literature review example information technology

Get science-backed answers as you write with Paperpal's Research feature

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: 
• 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  

• 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. 
• 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. 
• 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. 
• 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. 
• 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. 
• 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. 

How to write a good literature review

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. 

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. 

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 literature review is an ongoing process, and it may be necessary to revisit and update it as your research progresses. 

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 . 

Paperpal is an AI writing assistant that help academics write better, faster with real-time suggestions for in-depth language and grammar correction. Trained on millions of research manuscripts enhanced by professional academic editors, Paperpal delivers human precision at machine speed.  

Try it for free or upgrade to  Paperpal Prime , which unlocks unlimited access to premium features like academic translation, paraphrasing, contextual synonyms, consistency checks and more. It’s like always having a professional academic editor by your side! Go beyond limitations and experience the future of academic writing.  Get Paperpal Prime now at just US$19 a month!

Related Reads:

• Empirical Research: A Comprehensive Guide for Academics 
• How to Write a Scientific Paper in 10 Steps 
• Life Sciences Papers: 9 Tips for Authors Writing in Biological Sciences
• What is an Argumentative Essay? How to Write It (With Examples)

6 Tips for Post-Doc Researchers to Take Their Career to the Next Level

Self-plagiarism in research: what it is and how to avoid it, you may also like, how to write a hypothesis types and examples , measuring academic success: definition & strategies for excellence, what is academic writing: tips for students, why traditional editorial process needs an upgrade, paperpal’s new ai research finder empowers authors to..., what is hedging in academic writing  , how to use ai to enhance your college..., ai + human expertise – a paradigm shift..., how to use paperpal to generate emails &..., ai in education: it’s time to change the....

• Resources Home 🏠
• Try SciSpace Copilot
• Search research papers
• Add Copilot Extension
• Try AI Detector
• Try Paraphraser
• Try Citation Generator
• April Papers
• June Papers
• July Papers

How To Write A Literature Review - A Complete Guide

Table of Contents

A literature review is much more than just another section in your research paper. It forms the very foundation of your research. It is a formal piece of writing where you analyze the existing theoretical framework, principles, and assumptions and use that as a base to shape your approach to the research question.

Curating and drafting a solid literature review section not only lends more credibility to your research paper but also makes your research tighter and better focused. But, writing literature reviews is a difficult task. It requires extensive reading, plus you have to consider market trends and technological and political changes, which tend to change in the blink of an eye.

Now streamline your literature review process with the help of SciSpace Copilot. With this AI research assistant, you can efficiently synthesize and analyze a vast amount of information, identify key themes and trends, and uncover gaps in the existing research. Get real-time explanations, summaries, and answers to your questions for the paper you're reviewing, making navigating and understanding the complex literature landscape easier.

In this comprehensive guide, we will explore everything from the definition of a literature review, its appropriate length, various types of literature reviews, and how to write one.

What is a literature review?

A literature review is a collation of survey, research, critical evaluation, and assessment of the existing literature in a preferred domain.

Eminent researcher and academic Arlene Fink, in her book Conducting Research Literature Reviews , defines it as the following:

“A literature review surveys books, scholarly articles, and any other sources relevant to a particular issue, area of research, or theory, and by so doing, provides a description, summary, and critical evaluation of these works in relation to the research problem being investigated.

Literature reviews are designed to provide an overview of sources you have explored while researching a particular topic, and to demonstrate to your readers how your research fits within a larger field of study.”

Simply put, a literature review can be defined as a critical discussion of relevant pre-existing research around your research question and carving out a definitive place for your study in the existing body of knowledge. Literature reviews can be presented in multiple ways: a section of an article, the whole research paper itself, or a chapter of your thesis.

A literature review does function as a summary of sources, but it also allows you to analyze further, interpret, and examine the stated theories, methods, viewpoints, and, of course, the gaps in the existing content.

As an author, you can discuss and interpret the research question and its various aspects and debate your adopted methods to support the claim.

What is the purpose of a literature review?

A literature review is meant to help your readers understand the relevance of your research question and where it fits within the existing body of knowledge. As a researcher, you should use it to set the context, build your argument, and establish the need for your study.

What is the importance of a literature review?

The literature review is a critical part of research papers because it helps you:

• Gain an in-depth understanding of your research question and the surrounding area
• Convey that you have a thorough understanding of your research area and are up-to-date with the latest changes and advancements
• Establish how your research is connected or builds on the existing body of knowledge and how it could contribute to further research
• Elaborate on the validity and suitability of your theoretical framework and research methodology
• Identify and highlight gaps and shortcomings in the existing body of knowledge and how things need to change
• Convey to readers how your study is different or how it contributes to the research area

How long should a literature review be?

Ideally, the literature review should take up 15%-40% of the total length of your manuscript. So, if you have a 10,000-word research paper, the minimum word count could be 1500.

Your literature review format depends heavily on the kind of manuscript you are writing — an entire chapter in case of doctoral theses, a part of the introductory section in a research article, to a full-fledged review article that examines the previously published research on a topic.

Another determining factor is the type of research you are doing. The literature review section tends to be longer for secondary research projects than primary research projects.

What are the different types of literature reviews?

All literature reviews are not the same. There are a variety of possible approaches that you can take. It all depends on the type of research you are pursuing.

Here are the different types of literature reviews:

Argumentative review

It is called an argumentative review when you carefully present literature that only supports or counters a specific argument or premise to establish a viewpoint.

Integrative review

It is a type of literature review focused on building a comprehensive understanding of a topic by combining available theoretical frameworks and empirical evidence.

Methodological review

This approach delves into the ''how'' and the ''what" of the research question —  you cannot look at the outcome in isolation; you should also review the methodology used.

Systematic review

This form consists of an overview of existing evidence pertinent to a clearly formulated research question, which uses pre-specified and standardized methods to identify and critically appraise relevant research and collect, report, and analyze data from the studies included in the review.

Meta-analysis review

Meta-analysis uses statistical methods to summarize the results of independent studies. By combining information from all relevant studies, meta-analysis can provide more precise estimates of the effects than those derived from the individual studies included within a review.

Historical review

Historical literature reviews focus on examining research throughout a period, often starting with the first time an issue, concept, theory, or phenomenon emerged in the literature, then tracing its evolution within the scholarship of a discipline. The purpose is to place research in a historical context to show familiarity with state-of-the-art developments and identify future research's likely directions.

