American InterContinental University Literature Review Essay

The literature review is one of the most daunting tasks in writing a dissertation, and many students procrastinate its completion, sometimes spending years after completing their classes working towards this final project (Laureate Education, 2016). The purpose of the literature review is a description of the literature related to a specific research problem or topic and should synthesize what is already known from peer-reviewed sources (Martinez, n.d., Patterson, 2012). McIndoo (2014) makes a fitting comparison of a literature review to a donut, with the donut hole being the gap. The researcher will research all the available information and research around the question they want to answer that does not actually touch the research they are conducting. The literature review covers what is already known in area and sets the stage for the research to be presented in the current study.

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There are many components to a literature review in a dissertation, but three important pieces are: the introduction and background of the problem, shortcomings in the current literature, or inconclusive, lacking evidence, and the importance and contribution of the current study. Within these components should lie other, more specific pieces of information and syntheses, but I selected these overarching themes because I felt they were useful umbrellas under which other topics should be found.

The Walden University Writing Center (2015) suggests that an introduction and conclusion should be utilized because they provide bookends for the large amount of information to be provided. It is important to provide the reader with enough background information to understand why the topic is important and to link it to the larger social problem. It also identifies the research that has already been done and provides a backdrop for the current study. Martinez (n.d.) explains that the literature review should indicate the inconsistencies in the current knowledge, any views to be tested further, and lacking or contradictory evidence. This will clearly define the gap that your study is meant to fill. It shows an understanding of the important research that has been done while showing how the current study will fit within that gap to provide a clearer and more comprehensive picture of the issue at hand.

Lastly, and maybe most importantly, the researcher should indicate why the current study is important and why the reader should care about it (Martinez, n.d.). Including how this study will contribute to the current science is important because without this knowledge and understanding, nothing moving forward will really matter. Assuring that these components are present is important, and keeping only what is most relevant to the research will assure that the literature review is a powerful set up for what you, as a researcher, have to say.

References

Laureate Education (Producer). (2016). Identifying gaps in the literature [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Martinez, S. (n.d.). How to write an effective literature review. Retrieved June 5, 2016, from http://www.dphu.org/uploads/attachements/books/books_71_0.pdf

McIndoo, T. (2014, July 8). Defining a gap in the literature: On proving the presence of an absence [Blog post]. Walden University Writing Center. Retrieved from http://waldenwritingcenter.blogspot.com/2014/07/defining-gap-in-literature-on-proving.html

Walden University Writing Center. (2015b). Basics of literature reviews. Retrieved from http://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/assignments/literaturereview