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What is the Purpose of a Literature Review?

4-minute read

• 23rd October 2023

If you’re writing a research paper or dissertation , then you’ll most likely need to include a comprehensive literature review . In this post, we’ll review the purpose of literature reviews, why they are so significant, and the specific elements to include in one. Literature reviews can:

1. Provide a foundation for current research.

2. Define key concepts and theories.

3. Demonstrate critical evaluation.

4. Show how research and methodologies have evolved.

5. Identify gaps in existing research.

6. Support your argument.

Keep reading to enter the exciting world of literature reviews!

What is a Literature Review?

A literature review is a critical summary and evaluation of the existing research (e.g., academic journal articles and books) on a specific topic. It is typically included as a separate section or chapter of a research paper or dissertation, serving as a contextual framework for a study. Literature reviews can vary in length depending on the subject and nature of the study, with most being about equal length to other sections or chapters included in the paper. Essentially, the literature review highlights previous studies in the context of your research and summarizes your insights in a structured, organized format. Next, let’s look at the overall purpose of a literature review.

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Literature reviews are considered an integral part of research across most academic subjects and fields. The primary purpose of a literature review in your study is to:

Provide a Foundation for Current Research

Since the literature review provides a comprehensive evaluation of the existing research, it serves as a solid foundation for your current study. It’s a way to contextualize your work and show how your research fits into the broader landscape of your specific area of study.  

Define Key Concepts and Theories

The literature review highlights the central theories and concepts that have arisen from previous research on your chosen topic. It gives your readers a more thorough understanding of the background of your study and why your research is particularly significant .

Demonstrate Critical Evaluation 

A comprehensive literature review shows your ability to critically analyze and evaluate a broad range of source material. And since you’re considering and acknowledging the contribution of key scholars alongside your own, it establishes your own credibility and knowledge.

Show How Research and Methodologies Have Evolved

Another purpose of literature reviews is to provide a historical perspective and demonstrate how research and methodologies have changed over time, especially as data collection methods and technology have advanced. And studying past methodologies allows you, as the researcher, to understand what did and did not work and apply that knowledge to your own research.  

Identify Gaps in Existing Research

Besides discussing current research and methodologies, the literature review should also address areas that are lacking in the existing literature. This helps further demonstrate the relevance of your own research by explaining why your study is necessary to fill the gaps.

Support Your Argument

A good literature review should provide evidence that supports your research questions and hypothesis. For example, your study may show that your research supports existing theories or builds on them in some way. Referencing previous related studies shows your work is grounded in established research and will ultimately be a contribution to the field.  

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Why is it important to do a literature review in research?

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 “A substantive, thorough, sophisticated literature review is a precondition for doing substantive, thorough, sophisticated research”. Boote and Baile 2005

Authors of manuscripts treat writing a literature review as a routine work or a mere formality. But a seasoned one knows the purpose and importance of a well-written literature review.  Since it is one of the basic needs for researches at any level, they have to be done vigilantly. Only then the reader will know that the basics of research have not been neglected.

The aim of any literature review is to summarize and synthesize the arguments and ideas of existing knowledge in a particular field without adding any new contributions.   Being built on existing knowledge they help the researcher to even turn the wheels of the topic of research.  It is possible only with profound knowledge of what is wrong in the existing findings in detail to overpower them.  For other researches, the literature review gives the direction to be headed for its success. 

The common perception of literature review and reality:

As per the common belief, literature reviews are only a summary of the sources related to the research. And many authors of scientific manuscripts believe that they are only surveys of what are the researches are done on the chosen topic.  But on the contrary, it uses published information from pertinent and relevant sources like

• Scholarly books
• Scientific papers
• Latest studies in the field
• Established school of thoughts
• Relevant articles from renowned scientific journals

and many more for a field of study or theory or a particular problem to do the following:

• Summarize into a brief account of all information
• Synthesize the information by restructuring and reorganizing
• Critical evaluation of a concept or a school of thought or ideas
• Familiarize the authors to the extent of knowledge in the particular field
• Encapsulate
• Compare & contrast

By doing the above on the relevant information, it provides the reader of the scientific manuscript with the following for a better understanding of it:

• It establishes the authors’  in-depth understanding and knowledge of their field subject
• It gives the background of the research
• Portrays the scientific manuscript plan of examining the research result
• Illuminates on how the knowledge has changed within the field
• Highlights what has already been done in a particular field
• Information of the generally accepted facts, emerging and current state of the topic of research
• Identifies the research gap that is still unexplored or under-researched fields
• Demonstrates how the research fits within a larger field of study
• Provides an overview of the sources explored during the research of a particular topic

Importance of literature review in research:

The importance of literature review in scientific manuscripts can be condensed into an analytical feature to enable the multifold reach of its significance.  It adds value to the legitimacy of the research in many ways:

• Provides the interpretation of existing literature in light of updated developments in the field to help in establishing the consistency in knowledge and relevancy of existing materials
• It helps in calculating the impact of the latest information in the field by mapping their progress of knowledge.
• It brings out the dialects of contradictions between various thoughts within the field to establish facts
• The research gaps scrutinized initially are further explored to establish the latest facts of theories to add value to the field
• Indicates the current research place in the schema of a particular field
• Provides information for relevancy and coherency to check the research
• Apart from elucidating the continuance of knowledge, it also points out areas that require further investigation and thus aid as a starting point of any future research
• Justifies the research and sets up the research question
• Sets up a theoretical framework comprising the concepts and theories of the research upon which its success can be judged
• Helps to adopt a more appropriate methodology for the research by examining the strengths and weaknesses of existing research in the same field
• Increases the significance of the results by comparing it with the existing literature
• Provides a point of reference by writing the findings in the scientific manuscript
• Helps to get the due credit from the audience for having done the fact-finding and fact-checking mission in the scientific manuscripts
• The more the reference of relevant sources of it could increase more of its trustworthiness with the readers
• Helps to prevent plagiarism by tailoring and uniquely tweaking the scientific manuscript not to repeat other’s original idea
• By preventing plagiarism , it saves the scientific manuscript from rejection and thus also saves a lot of time and money
• Helps to evaluate, condense and synthesize gist in the author’s own words to sharpen the research focus
• Helps to compare and contrast to  show the originality and uniqueness of the research than that of the existing other researches
• Rationalizes the need for conducting the particular research in a specified field
• Helps to collect data accurately for allowing any new methodology of research than the existing ones
• Enables the readers of the manuscript to answer the following questions of its readers for its better chances for publication
• What do the researchers know?
• What do they not know?
• Is the scientific manuscript reliable and trustworthy?
• What are the knowledge gaps of the researcher?

22. It helps the readers to identify the following for further reading of the scientific manuscript:

• What has been already established, discredited and accepted in the particular field of research
• Areas of controversy and conflicts among different schools of thought
• Unsolved problems and issues in the connected field of research
• The emerging trends and approaches
• How the research extends, builds upon and leaves behind from the previous research

A profound literature review with many relevant sources of reference will enhance the chances of the scientific manuscript publication in renowned and reputed scientific journals .

References:

http://www.math.montana.edu/jobo/phdprep/phd6.pdf

journal Publishing services  |  Scientific Editing Services  |  Medical Writing Services  |  scientific research writing service  |  Scientific communication services

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What is a Literature Review? How to Write It (with Examples)

A literature review is a critical analysis and synthesis of existing research on a particular topic. It provides an overview of the current state of knowledge, identifies gaps, and highlights key findings in the literature. 1 The purpose of a literature review is to situate your own research within the context of existing scholarship, demonstrating your understanding of the topic and showing how your work contributes to the ongoing conversation in the field. Learning how to write a literature review is a critical tool for successful research. Your ability to summarize and synthesize prior research pertaining to a certain topic demonstrates your grasp on the topic of study, and assists in the learning process. 

Table of Contents

• What is the purpose of literature review? 
• a. Habitat Loss and Species Extinction: 
• b. Range Shifts and Phenological Changes: 
• c. Ocean Acidification and Coral Reefs: 
• d. Adaptive Strategies and Conservation Efforts: 

How to write a good literature review 

• Choose a Topic and Define the Research Question: 
• Decide on the Scope of Your Review: 
• Select Databases for Searches: 
• Conduct Searches and Keep Track: 
• Review the Literature: 
• Organize and Write Your Literature Review: 
• How to write a literature review faster with Paperpal? 
• Frequently asked questions 

What is a literature review?

A well-conducted literature review demonstrates the researcher’s familiarity with the existing literature, establishes the context for their own research, and contributes to scholarly conversations on the topic. One of the purposes of a literature review is also to help researchers avoid duplicating previous work and ensure that their research is informed by and builds upon the existing body of knowledge.

What is the purpose of literature review?

A literature review serves several important purposes within academic and research contexts. Here are some key objectives and functions of a literature review: 2  

1. Contextualizing the Research Problem: The literature review provides a background and context for the research problem under investigation. It helps to situate the study within the existing body of knowledge. 

2. Identifying Gaps in Knowledge: By identifying gaps, contradictions, or areas requiring further research, the researcher can shape the research question and justify the significance of the study. This is crucial for ensuring that the new research contributes something novel to the field. 

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3. Understanding Theoretical and Conceptual Frameworks: Literature reviews help researchers gain an understanding of the theoretical and conceptual frameworks used in previous studies. This aids in the development of a theoretical framework for the current research. 

4. Providing Methodological Insights: Another purpose of literature reviews is that it allows researchers to learn about the methodologies employed in previous studies. This can help in choosing appropriate research methods for the current study and avoiding pitfalls that others may have encountered. 

5. Establishing Credibility: A well-conducted literature review demonstrates the researcher’s familiarity with existing scholarship, establishing their credibility and expertise in the field. It also helps in building a solid foundation for the new research. 

6. Informing Hypotheses or Research Questions: The literature review guides the formulation of hypotheses or research questions by highlighting relevant findings and areas of uncertainty in existing literature. 

Literature review example

Let’s delve deeper with a literature review example: Let’s say your literature review is about the impact of climate change on biodiversity. You might format your literature review into sections such as the effects of climate change on habitat loss and species extinction, phenological changes, and marine biodiversity. Each section would then summarize and analyze relevant studies in those areas, highlighting key findings and identifying gaps in the research. The review would conclude by emphasizing the need for further research on specific aspects of the relationship between climate change and biodiversity. The following literature review template provides a glimpse into the recommended literature review structure and content, demonstrating how research findings are organized around specific themes within a broader topic. 

Literature Review on Climate Change Impacts on Biodiversity:

Climate change is a global phenomenon with far-reaching consequences, including significant impacts on biodiversity. This literature review synthesizes key findings from various studies: 

a. Habitat Loss and Species Extinction:

Climate change-induced alterations in temperature and precipitation patterns contribute to habitat loss, affecting numerous species (Thomas et al., 2004). The review discusses how these changes increase the risk of extinction, particularly for species with specific habitat requirements. 

b. Range Shifts and Phenological Changes:

Observations of range shifts and changes in the timing of biological events (phenology) are documented in response to changing climatic conditions (Parmesan & Yohe, 2003). These shifts affect ecosystems and may lead to mismatches between species and their resources. 

c. Ocean Acidification and Coral Reefs:

The review explores the impact of climate change on marine biodiversity, emphasizing ocean acidification’s threat to coral reefs (Hoegh-Guldberg et al., 2007). Changes in pH levels negatively affect coral calcification, disrupting the delicate balance of marine ecosystems. 

d. Adaptive Strategies and Conservation Efforts:

Recognizing the urgency of the situation, the literature review discusses various adaptive strategies adopted by species and conservation efforts aimed at mitigating the impacts of climate change on biodiversity (Hannah et al., 2007). It emphasizes the importance of interdisciplinary approaches for effective conservation planning. 

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Writing a literature review involves summarizing and synthesizing existing research on a particular topic. A good literature review format should include the following elements. 

Introduction: The introduction sets the stage for your literature review, providing context and introducing the main focus of your review. 

• Opening Statement: Begin with a general statement about the broader topic and its significance in the field. 
• Scope and Purpose: Clearly define the scope of your literature review. Explain the specific research question or objective you aim to address. 
• Organizational Framework: Briefly outline the structure of your literature review, indicating how you will categorize and discuss the existing research. 
• Significance of the Study: Highlight why your literature review is important and how it contributes to the understanding of the chosen topic. 
• Thesis Statement: Conclude the introduction with a concise thesis statement that outlines the main argument or perspective you will develop in the body of the literature review. 

Body: The body of the literature review is where you provide a comprehensive analysis of existing literature, grouping studies based on themes, methodologies, or other relevant criteria. 

• Organize by Theme or Concept: Group studies that share common themes, concepts, or methodologies. Discuss each theme or concept in detail, summarizing key findings and identifying gaps or areas of disagreement. 
• Critical Analysis: Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each study. Discuss the methodologies used, the quality of evidence, and the overall contribution of each work to the understanding of the topic. 
• Synthesis of Findings: Synthesize the information from different studies to highlight trends, patterns, or areas of consensus in the literature. 
• Identification of Gaps: Discuss any gaps or limitations in the existing research and explain how your review contributes to filling these gaps. 
• Transition between Sections: Provide smooth transitions between different themes or concepts to maintain the flow of your literature review. 

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Conclusion: The conclusion of your literature review should summarize the main findings, highlight the contributions of the review, and suggest avenues for future research. 

• Summary of Key Findings: Recap the main findings from the literature and restate how they contribute to your research question or objective. 
• Contributions to the Field: Discuss the overall contribution of your literature review to the existing knowledge in the field. 
• Implications and Applications: Explore the practical implications of the findings and suggest how they might impact future research or practice. 
• Recommendations for Future Research: Identify areas that require further investigation and propose potential directions for future research in the field. 
• Final Thoughts: Conclude with a final reflection on the importance of your literature review and its relevance to the broader academic community. 

Conducting a literature review

Conducting a literature review is an essential step in research that involves reviewing and analyzing existing literature on a specific topic. It’s important to know how to do a literature review effectively, so here are the steps to follow: 1  

Choose a Topic and Define the Research Question:

• Select a topic that is relevant to your field of study. 
• Clearly define your research question or objective. Determine what specific aspect of the topic do you want to explore? 

Decide on the Scope of Your Review:

• Determine the timeframe for your literature review. Are you focusing on recent developments, or do you want a historical overview? 
• Consider the geographical scope. Is your review global, or are you focusing on a specific region? 
• Define the inclusion and exclusion criteria. What types of sources will you include? Are there specific types of studies or publications you will exclude? 

Select Databases for Searches:

• Identify relevant databases for your field. Examples include PubMed, IEEE Xplore, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. 
• Consider searching in library catalogs, institutional repositories, and specialized databases related to your topic. 

Conduct Searches and Keep Track:

• Develop a systematic search strategy using keywords, Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT), and other search techniques. 
• Record and document your search strategy for transparency and replicability. 
• Keep track of the articles, including publication details, abstracts, and links. Use citation management tools like EndNote, Zotero, or Mendeley to organize your references. 

Review the Literature:

• Evaluate the relevance and quality of each source. Consider the methodology, sample size, and results of studies. 
• Organize the literature by themes or key concepts. Identify patterns, trends, and gaps in the existing research. 
• Summarize key findings and arguments from each source. Compare and contrast different perspectives. 
• Identify areas where there is a consensus in the literature and where there are conflicting opinions. 
• Provide critical analysis and synthesis of the literature. What are the strengths and weaknesses of existing research? 

Organize and Write Your Literature Review:

• Literature review outline should be based on themes, chronological order, or methodological approaches. 
• Write a clear and coherent narrative that synthesizes the information gathered. 
• Use proper citations for each source and ensure consistency in your citation style (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.). 
• Conclude your literature review by summarizing key findings, identifying gaps, and suggesting areas for future research. 

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How to write a literature review faster with Paperpal?

Paperpal, an AI writing assistant, integrates powerful academic search capabilities within its writing platform. With the Research feature, you get 100% factual insights, with citations backed by 250M+ verified research articles, directly within your writing interface with the option to save relevant references in your Citation Library. By eliminating the need to switch tabs to find answers to all your research questions, Paperpal saves time and helps you stay focused on your writing.   

Here’s how to use the Research feature:  

• Ask a question: Get started with a new document on paperpal.com. Click on the “Research” feature and type your question in plain English. Paperpal will scour over 250 million research articles, including conference papers and preprints, to provide you with accurate insights and citations. 
• Review and Save: Paperpal summarizes the information, while citing sources and listing relevant reads. You can quickly scan the results to identify relevant references and save these directly to your built-in citations library for later access. 
• Cite with Confidence: Paperpal makes it easy to incorporate relevant citations and references into your writing, ensuring your arguments are well-supported by credible sources. This translates to a polished, well-researched literature review. 

The literature review sample and detailed advice on writing and conducting a review will help you produce a well-structured report. But remember that a good literature review is an ongoing process, and it may be necessary to revisit and update it as your research progresses. By combining effortless research with an easy citation process, Paperpal Research streamlines the literature review process and empowers you to write faster and with more confidence. Try Paperpal Research now and see for yourself.  

Frequently asked questions

A literature review is a critical and comprehensive analysis of existing literature (published and unpublished works) on a specific topic or research question and provides a synthesis of the current state of knowledge in a particular field. A well-conducted literature review is crucial for researchers to build upon existing knowledge, avoid duplication of efforts, and contribute to the advancement of their field. It also helps researchers situate their work within a broader context and facilitates the development of a sound theoretical and conceptual framework for their studies.

Literature review is a crucial component of research writing, providing a solid background for a research paper’s investigation. The aim is to keep professionals up to date by providing an understanding of ongoing developments within a specific field, including research methods, and experimental techniques used in that field, and present that knowledge in the form of a written report. Also, the depth and breadth of the literature review emphasizes the credibility of the scholar in his or her field.  