Theoretical Review

This form aims to examine the corpus of theory accumulated regarding an issue, concept, theory, and phenomenon. The theoretical literature review helps to establish what theories exist, the relationships between them, the degree the existing approaches have been investigated, and to develop new hypotheses to be tested.

Scoping Review

The Scoping Review is often used at the beginning of an article, dissertation, or research proposal. It is conducted before the research to highlight gaps in the existing body of knowledge and explains why the project should be greenlit.

State-of-the-Art Review

The State-of-the-Art review is conducted periodically, focusing on the most recent research. It describes what is currently known, understood, or agreed upon regarding the research topic and highlights where there are still disagreements.

Can you use the first person in a literature review?

When writing literature reviews, you should avoid the usage of first-person pronouns. It means that instead of "I argue that" or "we argue that," the appropriate expression would be "this research paper argues that."

Do you need an abstract for a literature review?

Ideally, yes. It is always good to have a condensed summary that is self-contained and independent of the rest of your review. As for how to draft one, you can follow the same fundamental idea when preparing an abstract for a literature review. It should also include:

• The research topic and your motivation behind selecting it
• A one-sentence thesis statement
• An explanation of the kinds of literature featured in the review
• Summary of what you've learned
• Conclusions you drew from the literature you reviewed
• Potential implications and future scope for research

Here's an example of the abstract of a literature review

Is a literature review written in the past tense?

Yes, the literature review should ideally be written in the past tense. You should not use the present or future tense when writing one. The exceptions are when you have statements describing events that happened earlier than the literature you are reviewing or events that are currently occurring; then, you can use the past perfect or present perfect tenses.

How many sources for a literature review?

There are multiple approaches to deciding how many sources to include in a literature review section. The first approach would be to look level you are at as a researcher. For instance, a doctoral thesis might need 60+ sources. In contrast, you might only need to refer to 5-15 sources at the undergraduate level.

The second approach is based on the kind of literature review you are doing — whether it is merely a chapter of your paper or if it is a self-contained paper in itself. When it is just a chapter, sources should equal the total number of pages in your article's body. In the second scenario, you need at least three times as many sources as there are pages in your work.

Quick tips on how to write a literature review

To know how to write a literature review, you must clearly understand its impact and role in establishing your work as substantive research material.

You need to follow the below-mentioned steps, to write a literature review:

• Outline the purpose behind the literature review
• Search relevant literature
• Examine and assess the relevant resources
• Discover connections by drawing deep insights from the resources
• Structure planning to write a good literature review

1. Outline and identify the purpose of  a literature review

As a first step on how to write a literature review, you must know what the research question or topic is and what shape you want your literature review to take. Ensure you understand the research topic inside out, or else seek clarifications. You must be able to the answer below questions before you start:

• How many sources do I need to include?
• What kind of sources should I analyze?
• How much should I critically evaluate each source?
• Should I summarize, synthesize or offer a critique of the sources?
• Do I need to include any background information or definitions?

Additionally, you should know that the narrower your research topic is, the swifter it will be for you to restrict the number of sources to be analyzed.

2. Search relevant literature

Dig deeper into search engines to discover what has already been published around your chosen topic. Make sure you thoroughly go through appropriate reference sources like books, reports, journal articles, government docs, and web-based resources.

You must prepare a list of keywords and their different variations. You can start your search from any library’s catalog, provided you are an active member of that institution. The exact keywords can be extended to widen your research over other databases and academic search engines like:

• Google Scholar
• Microsoft Academic
• Science.gov

Besides, it is not advisable to go through every resource word by word. Alternatively, what you can do is you can start by reading the abstract and then decide whether that source is relevant to your research or not.

Additionally, you must spend surplus time assessing the quality and relevance of resources. It would help if you tried preparing a list of citations to ensure that there lies no repetition of authors, publications, or articles in the literature review.

3. Examine and assess the sources

It is nearly impossible for you to go through every detail in the research article. So rather than trying to fetch every detail, you have to analyze and decide which research sources resemble closest and appear relevant to your chosen domain.

While analyzing the sources, you should look to find out answers to questions like:

• What question or problem has the author been describing and debating?
• What is the definition of critical aspects?
• How well the theories, approach, and methodology have been explained?
• Whether the research theory used some conventional or new innovative approach?
• How relevant are the key findings of the work?
• In what ways does it relate to other sources on the same topic?
• What challenges does this research paper pose to the existing theory
• What are the possible contributions or benefits it adds to the subject domain?

Be always mindful that you refer only to credible and authentic resources. It would be best if you always take references from different publications to validate your theory.

Always keep track of important information or data you can present in your literature review right from the beginning. It will help steer your path from any threats of plagiarism and also make it easier to curate an annotated bibliography or reference section.

4. Discover connections

At this stage, you must start deciding on the argument and structure of your literature review. To accomplish this, you must discover and identify the relations and connections between various resources while drafting your abstract.

A few aspects that you should be aware of while writing a literature review include:

• Rise to prominence: Theories and methods that have gained reputation and supporters over time.
• Constant scrutiny: Concepts or theories that repeatedly went under examination.
• Contradictions and conflicts: Theories, both the supporting and the contradictory ones, for the research topic.
• Knowledge gaps: What exactly does it fail to address, and how to bridge them with further research?
• Influential resources: Significant research projects available that have been upheld as milestones or perhaps, something that can modify the current trends

Once you join the dots between various past research works, it will be easier for you to draw a conclusion and identify your contribution to the existing knowledge base.

5. Structure planning to write a good literature review

There exist different ways towards planning and executing the structure of a literature review. The format of a literature review varies and depends upon the length of the research.

Like any other research paper, the literature review format must contain three sections: introduction, body, and conclusion. The goals and objectives of the research question determine what goes inside these three sections.

Nevertheless, a good literature review can be structured according to the chronological, thematic, methodological, or theoretical framework approach.

Literature review samples

1. Standalone

2. As a section of a research paper

How SciSpace Discover makes literature review a breeze?

