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Why Is Literature Review In Research?

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This essay focuses on the importance of literature review in research. Robinson & Reed (1998: 58), defines a literature review as “a systematic search of published work to find out what is already known about the intended research topic.” According to Baker literature review is a text of a scholarly paper, which includes the current knowledge including substantive findings, as well as theoretical and methodological contributions to a particular topic. Literature reviews are secondary sources, and do not report new or original experimental work. Most often associated with academic-oriented literature, such reviews are found in academic journals, and are not to be confused with book reviews that may also appear in the same publication (Baker 2001:217). Literature review it answers questions such as: are there different approaches in the literature? How do they differ? How do you evaluate these differences? Is the methodology of one group of authors better than that of others? Why?
A literature review serves many important purposes, …show more content…

It is often useful to review the types of studies that previous researchers have launched as a means of determining what approaches might be of most benefit in further developing the topic. By the same token, a review of previously conducted studies might lend itself to researchers determining a new angle for approaching a research (Machi, 2012: 67). Looking at the importance of literature review we find that it is important to perform the literature review because it helps to identify gaps in knowledge. It helps the researcher to provide an intellectual context for his work and enable the researcher to position the research in relation to others in the field. It demonstrate the depth of the researcher’s knowledge about the research. It identifies the methods and ideas that may be relevant to the

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