The Literature Review
The literature review examines what others have researched and written on your
research topic. Each research topic includes numerous areas or themes to examine. Once
you have identify themes within your area of research begin with an outline. This will
allow you to see what areas exist and then you can find gaps. Fill in the gaps.
Now that you have a full outline, begin with a topic sentence related to the subtopics you
have identified. Next, find literature you identified in the annotated bibliography that
relates to this topic and use these sources to critically evaluate the topic. You may find
agreement, disagreement, overlap, and gaps in the literature. The gaps and
disagreements are areas in which you can determine if your research may address. If so,
this adds to the validity of the research. If not, this gap or disagreement may be an area
of future study. You may find you need more literature at this point and you can return to
the academic databases in the library to refine your searches. You should ensure that you
look at other business sectors as you compile your literature review. We can not solve
problems through research only looking within our discipline. If we had the answer, we
would not need to conduct research.
While there are not page minimums or maximums on the literature review, the literature
review provides a basis for your study and must cover all of the literature and topics
related to research study. Failure to connect your research to the literature will lessen the
strength of your study.
A recorded webinar on the literature review and its contents, purpose and connection to
the overall research study is located through the APUS library.
A recorded webinar on the development of Research Questions and Literature Review can
be found.