SciSpace Discover is a one-stop solution to do an effective literature search and get barrier-free access to scientific knowledge. It is an excellent repository where you can find millions of only peer-reviewed articles and full-text PDF files. Here’s more on how you can use it:

Find the right information

Find what you want quickly and easily with comprehensive search filters that let you narrow down papers according to PDF availability, year of publishing, document type, and affiliated institution. Moreover, you can sort the results based on the publishing date, citation count, and relevance.

Assess credibility of papers quickly

When doing the literature review, it is critical to establish the quality of your sources. They form the foundation of your research. SciSpace Discover helps you assess the quality of a source by providing an overview of its references, citations, and performance metrics.

Get the complete picture in no time

SciSpace Discover’s personalized suggestion engine helps you stay on course and get the complete picture of the topic from one place. Every time you visit an article page, it provides you links to related papers. Besides that, it helps you understand what’s trending, who are the top authors, and who are the leading publishers on a topic.

Make referring sources super easy

To ensure you don't lose track of your sources, you must start noting down your references when doing the literature review. SciSpace Discover makes this step effortless. Click the 'cite' button on an article page, and you will receive preloaded citation text in multiple styles — all you've to do is copy-paste it into your manuscript.

Final tips on how to write a literature review

A massive chunk of time and effort is required to write a good literature review. But, if you go about it systematically, you'll be able to save a ton of time and build a solid foundation for your research.

We hope this guide has helped you answer several key questions you have about writing literature reviews.

Would you like to explore SciSpace Discover and kick off your literature search right away? You can get started here .

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. how to start a literature review.

• What questions do you want to answer?

• What sources do you need to answer these questions?

• What information do these sources contain?

• How can you use this information to answer your questions?

2. What to include in a literature review?

• A brief background of the problem or issue

• What has previously been done to address the problem or issue

• A description of what you will do in your project

• How this study will contribute to research on the subject

3. Why literature review is important?

The literature review is an important part of any research project because it allows the writer to look at previous studies on a topic and determine existing gaps in the literature, as well as what has already been done. It will also help them to choose the most appropriate method for their own study.

4. How to cite a literature review in APA format?

To cite a literature review in APA style, you need to provide the author's name, the title of the article, and the year of publication. For example: Patel, A. B., & Stokes, G. S. (2012). The relationship between personality and intelligence: A meta-analysis of longitudinal research. Personality and Individual Differences, 53(1), 16-21

5. What are the components of a literature review?

• A brief introduction to the topic, including its background and context. The introduction should also include a rationale for why the study is being conducted and what it will accomplish.

• A description of the methodologies used in the study. This can include information about data collection methods, sample size, and statistical analyses.

• A presentation of the findings in an organized format that helps readers follow along with the author's conclusions.

6. What are common errors in writing literature review?

• Not spending enough time to critically evaluate the relevance of resources, observations and conclusions.

• Totally relying on secondary data while ignoring primary data.

• Letting your personal bias seep into your interpretation of existing literature.

• No detailed explanation of the procedure to discover and identify an appropriate literature review.

7. What are the 5 C's of writing literature review?

• Cite - the sources you utilized and referenced in your research.

• Compare - existing arguments, hypotheses, methodologies, and conclusions found in the knowledge base.

• Contrast - the arguments, topics, methodologies, approaches, and disputes that may be found in the literature.

• Critique - the literature and describe the ideas and opinions you find more convincing and why.

• Connect - the various studies you reviewed in your research.

8. How many sources should a literature review have?

When it is just a chapter, sources should equal the total number of pages in your article's body. if it is a self-contained paper in itself, you need at least three times as many sources as there are pages in your work.

9. Can literature review have diagrams?

• To represent an abstract idea or concept

• To explain the steps of a process or procedure

• To help readers understand the relationships between different concepts

10. How old should sources be in a literature review?

Sources for a literature review should be as current as possible or not older than ten years. The only exception to this rule is if you are reviewing a historical topic and need to use older sources.

11. What are the types of literature review?

• Argumentative review

• Integrative review

• Methodological review

• Systematic review

• Meta-analysis review

• Historical review

• Theoretical review

• Scoping review

• State-of-the-Art review

12. Is a literature review mandatory?

Yes. Literature review is a mandatory part of any research project. It is a critical step in the process that allows you to establish the scope of your research, and provide a background for the rest of your work.

But before you go,

• Six Online Tools for Easy Literature Review
• Evaluating literature review: systematic vs. scoping reviews
• Systematic Approaches to a Successful Literature Review
• Writing Integrative Literature Reviews: Guidelines and Examples

You might also like

Consensus GPT vs. SciSpace GPT: Choose the Best GPT for Research

Literature Review and Theoretical Framework: Understanding the Differences

Types of Essays in Academic Writing - Quick Guide (2024)

How To Write An A-Grade Literature Review

3 straightforward steps (with examples) + free template.

By: Derek Jansen (MBA) | Expert Reviewed By: Dr. Eunice Rautenbach | October 2019

Quality research is about building onto the existing work of others , “standing on the shoulders of giants”, as Newton put it. The literature review chapter of your dissertation, thesis or research project is where you synthesise this prior work and lay the theoretical foundation for your own research.

Long story short, this chapter is a pretty big deal, which is why you want to make sure you get it right . In this post, I’ll show you exactly how to write a literature review in three straightforward steps, so you can conquer this vital chapter (the smart way).

Overview: The Literature Review Process

• Understanding the “ why “
• Finding the relevant literature
• Cataloguing and synthesising the information
• Outlining & writing up your literature review
• Example of a literature review

But first, the “why”…

Before we unpack how to write the literature review chapter, we’ve got to look at the why . To put it bluntly, if you don’t understand the function and purpose of the literature review process, there’s no way you can pull it off well. So, what exactly is the purpose of the literature review?

Well, there are (at least) four core functions:

• For you to gain an understanding (and demonstrate this understanding) of where the research is at currently, what the key arguments and disagreements are.
• For you to identify the gap(s) in the literature and then use this as justification for your own research topic.
• To help you build a conceptual framework for empirical testing (if applicable to your research topic).
• To inform your methodological choices and help you source tried and tested questionnaires (for interviews ) and measurement instruments (for surveys ).

Most students understand the first point but don’t give any thought to the rest. To get the most from the literature review process, you must keep all four points front of mind as you review the literature (more on this shortly), or you’ll land up with a wonky foundation.

