Effective Scholarly Literature Reviews

SCHOLARLY LITERATURE REVIEW

Scholarly Literature Review Discussion Thread

A literature review is a synthesis of scholarly sources addressing a topic or theory of interest (Fink, 2014). It is a collection of selected materials that are considered most significant and relevant to the topic, which the researcher uses to demonstrate what has already been done on the topic. God Himself lays the Biblical foundation for literature reviews by encouraging Christians to acknowledge the contribution of others in their daily living in Ruth 2, which states that “the Lord repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given to you by the Lord” (Ruth 2: 12). In summary, a literature review provides a glimpse of what other researchers have done and the existing knowledge gaps, which provide the rationale for conducting the current research (Fink, 2014).

From my perspective, a literature review is more than a simple summary of relevant scholarly sources. Instead, it is a synthesis of relevant sources that requires the reviewer to trace all relevant information to show intellectual progression, evaluate the reviewed sources, and identify the knowledge gaps in the area of interest. Knowledge gaps in literature review are the gaps that exist in the study area as a result of varying findings across reviewed literature or an understudying of the topic area. In evaluating an article, the reviewer does not just state its overall findings, but also analyses the strengths and weaknesses of the methodologies adopted and research processes that may enhance or cast doubt on the validity of the findings. They look at the provenance, which is how well the arguments advanced in the study are supported by existing evidence, and also evaluate how convincing the arguments are, and whether or not the article findings add value to the general understanding of the topic (Fink, 2014).

The process of developing a scholarly literature review is made up of four steps. The first step is to define the goal in carrying out the review. One may initiate a literature review to evaluate a certain theory, develop a thesis statement for their argument paper, or as part of academic research to identify knowledge gaps. Identifying one’s goal helps keep the focus and direction of the review (Ridley, 2012). For instance, if the goal is to evaluate a theory, the reviewer will develop a hypothesis based on the theory, which then dictates what articles to include in their review.

Once the goal is clear, the next step is to do the research, which involves reviewing sources relevant to the goal and selecting which ones to include as part of the review. At this stage, the reviewer identifies the top voices in their topic area and the most relevant publications to obtain a feel of what the literature says and the gaps that exist (Ridley, 2012).

The next step is to assess the relevance of the articles identified in the previous step by trying to establish how each one relates to the reviewer’s topic and the value they bring to the topic area in general (Ridley, 2012). It is important to assess relevance based on multiple factors including article age, provenance, objectivity, value, and the appropriateness of the adopted methodology. The final step then is to arrange the final list of sources logically in a way that depicts progression of the idea under study and in a chronological order from the least to the most recent, delineating the findings as well as the strengths and weaknesses of each reviewed article. It is prudent to establish synthesis by showing how each article feeds into the other such as how they relate in terms of findings and how one takes care of the weaknesses identified in the other.