Before writing a literature review, it’s essential to undertake several preparatory steps to ensure that your review is well-researched, organized, and focused. This includes choosing a topic of general interest to you and doing exploratory research on that topic, writing an annotated bibliography, and noting major points, especially those that relate to the position you have taken on the topic. 

Literature reviews and academic research papers are essential components of scholarly work but serve different purposes within the academic realm. 3 A literature review aims to provide a foundation for understanding the current state of research on a particular topic, identify gaps or controversies, and lay the groundwork for future research. Therefore, it draws heavily from existing academic sources, including books, journal articles, and other scholarly publications. In contrast, an academic research paper aims to present new knowledge, contribute to the academic discourse, and advance the understanding of a specific research question. Therefore, it involves a mix of existing literature (in the introduction and literature review sections) and original data or findings obtained through research methods. 

Literature reviews are essential components of academic and research papers, and various strategies can be employed to conduct them effectively. If you want to know how to write a literature review for a research paper, here are four common approaches that are often used by researchers.  Chronological Review: This strategy involves organizing the literature based on the chronological order of publication. It helps to trace the development of a topic over time, showing how ideas, theories, and research have evolved.  Thematic Review: Thematic reviews focus on identifying and analyzing themes or topics that cut across different studies. Instead of organizing the literature chronologically, it is grouped by key themes or concepts, allowing for a comprehensive exploration of various aspects of the topic.  Methodological Review: This strategy involves organizing the literature based on the research methods employed in different studies. It helps to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of various methodologies and allows the reader to evaluate the reliability and validity of the research findings.  Theoretical Review: A theoretical review examines the literature based on the theoretical frameworks used in different studies. This approach helps to identify the key theories that have been applied to the topic and assess their contributions to the understanding of the subject.  It’s important to note that these strategies are not mutually exclusive, and a literature review may combine elements of more than one approach. The choice of strategy depends on the research question, the nature of the literature available, and the goals of the review. Additionally, other strategies, such as integrative reviews or systematic reviews, may be employed depending on the specific requirements of the research.

The literature review format can vary depending on the specific publication guidelines. However, there are some common elements and structures that are often followed. Here is a general guideline for the format of a literature review:  Introduction:   Provide an overview of the topic.  Define the scope and purpose of the literature review.  State the research question or objective.  Body:   Organize the literature by themes, concepts, or chronology.  Critically analyze and evaluate each source.  Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the studies.  Highlight any methodological limitations or biases.  Identify patterns, connections, or contradictions in the existing research.  Conclusion:   Summarize the key points discussed in the literature review.  Highlight the research gap.  Address the research question or objective stated in the introduction.  Highlight the contributions of the review and suggest directions for future research.

Both annotated bibliographies and literature reviews involve the examination of scholarly sources. While annotated bibliographies focus on individual sources with brief annotations, literature reviews provide a more in-depth, integrated, and comprehensive analysis of existing literature on a specific topic. The key differences are as follows: 

References 

• Denney, A. S., & Tewksbury, R. (2013). How to write a literature review.  Journal of criminal justice education ,  24 (2), 218-234. 
• Pan, M. L. (2016).  Preparing literature reviews: Qualitative and quantitative approaches . Taylor & Francis. 
• Cantero, C. (2019). How to write a literature review.  San José State University Writing Center . 

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• University of Texas Libraries

Literature Reviews

• What is a literature review?
• Steps in the Literature Review Process
• Define your research question
• Determine inclusion and exclusion criteria
• Choose databases and search
• Review Results
• Synthesize Results
• Analyze Results
• Librarian Support
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools

What is a Literature Review?

A literature or narrative review is a comprehensive review and analysis of the published literature on a specific topic or research question. The literature that is reviewed contains: books, articles, academic articles, conference proceedings, association papers, and dissertations. It contains the most pertinent studies and points to important past and current research and practices. It provides background and context, and shows how your research will contribute to the field. 

A literature review should: 

• Provide a comprehensive and updated review of the literature;
• Explain why this review has taken place;
• Articulate a position or hypothesis;
• Acknowledge and account for conflicting and corroborating points of view

From  S age Research Methods

Purpose of a Literature Review

A literature review can be written as an introduction to a study to:

• Demonstrate how a study fills a gap in research
• Compare a study with other research that's been done

Or it can be a separate work (a research article on its own) which:

• Organizes or describes a topic
• Describes variables within a particular issue/problem

Limitations of a Literature Review

Some of the limitations of a literature review are:

• It's a snapshot in time. Unlike other reviews, this one has beginning, a middle and an end. There may be future developments that could make your work less relevant.
• It may be too focused. Some niche studies may miss the bigger picture.
• It can be difficult to be comprehensive. There is no way to make sure all the literature on a topic was considered.
• It is easy to be biased if you stick to top tier journals. There may be other places where people are publishing exemplary research. Look to open access publications and conferences to reflect a more inclusive collection. Also, make sure to include opposing views (and not just supporting evidence).

Source: Grant, Maria J., and Andrew Booth. “A Typology of Reviews: An Analysis of 14 Review Types and Associated Methodologies.” Health Information & Libraries Journal, vol. 26, no. 2, June 2009, pp. 91–108. Wiley Online Library, doi:10.1111/j.1471-1842.2009.00848.x.

Meryl Brodsky : Communication and Information Studies

Hannah Chapman Tripp : Biology, Neuroscience

Carolyn Cunningham : Human Development & Family Sciences, Psychology, Sociology

Larayne Dallas : Engineering

Janelle Hedstrom : Special Education, Curriculum & Instruction, Ed Leadership & Policy ​

Susan Macicak : Linguistics

Imelda Vetter : Dell Medical School

For help in other subject areas, please see the guide to library specialists by subject .

Periodically, UT Libraries runs a workshop covering the basics and library support for literature reviews. While we try to offer these once per academic year, we find providing the recording to be helpful to community members who have missed the session. Following is the most recent recording of the workshop, Conducting a Literature Review. To view the recording, a UT login is required.

• October 26, 2022 recording
• Last Updated: Jun 18, 2024 1:00 PM
• URL: https://guides.lib.utexas.edu/literaturereviews

• UConn Library
• Literature Review: The What, Why and How-to Guide
• Introduction

Literature Review: The What, Why and How-to Guide — Introduction

• Getting Started
• How to Pick a Topic
• Strategies to Find Sources
• Evaluating Sources & Lit. Reviews
• Tips for Writing Literature Reviews
• Writing Literature Review: Useful Sites
• Citation Resources
• Other Academic Writings

What are Literature Reviews?

So, what is a literature review? "A literature review is an account of what has been published on a topic by accredited scholars and researchers. In writing the literature review, your purpose is to convey to your reader what knowledge and ideas have been established on a topic, and what their strengths and weaknesses are. As a piece of writing, the literature review must be defined by a guiding concept (e.g., your research objective, the problem or issue you are discussing, or your argumentative thesis). It is not just a descriptive list of the material available, or a set of summaries." Taylor, D.  The literature review: A few tips on conducting it . University of Toronto Health Sciences Writing Centre.

Goals of Literature Reviews

What are the goals of creating a Literature Review?  A literature could be written to accomplish different aims:

• To develop a theory or evaluate an existing theory
• To summarize the historical or existing state of a research topic
• Identify a problem in a field of research 

Baumeister, R. F., & Leary, M. R. (1997). Writing narrative literature reviews .  Review of General Psychology , 1 (3), 311-320.

What kinds of sources require a Literature Review?

• A research paper assigned in a course
• A thesis or dissertation
• A grant proposal
• An article intended for publication in a journal

All these instances require you to collect what has been written about your research topic so that you can demonstrate how your own research sheds new light on the topic.

Types of Literature Reviews

What kinds of literature reviews are written?

Narrative review: The purpose of this type of review is to describe the current state of the research on a specific topic/research and to offer a critical analysis of the literature reviewed. Studies are grouped by research/theoretical categories, and themes and trends, strengths and weakness, and gaps are identified. The review ends with a conclusion section which summarizes the findings regarding the state of the research of the specific study, the gaps identify and if applicable, explains how the author's research will address gaps identify in the review and expand the knowledge on the topic reviewed.

• Example : Predictors and Outcomes of U.S. Quality Maternity Leave: A Review and Conceptual Framework:  10.1177/08948453211037398  

Systematic review : "The authors of a systematic review use a specific procedure to search the research literature, select the studies to include in their review, and critically evaluate the studies they find." (p. 139). Nelson, L. K. (2013). Research in Communication Sciences and Disorders . Plural Publishing.

• Example : The effect of leave policies on increasing fertility: a systematic review:  10.1057/s41599-022-01270-w

Meta-analysis : "Meta-analysis is a method of reviewing research findings in a quantitative fashion by transforming the data from individual studies into what is called an effect size and then pooling and analyzing this information. The basic goal in meta-analysis is to explain why different outcomes have occurred in different studies." (p. 197). Roberts, M. C., & Ilardi, S. S. (2003). Handbook of Research Methods in Clinical Psychology . Blackwell Publishing.

• Example : Employment Instability and Fertility in Europe: A Meta-Analysis:  10.1215/00703370-9164737

Meta-synthesis : "Qualitative meta-synthesis is a type of qualitative study that uses as data the findings from other qualitative studies linked by the same or related topic." (p.312). Zimmer, L. (2006). Qualitative meta-synthesis: A question of dialoguing with texts .  Journal of Advanced Nursing , 53 (3), 311-318.

• Example : Women’s perspectives on career successes and barriers: A qualitative meta-synthesis:  10.1177/05390184221113735

Literature Reviews in the Health Sciences

• UConn Health subject guide on systematic reviews Explanation of the different review types used in health sciences literature as well as tools to help you find the right review type
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A Guide to Literature Reviews

Importance of a good literature review.

• Conducting the Literature Review
• Structure and Writing Style
• Types of Literature Reviews
• Citation Management Software This link opens in a new window
• Acknowledgements

A literature review is not only a summary of key sources, but  has an organizational pattern which combines both summary and synthesis, often within specific conceptual categories . A summary is a recap of the important information of the source, but a synthesis is a re-organization, or a reshuffling, of that information in a way that informs how you are planning to investigate a research problem. 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 purpose of a literature review is to:

• Place each work in the context of its contribution to understanding the research problem being studied.
• Describe the relationship of each work to the others under consideration.
• Identify new ways to interpret prior research.
• Reveal any gaps that exist in the literature.
• Resolve conflicts amongst seemingly contradictory previous studies.
• Identify areas of prior scholarship to prevent duplication of effort.
• Point the way in fulfilling a need for additional research.
• Locate your own research within the context of existing literature [very important].
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Libraries | Research Guides

Literature reviews, what is a literature review, learning more about how to do a literature review.

• Planning the Review
• The Research Question
• Choosing Where to Search
• Organizing the Review
• Writing the Review

A literature review is a review and synthesis of existing research on a topic or research question. A literature review is meant to analyze the scholarly literature, make connections across writings and identify strengths, weaknesses, trends, and missing conversations. A literature review should address different aspects of a topic as it relates to your research question. A literature review goes beyond a description or summary of the literature you have read. 

• Sage Research Methods Core Collection This link opens in a new window SAGE Research Methods supports research at all levels by providing material to guide users through every step of the research process. SAGE Research Methods is the ultimate methods library with more than 1000 books, reference works, journal articles, and instructional videos by world-leading academics from across the social sciences, including the largest collection of qualitative methods books available online from any scholarly publisher. – Publisher

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Reference management. Clean and simple.

What is a literature review? [with examples]

What is a literature review?

The purpose of a literature review, how to write a literature review, the format of a literature review, general formatting rules, the length of a literature review, literature review examples, frequently asked questions about literature reviews, related articles.

A literature review is an assessment of the sources in a chosen topic of research.

In a literature review, you’re expected to report on the existing scholarly conversation, without adding new contributions.

If you are currently writing one, you've come to the right place. In the following paragraphs, we will explain:

• the objective of a literature review
• how to write a literature review
• the basic format of a literature review

Tip: It’s not always mandatory to add a literature review in a paper. Theses and dissertations often include them, whereas research papers may not. Make sure to consult with your instructor for exact requirements.

The four main objectives of a literature review are:

• Studying the references of your research area
• Summarizing the main arguments
• Identifying current gaps, stances, and issues
• Presenting all of the above in a text

Ultimately, the main goal of a literature review is to provide the researcher with sufficient knowledge about the topic in question so that they can eventually make an intervention.

The format of a literature review is fairly standard. It includes an:

• introduction that briefly introduces the main topic
• body that includes the main discussion of the key arguments
• conclusion that highlights the gaps and issues of the literature

➡️ Take a look at our guide on how to write a literature review to learn more about how to structure a literature review.

First of all, a literature review should have its own labeled section. You should indicate clearly in the table of contents where the literature can be found, and you should label this section as “Literature Review.”

➡️ For more information on writing a thesis, visit our guide on how to structure a thesis .

There is no set amount of words for a literature review, so the length depends on the research. If you are working with a large amount of sources, it will be long. If your paper does not depend entirely on references, it will be short.

Take a look at these three theses featuring great literature reviews:

• School-Based Speech-Language Pathologist's Perceptions of Sensory Food Aversions in Children [ PDF , see page 20]
• Who's Writing What We Read: Authorship in Criminological Research [ PDF , see page 4]
• A Phenomenological Study of the Lived Experience of Online Instructors of Theological Reflection at Christian Institutions Accredited by the Association of Theological Schools [ PDF , see page 56]

Literature reviews are most commonly found in theses and dissertations. However, you find them in research papers as well.

There is no set amount of words for a literature review, so the length depends on the research. If you are working with a large amount of sources, then it will be long. If your paper does not depend entirely on references, then it will be short.

No. A literature review should have its own independent section. You should indicate clearly in the table of contents where the literature review can be found, and label this section as “Literature Review.”

The main goal of a literature review is to provide the researcher with sufficient knowledge about the topic in question so that they can eventually make an intervention.

Literature Review - what is a Literature Review, why it is important and how it is done

What are literature reviews, goals of literature reviews, types of literature reviews, about this guide/licence.

• Strategies to Find Sources
• Evaluating Literature Reviews and Sources
• Tips for Writing Literature Reviews
• Writing Literature Review: Useful Sites
• Citation Resources
• Other Academic Writings
• Useful Resources

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 What is a literature review? "A literature review is an account of what has been published on a topic by accredited scholars and researchers. In writing the literature review, your purpose is to convey to your reader what knowledge and ideas have been established on a topic, and what their strengths and weaknesses are. As a piece of writing, the literature review must be defined by a guiding concept (e.g., your research objective, the problem or issue you are discussing, or your argumentative thesis). It is not just a descriptive list of the material available, or a set of summaries. " - Quote from Taylor, D. (n.d) "The literature review: A few tips on conducting it"

Source NC State University Libraries. This video is published under a Creative Commons 3.0 BY-NC-SA US license.

What are the goals of creating a Literature Review?

• To develop a theory or evaluate an existing theory
• To summarize the historical or existing state of a research topic
• Identify a problem in a field of research 

- Baumeister, R.F. & Leary, M.R. (1997). "Writing narrative literature reviews," Review of General Psychology , 1(3), 311-320.

When do you need to write a Literature Review?

• When writing a prospectus or a thesis/dissertation
• When writing a research paper
• When writing a grant proposal

In all these cases you need to dedicate a chapter in these works to showcase what have been written about your research topic and to point out how your own research will shed a new light into these body of scholarship.

Literature reviews are also written as standalone articles as a way to survey a particular research topic in-depth. This type of literature reviews look at a topic from a historical perspective to see how the understanding of the topic have change through time.

What kinds of literature reviews are written?

• Narrative Review: The purpose of this type of review is to describe the current state of the research on a specific topic/research and to offer a critical analysis of the literature reviewed. Studies are grouped by research/theoretical categories, and themes and trends, strengths and weakness, and gaps are identified. The review ends with a conclusion section which summarizes the findings regarding the state of the research of the specific study, the gaps identify and if applicable, explains how the author's research will address gaps identify in the review and expand the knowledge on the topic reviewed.
• Book review essays/ Historiographical review essays : This is a type of review that focus on a small set of research books on a particular topic " to locate these books within current scholarship, critical methodologies, and approaches" in the field. - LARR
• Systematic review : "The authors of a systematic review use a specific procedure to search the research literature, select the studies to include in their review, and critically evaluate the studies they find." (p. 139). Nelson, L.K. (2013). Research in Communication Sciences and Disorders . San Diego, CA: Plural Publishing.
• Meta-analysis : "Meta-analysis is a method of reviewing research findings in a quantitative fashion by transforming the data from individual studies into what is called an effect size and then pooling and analyzing this information. The basic goal in meta-analysis is to explain why different outcomes have occurred in different studies." (p. 197). Roberts, M.C. & Ilardi, S.S. (2003). Handbook of Research Methods in Clinical Psychology . Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub.
• Meta-synthesis : "Qualitative meta-synthesis is a type of qualitative study that uses as data the findings from other qualitative studies linked by the same or related topic." (p.312). Zimmer, L. (2006). "Qualitative meta-synthesis: A question of dialoguing with texts," Journal of Advanced Nursing , 53(3), 311-318.

Guide adapted from "Literature Review" , a guide developed by Marisol Ramos used under CC BY 4.0 /modified from original.

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• Last Updated: Jun 11, 2024 12:14 PM
• URL: https://lit.libguides.com/Literature-Review

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How to Write a Literature Review

What is a literature review.

