Literature Review Checklist
Ensure your literature review is comprehensive and structured. Use the following checklist:
First Category: Coverage
- Justify inclusion/exclusion criteria for literature.
- Ensure the audience understands the search strategy and literature coverage.
- Provide a critical examination of the state of the field.
- Clearly articulate the research question based on current knowledge.
- Consider and contrast different perspectives.
Context and Relevance
- Place the topic within the broader scholarly literature.
- Ensure the selected literature is related to the research topic and provides new perspectives.
- Use adequate direct or indirect referencing.
- Critically evaluate the historical context of the field.
- Present a critical timeline of the field’s progress.
Definitions and Variables
- Clarify and resolve any ambiguities in definitions.
- Articulate important variables and phenomena relevant to the topic.
- Ensure the literature review is relevant to other sections of the dissertation/thesis.
- Synthesize different aspects of the literature.
New Perspectives and Methodology
- Establish a synthesized new perspective on the literature.
- Clearly express the student's academic voice.
- Identify the main methodologies used in the field.
- Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of these methodologies.
Theory and Methodology
- Relate ideas and theories to research methodologies.
- Consider how previous findings are related to methods applied.
- Ensure interpretations are supported by analyzed literature considering methodology.
Significance of the Research
- Rationalize the scholarly significance of the research problem.
- Consider academic paradigms and propose new advances.
- Justify the practical significance of the research problem.
- Make links between theory and practice.
- Provide realistic interpretations of previous studies and their real-life applications.
Structure and Coherence
- Ensure the literature review has a coherent and clear structure.
- Present a logical sequence, with well-articulated paragraphs and subsections.
- Ensure precise and concise language.
- Follow a standardized writing style.