Okay – with the why out the way, let’s move on to the how . As mentioned above, writing your literature review is a process, which I’ll break down into three steps:

• Finding the most suitable literature
• Understanding , distilling and organising the literature
• Planning and writing up your literature review chapter

Importantly, you must complete steps one and two before you start writing up your chapter. I know it’s very tempting, but don’t try to kill two birds with one stone and write as you read. You’ll invariably end up wasting huge amounts of time re-writing and re-shaping, or you’ll just land up with a disjointed, hard-to-digest mess . Instead, you need to read first and distil the information, then plan and execute the writing.

Step 1: Find the relevant literature

Naturally, the first step in the literature review journey is to hunt down the existing research that’s relevant to your topic. While you probably already have a decent base of this from your research proposal , you need to expand on this substantially in the dissertation or thesis itself.

Essentially, you need to be looking for any existing literature that potentially helps you answer your research question (or develop it, if that’s not yet pinned down). There are numerous ways to find relevant literature, but I’ll cover my top four tactics here. I’d suggest combining all four methods to ensure that nothing slips past you:

Method 1 – Google Scholar Scrubbing

Google’s academic search engine, Google Scholar , is a great starting point as it provides a good high-level view of the relevant journal articles for whatever keyword you throw at it. Most valuably, it tells you how many times each article has been cited, which gives you an idea of how credible (or at least, popular) it is. Some articles will be free to access, while others will require an account, which brings us to the next method.

Method 2 – University Database Scrounging

Generally, universities provide students with access to an online library, which provides access to many (but not all) of the major journals.

So, if you find an article using Google Scholar that requires paid access (which is quite likely), search for that article in your university’s database – if it’s listed there, you’ll have access. Note that, generally, the search engine capabilities of these databases are poor, so make sure you search for the exact article name, or you might not find it.

Method 3 – Journal Article Snowballing

At the end of every academic journal article, you’ll find a list of references. As with any academic writing, these references are the building blocks of the article, so if the article is relevant to your topic, there’s a good chance a portion of the referenced works will be too. Do a quick scan of the titles and see what seems relevant, then search for the relevant ones in your university’s database.

Method 4 – Dissertation Scavenging

Similar to Method 3 above, you can leverage other students’ dissertations. All you have to do is skim through literature review chapters of existing dissertations related to your topic and you’ll find a gold mine of potential literature. Usually, your university will provide you with access to previous students’ dissertations, but you can also find a much larger selection in the following databases:

• Open Access Theses & Dissertations
• Stanford SearchWorks

Keep in mind that dissertations and theses are not as academically sound as published, peer-reviewed journal articles (because they’re written by students, not professionals), so be sure to check the credibility of any sources you find using this method. You can do this by assessing the citation count of any given article in Google Scholar. If you need help with assessing the credibility of any article, or with finding relevant research in general, you can chat with one of our Research Specialists .

Alright – with a good base of literature firmly under your belt, it’s time to move onto the next step.

Need a helping hand?

Step 2: Log, catalogue and synthesise

Once you’ve built a little treasure trove of articles, it’s time to get reading and start digesting the information – what does it all mean?

While I present steps one and two (hunting and digesting) as sequential, in reality, it’s more of a back-and-forth tango – you’ll read a little , then have an idea, spot a new citation, or a new potential variable, and then go back to searching for articles. This is perfectly natural – through the reading process, your thoughts will develop , new avenues might crop up, and directional adjustments might arise. This is, after all, one of the main purposes of the literature review process (i.e. to familiarise yourself with the current state of research in your field).

As you’re working through your treasure chest, it’s essential that you simultaneously start organising the information. There are three aspects to this:

• Logging reference information
• Building an organised catalogue
• Distilling and synthesising the information

I’ll discuss each of these below:

2.1 – Log the reference information

As you read each article, you should add it to your reference management software. I usually recommend Mendeley for this purpose (see the Mendeley 101 video below), but you can use whichever software you’re comfortable with. Most importantly, make sure you load EVERY article you read into your reference manager, even if it doesn’t seem very relevant at the time.

2.2 – Build an organised catalogue

In the beginning, you might feel confident that you can remember who said what, where, and what their main arguments were. Trust me, you won’t. If you do a thorough review of the relevant literature (as you must!), you’re going to read many, many articles, and it’s simply impossible to remember who said what, when, and in what context . Also, without the bird’s eye view that a catalogue provides, you’ll miss connections between various articles, and have no view of how the research developed over time. Simply put, it’s essential to build your own catalogue of the literature.

I would suggest using Excel to build your catalogue, as it allows you to run filters, colour code and sort – all very useful when your list grows large (which it will). How you lay your spreadsheet out is up to you, but I’d suggest you have the following columns (at minimum):

• Author, date, title – Start with three columns containing this core information. This will make it easy for you to search for titles with certain words, order research by date, or group by author.
• Categories or keywords – You can either create multiple columns, one for each category/theme and then tick the relevant categories, or you can have one column with keywords.
• Key arguments/points – Use this column to succinctly convey the essence of the article, the key arguments and implications thereof for your research.
• Context – Note the socioeconomic context in which the research was undertaken. For example, US-based, respondents aged 25-35, lower- income, etc. This will be useful for making an argument about gaps in the research.
• Methodology – Note which methodology was used and why. Also, note any issues you feel arise due to the methodology. Again, you can use this to make an argument about gaps in the research.
• Quotations – Note down any quoteworthy lines you feel might be useful later.
• Notes – Make notes about anything not already covered. For example, linkages to or disagreements with other theories, questions raised but unanswered, shortcomings or limitations, and so forth.

If you’d like, you can try out our free catalog template here (see screenshot below).

2.3 – Digest and synthesise

Most importantly, as you work through the literature and build your catalogue, you need to synthesise all the information in your own mind – how does it all fit together? Look for links between the various articles and try to develop a bigger picture view of the state of the research. Some important questions to ask yourself are:

• What answers does the existing research provide to my own research questions ?
• Which points do the researchers agree (and disagree) on?
• How has the research developed over time?
• Where do the gaps in the current research lie?

To help you develop a big-picture view and synthesise all the information, you might find mind mapping software such as Freemind useful. Alternatively, if you’re a fan of physical note-taking, investing in a large whiteboard might work for you.

Step 3: Outline and write it up!

