It is important to know who has studied the research problem you plan to examine. You may fear that you will initiate and conduct a study that merely replicates prior research.
However, faculty and advisors often fear that you will plan a study that does not build on existing knowledge and does not add to the accumulation of findings on a topic.
Because of these concerns, reviewing the literature is an important step in the research process.
Reviewing the literature means locating summaries, books, journals, and indexed publications on a topic; selectively choosing which literature to include in your review; and then summarizing the literature in a written report.
The skills required for reviewing the literature develop over time and with practice.
You can learn how to locate journal articles and books in an academic library, access computerized databases, choose and evaluate the quality of research on your topic, and summarize it in a review.
Library resources can be overwhelming, so having a strategy for searching the literature and writing the review is important.
Let’s examine Maria’s approach to reviewing the literature.
To inform her committee about the latest literature on school violence and to plan her own research, Maria needs to conduct a literature review.
This process will involve becoming familiar with the university library holdings, spending time reviewing resources and making decisions about what literature to use, and writing a formal summary of the literature on school violence.
She consults the library catalog at her university and plans to search the computerized databases.
In order to review the literature, Maria will need to become familiar with the literature and visit her university library.