Chapter 4: Conducting a Literature Review
Whether you plan to engage in clinical, community, or organizational practice, being able to look at the available literature on a topic and synthesize the relevant facts into a coherent review is a fundamental skill. Literature reviews can have a powerful effect, for example by providing the factual basis for a new program or policy in an agency or government. In your own research proposal, conducting a thorough literature review will help you build strong arguments for why your topic is important and why your research question must be answered.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
- Be able to describe a literature review and explain its purpose
- Become familiar with the notion of synthesizing literature and means to accomplish this
- Be aware of the beneficial practices and common pitfalls while writing the literature review