Once you’re satisfied that you have digested and distilled all the relevant literature in your mind, it’s time to put pen to paper (or rather, fingers to keyboard). There are two steps here – outlining and writing:

3.1 – Draw up your outline

Having spent so much time reading, it might be tempting to just start writing up without a clear structure in mind. However, it’s critically important to decide on your structure and develop a detailed outline before you write anything. Your literature review chapter needs to present a clear, logical and an easy to follow narrative – and that requires some planning. Don’t try to wing it!

Naturally, you won’t always follow the plan to the letter, but without a detailed outline, you’re more than likely going to end up with a disjointed pile of waffle , and then you’re going to spend a far greater amount of time re-writing, hacking and patching. The adage, “measure twice, cut once” is very suitable here.

In terms of structure, the first decision you’ll have to make is whether you’ll lay out your review thematically (into themes) or chronologically (by date/period). The right choice depends on your topic, research objectives and research questions, which we discuss in this article .

Once that’s decided, you need to draw up an outline of your entire chapter in bullet point format. Try to get as detailed as possible, so that you know exactly what you’ll cover where, how each section will connect to the next, and how your entire argument will develop throughout the chapter. Also, at this stage, it’s a good idea to allocate rough word count limits for each section, so that you can identify word count problems before you’ve spent weeks or months writing!

PS – check out our free literature review chapter template…

3.2 – Get writing

With a detailed outline at your side, it’s time to start writing up (finally!). At this stage, it’s common to feel a bit of writer’s block and find yourself procrastinating under the pressure of finally having to put something on paper. To help with this, remember that the objective of the first draft is not perfection – it’s simply to get your thoughts out of your head and onto paper, after which you can refine them. The structure might change a little, the word count allocations might shift and shuffle, and you might add or remove a section – that’s all okay. Don’t worry about all this on your first draft – just get your thoughts down on paper.

Once you’ve got a full first draft (however rough it may be), step away from it for a day or two (longer if you can) and then come back at it with fresh eyes. Pay particular attention to the flow and narrative – does it fall fit together and flow from one section to another smoothly? Now’s the time to try to improve the linkage from each section to the next, tighten up the writing to be more concise, trim down word count and sand it down into a more digestible read.

Once you’ve done that, give your writing to a friend or colleague who is not a subject matter expert and ask them if they understand the overall discussion. The best way to assess this is to ask them to explain the chapter back to you. This technique will give you a strong indication of which points were clearly communicated and which weren’t. If you’re working with Grad Coach, this is a good time to have your Research Specialist review your chapter.

Finally, tighten it up and send it off to your supervisor for comment. Some might argue that you should be sending your work to your supervisor sooner than this (indeed your university might formally require this), but in my experience, supervisors are extremely short on time (and often patience), so, the more refined your chapter is, the less time they’ll waste on addressing basic issues (which you know about already) and the more time they’ll spend on valuable feedback that will increase your mark-earning potential.

Literature Review Example

In the video below, we unpack an actual literature review so that you can see how all the core components come together in reality.

Let’s Recap

In this post, we’ve covered how to research and write up a high-quality literature review chapter. Let’s do a quick recap of the key takeaways:

• It is essential to understand the WHY of the literature review before you read or write anything. Make sure you understand the 4 core functions of the process.
• The first step is to hunt down the relevant literature . You can do this using Google Scholar, your university database, the snowballing technique and by reviewing other dissertations and theses.
• Next, you need to log all the articles in your reference manager , build your own catalogue of literature and synthesise all the research.
• Following that, you need to develop a detailed outline of your entire chapter – the more detail the better. Don’t start writing without a clear outline (on paper, not in your head!)
• Write up your first draft in rough form – don’t aim for perfection. Remember, done beats perfect.
• Refine your second draft and get a layman’s perspective on it . Then tighten it up and submit it to your supervisor.

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 .

You Might Also Like:

38 Comments

Thank you very much. This page is an eye opener and easy to comprehend.

This is awesome!

I wish I come across GradCoach earlier enough.

But all the same I’ll make use of this opportunity to the fullest.

Thank you for this good job.

Keep it up!

You’re welcome, Yinka. Thank you for the kind words. All the best writing your literature review.

Thank you for a very useful literature review session. Although I am doing most of the steps…it being my first masters an Mphil is a self study and one not sure you are on the right track. I have an amazing supervisor but one also knows they are super busy. So not wanting to bother on the minutae. Thank you.

You’re most welcome, Renee. Good luck with your literature review 🙂

This has been really helpful. Will make full use of it. 🙂

Thank you Gradcoach.

Really agreed. Admirable effort

thank you for this beautiful well explained recap.

Thank you so much for your guide of video and other instructions for the dissertation writing.

It is instrumental. It encouraged me to write a dissertation now.

Thank you the video was great – from someone that knows nothing thankyou

an amazing and very constructive way of presetting a topic, very useful, thanks for the effort,

It is timely

It is very good video of guidance for writing a research proposal and a dissertation. Since I have been watching and reading instructions, I have started my research proposal to write. I appreciate to Mr Jansen hugely.

I learn a lot from your videos. Very comprehensive and detailed.

Thank you for sharing your knowledge. As a research student, you learn better with your learning tips in research

I was really stuck in reading and gathering information but after watching these things are cleared thanks, it is so helpful.

Really helpful, Thank you for the effort in showing such information

This is super helpful thank you very much.

Thank you for this whole literature writing review.You have simplified the process.

I’m so glad I found GradCoach. Excellent information, Clear explanation, and Easy to follow, Many thanks Derek!

You’re welcome, Maithe. Good luck writing your literature review 🙂

Thank you Coach, you have greatly enriched and improved my knowledge

Great piece, so enriching and it is going to help me a great lot in my project and thesis, thanks so much

This is THE BEST site for ANYONE doing a masters or doctorate! Thank you for the sound advice and templates. You rock!

Thanks, Stephanie 🙂

This is mind blowing, the detailed explanation and simplicity is perfect.

I am doing two papers on my final year thesis, and I must stay I feel very confident to face both headlong after reading this article.

thank you so much.

if anyone is to get a paper done on time and in the best way possible, GRADCOACH is certainly the go to area!

This is very good video which is well explained with detailed explanation

Thank you excellent piece of work and great mentoring

Thanks, it was useful

Thank you very much. the video and the information were very helpful.

