed
information on a particular topic.
3. Abstracts: Abstracts provide a summary of the research reports done in different field. These
abstracts are the useful sources of up-to-date information for researchers. In an abstract, besides
a summary, researchers get all the relevant information such as the title of the Research Report,
name of the author and the journal pagination information, etc., regarding the research article.
The only limitation of abstracts is that they fail to satisfy those researchers who desire detailed
information regarding the methodology and results of the research articles.
4. Indexes: Indexes show the titles of the research report without any abstract. The titles are
categorised and arranged alphabetically in each category so that the researcher can locate any
article of interest easily.
5. Dissertations: Dissertations (masters or doctoral) have also been a very good source of the
Review of the Literature. In libraries of universities, dissertations are available and presently in
India doctoral dissertations of several universities are available on
https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/community-list. The researcher can choose the dissertations
of their interest and find useful and relevant information there.
6. Internet: Today Internet is a very easy and quick source of Review of Literature. Internet sites
are very useful for providing easy access to original writings by important researchers. They
also provide such an updated information on the topic that ordinarily is not available in the
library. Internet sites also provide for useful bibliographies related to a particular researcher.

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