This manual discusses the following.
- What is a literature review?
- Topic for the literature review
- How to conduct a literature search
- Format and printing requirements
- Submission requirements
Body
- May have sub-headings as a way to create a logical structure
- Organise the literature according to common themes
- For example, studies which find similar results or studies which use a similarmethod or studies by country or studies in chronological order
- Highlight the key results (i.e. findings) of each study and compare/contrast the findingsbetween studies
- Evaluate the methods used (such as pros and cons)
- Identify and discuss trends and points of agreement or disagreement between studies
- May use clauses such as
- Several studies have found evidence supporting…
- Skinner et al (2009) examine the relationship between.. and find that
- In contrast, Chen et al (2012) show that
- While most studies adopt… , Allen and Michaely (2003) employ..
- This study contributes to the literature by..
- Consistent with the findings of prior studies, Brav et al (2005) find that..
- Contrary to the expectation, Graham and Kumar (2006) do not find..
- Several studies provide direct evidence of … by examining…
- The mixed evidence is found on ..
- They develop more refined tests by employing..
- These results are all consistent with the idea that …
- In addition, the results suggest that
- The evidence in favour of … is scant.
- The literature has paid less attention to.