Good morning scholar. I’m delighted coming to know you even before the commencement of my dissertation which hopefully is expected in not more than six months from now. I would love to engage my study under your guidance from the beginning to the end. I love to know how to do good job

Thank you so much Derek for such useful information on writing up a good literature review. I am at a stage where I need to start writing my one. My proposal was accepted late last year but I honestly did not know where to start

Like the name of your YouTube implies you are GRAD (great,resource person, about dissertation). In short you are smart enough in coaching research work.

This is a very well thought out webpage. Very informative and a great read.

Very timely.

I appreciate.

Very comprehensive and eye opener for me as beginner in postgraduate study. Well explained and easy to understand. Appreciate and good reference in guiding me in my research journey. Thank you

Thank you. I requested to download the free literature review template, however, your website wouldn’t allow me to complete the request or complete a download. May I request that you email me the free template? Thank you.

Submit a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

• Print Friendly

Literature Reviews

• What is a Literature Review?
• Concept Mapping
• Writing a Proposal
• For Faculty

Need help? Ask a librarian

Literature Reviews in PhD Theses

• Dissertations & Theses @ New Jersey Institute of Technology This link opens in a new window Access to the dissertations produced by graduate students at NJIT. In addition to citations and abstracts, the service provides free access to 24 page previews. Full-text in PDF format available from 1997 to current. NOTE: NJIT theses are available available in Digital Commons .

Examples of Lit Reviews in Journals

• Sample Lit Review in CS "A systematic literature review of actionable alert identification techniques for automated static code analysis"
• Sample Lit Review in ECE This study presents a systematic review of the relevant literature between the years 2004 and 2015, focusing on medical teleoperated robotic systems which have witnessed tremendous growth over the examined period.
• Sample Lit Review in IS O'Donnell, E., & David, J. S. (2000). How information systems influence user decisions: a research framework and literature review. International Journal Of Accounting Information Systems, 1178-203.
• Sample Lit Review in Biology Wong, B. M., & Candolin, U. (2005). How is female mate choice affected by male competition?. Biological Reviews Of The Cambridge Philosophical Society, 80(4), 559-571.
• Sample Lit Review IE (Industrial Engineering) This paper converges the discussions on social capital in the operations management literature by way of a systematic literature review of 3- and 4-star journals. Human resource management, voluntary work and entrepreneurship were identified as minor them
• Sample Lit Review in Marketing Cairns, G., Angus, K., Hastings, G., & Caraher, M. (2013). Research Review: Systematic reviews of the evidence on the nature, extent and effects of food marketing to children. A retrospective summary. "Appetite" 62(1):309-315.
• Sample Lit Review - Environment Eerkes-Medrano, D., Thompson, R., & Aldridge, D. (2015). Microplastics in freshwater systems: A review of the emerging threats, identification of knowledge gaps and prioritisation of research needs. Water Research, 75, 63–82. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2015.02.012
• Sample Lit Review-interdisciplinary Turner, M., Kitchenham, B., Brereton, P., Charters, S., & Budgen, D. (2010). Does the technology acceptance model predict actual use? A systematic literature review. Information and Software Technology, 52(5), 463–479.
• << Previous: Basics
• Next: Concept Mapping >>
• Last Updated: Apr 29, 2024 4:24 PM
• URL: https://researchguides.njit.edu/literaturereview

Computer Science

• Key resources
• Databases and journal articles
• Standards and patents

What is a literature review?

Finding the gaps and advances in your area, literature review resources, annotated bibliography.

A literature review is a survey and critical analysis of what has been written on a particular topic, theory, question or method.

What is its purpose?

• justify your research
• provide context for your research
• ensure that the research has not been done before
• highlight flaws in previous research
• identify new ways, to interpret and highlight gaps in previous research
• signpost a way forward for further research
• show where your research fits into the existing literature
• Literature reviews guide The Literature reviews guide contains detailed information on the process of searching for and producing literature reviews.
• Scopus A multidisciplinary abstract and citation database of peer reviewed literature, book reviews and conference proceedings.
• Web of Science A collection of citation databases and citation analysis tools covering the sciences, social sciences, arts and humanities.
• IEEE Xplore digital library Provides full-text access to IEEE and IEE transactions, journals, magazines and conference proceedings published since 1988 and current IEEE Standards.
• ACM digital library publications Full text of every article published by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and bibliographic citations from major publishers in computing
• Annual reviews online This database provides review journals from across the sciences, with articles that review significant primary research literature.
• Cited reference searching

Books and other resources for approaches and methods on doing a literature review. See the Literature reviews guide .

An annotated bibliography provides:

• a list of references presenting a brief summary of the main arguments or ideas of each resource.
• a critique or evaluation of the resource's usefulness, reliability, objectivity or bias
• a reflection on how the resource fits into your research.
• << Previous: Multimedia
• Last Updated: Nov 29, 2023 12:58 PM
• URL: https://guides.library.uq.edu.au/computer-science

Literature review: your definitive guide

Joanna Wilkinson

This is our ultimate guide on how to write a narrative literature review. It forms part of our Research Smarter series . 

How do you write a narrative literature review?

Researchers worldwide are increasingly reliant on literature reviews. That’s because review articles provide you with a broad picture of the field, and help to synthesize published research that’s expanding at a rapid pace .

In some academic fields, researchers publish more literature reviews than original research papers. The graph below shows the substantial growth of narrative literature reviews in the Web of Science™, alongside the percentage increase of reviews when compared to all document types.

It’s critical that researchers across all career levels understand how to produce an objective, critical summary of published research. This is no easy feat, but a necessary one. Professionally constructed literature reviews – whether written by a student in class or an experienced researcher for publication – should aim to add to the literature rather than detract from it.

To help you write a narrative literature review, we’ve put together some top tips in this blog post.

Best practice tips to write a narrative literature review:

• Don’t miss a paper: tips for a thorough topic search
• Identify key papers (and know how to use them)
• Tips for working with co-authors
• Find the right journal for your literature review using actual data
• Discover literature review examples and templates

We’ll also provide an overview of all the products helpful for your next narrative review, including the Web of Science, EndNote™ and Journal Citation Reports™.

