⦁ Briefly Literature Review (Previous Studies):
A literature review is a survey of scholarly sources on a specific topic. It provides an overview of current knowledge, allowing you to identify relevant theories, methods, and gaps in the existing research. Writing a literature review involves finding relevant publications, critically analyzing them, and explaining what you found. There are five key steps:
⦁ Search for relevant literature
⦁ Evaluate sources
⦁ Identify themes, debates, and gaps
⦁ Outline the structure
⦁ Write your literature review
A good literature review doesn’t just summarize sources, but it analyzes, synthesizes, and critically evaluates to give a clear picture of the state of knowledge on the subject. When you write a research proposal, you will have to conduct a literature review to situate your research within existing knowledge. The literature review gives you a chance to:
⦁ Demonstrate your familiarity with the topic and scholarly context.
⦁ Develop a theoretical framework and methodology for your research.
⦁ Position yourself in relation to other researchers and theorists.
⦁ Show how your research addresses a gap or contributes to a debate This section is usually 2 – 3 pages (1200 – 1800 words).