• What Is the Literature
• Writing the Review

A literature review is much more than an annotated bibliography or a list of separate reviews of articles and books. It is a critical, analytical summary and synthesis of the current knowledge of a topic. Thus it should compare and relate different theories, findings, etc, rather than just summarize them individually. In addition, it should have a particular focus or theme to organize the review. It does not have to be an exhaustive account of everything published on the topic, but it should discuss all the significant academic literature and other relevant sources important for that focus.

This is meant to be a general guide to writing a literature review: ways to structure one, what to include, how it supplements other research. For more specific help on writing a review, and especially for help on finding the literature to review, sign up for a Personal Research Session .

The specific organization of a literature review depends on the type and purpose of the review, as well as on the specific field or topic being reviewed. But in general, it is a relatively brief but thorough exploration of past and current work on a topic. Rather than a chronological listing of previous work, though, literature reviews are usually organized thematically, such as different theoretical approaches, methodologies, or specific issues or concepts involved in the topic. A thematic organization makes it much easier to examine contrasting perspectives, theoretical approaches, methodologies, findings, etc, and to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of, and point out any gaps in, previous research. And this is the heart of what a literature review is about. A literature review may offer new interpretations, theoretical approaches, or other ideas; if it is part of a research proposal or report it should demonstrate the relationship of the proposed or reported research to others' work; but whatever else it does, it must provide a critical overview of the current state of research efforts. 

Literature reviews are common and very important in the sciences and social sciences. They are less common and have a less important role in the humanities, but they do have a place, especially stand-alone reviews.

Types of Literature Reviews

There are different types of literature reviews, and different purposes for writing a review, but the most common are:

• Stand-alone literature review articles . These provide an overview and analysis of the current state of research on a topic or question. The goal is to evaluate and compare previous research on a topic to provide an analysis of what is currently known, and also to reveal controversies, weaknesses, and gaps in current work, thus pointing to directions for future research. You can find examples published in any number of academic journals, but there is a series of Annual Reviews of *Subject* which are specifically devoted to literature review articles. Writing a stand-alone review is often an effective way to get a good handle on a topic and to develop ideas for your own research program. For example, contrasting theoretical approaches or conflicting interpretations of findings can be the basis of your research project: can you find evidence supporting one interpretation against another, or can you propose an alternative interpretation that overcomes their limitations?
• Part of a research proposal . This could be a proposal for a PhD dissertation, a senior thesis, or a class project. It could also be a submission for a grant. The literature review, by pointing out the current issues and questions concerning a topic, is a crucial part of demonstrating how your proposed research will contribute to the field, and thus of convincing your thesis committee to allow you to pursue the topic of your interest or a funding agency to pay for your research efforts.
• Part of a research report . When you finish your research and write your thesis or paper to present your findings, it should include a literature review to provide the context to which your work is a contribution. Your report, in addition to detailing the methods, results, etc. of your research, should show how your work relates to others' work.

A literature review for a research report is often a revision of the review for a research proposal, which can be a revision of a stand-alone review. Each revision should be a fairly extensive revision. With the increased knowledge of and experience in the topic as you proceed, your understanding of the topic will increase. Thus, you will be in a better position to analyze and critique the literature. In addition, your focus will change as you proceed in your research. Some areas of the literature you initially reviewed will be marginal or irrelevant for your eventual research, and you will need to explore other areas more thoroughly. 

Examples of Literature Reviews

See the series of Annual Reviews of *Subject* which are specifically devoted to literature review articles to find many examples of stand-alone literature reviews in the biomedical, physical, and social sciences. 

Research report articles vary in how they are organized, but a common general structure is to have sections such as:

• Abstract - Brief summary of the contents of the article
• Introduction - A explanation of the purpose of the study, a statement of the research question(s) the study intends to address
• Literature review - A critical assessment of the work done so far on this topic, to show how the current study relates to what has already been done
• Methods - How the study was carried out (e.g. instruments or equipment, procedures, methods to gather and analyze data)
• Results - What was found in the course of the study
• Discussion - What do the results mean
• Conclusion - State the conclusions and implications of the results, and discuss how it relates to the work reviewed in the literature review; also, point to directions for further work in the area

Here are some articles that illustrate variations on this theme. There is no need to read the entire articles (unless the contents interest you); just quickly browse through to see the sections, and see how each section is introduced and what is contained in them.

The Determinants of Undergraduate Grade Point Average: The Relative Importance of Family Background, High School Resources, and Peer Group Effects , in The Journal of Human Resources , v. 34 no. 2 (Spring 1999), p. 268-293.

This article has a standard breakdown of sections:

• Introduction
• Literature Review
• Some discussion sections

First Encounters of the Bureaucratic Kind: Early Freshman Experiences with a Campus Bureaucracy , in The Journal of Higher Education , v. 67 no. 6 (Nov-Dec 1996), p. 660-691.

This one does not have a section specifically labeled as a "literature review" or "review of the literature," but the first few sections cite a long list of other sources discussing previous research in the area before the authors present their own study they are reporting.

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• Last Updated: Jan 11, 2024 9:48 AM
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Introduction to Literature Reviews

Introduction.

• Step One: Define
• Step Two: Research
• Step Three: Write
• Suggested Readings

A literature review is a written work that :

• Compiles significant research published on a topic by accredited scholars and researchers;
• —Surveys scholarly articles, books, dissertations, conference proceedings, and other sources;
• —Examines contrasting perspectives, theoretical approaches, methodologies, findings, results, conclusions.
• —Reviews critically, analyzes, and synthesizes existing research on a topic; and,
• Performs a thorough “re” view, “overview”, or “look again” of past and current works on a subject, issue, or theory.

From these analyses, the writer then offers an overview of the current status of a particular area of knowledge from both a practical and theoretical perspective.

Literature reviews are important because they are usually a  required  step in a thesis proposal (Master's or PhD). The proposal will not be well-supported without a literature review. Also, literature reviews are important because they help you learn important authors and ideas in your field. This is useful for your coursework and your writing. Knowing key authors also helps you become acquainted with other researchers in your field.

Look at this diagram and imagine that your research is the "something new." This shows how your research should relate to major works and other sources.

Olivia Whitfield | Graduate Reference Assistant | 2012-2015

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Conducting a literature review: why do a literature review, why do a literature review.

• How To Find "The Literature"
• Found it -- Now What?

Besides the obvious reason for students -- because it is assigned! -- a literature review helps you explore the research that has come before you, to see how your research question has (or has not) already been addressed.

You identify:

• core research in the field
• experts in the subject area
• methodology you may want to use (or avoid)
• gaps in knowledge -- or where your research would fit in

It Also Helps You:

• Publish and share your findings
• Justify requests for grants and other funding
• Identify best practices to inform practice
• Set wider context for a program evaluation
• Compile information to support community organizing

Great brief overview, from NCSU

Want To Know More?

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What Is A Literature Review?

A plain-language explainer (with examples).

By:  Derek Jansen (MBA) & Kerryn Warren (PhD) | June 2020 (Updated May 2023)

If you’re faced with writing a dissertation or thesis, chances are you’ve encountered the term “literature review” . If you’re on this page, you’re probably not 100% what the literature review is all about. The good news is that you’ve come to the right place.

Literature Review 101

• What (exactly) is a literature review
• What’s the purpose of the literature review chapter
• How to find high-quality resources
• How to structure your literature review chapter
• Example of an actual literature review

What is a literature review?

The word “literature review” can refer to two related things that are part of the broader literature review process. The first is the task of  reviewing the literature  – i.e. sourcing and reading through the existing research relating to your research topic. The second is the  actual chapter  that you write up in your dissertation, thesis or research project. Let’s look at each of them:

Reviewing the literature

The first step of any literature review is to hunt down and  read through the existing research  that’s relevant to your research topic. To do this, you’ll use a combination of tools (we’ll discuss some of these later) to find journal articles, books, ebooks, research reports, dissertations, theses and any other credible sources of information that relate to your topic. You’ll then  summarise and catalogue these  for easy reference when you write up your literature review chapter. 

The literature review chapter

The second step of the literature review is to write the actual literature review chapter (this is usually the second chapter in a typical dissertation or thesis structure ). At the simplest level, the literature review chapter is an  overview of the key literature  that’s relevant to your research topic. This chapter should provide a smooth-flowing discussion of what research has already been done, what is known, what is unknown and what is contested in relation to your research topic. So, you can think of it as an  integrated review of the state of knowledge  around your research topic. 

What’s the purpose of a literature review?

The literature review chapter has a few important functions within your dissertation, thesis or research project. Let’s take a look at these:

Purpose #1 – Demonstrate your topic knowledge

The first function of the literature review chapter is, quite simply, to show the reader (or marker) that you  know what you’re talking about . In other words, a good literature review chapter demonstrates that you’ve read the relevant existing research and understand what’s going on – who’s said what, what’s agreed upon, disagreed upon and so on. This needs to be  more than just a summary  of who said what – it needs to integrate the existing research to  show how it all fits together  and what’s missing (which leads us to purpose #2, next). 

Purpose #2 – Reveal the research gap that you’ll fill

The second function of the literature review chapter is to  show what’s currently missing  from the existing research, to lay the foundation for your own research topic. In other words, your literature review chapter needs to show that there are currently “missing pieces” in terms of the bigger puzzle, and that  your study will fill one of those research gaps . By doing this, you are showing that your research topic is original and will help contribute to the body of knowledge. In other words, the literature review helps justify your research topic.  

Purpose #3 – Lay the foundation for your conceptual framework

The third function of the literature review is to form the  basis for a conceptual framework . Not every research topic will necessarily have a conceptual framework, but if your topic does require one, it needs to be rooted in your literature review. 

For example, let’s say your research aims to identify the drivers of a certain outcome – the factors which contribute to burnout in office workers. In this case, you’d likely develop a conceptual framework which details the potential factors (e.g. long hours, excessive stress, etc), as well as the outcome (burnout). Those factors would need to emerge from the literature review chapter – they can’t just come from your gut! 

So, in this case, the literature review chapter would uncover each of the potential factors (based on previous studies about burnout), which would then be modelled into a framework. 

Purpose #4 – To inform your methodology

The fourth function of the literature review is to  inform the choice of methodology  for your own research. As we’ve  discussed on the Grad Coach blog , your choice of methodology will be heavily influenced by your research aims, objectives and questions . Given that you’ll be reviewing studies covering a topic close to yours, it makes sense that you could learn a lot from their (well-considered) methodologies.

So, when you’re reviewing the literature, you’ll need to  pay close attention to the research design , methodology and methods used in similar studies, and use these to inform your methodology. Quite often, you’ll be able to  “borrow” from previous studies . This is especially true for quantitative studies , as you can use previously tried and tested measures and scales. 

How do I find articles for my literature review?

Finding quality journal articles is essential to crafting a rock-solid literature review. As you probably already know, not all research is created equally, and so you need to make sure that your literature review is  built on credible research . 

We could write an entire post on how to find quality literature (actually, we have ), but a good starting point is Google Scholar . Google Scholar is essentially the academic equivalent of Google, using Google’s powerful search capabilities to find relevant journal articles and reports. It certainly doesn’t cover every possible resource, but it’s a very useful way to get started on your literature review journey, as it will very quickly give you a good indication of what the  most popular pieces of research  are in your field.

One downside of Google Scholar is that it’s merely a search engine – that is, it lists the articles, but oftentimes  it doesn’t host the articles . So you’ll often hit a paywall when clicking through to journal websites. 

Thankfully, your university should provide you with access to their library, so you can find the article titles using Google Scholar and then search for them by name in your university’s online library. Your university may also provide you with access to  ResearchGate , which is another great source for existing research. 

Remember, the correct search keywords will be super important to get the right information from the start. So, pay close attention to the keywords used in the journal articles you read and use those keywords to search for more articles. If you can’t find a spoon in the kitchen, you haven’t looked in the right drawer. 

Need a helping hand?

How should I structure my literature review?

Unfortunately, there’s no generic universal answer for this one. The structure of your literature review will depend largely on your topic area and your research aims and objectives.

You could potentially structure your literature review chapter according to theme, group, variables , chronologically or per concepts in your field of research. We explain the main approaches to structuring your literature review here . You can also download a copy of our free literature review template to help you establish an initial structure.

In general, it’s also a good idea to start wide (i.e. the big-picture-level) and then narrow down, ending your literature review close to your research questions . However, there’s no universal one “right way” to structure your literature review. The most important thing is not to discuss your sources one after the other like a list – as we touched on earlier, your literature review needs to synthesise the research , not summarise it .

Ultimately, you need to craft your literature review so that it conveys the most important information effectively – it needs to tell a logical story in a digestible way. It’s no use starting off with highly technical terms and then only explaining what these terms mean later. Always assume your reader is not a subject matter expert and hold their hand through a journe y of the literature while keeping the functions of the literature review chapter (which we discussed earlier) front of mind.

Example of a literature review

In the video below, we walk you through a high-quality literature review from a dissertation that earned full distinction. This will give you a clearer view of what a strong literature review looks like in practice and hopefully provide some inspiration for your own. 

Wrapping Up

In this post, we’ve (hopefully) answered the question, “ what is a literature review? “. We’ve also considered the purpose and functions of the literature review, as well as how to find literature and how to structure the literature review chapter. If you’re keen to learn more, check out the literature review section of the Grad Coach blog , as well as our detailed video post covering how to write a literature review . 

Psst… there’s more!

This post is an extract from our bestselling short course, Literature Review Bootcamp . If you want to work smart, you don't want to miss this .

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16 Comments

Thanks for this review. It narrates what’s not been taught as tutors are always in a early to finish their classes.

Thanks for the kind words, Becky. Good luck with your literature review 🙂

This website is amazing, it really helps break everything down. Thank you, I would have been lost without it.

This is review is amazing. I benefited from it a lot and hope others visiting this website will benefit too.

Timothy T. Chol [email protected]

Thank you very much for the guiding in literature review I learn and benefited a lot this make my journey smooth I’ll recommend this site to my friends

This was so useful. Thank you so much.

Hi, Concept was explained nicely by both of you. Thanks a lot for sharing it. It will surely help research scholars to start their Research Journey.

The review is really helpful to me especially during this period of covid-19 pandemic when most universities in my country only offer online classes. Great stuff

Great Brief Explanation, thanks

So helpful to me as a student

GradCoach is a fantastic site with brilliant and modern minds behind it.. I spent weeks decoding the substantial academic Jargon and grounding my initial steps on the research process, which could be shortened to a couple of days through the Gradcoach. Thanks again!

This is an amazing talk. I paved way for myself as a researcher. Thank you GradCoach!

Well-presented overview of the literature!

This was brilliant. So clear. Thank you

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Frequently asked questions

What is the purpose of a literature review.

There are several reasons to conduct a literature review at the beginning of a research project:

• To familiarize yourself with the current state of knowledge on your topic
• To ensure that you’re not just repeating what others have already done
• To identify gaps in knowledge and unresolved problems that your research can address
• To develop your theoretical framework and methodology
• To provide an overview of the key findings and debates on the topic

Writing the literature review shows your reader how your work relates to existing research and what new insights it will contribute.

Frequently asked questions: Academic writing

A rhetorical tautology is the repetition of an idea of concept using different words.

Rhetorical tautologies occur when additional words are used to convey a meaning that has already been expressed or implied. For example, the phrase “armed gunman” is a tautology because a “gunman” is by definition “armed.”

A logical tautology is a statement that is always true because it includes all logical possibilities.

Logical tautologies often take the form of “either/or” statements (e.g., “It will rain, or it will not rain”) or employ circular reasoning (e.g., “she is untrustworthy because she can’t be trusted”).

You may have seen both “appendices” or “appendixes” as pluralizations of “ appendix .” Either spelling can be used, but “appendices” is more common (including in APA Style ). Consistency is key here: make sure you use the same spelling throughout your paper.

The purpose of a lab report is to demonstrate your understanding of the scientific method with a hands-on lab experiment. Course instructors will often provide you with an experimental design and procedure. Your task is to write up how you actually performed the experiment and evaluate the outcome.

In contrast, a research paper requires you to independently develop an original argument. It involves more in-depth research and interpretation of sources and data.

A lab report is usually shorter than a research paper.

The sections of a lab report can vary between scientific fields and course requirements, but it usually contains the following:

• Title: expresses the topic of your study
• Abstract: summarizes your research aims, methods, results, and conclusions
• Introduction: establishes the context needed to understand the topic
• Method: describes the materials and procedures used in the experiment
• Results: reports all descriptive and inferential statistical analyses
• Discussion: interprets and evaluates results and identifies limitations
• Conclusion: sums up the main findings of your experiment
• References: list of all sources cited using a specific style (e.g. APA)
• Appendices: contains lengthy materials, procedures, tables or figures

A lab report conveys the aim, methods, results, and conclusions of a scientific experiment . Lab reports are commonly assigned in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields.

The abstract is the very last thing you write. You should only write it after your research is complete, so that you can accurately summarize the entirety of your thesis , dissertation or research paper .

If you’ve gone over the word limit set for your assignment, shorten your sentences and cut repetition and redundancy during the editing process. If you use a lot of long quotes , consider shortening them to just the essentials.

If you need to remove a lot of words, you may have to cut certain passages. Remember that everything in the text should be there to support your argument; look for any information that’s not essential to your point and remove it.

To make this process easier and faster, you can use a paraphrasing tool . With this tool, you can rewrite your text to make it simpler and shorter. If that’s not enough, you can copy-paste your paraphrased text into the summarizer . This tool will distill your text to its core message.

Revising, proofreading, and editing are different stages of the writing process .

• Revising is making structural and logical changes to your text—reformulating arguments and reordering information.
• Editing refers to making more local changes to things like sentence structure and phrasing to make sure your meaning is conveyed clearly and concisely.
• Proofreading involves looking at the text closely, line by line, to spot any typos and issues with consistency and correct them.