1. Don’t miss a paper: tips for a thorough topic search

Once you’ve settled on your research question, coming up with a good set of keywords to find papers on your topic can be daunting. This isn’t surprising. Put simply, if you fail to include a relevant paper when you write a narrative literature review, the omission will probably get picked up by your professor or peer reviewers. The end result will likely be a low mark or an unpublished manuscript, neither of which will do justice to your many months of hard work.

Research databases and search engines are an integral part of any literature search. It’s important you utilize as many options available through your library as possible. This will help you search an entire discipline (as well as across disciplines) for a thorough narrative review.

We provide a short summary of the various databases and search engines in an earlier Research Smarter blog . These include the Web of Science , Science.gov and the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).

Like what you see? Share it with others on Twitter:

[bctt tweet=”Writing a #LiteratureReview? Check out the latest @clarivateAG blog for top tips (from topic searches to working with coauthors), examples, templates and more”]

Searching the Web of Science

The Web of Science is a multidisciplinary research engine that contains over 170 million papers from more than 250 academic disciplines. All of the papers in the database are interconnected via citations. That means once you get started with your keyword search, you can follow the trail of cited and citing papers to efficiently find all the relevant literature. This is a great way to ensure you’re not missing anything important when you write a narrative literature review.

We recommend starting your search in the Web of Science Core Collection™. This database covers more than 21,000 carefully selected journals. It is a trusted source to find research papers, and discover top authors and journals (read more about its coverage here ).

Learn more about exploring the Core Collection in our blog, How to find research papers: five tips every researcher should know . Our blog covers various tips, including how to:

• Perform a topic search (and select your keywords)
• Explore the citation network
• Refine your results (refining your search results by reviews, for example, will help you avoid duplication of work, as well as identify trends and gaps in the literature)
• Save your search and set up email alerts

Try our tips on the Web of Science now.

2. Identify key papers (and know how to use them)

As you explore the Web of Science, you may notice that certain papers are marked as “Highly Cited.” These papers can play a significant role when you write a narrative literature review.

Highly Cited papers are recently published papers getting the most attention in your field right now. They form the top 1% of papers based on the number of citations received, compared to other papers published in the same field in the same year.

You will want to identify Highly Cited research as a group of papers. This group will help guide your analysis of the future of the field and opportunities for future research. This is an important component of your conclusion.

Writing reviews is hard work…[it] not only organizes published papers, but also positions t hem in the academic process and presents the future direction.   Prof. Susumu Kitagawa, Highly Cited Researcher, Kyoto University

3. Tips for working with co-authors

Writing a narrative review on your own is hard, but it can be even more challenging if you’re collaborating with a team, especially if your coauthors are working across multiple locations. Luckily, reference management software can improve the coordination between you and your co-authors—both around the department and around the world.

We’ve written about how to use EndNote’s Cite While You Write feature, which will help you save hundreds of hours when writing research . Here, we discuss the features that give you greater ease and control when collaborating with your colleagues.

Use EndNote for narrative reviews

Sharing references is essential for successful collaboration. With EndNote, you can store and share as many references, documents and files as you need with up to 100 people using the software.

You can share simultaneous access to one reference library, regardless of your colleague’s location or organization. You can also choose the type of access each user has on an individual basis. For example, Read-Write access means a select colleague can add and delete references, annotate PDF articles and create custom groups. They’ll also be able to see up to 500 of the team’s most recent changes to the reference library. Read-only is also an option for individuals who don’t need that level of access.

EndNote helps you overcome research limitations by synchronizing library changes every 15 minutes. That means your team can stay up-to-date at any time of the day, supporting an easier, more successful collaboration.

Start your free EndNote trial today .

4.Finding a journal for your literature review

Finding the right journal for your literature review can be a particular pain point for those of you who want to publish. The expansion of scholarly journals has made the task extremely difficult, and can potentially delay the publication of your work by many months.

We’ve written a blog about how you can find the right journal for your manuscript using a rich array of data. You can read our blog here , or head straight to Endnote’s Manuscript Matcher or Journal Citation Report s to try out the best tools for the job.

5. Discover literature review examples and templates

There are a few tips we haven’t covered in this blog, including how to decide on an area of research, develop an interesting storyline, and highlight gaps in the literature. We’ve listed a few blogs here that might help you with this, alongside some literature review examples and outlines to get you started.

Literature Review examples:

• Aggregation-induced emission
• Development and applications of CRISPR-Cas9 for genome engineering
• Object based image analysis for remote sensing

(Make sure you download the free EndNote™ Click browser plugin to access the full-text PDFs).

Templates and outlines:

• Learn how to write a review of literature , Univ. of Wisconsin – Madison
• Structuring a literature review , Australian National University
• Matrix Method for Literature Review: The Review Matrix , Duquesne University

Additional resources:

• Ten simple rules for writing a literature review , Editor, PLoS Computational Biology
• Video: How to write a literature review , UC San Diego Psychology

Related posts

Clarivate welcomes the barcelona declaration on open research information.

Demonstrating socioeconomic impact – a historical perspective of ancient wisdom and modern challenges

Unlocking U.K. research excellence: Key insights from the Research Professional News Live summit

• UWF Libraries

Literature Review: Conducting & Writing

• Sample Literature Reviews
• Steps for Conducting a Lit Review
• Finding "The Literature"
• Organizing/Writing
• APA Style This link opens in a new window
• Chicago: Notes Bibliography This link opens in a new window
• MLA Style This link opens in a new window

Sample Lit Reviews from Communication Arts

Have an exemplary literature review.

• Literature Review Sample 1
• Literature Review Sample 2
• Literature Review Sample 3

Have you written a stellar literature review you care to share for teaching purposes?

Are you an instructor who has received an exemplary literature review and have permission from the student to post?

Please contact Britt McGowan at [email protected] for inclusion in this guide. All disciplines welcome and encouraged.

• << Previous: MLA Style
• Next: Get Help! >>
• Last Updated: Mar 22, 2024 9:37 AM
• URL: https://libguides.uwf.edu/litreview

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

• Publications
• Account settings

Preview improvements coming to the PMC website in October 2024. Learn More or Try it out now .

• Advanced Search
• Journal List
• PLoS Comput Biol
• v.9(7); 2013 Jul

Ten Simple Rules for Writing a Literature Review

Marco pautasso.

