The Impact of a Literature Review on Research Paper
By Arun Kumar Ghosh
Introduction
If to state the given thought in much more formal terms, then it is possible to say that the Literature Review is one of the most significant – or, possibly, the only important – elements of the preparation of the research paper. It also acts as the map because it shows the location of the existing knowledge with regard to issues of interest captured by theories and literature. But in this blog, I shall confine myself to showing the role of literature review as it contributes to the formulation of the research paper and whether or not literature review is relevant in research.
A Literature Review as a Phase of Research Paper Writing
Literature review is rather more than copying of articles that may in one way or the other be related to the topic of research, but the analysis of the works that can be regarded as related to the topic of the research. They help the researcher to identify what theories were used in the past in regards to the research area and what has not been said and in this way helps in the formulation of research questions and hypothesis thus helping the researcher to understand the research context. The other very useful function of the literature control will also be to determine the position of a research of that author within the current literature in order to be in a position to justify the need for the research.
Some of the terms are: academic research, writing research papers, hence useful in the development of a good literature review. These keywords assist the researcher in identification of literature source which may contain theory, theories, methods or study that may be helpful in expounding the research topic. The following should be explained to a researcher in order that he/she can conduct a literature search so that he/she can be confident that his/her review is both current and is complete.
The Process of Conducting a Literature Review
It, therefore, requires a lot of planning and arrangement to make a literature review. Another component of the process that scientists need to define in advance is parameters of the activities, terms to be used as keywords and search terms, as well as databases and sources to employ. After the identification of relevant studies, the researchers must judge quality and relevance of the source for their study and when integrating the findings to come up with a logical text that responds to the research objectives.
What one should note is that literature review could also comprise part and parcel of the research paper.
The literature review has to flow within the research paper so as to create an outlook for the study apart from providing background information that the reader needs. It is my suggestion that literature review should be used by the theorists and researchers to play the dual role of underlying theory for the study and to indicate the research questions and the justification of the study. Integrating the literature review in the research paper makes the researcher be in a position to state his/her understanding of the area of study and demonstrate to the academic fraternity how the current study will be useful.
Conclusion
Thus, in the light of this discussion, the Lit review is an important component of the writing of the research paper. It affords the researcher the kind of contextualization that one needs to develop the study, propose the research theory, and even situate the finding of the study in the body of knowledge. Thus, the conducting of the literature review and the subsequent incorporation of the results of this access while keeping its further improvement and advancement as essential to the enhancement of the research paper results is paramount to the scientific progress in the given area of science and to the personal development and benefit of the researchers, as well as to the overall contribution to the growth and furtherance of the academic community.
Keywords: academic research, research paper writing, literature review
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