The literature review usually comes near the beginning of your thesis or dissertation . After the introduction , it grounds your research in a scholarly field and leads directly to your theoretical framework or methodology .

A literature review is a survey of scholarly sources (such as books, journal articles, and theses) related to a specific topic or research question .

It is often written as part of a thesis, dissertation , or research paper , in order to situate your work in relation to existing knowledge.

Avoid citing sources in your abstract . There are two reasons for this:

• The abstract should focus on your original research, not on the work of others.
• The abstract should be self-contained and fully understandable without reference to other sources.

There are some circumstances where you might need to mention other sources in an abstract: for example, if your research responds directly to another study or focuses on the work of a single theorist. In general, though, don’t include citations unless absolutely necessary.

An abstract is a concise summary of an academic text (such as a journal article or dissertation ). It serves two main purposes:

• To help potential readers determine the relevance of your paper for their own research.
• To communicate your key findings to those who don’t have time to read the whole paper.

Abstracts are often indexed along with keywords on academic databases, so they make your work more easily findable. Since the abstract is the first thing any reader sees, it’s important that it clearly and accurately summarizes the contents of your paper.

In a scientific paper, the methodology always comes after the introduction and before the results , discussion and conclusion . The same basic structure also applies to a thesis, dissertation , or research proposal .

Depending on the length and type of document, you might also include a literature review or theoretical framework before the methodology.

Whether you’re publishing a blog, submitting a research paper , or even just writing an important email, there are a few techniques you can use to make sure it’s error-free:

• Take a break : Set your work aside for at least a few hours so that you can look at it with fresh eyes.
• Proofread a printout : Staring at a screen for too long can cause fatigue – sit down with a pen and paper to check the final version.
• Use digital shortcuts : Take note of any recurring mistakes (for example, misspelling a particular word, switching between US and UK English , or inconsistently capitalizing a term), and use Find and Replace to fix it throughout the document.

If you want to be confident that an important text is error-free, it might be worth choosing a professional proofreading service instead.

Editing and proofreading are different steps in the process of revising a text.

Editing comes first, and can involve major changes to content, structure and language. The first stages of editing are often done by authors themselves, while a professional editor makes the final improvements to grammar and style (for example, by improving sentence structure and word choice ).

Proofreading is the final stage of checking a text before it is published or shared. It focuses on correcting minor errors and inconsistencies (for example, in punctuation and capitalization ). Proofreaders often also check for formatting issues, especially in print publishing.

The cost of proofreading depends on the type and length of text, the turnaround time, and the level of services required. Most proofreading companies charge per word or page, while freelancers sometimes charge an hourly rate.

For proofreading alone, which involves only basic corrections of typos and formatting mistakes, you might pay as little as $0.01 per word, but in many cases, your text will also require some level of editing , which costs slightly more.

It’s often possible to purchase combined proofreading and editing services and calculate the price in advance based on your requirements.

There are many different routes to becoming a professional proofreader or editor. The necessary qualifications depend on the field – to be an academic or scientific proofreader, for example, you will need at least a university degree in a relevant subject.

For most proofreading jobs, experience and demonstrated skills are more important than specific qualifications. Often your skills will be tested as part of the application process.

To learn practical proofreading skills, you can choose to take a course with a professional organization such as the Society for Editors and Proofreaders . Alternatively, you can apply to companies that offer specialized on-the-job training programmes, such as the Scribbr Academy .

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The Scribbr Citation Generator is developed using the open-source Citation Style Language (CSL) project and Frank Bennett’s citeproc-js . It’s the same technology used by dozens of other popular citation tools, including Mendeley and Zotero.

You can find all the citation styles and locales used in the Scribbr Citation Generator in our publicly accessible repository on Github .

WashU Libraries

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• Creating an Abstract
• What is a Literature Review?
• Creating a Poster
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• Conducting Research
• College Writing: Citizen Scientist

Literature Review: A Definition

What is a literature review, then.

A literature review discusses and analyses published information in a particular subject area.   Sometimes the information covers a certain time period.

A literature review is more than a summary of the sources, it has an organizational pattern that combines both summary and synthesis. A summary is a recap of the important information of the source, but a synthesis is a re-organization, or a reshuffling, of that information. It might give a new interpretation of old material or combine new with old interpretations. Or it might trace the intellectual progression of the field, including major debates. And depending on the situation, the literature review may evaluate the sources and advise the reader on the most pertinent or relevant.

But how is a literature review different from an academic research paper?

While the main focus of an academic research paper is to support your own argument, the focus of a literature review is to summarize and synthesize the arguments and ideas of others. The academic research paper also covers a range of sources, but it is usually a select number of sources, because the emphasis is on the argument. Likewise, a literature review can also have an "argument," but it is not as important as covering a number of sources. In short, an academic research paper and a literature review contain some of the same elements. In fact, many academic research papers will contain a literature review section. What aspect of the study (either the argument or the sources) that is emphasized determines what type of document it is.

( "Literature Reviews" from The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill )

Why do we write literature reviews?

Literature reviews provide you with a handy guide to a particular topic. If you have limited time to conduct research, literature reviews can give you an overview or act as a stepping stone.

For professionals, they are useful reports that keep them up to date with what is current in the field.

For scholars, the depth and breadth of the literature review emphasizes the credibility of the writer in his or her field. Literature reviews also provide a solid background for a research paper's investigation.

Comprehensive knowledge of the literature of the field is essential to most research papers.

Journal Articles on Writing Literature Reviews

• Research Methods for Comprehensive Science Literature Reviews Author: Brown,Barry N. Journal: Issues in Science & Technology Librarianship Date: Spring2009 Issue: 57 Page: 1 more... less... Finding some information on most topics is easy. There are abundant sources of information readily available. However, completing a comprehensive literature review on a particular topic is often difficult, laborious, and time intensive; the project requires organization, persistence, and an understanding of the scholarly communication and publishing process. This paper briefly outlines methods of conducting a comprehensive literature review for science topics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR];
• Research: Considerations in Writing a Literature Review Authors: Black,K. Journal: The New Social Worker Date: 01/01; 2007 Volume: 14 Issue: 2 Page: 12 more... less... Literature reviews are ubiquitous in academic journals, scholarly reports, and social work education. Conducting and writing a good literature review is both personally and professionally satisfying. (Journal abstract).
• How to do (or not to do) A Critical Literature Review Authors: Jesson,Jill; Lacey,Fiona Journal: Pharmacy Education Pub Date: 2006 Volume: 6 Issue: 2 Pages:139 - 148 more... less... More and more students are required to perform a critical literature review as part of their undergraduate or postgraduate studies. Whilst most of the latest research methods textbooks advise how to do a literature search, very few cover the literature review. This paper covers two types of review: a critical literature review and a systematic review. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
• Conducting a Literature Review Authors: Rowley,Jennifer; Slack,Frances Journal: Management Research News Pub Date: 2004 Volume: 27 Issue: 6 Pages:31-39 more... less... Abstract: This article offers support and guidance for students undertaking a literature review as part of their dissertation during an undergraduate or Masters course. A literature review is a summary of a subject field that supports the identification of specific research questions. A literature review needs to draw on and evaluate a range of different types of sources including academic and professional journal articles, books, and web-based resources. The literature search helps in the identification and location of relevant documents and other sources. Search engines can be used to search web resources and bibliographic databases. Conceptual frameworks can be a useful tool in developing an understanding of a subject area. Creating the literature review involves the stages of: scanning, making notes, structuring the literature review, writing the literature review, and building a bibliography.

Some Books from the WU Catalog

• The SAGE handbook of visual research methods [electronic resource] by Edited by Luc Pauwels and Dawn Mannay. ISBN: 9781526417015 Publication Date: SAGE Publications, Inc., 2020.

Helpful Websites

• "How to do a Literature Review" from Ferdinand D. Bluford Library
• "The Literature Review: A Few Tips on Conducting It." from the University of Toronto
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Literature Review: The What, Why and How-to Guide: Literature Reviews?

• Literature Reviews?
• Strategies to Finding Sources
• Keeping up with Research!
• Evaluating Sources & Literature Reviews
• Organizing for Writing
• Writing Literature Review
• Other Academic Writings

What is a Literature Review?

So, what is a literature review .

"A literature review is an account of what has been published on a topic by accredited scholars and researchers. In writing the literature review, your purpose is to convey to your reader what knowledge and ideas have been established on a topic, and what their strengths and weaknesses are. As a piece of writing, the literature review must be defined by a guiding concept (e.g., your research objective, the problem or issue you are discussing, or your argumentative thesis). It is not just a descriptive list of the material available or a set of summaries." - Quote from Taylor, D. (n.d)."The Literature Review: A Few Tips on Conducting it".

• Citation: "The Literature Review: A Few Tips on Conducting it"

What kinds of literature reviews are written?

Each field has a particular way to do reviews for academic research literature. In the social sciences and humanities the most common are:

• Narrative Reviews: The purpose of this type of review is to describe the current state of the research on a specific research topic and to offer a critical analysis of the literature reviewed. Studies are grouped by research/theoretical categories, and themes and trends, strengths and weaknesses, and gaps are identified. The review ends with a conclusion section that summarizes the findings regarding the state of the research of the specific study, the gaps identify and if applicable, explains how the author's research will address gaps identify in the review and expand the knowledge on the topic reviewed.
• Book review essays/ Historiographical review essays : A type of literature review typical in History and related fields, e.g., Latin American studies. For example, the Latin American Research Review explains that the purpose of this type of review is to “(1) to familiarize readers with the subject, approach, arguments, and conclusions found in a group of books whose common focus is a historical period; a country or region within Latin America; or a practice, development, or issue of interest to specialists and others; (2) to locate these books within current scholarship, critical methodologies, and approaches; and (3) to probe the relation of these new books to previous work on the subject, especially canonical texts. Unlike individual book reviews, the cluster reviews found in LARR seek to address the state of the field or discipline and not solely the works at issue.” - LARR

What are the Goals of Creating a Literature Review?

• To develop a theory or evaluate an existing theory
• To summarize the historical or existing state of a research topic
• Identify a problem in a field of research 
• Baumeister, R.F. & Leary, M.R. (1997). "Writing narrative literature reviews," Review of General Psychology , 1(3), 311-320.

When do you need to write a Literature Review?

• When writing a prospectus or a thesis/dissertation
• When writing a research paper
• When writing a grant proposal

In all these cases you need to dedicate a chapter in these works to showcase what has been written about your research topic and to point out how your own research will shed new light into a body of scholarship.

Where I can find examples of Literature Reviews?

Note:  In the humanities, even if they don't use the term "literature review", they may have a dedicated  chapter that reviewed the "critical bibliography" or they incorporated that review in the introduction or first chapter of the dissertation, book, or article.

• UCSB electronic theses and dissertations In partnership with the Graduate Division, the UC Santa Barbara Library is making available theses and dissertations produced by UCSB students. Currently included in ADRL are theses and dissertations that were originally filed electronically, starting in 2011. In future phases of ADRL, all theses and dissertations created by UCSB students may be digitized and made available.

Where to Find Standalone Literature Reviews

Literature reviews are also written as standalone articles as a way to survey a particular research topic in-depth. This type of literature review looks at a topic from a historical perspective to see how the understanding of the topic has changed over time. 

• Find e-Journals for Standalone Literature Reviews The best way to get familiar with and to learn how to write literature reviews is by reading them. You can use our Journal Search option to find journals that specialize in publishing literature reviews from major disciplines like anthropology, sociology, etc. Usually these titles are called, "Annual Review of [discipline name] OR [Discipline name] Review. This option works best if you know the title of the publication you are looking for. Below are some examples of these journals! more... less... Journal Search can be found by hovering over the link for Research on the library website.

Social Sciences

• Annual Review of Anthropology
• Annual Review of Political Science
• Annual Review of Sociology
• Ethnic Studies Review

Hard science and health sciences:

• Annual Review of Biomedical Data Science
• Annual Review of Materials Science
• Systematic Review From journal site: "The journal Systematic Reviews encompasses all aspects of the design, conduct, and reporting of systematic reviews" in the health sciences.
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Home » Literature Review – Types Writing Guide and Examples

Literature Review – Types Writing Guide and Examples

Table of Contents

Literature Review

Definition:

A literature review is a comprehensive and critical analysis of the existing literature on a particular topic or research question. It involves identifying, evaluating, and synthesizing relevant literature, including scholarly articles, books, and other sources, to provide a summary and critical assessment of what is known about the topic.

Types of Literature Review

Types of Literature Review are as follows:

• Narrative literature review : This type of review involves a comprehensive summary and critical analysis of the available literature on a particular topic or research question. It is often used as an introductory section of a research paper.
• Systematic literature review: This is a rigorous and structured review that follows a pre-defined protocol to identify, evaluate, and synthesize all relevant studies on a specific research question. It is often used in evidence-based practice and systematic reviews.
• Meta-analysis: This is a quantitative review that uses statistical methods to combine data from multiple studies to derive a summary effect size. It provides a more precise estimate of the overall effect than any individual study.
• Scoping review: This is a preliminary review that aims to map the existing literature on a broad topic area to identify research gaps and areas for further investigation.
• Critical literature review : This type of review evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of the existing literature on a particular topic or research question. It aims to provide a critical analysis of the literature and identify areas where further research is needed.
• Conceptual literature review: This review synthesizes and integrates theories and concepts from multiple sources to provide a new perspective on a particular topic. It aims to provide a theoretical framework for understanding a particular research question.
• Rapid literature review: This is a quick review that provides a snapshot of the current state of knowledge on a specific research question or topic. It is often used when time and resources are limited.
• Thematic literature review : This review identifies and analyzes common themes and patterns across a body of literature on a particular topic. It aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the literature and identify key themes and concepts.
• Realist literature review: This review is often used in social science research and aims to identify how and why certain interventions work in certain contexts. It takes into account the context and complexities of real-world situations.
• State-of-the-art literature review : This type of review provides an overview of the current state of knowledge in a particular field, highlighting the most recent and relevant research. It is often used in fields where knowledge is rapidly evolving, such as technology or medicine.
• Integrative literature review: This type of review synthesizes and integrates findings from multiple studies on a particular topic to identify patterns, themes, and gaps in the literature. It aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the current state of knowledge on a particular topic.
• Umbrella literature review : This review is used to provide a broad overview of a large and diverse body of literature on a particular topic. It aims to identify common themes and patterns across different areas of research.
• Historical literature review: This type of review examines the historical development of research on a particular topic or research question. It aims to provide a historical context for understanding the current state of knowledge on a particular topic.
• Problem-oriented literature review : This review focuses on a specific problem or issue and examines the literature to identify potential solutions or interventions. It aims to provide practical recommendations for addressing a particular problem or issue.
• Mixed-methods literature review : This type of review combines quantitative and qualitative methods to synthesize and analyze the available literature on a particular topic. It aims to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the research question by combining different types of evidence.

Parts of Literature Review

Parts of a literature review are as follows:

Introduction

The introduction of a literature review typically provides background information on the research topic and why it is important. It outlines the objectives of the review, the research question or hypothesis, and the scope of the review.

Literature Search

This section outlines the search strategy and databases used to identify relevant literature. The search terms used, inclusion and exclusion criteria, and any limitations of the search are described.

Literature Analysis

The literature analysis is the main body of the literature review. This section summarizes and synthesizes the literature that is relevant to the research question or hypothesis. The review should be organized thematically, chronologically, or by methodology, depending on the research objectives.

Critical Evaluation

Critical evaluation involves assessing the quality and validity of the literature. This includes evaluating the reliability and validity of the studies reviewed, the methodology used, and the strength of the evidence.

The conclusion of the literature review should summarize the main findings, identify any gaps in the literature, and suggest areas for future research. It should also reiterate the importance of the research question or hypothesis and the contribution of the literature review to the overall research project.

The references list includes all the sources cited in the literature review, and follows a specific referencing style (e.g., APA, MLA, Harvard).

How to write Literature Review

Here are some steps to follow when writing a literature review:

• Define your research question or topic : Before starting your literature review, it is essential to define your research question or topic. This will help you identify relevant literature and determine the scope of your review.
• Conduct a comprehensive search: Use databases and search engines to find relevant literature. Look for peer-reviewed articles, books, and other academic sources that are relevant to your research question or topic.
• Evaluate the sources: Once you have found potential sources, evaluate them critically to determine their relevance, credibility, and quality. Look for recent publications, reputable authors, and reliable sources of data and evidence.
• Organize your sources: Group the sources by theme, method, or research question. This will help you identify similarities and differences among the literature, and provide a structure for your literature review.
• Analyze and synthesize the literature : Analyze each source in depth, identifying the key findings, methodologies, and conclusions. Then, synthesize the information from the sources, identifying patterns and themes in the literature.
• Write the literature review : Start with an introduction that provides an overview of the topic and the purpose of the literature review. Then, organize the literature according to your chosen structure, and analyze and synthesize the sources. Finally, provide a conclusion that summarizes the key findings of the literature review, identifies gaps in knowledge, and suggests areas for future research.
• Edit and proofread: Once you have written your literature review, edit and proofread it carefully to ensure that it is well-organized, clear, and concise.

Examples of Literature Review

Here’s an example of how a literature review can be conducted for a thesis on the topic of “ The Impact of Social Media on Teenagers’ Mental Health”:

• Start by identifying the key terms related to your research topic. In this case, the key terms are “social media,” “teenagers,” and “mental health.”
• Use academic databases like Google Scholar, JSTOR, or PubMed to search for relevant articles, books, and other publications. Use these keywords in your search to narrow down your results.
• Evaluate the sources you find to determine if they are relevant to your research question. You may want to consider the publication date, author’s credentials, and the journal or book publisher.
• Begin reading and taking notes on each source, paying attention to key findings, methodologies used, and any gaps in the research.
• Organize your findings into themes or categories. For example, you might categorize your sources into those that examine the impact of social media on self-esteem, those that explore the effects of cyberbullying, and those that investigate the relationship between social media use and depression.
• Synthesize your findings by summarizing the key themes and highlighting any gaps or inconsistencies in the research. Identify areas where further research is needed.
• Use your literature review to inform your research questions and hypotheses for your thesis.

