the literature review

Types and Characteristics (adapted from Feak and Swales 2009)

type of literature review
 characteristics

narrative
  • found in dissertations, research articles and theses
  • synthesis of relevant research in coherent discussion
  • broad in focus

systematic
  • follow a strict and transparent set of criteria for the choice of literature being reviewed
  • attempt to clarify the condition of current research in the designated area of study
  • common in health and sports science

meta-analysis
  • gathers data from a number of different and independent studies that have examined the same research questions
  • data is examined and analysed and may produce more reliable results than is possible from only one study
  • may also be a systematic literature review

focused
  • limited to a single aspect of previous research e.g. research design.
  • describe implications of choosing a particular research approach

Tasks
  1. look at the contents from the literature review shown on the previous page. What kind of literature review do you think it is?
  2. use the university's electronic library to find a collection of journal articles and theses in your area of research and choose four articles or theses to examine in greater detail.

You can move on to look at these pages about using paraphrase, quotation and summary.