The purpose of a literature review To place each work in the context of its contribution to understanding the research problem being studied; to describe the relationship of each work to the others under consideration; to identify new ways to interpret prior research; to reveal any gaps that exist in the literature; to resolve conflicts amongst seemingly contradictory previous studies; to identify areas of prior scholarship to prevent duplication of effort; to point the way in fulfilling a need for additional research; and to locate the researcher’s own research within the context of existing literature.The analytical features of a literature review might give a new interpretation of old material or combine new with old interpretations; trace the intellectual progression of the field, including major debates. Depending on the situation, evaluate the sources and advise the reader on the most pertinent or relevant research, or usually in the conclusion of a literature review, identify where gaps exist in how a problem has been researched to date.The Importance of Literature Review 1. It creates a rapport with the researcher’s audienceA literature review helps the researcher to create a sense of rapport with the audience or readers so they can trust that the researcher have done his/her homework.

As a result, the audience or readers can give the researcher credit for his/her due diligence: he/she has done his/her fact-finding and fact-checking mission, one of the initial steps of any research writing.As a student, the researcher may not be an expert in a given field; however, by listing a thorough review in his/her research paper, he/she’s telling the audience, in essence, that he/she know what he/she’s talking about. As a result, the more books, articles, and other sources the researcher can list in the literature review, the more trustworthy the scholarship and expertise will be. Depending on the nature of researcher’s paper, each entry can be long or short.

The key for a researcher, is to stick to the gist of the sources as synthesize the source in the review: its thesis, research methods, findings, issues, and further discussions mentioned in the source.