For example, after conducting a literature review on the impact of social media on teenagers’ mental health, a thesis might look like this:

“Using a mixed-methods approach, this study aims to investigate the relationship between social media use and mental health outcomes in teenagers. Specifically, the study will examine the effects of cyberbullying, social comparison, and excessive social media use on self-esteem, anxiety, and depression. Through an analysis of survey data and qualitative interviews with teenagers, the study will provide insight into the complex relationship between social media use and mental health outcomes, and identify strategies for promoting positive mental health outcomes in young people.”

Reference: Smith, J., Jones, M., & Lee, S. (2019). The effects of social media use on adolescent mental health: A systematic review. Journal of Adolescent Health, 65(2), 154-165. doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2019.03.024

Reference Example: Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume number(issue number), page range. doi:0000000/000000000000 or URL

Applications of Literature Review

some applications of literature review in different fields:

• Social Sciences: In social sciences, literature reviews are used to identify gaps in existing research, to develop research questions, and to provide a theoretical framework for research. Literature reviews are commonly used in fields such as sociology, psychology, anthropology, and political science.
• Natural Sciences: In natural sciences, literature reviews are used to summarize and evaluate the current state of knowledge in a particular field or subfield. Literature reviews can help researchers identify areas where more research is needed and provide insights into the latest developments in a particular field. Fields such as biology, chemistry, and physics commonly use literature reviews.
• Health Sciences: In health sciences, literature reviews are used to evaluate the effectiveness of treatments, identify best practices, and determine areas where more research is needed. Literature reviews are commonly used in fields such as medicine, nursing, and public health.
• Humanities: In humanities, literature reviews are used to identify gaps in existing knowledge, develop new interpretations of texts or cultural artifacts, and provide a theoretical framework for research. Literature reviews are commonly used in fields such as history, literary studies, and philosophy.

Role of Literature Review in Research

Here are some applications of literature review in research:

• Identifying Research Gaps : Literature review helps researchers identify gaps in existing research and literature related to their research question. This allows them to develop new research questions and hypotheses to fill those gaps.
• Developing Theoretical Framework: Literature review helps researchers develop a theoretical framework for their research. By analyzing and synthesizing existing literature, researchers can identify the key concepts, theories, and models that are relevant to their research.
• Selecting Research Methods : Literature review helps researchers select appropriate research methods and techniques based on previous research. It also helps researchers to identify potential biases or limitations of certain methods and techniques.
• Data Collection and Analysis: Literature review helps researchers in data collection and analysis by providing a foundation for the development of data collection instruments and methods. It also helps researchers to identify relevant data sources and identify potential data analysis techniques.
• Communicating Results: Literature review helps researchers to communicate their results effectively by providing a context for their research. It also helps to justify the significance of their findings in relation to existing research and literature.

Purpose of Literature Review

Some of the specific purposes of a literature review are as follows:

• To provide context: A literature review helps to provide context for your research by situating it within the broader body of literature on the topic.
• To identify gaps and inconsistencies: A literature review helps to identify areas where further research is needed or where there are inconsistencies in the existing literature.
• To synthesize information: A literature review helps to synthesize the information from multiple sources and present a coherent and comprehensive picture of the current state of knowledge on the topic.
• To identify key concepts and theories : A literature review helps to identify key concepts and theories that are relevant to your research question and provide a theoretical framework for your study.
• To inform research design: A literature review can inform the design of your research study by identifying appropriate research methods, data sources, and research questions.

Characteristics of Literature Review

Some Characteristics of Literature Review are as follows:

• Identifying gaps in knowledge: A literature review helps to identify gaps in the existing knowledge and research on a specific topic or research question. By analyzing and synthesizing the literature, you can identify areas where further research is needed and where new insights can be gained.
• Establishing the significance of your research: A literature review helps to establish the significance of your own research by placing it in the context of existing research. By demonstrating the relevance of your research to the existing literature, you can establish its importance and value.
• Informing research design and methodology : A literature review helps to inform research design and methodology by identifying the most appropriate research methods, techniques, and instruments. By reviewing the literature, you can identify the strengths and limitations of different research methods and techniques, and select the most appropriate ones for your own research.
• Supporting arguments and claims: A literature review provides evidence to support arguments and claims made in academic writing. By citing and analyzing the literature, you can provide a solid foundation for your own arguments and claims.
• I dentifying potential collaborators and mentors: A literature review can help identify potential collaborators and mentors by identifying researchers and practitioners who are working on related topics or using similar methods. By building relationships with these individuals, you can gain valuable insights and support for your own research and practice.
• Keeping up-to-date with the latest research : A literature review helps to keep you up-to-date with the latest research on a specific topic or research question. By regularly reviewing the literature, you can stay informed about the latest findings and developments in your field.

Advantages of Literature Review

There are several advantages to conducting a literature review as part of a research project, including:

• Establishing the significance of the research : A literature review helps to establish the significance of the research by demonstrating the gap or problem in the existing literature that the study aims to address.
• Identifying key concepts and theories: A literature review can help to identify key concepts and theories that are relevant to the research question, and provide a theoretical framework for the study.
• Supporting the research methodology : A literature review can inform the research methodology by identifying appropriate research methods, data sources, and research questions.
• Providing a comprehensive overview of the literature : A literature review provides a comprehensive overview of the current state of knowledge on a topic, allowing the researcher to identify key themes, debates, and areas of agreement or disagreement.
• Identifying potential research questions: A literature review can help to identify potential research questions and areas for further investigation.
• Avoiding duplication of research: A literature review can help to avoid duplication of research by identifying what has already been done on a topic, and what remains to be done.
• Enhancing the credibility of the research : A literature review helps to enhance the credibility of the research by demonstrating the researcher’s knowledge of the existing literature and their ability to situate their research within a broader context.

Limitations of Literature Review

Limitations of Literature Review are as follows:

• Limited scope : Literature reviews can only cover the existing literature on a particular topic, which may be limited in scope or depth.
• Publication bias : Literature reviews may be influenced by publication bias, which occurs when researchers are more likely to publish positive results than negative ones. This can lead to an incomplete or biased picture of the literature.
• Quality of sources : The quality of the literature reviewed can vary widely, and not all sources may be reliable or valid.
• Time-limited: Literature reviews can become quickly outdated as new research is published, making it difficult to keep up with the latest developments in a field.
• Subjective interpretation : Literature reviews can be subjective, and the interpretation of the findings can vary depending on the researcher’s perspective or bias.
• Lack of original data : Literature reviews do not generate new data, but rather rely on the analysis of existing studies.
• Risk of plagiarism: It is important to ensure that literature reviews do not inadvertently contain plagiarism, which can occur when researchers use the work of others without proper attribution.

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Muhammad Hassan

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• J Grad Med Educ
• v.8(3); 2016 Jul

The Literature Review: A Foundation for High-Quality Medical Education Research

a  These are subscription resources. Researchers should check with their librarian to determine their access rights.

Despite a surge in published scholarship in medical education 1 and rapid growth in journals that publish educational research, manuscript acceptance rates continue to fall. 2 Failure to conduct a thorough, accurate, and up-to-date literature review identifying an important problem and placing the study in context is consistently identified as one of the top reasons for rejection. 3 , 4 The purpose of this editorial is to provide a road map and practical recommendations for planning a literature review. By understanding the goals of a literature review and following a few basic processes, authors can enhance both the quality of their educational research and the likelihood of publication in the Journal of Graduate Medical Education ( JGME ) and in other journals.

The Literature Review Defined

In medical education, no organization has articulated a formal definition of a literature review for a research paper; thus, a literature review can take a number of forms. Depending on the type of article, target journal, and specific topic, these forms will vary in methodology, rigor, and depth. Several organizations have published guidelines for conducting an intensive literature search intended for formal systematic reviews, both broadly (eg, PRISMA) 5 and within medical education, 6 and there are excellent commentaries to guide authors of systematic reviews. 7 , 8

• A literature review forms the basis for high-quality medical education research and helps maximize relevance, originality, generalizability, and impact.
• A literature review provides context, informs methodology, maximizes innovation, avoids duplicative research, and ensures that professional standards are met.
• Literature reviews take time, are iterative, and should continue throughout the research process.
• Researchers should maximize the use of human resources (librarians, colleagues), search tools (databases/search engines), and existing literature (related articles).
• Keeping organized is critical.

Such work is outside the scope of this article, which focuses on literature reviews to inform reports of original medical education research. We define such a literature review as a synthetic review and summary of what is known and unknown regarding the topic of a scholarly body of work, including the current work's place within the existing knowledge . While this type of literature review may not require the intensive search processes mandated by systematic reviews, it merits a thoughtful and rigorous approach.

Purpose and Importance of the Literature Review

An understanding of the current literature is critical for all phases of a research study. Lingard 9 recently invoked the “journal-as-conversation” metaphor as a way of understanding how one's research fits into the larger medical education conversation. As she described it: “Imagine yourself joining a conversation at a social event. After you hang about eavesdropping to get the drift of what's being said (the conversational equivalent of the literature review), you join the conversation with a contribution that signals your shared interest in the topic, your knowledge of what's already been said, and your intention.” 9

The literature review helps any researcher “join the conversation” by providing context, informing methodology, identifying innovation, minimizing duplicative research, and ensuring that professional standards are met. Understanding the current literature also promotes scholarship, as proposed by Boyer, 10 by contributing to 5 of the 6 standards by which scholarly work should be evaluated. 11 Specifically, the review helps the researcher (1) articulate clear goals, (2) show evidence of adequate preparation, (3) select appropriate methods, (4) communicate relevant results, and (5) engage in reflective critique.

Failure to conduct a high-quality literature review is associated with several problems identified in the medical education literature, including studies that are repetitive, not grounded in theory, methodologically weak, and fail to expand knowledge beyond a single setting. 12 Indeed, medical education scholars complain that many studies repeat work already published and contribute little new knowledge—a likely cause of which is failure to conduct a proper literature review. 3 , 4

Likewise, studies that lack theoretical grounding or a conceptual framework make study design and interpretation difficult. 13 When theory is used in medical education studies, it is often invoked at a superficial level. As Norman 14 noted, when theory is used appropriately, it helps articulate variables that might be linked together and why, and it allows the researcher to make hypotheses and define a study's context and scope. Ultimately, a proper literature review is a first critical step toward identifying relevant conceptual frameworks.

Another problem is that many medical education studies are methodologically weak. 12 Good research requires trained investigators who can articulate relevant research questions, operationally define variables of interest, and choose the best method for specific research questions. Conducting a proper literature review helps both novice and experienced researchers select rigorous research methodologies.

Finally, many studies in medical education are “one-offs,” that is, single studies undertaken because the opportunity presented itself locally. Such studies frequently are not oriented toward progressive knowledge building and generalization to other settings. A firm grasp of the literature can encourage a programmatic approach to research.

Approaching the Literature Review

Considering these issues, journals have a responsibility to demand from authors a thoughtful synthesis of their study's position within the field, and it is the authors' responsibility to provide such a synthesis, based on a literature review. The aforementioned purposes of the literature review mandate that the review occurs throughout all phases of a study, from conception and design, to implementation and analysis, to manuscript preparation and submission.

Planning the literature review requires understanding of journal requirements, which vary greatly by journal ( table 1 ). Authors are advised to take note of common problems with reporting results of the literature review. Table 2 lists the most common problems that we have encountered as authors, reviewers, and editors.

Sample of Journals' Author Instructions for Literature Reviews Conducted as Part of Original Research Article a

Common Problem Areas for Reporting Literature Reviews in the Context of Scholarly Articles

Locating and Organizing the Literature

Three resources may facilitate identifying relevant literature: human resources, search tools, and related literature. As the process requires time, it is important to begin searching for literature early in the process (ie, the study design phase). Identifying and understanding relevant studies will increase the likelihood of designing a relevant, adaptable, generalizable, and novel study that is based on educational or learning theory and can maximize impact.

Human Resources

A medical librarian can help translate research interests into an effective search strategy, familiarize researchers with available information resources, provide information on organizing information, and introduce strategies for keeping current with emerging research. Often, librarians are also aware of research across their institutions and may be able to connect researchers with similar interests. Reaching out to colleagues for suggestions may help researchers quickly locate resources that would not otherwise be on their radar.

During this process, researchers will likely identify other researchers writing on aspects of their topic. Researchers should consider searching for the publications of these relevant researchers (see table 3 for search strategies). Additionally, institutional websites may include curriculum vitae of such relevant faculty with access to their entire publication record, including difficult to locate publications, such as book chapters, dissertations, and technical reports.

Strategies for Finding Related Researcher Publications in Databases and Search Engines

Search Tools and Related Literature

Researchers will locate the majority of needed information using databases and search engines. Excellent resources are available to guide researchers in the mechanics of literature searches. 15 , 16

Because medical education research draws on a variety of disciplines, researchers should include search tools with coverage beyond medicine (eg, psychology, nursing, education, and anthropology) and that cover several publication types, such as reports, standards, conference abstracts, and book chapters (see the box for several information resources). Many search tools include options for viewing citations of selected articles. Examining cited references provides additional articles for review and a sense of the influence of the selected article on its field.

Box Information Resources

• Web of Science a
• Education Resource Information Center (ERIC)
• Cumulative Index of Nursing & Allied Health (CINAHL) a
• Google Scholar

Once relevant articles are located, it is useful to mine those articles for additional citations. One strategy is to examine references of key articles, especially review articles, for relevant citations.

Getting Organized

As the aforementioned resources will likely provide a tremendous amount of information, organization is crucial. Researchers should determine which details are most important to their study (eg, participants, setting, methods, and outcomes) and generate a strategy for keeping those details organized and accessible. Increasingly, researchers utilize digital tools, such as Evernote, to capture such information, which enables accessibility across digital workspaces and search capabilities. Use of citation managers can also be helpful as they store citations and, in some cases, can generate bibliographies ( table 4 ).

Citation Managers

Knowing When to Say When

Researchers often ask how to know when they have located enough citations. Unfortunately, there is no magic or ideal number of citations to collect. One strategy for checking coverage of the literature is to inspect references of relevant articles. As researchers review references they will start noticing a repetition of the same articles with few new articles appearing. This can indicate that the researcher has covered the literature base on a particular topic.

Putting It All Together

In preparing to write a research paper, it is important to consider which citations to include and how they will inform the introduction and discussion sections. The “Instructions to Authors” for the targeted journal will often provide guidance on structuring the literature review (or introduction) and the number of total citations permitted for each article category. Reviewing articles of similar type published in the targeted journal can also provide guidance regarding structure and average lengths of the introduction and discussion sections.

When selecting references for the introduction consider those that illustrate core background theoretical and methodological concepts, as well as recent relevant studies. The introduction should be brief and present references not as a laundry list or narrative of available literature, but rather as a synthesized summary to provide context for the current study and to identify the gap in the literature that the study intends to fill. For the discussion, citations should be thoughtfully selected to compare and contrast the present study's findings with the current literature and to indicate how the present study moves the field forward.

To facilitate writing a literature review, journals are increasingly providing helpful features to guide authors. For example, the resources available through JGME include several articles on writing. 17 The journal Perspectives on Medical Education recently launched “The Writer's Craft,” which is intended to help medical educators improve their writing. Additionally, many institutions have writing centers that provide web-based materials on writing a literature review, and some even have writing coaches.

The literature review is a vital part of medical education research and should occur throughout the research process to help researchers design a strong study and effectively communicate study results and importance. To achieve these goals, researchers are advised to plan and execute the literature review carefully. The guidance in this editorial provides considerations and recommendations that may improve the quality of literature reviews.

What is Literature Review? Importance, Functions, Process,

• Post last modified: 13 August 2023
• Reading time: 12 mins read
• Post category: Research Methodology

What is Literature Review?

A literature review is a critical and comprehensive analysis of existing research, studies, articles, books, and other relevant sources on a specific topic or subject. It serves as a foundational step in the research process, helping researchers understand the current state of knowledge, identify gaps in the literature, and establish a context for their own study.

Table of Content

• 1 What is Literature Review?
• 2 Importance of a Literature Review
• 3 Functions of a Literature Review
• 4.1 Search the Existing Literature in Your Field of Interest
• 4.2 Review the Literature Obtained
• 4.3 Develop a Theoretical Framework
• 4.4 Write the Literature Review
• 5 How to Write a Literature Review
• 6 Types of Sources for Review

In most research reports or research papers, you will see that literature review is an essential element and it forms the basis for advancing knowledge, facilitates theory development, discovers new research areas and closes old ones. When researchers want to understand the management dilemma, they study various books, articles and all other available sources.

In the research reports, the researchers present a summary of their search, study and evaluation of the literature that is already available related to the research topic. When the researcher presents a summary of their study of present literature in addition to their analysis of how this literature is related to or essential for the current research report; then, this process is known as literature review.

For example, in a research paper titled ‘Attrition Analysis in a Leading Sales Organisation in India’, authored by Mamta Mohapatra (International Management Institute, New Delhi, India), Amisha Gupta (Birlasoft, New Delhi, India) and Nikita Lamba (Genpact, New Delhi, India), literature review is presented as follows:

Organisations and researchers usually conduct literature review in order to establish how their own research fits within the context of existing literature.

Apart from these, some other objectives of carrying out literature review are:

• Develop an understanding of how each source of literature helps in understanding the research problem
• Examine the interrelationships among different variables
• Find out ways to interpret earlier similar researches on the topic under study
• Rectify the conflicts that exist among previously conducted studies
• Get an idea regarding the required sample size
• Get an estimate of how much variance is there in the variables of interest
• Understand the type of relationship that exists among variables
• Determine the research method that can be used in the research

Importance of a Literature Review

There are various reasons for carrying out literature review. Majorly, literature review helps in:

• Assessing the current state and level of research on a given topic
• Identifying experts related to particular research
• Identifying questions that need further research and exploration
• Identifying what methodologies have been used in the related past studies and what methodology should be used in current research
• Justifying a proposed research methodology
• Indicating the originality and relevance of the given research problem
• Demonstrating the preparedness of a researcher to complete the research

Functions of a Literature Review

Some of the major functions of literature review are:

• Establishing a context for the research
• Demonstrating that the researcher has actually read related literature extensively and is aware of most theory and methodology related to the given research topic
• Providing a shape for the research under consideration
• Establishing a connection between what the researcher is proposing and what he has already read
• Demonstrating how the findings of researcher can be integrated with the already existing research findings.
• Revealing the differences or areas of gap between present and earlier research findings
• Improving researcher’s research methodology
• Expanding researcher’s knowledge base
• Ensuring that the researcher is carrying out new research that has not been carried out earlier

Process of a Literature Review

The second step in the research process is to carry out the review of already existing literature. Before engaging in literature review, the researcher must be clear as to what is the area and topic of research. There are four steps involved in the literature review process as shown in Figure:

Search the Existing Literature in Your Field of Interest

In the literature review process, the first step is to find out what research has already been done in the area that the researcher has chosen. This step involves preparing a list or bibliography of existing sources of relevant literature such as books, journals, abstracts of articles on your research topic, citation indices and digital libraries.

Review the Literature Obtained

After the researcher has identified related literature including journals, books, research papers, etc.; the next step is to study, evaluate and analyse the literature critically. This study of literature helps a researcher identify themes and issues related to the research topic.

An evaluation of literature helps in:

• Identifying the different theories and their criticism
• Identifying different methodologies used in different studies including their sample size, data used, measurement methods
• Assessing if the researcher’s theory is confirmed beyond doubt
• Preparing a list of different opinions of different researchers and researcher should also add his/her opinion about the validity of these different opinions

Develop a Theoretical Framework

Since carrying out literature review is a time-consuming activity but the researcher has to do it within a limited time. In order to do so, the researcher usually establishes a boundary and parameters for the research work. Also, the researcher must sort information obtained from all the sources of literature. For a researcher, the theoretical framework acts as a base on which he can further or extend his research. At times, the researchers may modify their research framework after analysing the available literature.

Write the Literature Review

The last step in literature review is to make a summary of all the literature that the researcher has studied and reviewed. Usually, writing a literature review starts with a write-up on the main theme of research followed by the important ideas on which the research would focus. After this, the all the major themes and sub-themes to be discussed are organised and related. This will help the researcher in structuring the literature review. The researcher should also identify and describe the theories and studies that are relevant for the study under consideration. The researcher should then list and describe all the gaps that are present in the current body of knowledge. In addition, the researcher may also explain the recent advances and trends in the given research field. To conclude, the researcher should compare and evaluate his findings on the basis of research assumptions, related research theories, hypotheses, applied research designs, variables selected and potential future work speculated by the researchers. Finally, the researcher must acknowledge, cite and quote all the sources that he/she has used in his research. One specific characteristic of literature review is that the researcher must ensure that he gives due credit to all people who have contributed in the research work.

How to Write a Literature Review

While writing the literature review, the researcher must adopt or adhere to certain strategies as follows:

• Establish a focus around the central theme and ideas of the research
• Describe what a reader can expect from the given research study
• Organise the literature research to include basic elements such as introduction, body and conclusions

Types of Sources for Review

A researcher usually uses secondary data for literature review. Some of the major and widely used sources for literature reviews include articles in professional journals, statistical data from government websites and website material from professional organisations.

Apart from the previously mentioned sources, certain other sources of data can also be used by researchers that provide them first-hand information that is important for the study. These sources include reports, theses, emails, letters, conference proceedings, company reports, autobiographies, official reports, research articles, etc.

Apart from these, the researcher may also refer to other such as review articles, academic journals, books, newspapers, documentaries, encyclopaedias, dictionaries, bibliographies and citation indexes.

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• What is Ethics?
• What is Business Ethics?
• Values, Norms, Beliefs and Standards in Business Ethics
• Indian Ethos in Management
• Ethical Issues in Marketing
• Ethical Issues in HRM
• Ethical Issues in IT
• Ethical Issues in Production and Operations Management
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• Theories of CSR
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• Business Case for CSR
• Importance of CSR in India
• Drivers of Corporate Social Responsibility
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• Implement CSR Commitments
• CSR Marketplace
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• Environmental CSR
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• Community Interventions
• CSR Monitoring
• CSR Reporting
• Voluntary Codes in CSR
• What is Corporate Ethics?

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• What is Six Sigma?
• What is Lean Six Sigma?
• Value and Waste in Lean Six Sigma
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• What is Controlling?
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• E-marketplace and Online Catalogues
• Fixed Price and Cost Reimbursement Contracts
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• What is Value Chain Analysis?
• Mission Statement
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Conducting a Literature Review

• Literature Review
• Developing a Topic
• Planning Your Literature Review
• Developing a Search Strategy
• Managing Citations
• Critical Appraisal Tools
• Writing a Literature Review

Before You Begin to Write.....

Do you have enough information? If you are not sure,

Ask yourself these questions:

• Has my search been wide enough to insure I've found all the relevant material?
• Has it been narrow enough to exclude irrelevant material?
• Is the number of sources I've used appropriate for the length of my paper?

You may have enough information for your literature review when:

• You've used multiple databases and other resources (web portals, repositories, etc.) to get a variety of perspectives on the research topic.
• The same citations are showing up in a variety of databases.
• Your advisor and other trusted experts say you have enough!

You have to stop somewhere and get on with the writing process!

Writing Tips

A literature review is not a list describing or summarizing one piece of literature after another. It’s usually a bad sign to see every paragraph beginning with the name of a researcher. Instead, organize the literature review into sections that present themes or identify trends, including relevant theory. You are not trying to list all the material published, but to synthesize and evaluate it according to the guiding concept of your thesis or research question

If you are writing an  annotated bibliography , you may need to summarize each item briefly, but should still follow through themes and concepts and do some critical assessment of material. Use an overall introduction and conclusion to state the scope of your coverage and to formulate the question, problem, or concept your chosen material illuminates. Usually you will have the option of grouping items into sections—this helps you indicate comparisons and relationships. You may be able to write a paragraph or so to introduce the focus of each section

Layout of Writing a Literature Review

Generally, the purpose of a review is to analyze critically a segment of a published body of knowledge through summary, classification, and comparison of prior research studies, reviews of literature, and theoretical articles.

Writing the introduction:

In the introduction, you should:

• Define or identify the general topic, issue, or area of concern, thus providing an appropriate context for reviewing the literature.
• Point out overall trends in what has been published about the topic; or conflicts in theory, methodology, evidence, and conclusions; or gaps in research and scholarship; or a single problem or new perspective of immediate interest.
• Establish the writer’s reason (point of view) for reviewing the literature; explain the criteria to be used in analyzing and comparing literature and the organization of the review (sequence); and, when necessary, state why certain literature is or is not included (scope).

Writing the body:

In the body, you should:

• Group research studies and other types of literature (reviews, theoretical articles, case studies, etc.) according to common denominators such as qualitative versus quantitative approaches, conclusions of authors, specific purpose or objective, chronology, etc.
• Summarize individual studies or articles with as much or as little detail as each merits according to its comparative importance in the literature, remembering that space (length) denotes significance.
• Provide the reader with strong “umbrella” sentences at beginnings of paragraphs, “signposts” throughout, and brief “so what” summary sentences at intermediate points in the review to aid in understanding comparisons and analyses.

WRITING TIP:  As you are writing the literature review you will mention the author names and the publication years in your text, but you will still need to compile comprehensive list citations for each entry at the end of your review. Follow  APA, MLA, or Chicago style guidelines , as your course requires.

Writing the conclusion:

In the conclusion, you should:

• Summarize major contributions of significant studies and articles to the body of knowledge under review, maintaining the focus established in the introduction.
• Evaluate the current “state of the art” for the body of knowledge reviewed, pointing out major methodological flaws or gaps in research, inconsistencies in theory and findings, and areas or issues pertinent to future study.
• Conclude by providing some insight into the relationship between the central topic of the literature review and a larger area of study such as a discipline, a scientific endeavor, or a profession.
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College & Research Libraries ( C&RL ) is the official, bi-monthly, online-only scholarly research journal of the Association of College & Research Libraries, a division of the American Library Association.

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Jung Mi Scoulas is Assistant Professor and Assessment Coordinator, University Library, University of Illinois Chicago, email: [email protected] .

Sandra L. De Groote is Professor and Head of Assessment and Scholarly Communications, University Library, University of Illinois Chicago.

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Use and Importance of Library Resources to Support Faculty Research and Productivity

Jung Mi Scoulas and Sandra L. De Groote *

This article explores the relationships between faculty library use, their perceptions of the importance of library resources, and its impact on their research productivity at a public research university. The authors used a self-reported faculty survey and publication records from a faculty activity reporting system to answer this question. Findings showed that faculty’s perceptions of the library resource for their research had no relationships with faculty research productivity, whereas a positive correlation was found between the frequency of use of online journals and databases, and faculty research productivity. Qualitative findings revealed that faculty viewed the library as providing and purchasing the needed library resources, and that they valued the librarians and library services as essential to their teaching and research.

Introduction

Research is an integral part of academic research institutions, and university libraries play a critical role in supporting faculty research. Maintaining key services and resources are imperative to supporting research, which can be challenging when libraries are faced with decreasing budgets and competing demands to fund databases, journal subscriptions, and other resources. Due to this environment, it is imperative for academic librarians both to identify faculty’s needs and to demonstrate the library’s value and impact on faculty research productivity.

The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between faculty research productivity and faculty perceptions, and use, of the academic library in supporting their academic research. This paper also examines disciplinary differences between faculty perceptions and use of the academic library’s resources and services. Faculty at a research-intensive doctoral granting institution were surveyed about their perceptions on the importance of library resources, their perceptions of the library’s impact on their research, and their use of library resources. Faculty responses were examined along with faculty demographic information, including their publication productivity (books, book chapters, and conference proceedings, and journals) in recent years to explore possible relationships. By analyzing both quantitative and qualitative data this paper will provide deeper understanding of faculty’s perceptions of the library, their library use, and the library’s impact on their research productivity.

Literature Review

Past studies have explored relationships between research productivity and academic libraries. As part the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Research Library Impact Framework, a recent study—conducted at the same large public research university as the current study—explored the relationship between faculty productivity and their use of the library’s collection in faculty publications. 1 In exploring the number of publications produced by individual faculty in relation to their use of references in their publications, it was observed that faculty who were less productive (defined as five or fewer publications in a 15 year period) tended to use the least number of references in the publications. Faculty who were very prolific (defined as 71 or more publication in a 15 year period) used many more references in their publications compared to less productive faculty; however, they used slightly fewer references in their publications compared to faculty who were productive (defined as six to 70 publications in a 15 year period). In other words, faculty that were highly productive but not very prolific were most likely to include the greatest number of references in their publications. As this study focused primarily on journal publications and citations in journal articles, it did not explore humanities publication patterns. However, there were disciplinary differences noted in the included disciplines when average publications, as well as average references in the publications, were examined from 2015 to 2019. 2 Faculty in Engineering were found to be the most productive, publishing on average 18.61 articles per faculty member over a five-year period (2015 to 2019). Faculty in the health sciences were the next most productive group, depending on the specific discipline: Applied Health Sciences, 20.93; Medicine, 14.57; Dentistry, 12.57; Nursing, 15.85; Pharmacy, 19.58; Public Health, 14.88 (average per faculty member/five years). Those in the other disciplines typically averaged fewer publications per faculty from 2015 to 2019: social sciences (e.g. psychology, sociology, etc.) 6.97; social work, 6.88; business administration, 4.30; and education, 5.30. Differences were also observed in the average number of references included in publications from 2015 to 2019. Those in the social sciences generally included more references per publication: social science, 57.49 average references per publication; social work, 48.23, business administration, 61.96; education 52.12. The use of references in health sciences was slightly lower on average than in the social sciences per publication, though this varied depending on the specific discipline: applied health sciences, 42.90 average references per publication; medicine, 41.59; dentistry, 41.36; nursing, 47.36; pharmacy, 46.01; public health, 39.90. Engineering, on average, included 43.38 references per article.

Michael Rawls utilized ARL library statistics expenditure variables and faculty publication data from a five-year period (2005–2009). 3 Research productivity was positively correlated with library investment, particularly with electronic library resource expenditures. A 2020 study also utilized ARL library reported statistics (e.g. collection expenditures, full-text article requests, and database searches) in conjunction with faculty productivity, as measured by published research articles. 4 A positive correlation was reported between number of publications and library expenditures, collection size, and full-text article requests.

Using surveys, several studies have examined the behavior of researchers to better understand how they seek, read, and use scholarly articles. A study conducted in 2002 captured an early view of the use, and satisfaction of, University of Idaho faculty’s with technology to capture, process, store, and communicate information using electronic means. 5 In this study, 71 percent of faculty reported using electronic journals and books for research purposes; however, only 65 percent reported being satisfied with the electronic resources offered by the library. While faculty found that electronic resources saved them time to search and “sped up” the research process, there were also concerns. For example, some faculty were not aware of electronic resources, not everyone’s needs were met, and a poorly designed website made accesses complicated. As a result of a longitudinal survey, which collected data over a 30-year period, Carol Tenopir, Donald W. King, Sheri Edwards and Lei Wu concluded that faculty have increased their reading compared to the number of articles they had read in the past, and that faculty were relying more on the library to provide access to articles compared to the past where they had their own personal subscriptions to journals. 6 They also found that faculty had diversified the ways in which they identified articles to read including internet searching, online journal table of contents browsing, abstracting and indexing (A&I) databases, and full-text database searching as a result of online journals. A study conducted by Carol Tenopir, Donald W. King, Lisa Christian, and Rachel Volentine found online journals were the primary source of articles read by faculty. The articles were primarily accessed through library or other institutional subscriptions. 7

In another study, faculty members from five U.S., and two Australian, Universities were surveyed about their scholarly article reading habits. 8 Faculty members whose positions were more focused on research reported reading more articles for research purposes (62 percent) compared to the teaching-oriented faculty (49 percent). The research-oriented faculty members also reported more of their reading materials were provided by the library (58 percent), in contrast to the more teaching-oriented faculty (38 percent). A positive relationship was also found between productivity, as measured by publications, and the average number of articles read per month. Faculty who read more articles also published more. This study also found that faculty members in the health science, engineering, and sciences read more scholarly journals articles on average than faculty in the social sciences and humanities.

A more recent study by Carol Tenopir, Lisa Christian, and Jordan Kaufman explored how researchers discovered, read, and used scholarly literature for their work. 9 The study explored how many articles faculty researchers read, how they go about accessing and using the literature, how important other types of information resources are, and demographic differences. Articles from journals were rated the most important source for scholarly information, followed by books, and conference proceedings. Overall, researchers reported reading about 20 articles a month, the majority (70 percent) being read with care. More than half of the articles were read (59 percent) specifically for research, but were also read to support writing proposals, reports, and articles, which—when counted as research related activities—raised the percentage to 67 percent. Most articles were found from browsing (34 percent), or searching (29 percent); the next most common method being finding a source in the citations of another publication (18 percent). The authors conclude that, although many articles read are still in online journals from the library or other institutional subscriptions, researchers are finding other ways to discover and access articles.

Tenopir, Christian, and Kaufman also explored disciplinary differences between the researchers they examined. 10 Almost all disciplines—life and physical sciences, math, computer science, engineering, social sciences, humanities—ranked scholarly journals as “absolutely essential,” or “very important” for their work. The exception was medical sciences, which ranked journals between “very important” and “important.” Only those in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities ranked scholarly books or book chapters as “absolutely essential” or “very important.” Tenopir et al. also explored the number of articles read each month by discipline. They found that, on average, those in the sciences read 24.10 articles a month, medical sciences read 15.07 articles a month, computer science read 16.83 articles a month, engineering read 16.48 articles a month, social sciences read 26.45 a month, and humanities and fine arts read 25.63 articles a month.

While the literature above confirmed that faculty’s library use was associated with their research productivity, it is limited in its exploration of how faculty perceived the importance of the library resources and the library’s impact on their research productivity. In addition, not only is there is a scarcity of current research, but the earlier canonical literature exploring disciplinary differences in information seeking behavior related to the academic library may no longer be applicable, as databases and access to online journals have continued to evolve, which likely impacts user behavior. This paper aims to analyze both quantitative and qualitative data from an online faculty survey that was conducted earlier this year at a public research university to deepen an understanding of faculty’s perceptions of the library, their library use, and its impact on their research productivity. It also explores disciplinary differences in faculty’s perceptions and use of the academic library.

Institutional Setting

This study took place at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), a large urban research university with 16 colleges: medicine, nursing, applied health sciences, dentistry, pharmacy, public health, social work, liberal arts and sciences, engineering, education, architecture, design and the arts, urban planning and public affairs, business administration, graduate college, honors college, and law. The University is classified as an R1 research university by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, with approximately 4,500 faculty serving more than 33,000 undergraduate and graduate students. As of Spring 2022, among 4,500 faculty, about 77 percent of them are assistant, associate and full professor, and the rest are instructors, lecturers, and postdocs. About half of the faculty are from College of Medicine in Chicago, Liberal arts and sciences, and pharmacy. On average, faculty have worked at UIC for about ten years.

Survey Instrument

The Assessment Advisory Committee developed an online survey to examine faculty perceptions of the importance of library resources, their use of library resources, and their perception of the library’s impact on their research (Appendix A). Among a total of 12 questions, six questions were based on previous survey questions distributed to faculty in 2017 and 2019, and a set of six new questions addressed topics of current interest including frequency of library use (range of library resources), potential workshop topic to gauge faculty interest, and perceptions of the library’s impact on their research and scholarship success. The survey questions were pilot tested by faculty in various departments to check the clarity of the questions and to ensure whether the goals of the survey match with the survey questions. Given this paper’s aim of examining the relationships between faculty’s perceptions on library resources, their library use, and its impact on their research productivity (measured by the number of publications in 2021 (one year) and 2017–2021 (five years), the following survey questions were selected for this paper.

• Importance of library resources for research or administrative responsibility with a nine-point Likert Scale (from one, “not at all” to nine, “extremely important,” with zero as “not applicable”) on the following list: Print books, eBooks, Online journals, Databases to find literature, Special Collections, Interlibrary Loan (ILL), Digital Images, Assistance from a subject specialist librarian, and Comprehensive literature search support.
• Frequency of library resource and service use for research with a four-point Likert Scale (0 = Never, 1 = Once a year, 2 = Once a month, 3 = Weekly or More often) on the following list: Print books, eBooks, Online Journals, Databases to find literature, Special Collections, Subject and Course guides, Interlibrary loan (ILL), Assistance from a subject specialist librarian, and Comprehensive literature support.
• Faculty’s perceptions of library impact on their teaching and research (Open-ended question).
• Faculty’s demographic information from the University’s Office of Institutional Research and their publication records from the institution’s faculty activity reporting tool were included in this paper as follows:Faculty demographics: Faculty status and their Full Time Equivalent (FTE) percentage of department.
• Faculty research productivity: This was measured by the numbers of publications including books, book chapters, conference proceedings, and journal articles published in 2021 (one year) and 2017–2021 (five years). Considering the nature of the publication, the authors carefully selected the publication time range that corresponds to the survey. While the survey was being performed in February 2022, faculty were invited to respond to questions on their library use and perceptions in the past year (as stated in the survey instruction). For these reasons, the research productivity used two time ranges: one year and five years.

Data Collection

Prior to distributing the survey, email addresses and demographic information was obtained from the institutions Office of Institutional Research (OIR). Faculty demographic information was uploaded as a “panel” in Qualtrics, along with their publication output. Publication output—when the information was available—was obtained from the institution’s faculty activity reporting tool, 11 a faculty scholarly and professional activity reporting system that automatically captures faculty scholarly productivity when indexed in database such as PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and Dimensions authored by each faculty in 2021, and from 2017 to 2021. According to the University’s faculty activity reporting tool, 87 percent of faculty had publication information. Faculty can assess research impact using citation metrics automatically captured by the reporting tool, and other scholarship and professional activities can be manually entered. In the past five years, the average publication per faculty member— including books, book chapters, conference proceeding, and journal articles entered in the system—was 11. The survey was distributed to about 4,500 university faculty and post-docs working at UIC February 21, 2022, closing March 25, 2022. Three reminder emails were sent to faculty who did not complete the survey in Qualtrics. A total of 557 faculty completed the survey (12 percent response rate).

Survey Incentives

All survey respondents were invited to enter a drawing to win one of six items valued at $100-$200, such as smart watch and wireless headphone. Contact information was destroyed after the incentives were distributed.

Data Analysis

Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics (correlations and a two-way between group analysis of variance (ANOVA) were run using SPSS 28. Correlations were employed to explore if there were any relationships between: 1. faculty’s perceptions of the importance of library resources and support for their research and their research productivity; and 2. their frequency of library use and research productivity. A Pearson correlation was used to test faculty perceptions of the importance of library support for their research using a ratings scale from one (not at all) to nine (extremely important). This nine-point scale is treated as interval variable, also known as number rating scales, because it is commonly used by researchers in education field by treating responses as interval-level measures rather than just ordinal data and allows researchers to utilize statistical analysis such as Pearson correlations or ANOVA. 12 A Spearman correlation was employed to test the frequency library use, using a scale from zero (never) to three (Weekly or more often), which is considered an ordinal variable.

To examine the impact of disciplines and faculty’s library use on their publications, a two-way ANOVA was conducted. Prior to conducting a two-way ANOVA, assumptions were tested including homogeneity of variances assumption using Levene’s Test of Equality of Error Variances (to test whether the variance of dependent variable across the groups are equal). The results of homogeneity of variance assumption were violated (significant level is greater than .05). Therefore, the authors used more stringent significant level at the p value of less than <.01 rather than .05 when evaluating and reporting the results of the two-way ANOVA. 13

Disciplines were grouped into five categories based on the department where the faculty member had their highest FTE: arts and humanities, social sciences, physical sciences, life sciences, and health sciences. To create groups for library use, faculty’ frequency of library use (zero = never, to three = weekly or more often) were used to sum all nine library resources and services, from print book to comprehensive literature search support; the range of minimum and maximum for frequency of use were from one to 27. Using quartiles, the total number of library uses was used to group faculty members into three categories: less frequent (faculty who used library resources from one-ten), moderate (faculty who used library resources from 11–15), and high (faculty who used library resources from 16 or more).

Another goal of this paper is to explore how faculty perceived library impact for their teaching and research by examining their feedback. The open-ended responses were imported into Excel and analyzed by the Assessment Coordinator using thematic analysis, which is a popular qualitative analysis technique to analyze themes in a dataset and identify meaning. Initial codes and themes were reviewed by the Assessment Advisory Committee members and condensed after repeating this process until reaching agreement.

Below are the research questions for this study:

• What are the relationships between faculty’s perceptions on the importance of library resource, frequency of library use, and their research productivity?
• Are there differences in faculty’s library use and research productivity between disciplines?
• How do faculty perceive the importance of library resources and services as it relates to their teaching and research?

Publications by Faculty Status

Faculty publications for a one-year period (2021), and the average for a five-year period (2017–2021) respectively, were analyzed by the particular faculty’s status: assistant, associate and full professor, and others—which included instructors, lecturers, postdoctoral and visiting faculty. As shown in table 1, regardless of the type of publications, full professors published the most, followed by associate professor and assistant professors in both a one-year period and an average of a five-year period. Regarding the types of the publications, journals recorded the highest type of publication ( M =1.93, SD =3.78 in a one- year period, M =1.73, SD =3.29, an average of a five-year period).

Relationships between Faculty’s Perceptions on the Importance of Library Resource and Their Research Productivity

Faculty were asked to rate the importance of library resources on a scale from one to nine, with nine being “extremely important” and one being “not important at all.” The overall perception ratings based on 2022 survey results were as follows: online journals ( M = 8.73); scholarly databases ( M = 8.44); interlibrary loan ( M = 7.51); eBooks ( M = 7.23); subject special assistance from a librarian ( M = 6.15); print books ( M = 5.65); and special collections ( M = 4.47). 14 Faculty’s perceptions of the importance of library resources for research was further analyzed to examine whether their perceptions of library resources were correlated with their research productivity—measured by number of publications including books, book chapters, conference proceeding, and journals articles—over one year (2021) and over five years (from 2017 to 2021). The results from Pearson correlations indicated that based on importance, only one library resource (eBooks ( r [419] = -.102, p < .05) in 2021 was correlated with their research productivity, whereas Special Collections in 2017 and 2021 was correlated with their research productivity ( r [389] = -.110, p < .05). However, the directions of the correlations were negative, meaning that the higher faculty’s research productivity, the less their perceptions of eBooks in 2021, the higher faculty’s research productivity, the less their perceptions of Special Collections in 2017 and 2021 (see table 2).

Relationships between Faculty’s Library Use and Their Research Productivity

Faculty’s library resource use was further analyzed to examine whether their frequency of library resource use correlated with their research productivity (measured by number of publications including books, book chapters, conference proceeding, and journals) in a one-year period (2021) and a 5-year period (2017 to 2021). A Spearman rank correlation was employed, and the results indicate that only certain library resource uses in 2021 were correlated with their research productivity: print books ( r s [407] = -.136, p < .01), online journal ( r s [418] = .194, p < .01), databases ( r s [419] = .124, p < .05), and subject and course guides ( r s [400] = -.099, p < .05); however, the directions of the correlations were different (see table 3). That is, print books, and subject and course guides use were negatively correlated with the faculty’s research productivity, whereas journal and database use were positively correlated with their research productivity, indicating the more faculty used print books or course guides, the less productive they were. On the other hand, the more journal and database use, the higher number of publications in 2021.

When examining the relationships over a five-year period, the results were slightly different. Print books, journal, and subject and course guides uses in a five-year period remained similar in their relationship with faculty research productivity in 2021. That is, these library resources were associated with faculty research productivity in both 2021 and a five-year period. However, productivity in the five-year period appeared to be statistically associated with eBooks ( r s [413] = -.098, p < .05), whereas database use was not ( r s [419] = .088, p = .071). While it is important to demonstrate that faculty’s library resource uses were correlated with their research productivity, one should be cautious to interpret the findings, as this relationship does not warrant causation. Also, faculty library resource use over a one-year period may not be accurately represented by their publication numbers for the same year because publications are typically released well after the year in which the initial research occurred. Further investigation would be needed to fully explore this chronological disconnect.

Given that the amount of time it takes for books and book chapters to be published is longer than it is for conference proceeding and journals, a separate analysis of publications including only journals and conference proceedings for a five-year period (2017 to 2021) was examined to explore if there were any differences in the relationship between publications and library resource and service use (see table 4). The results remained the same as when all publication types (i.e. book, book chapters, conference proceeding and journals) were included, with the exception of special collections, which also showed a statistically significant negative relationship ( r s [403] = -.113, p < .05). This indicates that faculty’s library use for print books, eBooks, special collections, and subject guides were statistically and negatively correlated with the number of journals and conference proceedings, but positively correlated with the frequency of online journal use.

Library Impact: Library Use, Discipline and Publications

Table 5 demonstrates how well survey respondents from five discipline categories—arts and humanities, social sciences, physical sciences, life sciences, and health sciences—represent the university populations. Except for health sciences, all of the disciplines accurately represented the University population; around 10% of faculty from health sciences were less representative of those from the university health science population.

Prior to examining the impact of disciplines and library use on the research productivity, descriptive statistics were run to seek patterns between disciplines and each type of publications. As shown in figure 1, each type of publication differs by disciplines. The faculty from the arts and humanities published the highest number of books ( M =0.15) and book chapters ( M =0.41), followed by those in the physical sciences (books M =0.05; book chapters M =0.24). There were no book publications ( M =0.00) and few book chapters ( M =0.06) published by faculty from the life sciences. For the journal articles and conference proceeding publications, the patterns were different—faculty from the health sciences published the highest number of journal articles ( M =2.77), followed by faculty from physical sciences ( M =2.61). However, faculty from the life sciences did not produce conference proceedings—journal articles were their primary form of publication ( M =1.82).

Faculty’s ranking for level of importance (table 6) and frequency of library use also differs among the disciplines (table 7). Compared to the other disciplines, arts and humanities ranked books (print and electronic) the highest in terms of importance. Arts and humanities also ranked special collections, interlibrary loan, and digital images as more important compared to other disciplines. All disciplines (from life sciences, M =9.00, to physical sciences, M =8.26) ranked journal articles as the most important resource for their research. Within the rankings of databases, life sciences faculty ranked the importance of database the highest.

Similar to faculty’s perceptions of the importance of library resources for their research, more faculty from art and humanities reported using books (print and online), special collections, and digital images more frequently than other disciplines, at once a month or more often (table 7). However, frequency of using Interlibrary loan was somewhat different; faculty from physical sciences, social sciences and arts and humanities more frequently used Interlibrary loan compared to other disciplines. Most faculty in all disciplines reported using online journals at least weekly, except for those in the physical sciences, where only a little over half reported weekly use. Additionally, physical sciences faculty reported using online journals once a month. With respect to database use, faculty in the physical sciences were most likely to report at least weekly (83.9 percent) database use, compared to those in the life sciences who were the least likely to report weekly use (50 percent). While faculty from the life sciences reported the most frequent use of online journals, these faculty also report highest percentage of resources and services never used including: comprehensive literature search support (71.4 percent), Interlibrary loan (61.5 percent), assistance from a subject librarian (57.1 percent), print books (30.8 percent), and eBooks (30.8 percent).

To further examine the impact of disciplines and library use on the research productivity (table 8), as measured by the total number of publications in 2021 and the overall reported frequency of library use, a two-way ANOVA was conducted (table 9). The interaction effect between disciplines and library use groups ( F (7, 355) = 0.218, p = .981) was not statistically significant, meaning that there was no significant difference in the effect of disciplines on publications for level of library use (less frequent, moderate, and high). There was a statistically significant main effect for disciplines ( F (4, 355) = 5.909, p <.001). This finding indicates that there is a difference in the number of publications for disciplines (arts and humanities, social sciences, physical sciences, health sciences and life sciences). The magnitude of difference for disciplines was moderate (partial eta squared=.062), using Cohen’s criterion. 15 To further systematically compare each discipline, and to test whether there is a significant difference in the means of each of discipline, post-hoc comparisons using the Tukey HSD test was used. As shown in Tables 8 and 10, the results indicated that the mean publication for the health sciences ( M = 3.98, SD = 5.90) was significantly higher than arts and humanities ( M = 1.46, SD = 2.44) and social sciences ( M = 1.41, SD = 2.28) at the p < .01 level. The physical sciences ( M = 3.78, SD = 3.77) and life sciences ( M = 2.42, SD = 2.43) did not differ significantly from either of the other groups. The main effect for library use ( F (2, 355) = 0.078, p =.925) did not reach statistical significance, indicating that degree of library use (less frequent, moderate, and high) does not differ in terms of their publications.

Library Impact on Faculty’s Teaching, Research, or Administrative Work

Faculty were asked to answer the open-ended question: “Thinking about your overall UIC library experience, please describe how the library has impacted your teaching, clinical practice, research, or administrative work.” A total of 267 respondents provided feedback on this question. Three themes were generated from this open-ended question using content analysis. When reporting faculty’s comments, faculty’s college was included to provide context for their feedback.

Theme 1: Invaluable Library Resources (n=181)

Many faculty perceived that accessing library resources was valuable for their teaching and research. The list of resources that impacted their teaching and research includes journals, databases, books, textbooks, and eBooks. Examples of faculty feedback on this theme follow:

• “The UIC library has always helped me to pursue my intellectual curiosity, beyond the articles/journals books that I need to pursue my research and teaching. To me, this is invaluable” (Pharmacy).
• “The UIC Library provides robust literature search engines and strong capture of this articles typically through available subscriptions but also through interlibrary loans. This is critical for poster/oral presentations, manuscript, and grant submissions. For students, this allows them to find relevant research articles to bolster their position in writing essays” (College of Medicine).
• “The library has been fantastic in purchasing electronic versions of the textbooks that I use for my course so that students don’t have to buy them” (School of Public Health).
• “The quick availability of journals is paramount in the development of new projects and in many other aspects of research productivity” (Liberal Arts and Sciences).
• “I use open educational resources in all of my classes and the library is essential to find and collect the information. Access to medical literature through PubMed and other databases is essential for my research” (Applied Health Sciences).

While most faculty valued accessing the library resources and perceived that library resources had a great impact on their teaching and research, some faculty expressed concerns of possible discontinuation of certain resources due to the limited budgets, such as in the following comments:

• “The library is a crucial asset for both teaching and research. Please do not continue to cut resources to the library in ways that result in less access to materials. The move to acquire an increase digital library during the pandemic was crucial to our collective ability to teach and research. Please keep this up for access purposes, but do not limit purchases to only digital copies” (Applied Health Sciences).
• “UIC Library resources are fine, but I know I’ll run into an access wall eventually and would love it if the library sets aside a fund to purchase access or something for people who need material in days, not a week or two” (Urban Planning & Public Affairs).
• “I mostly use art publications. Very often these books are too expensive and / or published internationally. I hope that the library continues to acquire these important resources because the internet cannot supplant them” (Architecture, Design and Arts).

Theme 2: Resourceful and Professional Librarians (n=53)

Another resource that respondents acknowledged had an impact on their teaching and research was the library staff and librarians. Sixteen librarians’ names were mentioned in the survey with appreciation (n=28). Below are examples of faculty’s feedback on this theme:

• “The responsiveness of library support has been great and I feel that the librarians go above and beyond to answer my questions and provide assistance. This has helped to facilitate my research by reducing the time it would typically take for me to find resources and determine what is available and what is not”(Liberal Arts and Sciences).
• “The library and librarians have simplified the work of bringing my students up-to-date with their background searches for their research. I cannot say enough about the help my students and I get from the library and the librarians” (Pharmacy).
• “Qualified Librarians and Experts are critical to our academic and clinical work at UIC. Assistance has always been generous” (College of Medicine).
• “The library makes my research easier and better. My liaison has made sure my students can access assigned reading by speedily acquiring e-books” (Architecture, Design and Arts).

Theme 3: Quick and Immediate Services (n=51)

The last theme is quick and immediate services impacting faculty’s teaching and research. Services mentioned by respondents include chat, ILL/I-Share, reference, and Open Access Publication Funding. Below are some examples of faculty feedback on this theme:

• “I recently did two literature review papers and used the library heavily for interlibrary loans / electronic copy of papers and book chapters—the library services met my needs. I recently requested that the library consider acquiring a couple of books in my specialty field of sickle cell disease and these were purchased” (College of Medicine- Chicago).
• “The librarians on the chat have been very helpful” (College of Medicine, Peoria).
• “I also received support from the UIC library to publish in Open Access to research papers and disseminate my work via Indigo, which is much appreciate, at the early independent career stage I am at” (Business Administration).
• “ILL is amazingly fast. I love being able to get books easily delivered or being able to pick them up” (Architecture, Design and Arts).
• “Thank you for the outstanding service that you provide! The service you provide always exceeds my expectations. RefWorks is a handy feature for sharing literature searches” (Nursing).

As described above, a vast majority of the faculty acknowledged that library resources, services and librarians have a significant impact on their teaching and research; however, some faculty (n=22) stated lack of journals they need, discontinuing journal subscriptions, challenges in accessing the most recent articles or older articles, better access to films and videos (e.g., non-digitized material including projectors), difficulty in searching on library website.

The current study used quantitative and qualitative data from an online faculty survey, as well as publication records from a faculty activity reporting system to examine faculty perceptions of the importance of library resources, frequency of library use by discipline, as well as the impact of library resources and services on their teaching and research.

There were disciplinary differences in how faculty ranked the importance of and frequency of use of library resources. Arts and humanities faculty ranked books (both print and electronic), special collections, and interlibrary loan (most likely monograph requests) as more important to their research compared to other disciplines. All disciplines except for the physical sciences ranked journal articles as the most important resource for their research. Physical sciences ranked the databases as the most important. While Carol Tenopir, Lisa Christian, and Jordan Kaufman also noted the majority of faculty rated articles from journals as the most important source for scholarly information, 16 this study further demonstrated the disciplinary differences in faculty members’ perceptions of the value of the library resources.

It was also discovered that faculty’s perceptions of the importance of library resources (i.e. books, online journals, databases, Interlibrary loan) had no statistical relationship with their research productivity. This result implies that faculty members’ opinions of how much they value these library resources are not related to how productive they are with their research. However, there were negative correlations found between productivity and the importance of eBooks and special collections. This suggests there are resources not utilized by the majority of faculty for their research. Those who rank them higher, such as those in the arts and humanities, tend to have lower publication counts than those in other disciplines. Faculty in the arts and humanities ranked books and special collections as important, and they were also the discipline that reported the highest use of books and special collections. They likely have a smaller scholarly output, in part because their primary output is monographs (books) which are produced less frequently than journal articles. As noted in a study exploring the use of the monograph and citation patterns in the humanities, humanities scholars mainly rely on the monographs for primary and secondary sources. 17 While articles are important to humanities research, they do not serve as a replacement for monographs.

Was faculty research productivity correlated with how frequently they used library resources? With respect to the frequency of use of library resources overall by faculty, reported uses of online journals and databases were positively correlated with faculty productivity according to 2021 publication data. When publication data from 2017 to 2021 was examined, only online journal use positively correlated with productivity, while the database use correlation was not significant. These findings are similar as those of De Groote and colleagues who found a positive correlation between faculty productivity and ARL reported statistics for full-text article requests and database searches. 18 Similarly, Tenopir and colleagues also found a positive relationship between the average number of articles read monthly and the number of publications produced. 19 On the other hand, use of print books, eBooks, and subject guides were negatively correlated with productivity between 2017 and 2021. This indicates that the more productive they were, the less likely they were to use books, or, alternatively, the more they use books to complete their research, they were less likely to have a high publication count. Given that faculty in the arts and humanities ranked print books and eBooks as important to their research compared to the other disciplines, and that they are the most likely to produce print books, this relationship makes sense given that book publication productivity is much lower in comparison to article publication productivity. There were no disciplinary differences found between frequency of use of the library and faculty research productivity, although the differences in productivity between the disciplines is significantly different.

While there were no statistically significant differences in the effect of disciplines on publications for level of library use (less frequent, moderate, and high) as well as no significant differences in publications between the level of library use, it is important to note that patterns of the average numbers of publication vary by discipline; the less frequent library use group had the highest mean scores of publications across all disciplines, except art and humanities. This may indicate that faculty with high productivity are likely searching and accessing the literature to support multiple research papers at one time. This result may also be explained by the fact that library use groups were created based on the total number of library resources use rather than specific resource use (print books, eBooks, journals etc.). As stated earlier, this study found that frequency of print books and subject course guides were negatively correlated with the faculty research productivity, whereas journals and database were positively associated with the research productivity. Additionally, it is important to know which library resources were frequently used by what discipline. For faculty from arts and humanities, the less frequent library use group did not publish any materials ( M =0.00), whereas the moderate library use group scored the highest publication average ( M =1.92).

As the quantitative findings showed that faculty’s certain library use was associated with faculty productivity, qualitative findings also corroborated that many faculty perceived library resources (journals, databases, and books), services and librarians as a significant impact on their teaching and research. The faculty’s comments revealed that faculty viewed the library as providing and purchasing the library resources, and valued the librarians and services as an essential of their teaching and research. While the research productivity was one outcome on whether faculty published books or journals, the qualitative finding further uncovered faculty’s perceptions of library impact for their teaching and research. Faculty considered the library impact when they were involved in the process of the research project such as grant submissions, development of new projects, and manuscript. By employing several datasets (i.e. survey containing multiple choices and open-ended questions, faculty’s demographic information, and their publication records), this study attempted to provide faculty’s perceptions of their library resources and its impact on their teaching and research.

Limitations

The number of publications was obtained using the faculty profile tool, which automatically gathers journal and conference proceedings through API feeds from Web of Science, Scopus, Dimensions, PubMed, and Crossref. A limited number of books and book chapters are also captured by these systems and brought in automatically. For those that are not, a faculty member or their designate would need to enter the publication information. The majority of colleges, though not all, were using the reporting tool at the time of the research. Therefore, some publications—primarily books and book chapters—would not have been recorded for those faculty that were not manually adding missing publications. For these reasons, book and book chapters data may be underrepresented. Some productivity comparisons looked at publication numbers in aggregate when examining the relationships with library use. These generalized findings may not apply to all disciplines. Also, it should be noted that the findings of this research may not be representative of other research universities.

Implications and Conclusion

Faculty use of the library collection and the importance of the library collection for research is highlighted through the findings of this study. Our findings demonstrate that faculty publication patterns differ across the disciplines. Print books, as well as subject and course guides, were found to be negatively correlated with faculty research productivity, whereas journal and database use was found to be positively correlated. These findings indicate that the more productive faculty used print books or course guides less; the more productive faculty used journal and database more. It should be noted that interpreting this correlation should be done with caution because these are not cause and effect relationships. Journal articles, as accessed through online journals, remain important to faculty in conducting their research across all disciplines. By adding faculty publication records to the self-reported faculty input, this study demonstrated the value of library resources.

This study also revealed how faculty members felt about the library’s resources and how it affected their scholarly work. The academic librarians who work with faculty may already be aware of some of the results, but this study’s empirical findings show that faculty members’ use of the library is linked to their research output. As the academic environment changes, the library’s efforts to understand the needs of the faculty are crucial to ensuring their academic success. At the same time, this study raised an important question, how can libraries capture the library’s impact on faculty’s research productivity beyond the publications? As academic libraries are pressured to demonstrate the library’s impact and value for our users, it is possible to look at other outcomes such as grant submissions (accepted vs. not funded), number of research projects in progress, the number of reports and white papers deposited in the institutional repository, and so on.

Acknowledgement

Approval from the Institutional Review Board was granted to this research study (protocol number 2021-1409).

1. Sandra L. De Groote, et al., “Faculty Publication Patterns Over 25 Years at a Large Public University: Correlations with Literature Review,” College & Research Libraries, 85, no. 4 (2024): 442–459, https://doi.org/10.5860/crl.85.3.442 .

2. De Groote, et al., “Faculty Publication Patterns.”

3. Michael M. Rawls, “Looking for Links: How Faculty Research Productivity Correlates with Library Investment and Why Electronic Library Materials Matter Most,”  Evidence Based Library and Information Practice  10, no. 2 (2015): 34–44. https://doi.org/10.18438/B89C70 .

4. Sandra L. De Groote, et al., “Research Productivity and Its Relationship to Library Collections,”  Evidence Based Library and Information Practice  15, no. 4 (2020): 16–32. https://doi.org/10.18438/eblip29736 .

5. Maria Anna Jankowska, “Identifying University Professors’ Information Needs in the Challenging Environment of Information and Communication Technologies,”  The Journal of Academic Librarianship  30, no. 1 (2004): 51–66. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jal.2003.11.007 .

6. Carol Tenopir, et al., “Electronic Journals and Changes in Scholarly Article Seeking and Reading Patterns,” Aslib Proceedings: New Information Perspectives , 61, no.1 (2009): 5–32. https://doi.org/10.1108/00012530910932267

7. Carol Tenopir, et al., “Scholarly Article Seeking, Reading, and Use: A Continuing Evolution from Print to Electronic in the Sciences and Social Sciences,” Learned Publishing 28, no. 2 (2015): 93–105, https://dx.doi.org/10.1087/20150203 .

8. Carol Tenopir, et al., “Variations in Article Seeking and Reading Patterns of Academics: What Makes a Difference?”  Library & Information Science Research  31, no. 3 (2009): 139–148. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lisr.2009.02.002 .

9. Carol Tenopir, Lisa Christian, and Jordan Kaufman, “Seeking, Reading, and Use of Scholarly Articles: An International Study of Perceptions and Behavior of Researchers,” Publications 7 no. 1 (2019): 18 https://doi.org/10.3390/publications7010018 .

10. Carol Tenopir, Lisa Christian, and Jordan Kaufman, “Seeking, Reading, and Use of Scholarly Articles: An International Study of Perceptions and Behavior of Researchers,” Publications 7, no. 1 (2019): 18, https://doi.org/10.3390/publications7010018 .

11. University of Illinois Chicago, My Activities, https://myactivities.uic.edu/homepage.html?em=false .

12. Spencer E. Harpe, “How to Analyze Likert and Other Rating Scale Data,” Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning 7, no. 6 (2015): 836–850, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cptl.2015.08.001 ; Jung Mi Scoulas and Sandra L. De Groote, “Faculty Perceptions, Use, and Needs of Library Resource and Services in a Public Research University,” Journal of Academic Librarianship 49, no. 1 (2023): 102630. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2022.102630 .

13. Julie Pallant, SPSS Survival Manual: A Step by Step Guide to Data Analysis Using the SPSS Program (Allen & Unwin, 4 th ed. 2011).

14. Jung Mi Scoulas and Sandra L. De Groote, “Faculty Perceptions, Use, and Needs of Library Resource and Services in a Public Research University,” Journal of Academic Librarianship 49, no. 1 (2023): 102630, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2022.102630 .

15. Jacob Cohen, Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences , (New Jersey: Routledge, 2nd ed., 1988).

16. Carol Tenopir, Lisa Christian, and Jordan Kaufman, “Seeking, Reading, and Use of Scholarly Articles: An International Study of Perceptions and Behavior of Researchers,” Publications 7, no. 1 (2019): 18, https://doi.org/10.3390/publications7010018 .

17. J. Wolfe Thompson, “The Death of the Scholarly Monograph in the Humanities? Citation Patterns in Literary Scholarship,” Libri 52, no. 3 (2002): 121–136,  https://doi.org/10.1515/LIBR.2002.121 .

18. Sandra L. De Groote, et al., “Research Productivity and Its Relationship to Library Collections,” Evidence Based Library and Information Practice 15, no. 4 (2020): 16–32, https://doi.org/10.18438/eblip29736 .

19. Tenopir, et al., “Variations in Article Seeking,”139–148. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lisr.2009.02.002 .

Appendix A. 2022 Faculty Survey

The UIC Library is seeking to understand how library services and resources impact your teaching, research and scholarship. Your participation will help us develop meaningful programs and collections. Please respond to this survey in the context of the primary UIC library that you use (e.g., Daley Library, Library of Health Sciences-Chicago, Peoria, Rockford or Law Library). We will use your responses to guide our priorities.

Q1 During the past year, have you done any of the following at UIC? Select all that apply.

• □ Taught an undergraduate level course
• □ Taught a graduate level course
• □ Taught a course for professional students
• □ Taught/served in a clinical setting
• □ Engaged in research or scholarship
• □ Published a book, article or other scholarly product
• □ Served in an administrative capacity

Q2 Please rate the following in terms of importance for your teaching (9= Extremely, 1= Not at all, and 0=N/A).

Q3 Please rate the following in terms of importance for your research or administrative responsibility (9=Extremely, 1=Not at all, and 0=N/A).

Q4 How often did you use the following for your research?

Q5 How easy is it to use the university library website to access the following? (9=Extremely easy, 1=Not at all, and 0=I’ve never used this tool).

Q6 Think about the last time you needed a journal article not available through the UIC Library’s physical or digital collections. What method(s) did you use to obtain a copy? Select all that apply.

• □ Searched for a freely available version online
• □ Used interlibrary loan (ILLiad) or document delivery services provided by the UIC Library
• □ Gave up and looked for a different article that I can access
• □ Purchased it myself from the publisher or vendor
• □ Requested it from a colleague at another institution
• □ Contacted the author
• □ Requested a copy using social media (#canhazpdf on Twitter, etc.) or through Scihub
• □ Asked a librarian
• □ Obtained it from Google Scholar, Academia.edu or ResearchGate
• □ Articles I needed were readily available through the UIC Library.
• □ I do not usually use journal articles for my teaching or research.
• □ I do not recall
• □ Other ________________________________________________

Q7 What topics would you like to learn more about? Select all that apply.

• □ Bibliographic Management Software(e.g., RefWorks, EndNote)
• □ Digital scholarship tools & techniques (data visualization, text mining and analysis, natural language processing, GIS, maps, etc.)
• □ Multimedia tools & techniques (videography, podcasting, infographics, websites, digital design, etc.)
• □ Data visualization platforms/software/language for my research (Tableau, PowerBI, Google Data Studio, R, Python etc.)
• □ Qualitative data analysis platforms/software for my research (NVivo, Atlas.ti , MaxQDA, etc.)
• □ Quantitative data analysis platforms/software/language for my research (R, Python, SPSS, etc.)
• □ Managing, preserving, and sharing the data I create in my scholarship
• □ Finding and reusing data for scholarship and instruction
• □ Digital methods for gathering data (APIs, web scraping, etc.)
• □ Academic authorship platforms/software/language for my research (RStudio/Rmarkdown, Overleaf/LaTeX, Pressbooks, etc.)

Q8 How do you usually get informed of library information (e.g., collections, services and resources)? Select all that apply.

• □ Department chair
• □ UIC colleagues
• □ Liaison librarians
• □ UIC Library website (Library News)
• □ UIC mass email

Q9 What information resource support do you need from the Library for your teaching and research?

• □ Teaching ________________________________________________
• □ Clinical practice ________________________________________________
• □ Research ________________________________________________

Q10 Please rate your level of agreement with the following statements (9=strongly agree, 1=strongly disagree).

Q11 Thinking about your overall UIC library experience, please describe how the library has impacted your teaching, clinical practice, research or administrative work.

________________________________________________________________

Q12 Please provide any other comments about the UIC Library, its collections, services or website.

Thank you for completing the UIC Library Faculty Survey 2022. Your responses will help us improve Library services and resources.

Did you know … ?  Your liaison librarian can provide specific resources and tips for students to complete research assignments.

If you can’t get a book at the library, we can usually obtain a copy for you through interlibrary loan or purchase it for the collection.

If you can’t get a journal article through the library’s collection, we can usually obtain a copy for you through interlibrary loan in an average of four days (often much faster).  

If you need assistance with selecting appropriate platforms to make OERs (Open Educational Resources) materials available to students, please contact Chat with a Librarian ( library.uic.edu ). 

You can link to the library through your Blackboard course site. You will not be able to return to the survey.  Once you click Next , you will be taken to a separate survey where you can enter a drawing to win one of six items valued at $100-$200.

* Jung Mi Scoulas is Assistant Professor and Assessment Coordinator, University Library, University of Illinois Chicago, email: [email protected] ; Sandra L. De Groote is Professor and Head of Assessment and Scholarly Communications, University Library, University of Illinois Chicago. ©2024 Jung Mi Scoulas and Sandra L. De Groote, Attribution-NonCommercial ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ ) CC BY-NC.

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Evaluation of interleukin-18 levels in patients affected by multiple myeloma and monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance: analysis and review of the literature

Affiliation.

• 1 Department of Human Pathology in Adulthood and Childhood "Gaetano Barresi", Division of Hematology, University of Messina, Messina, Italy. [email protected].
• PMID: 38946385
• DOI: 10.26355/eurrev_202406_36465

Objective: Monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) is a preneoplastic disease that often precedes multiple myeloma. The multistep evolutionary pattern of multiple myeloma is driven by genetic instability, a pro-inflammatory and immunosuppressive microenvironment, and tumor growth. Inflammation has long been recognized as a factor in both the onset and progression of cancer.

Patients and methods: In this study, interleukin-18 plasma levels were compared in patients with multiple myeloma and monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance, as well as in a group of healthy controls.

Results: Our study shows that monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance patients have lower levels of interleukin-18 than healthy controls (521.657 ± 168.493 pg/ml vs. 1,266.481 ± 658.091 pg/ml for controls, p < 0.001). Thus, we discovered a significant difference in interleukin-18 levels between multiple myeloma patients and controls (418.177 ± 197.837 pg/ml; p = 0.001).

Conclusions: In our work, we identified a reduction of interleukin-18 in monoclonal gammopathies. Furthermore, in this paper, we aimed to evaluate the existing literature on the potential mechanisms of action of this pro-inflammatory cytokine in the development of these diseases.

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