1 Centre for Functional and Evolutionary Ecology (CEFE), CNRS, Montpellier, France

2 Centre for Biodiversity Synthesis and Analysis (CESAB), FRB, Aix-en-Provence, France

Literature reviews are in great demand in most scientific fields. Their need stems from the ever-increasing output of scientific publications [1] . For example, compared to 1991, in 2008 three, eight, and forty times more papers were indexed in Web of Science on malaria, obesity, and biodiversity, respectively [2] . Given such mountains of papers, scientists cannot be expected to examine in detail every single new paper relevant to their interests [3] . Thus, it is both advantageous and necessary to rely on regular summaries of the recent literature. Although recognition for scientists mainly comes from primary research, timely literature reviews can lead to new synthetic insights and are often widely read [4] . For such summaries to be useful, however, they need to be compiled in a professional way [5] .

When starting from scratch, reviewing the literature can require a titanic amount of work. That is why researchers who have spent their career working on a certain research issue are in a perfect position to review that literature. Some graduate schools are now offering courses in reviewing the literature, given that most research students start their project by producing an overview of what has already been done on their research issue [6] . However, it is likely that most scientists have not thought in detail about how to approach and carry out a literature review.

Reviewing the literature requires the ability to juggle multiple tasks, from finding and evaluating relevant material to synthesising information from various sources, from critical thinking to paraphrasing, evaluating, and citation skills [7] . In this contribution, I share ten simple rules I learned working on about 25 literature reviews as a PhD and postdoctoral student. Ideas and insights also come from discussions with coauthors and colleagues, as well as feedback from reviewers and editors.

Rule 1: Define a Topic and Audience

How to choose which topic to review? There are so many issues in contemporary science that you could spend a lifetime of attending conferences and reading the literature just pondering what to review. On the one hand, if you take several years to choose, several other people may have had the same idea in the meantime. On the other hand, only a well-considered topic is likely to lead to a brilliant literature review [8] . The topic must at least be:

• interesting to you (ideally, you should have come across a series of recent papers related to your line of work that call for a critical summary),
• an important aspect of the field (so that many readers will be interested in the review and there will be enough material to write it), and
• a well-defined issue (otherwise you could potentially include thousands of publications, which would make the review unhelpful).

Ideas for potential reviews may come from papers providing lists of key research questions to be answered [9] , but also from serendipitous moments during desultory reading and discussions. In addition to choosing your topic, you should also select a target audience. In many cases, the topic (e.g., web services in computational biology) will automatically define an audience (e.g., computational biologists), but that same topic may also be of interest to neighbouring fields (e.g., computer science, biology, etc.).

Rule 2: Search and Re-search the Literature

After having chosen your topic and audience, start by checking the literature and downloading relevant papers. Five pieces of advice here:

• keep track of the search items you use (so that your search can be replicated [10] ),
• keep a list of papers whose pdfs you cannot access immediately (so as to retrieve them later with alternative strategies),
• use a paper management system (e.g., Mendeley, Papers, Qiqqa, Sente),
• define early in the process some criteria for exclusion of irrelevant papers (these criteria can then be described in the review to help define its scope), and
• do not just look for research papers in the area you wish to review, but also seek previous reviews.

The chances are high that someone will already have published a literature review ( Figure 1 ), if not exactly on the issue you are planning to tackle, at least on a related topic. If there are already a few or several reviews of the literature on your issue, my advice is not to give up, but to carry on with your own literature review,

The bottom-right situation (many literature reviews but few research papers) is not just a theoretical situation; it applies, for example, to the study of the impacts of climate change on plant diseases, where there appear to be more literature reviews than research studies [33] .

• discussing in your review the approaches, limitations, and conclusions of past reviews,
• trying to find a new angle that has not been covered adequately in the previous reviews, and
• incorporating new material that has inevitably accumulated since their appearance.

When searching the literature for pertinent papers and reviews, the usual rules apply:

• be thorough,
• use different keywords and database sources (e.g., DBLP, Google Scholar, ISI Proceedings, JSTOR Search, Medline, Scopus, Web of Science), and
• look at who has cited past relevant papers and book chapters.

Rule 3: Take Notes While Reading

If you read the papers first, and only afterwards start writing the review, you will need a very good memory to remember who wrote what, and what your impressions and associations were while reading each single paper. My advice is, while reading, to start writing down interesting pieces of information, insights about how to organize the review, and thoughts on what to write. This way, by the time you have read the literature you selected, you will already have a rough draft of the review.

Of course, this draft will still need much rewriting, restructuring, and rethinking to obtain a text with a coherent argument [11] , but you will have avoided the danger posed by staring at a blank document. Be careful when taking notes to use quotation marks if you are provisionally copying verbatim from the literature. It is advisable then to reformulate such quotes with your own words in the final draft. It is important to be careful in noting the references already at this stage, so as to avoid misattributions. Using referencing software from the very beginning of your endeavour will save you time.

Rule 4: Choose the Type of Review You Wish to Write

After having taken notes while reading the literature, you will have a rough idea of the amount of material available for the review. This is probably a good time to decide whether to go for a mini- or a full review. Some journals are now favouring the publication of rather short reviews focusing on the last few years, with a limit on the number of words and citations. A mini-review is not necessarily a minor review: it may well attract more attention from busy readers, although it will inevitably simplify some issues and leave out some relevant material due to space limitations. A full review will have the advantage of more freedom to cover in detail the complexities of a particular scientific development, but may then be left in the pile of the very important papers “to be read” by readers with little time to spare for major monographs.

There is probably a continuum between mini- and full reviews. The same point applies to the dichotomy of descriptive vs. integrative reviews. While descriptive reviews focus on the methodology, findings, and interpretation of each reviewed study, integrative reviews attempt to find common ideas and concepts from the reviewed material [12] . A similar distinction exists between narrative and systematic reviews: while narrative reviews are qualitative, systematic reviews attempt to test a hypothesis based on the published evidence, which is gathered using a predefined protocol to reduce bias [13] , [14] . When systematic reviews analyse quantitative results in a quantitative way, they become meta-analyses. The choice between different review types will have to be made on a case-by-case basis, depending not just on the nature of the material found and the preferences of the target journal(s), but also on the time available to write the review and the number of coauthors [15] .

Rule 5: Keep the Review Focused, but Make It of Broad Interest

Whether your plan is to write a mini- or a full review, it is good advice to keep it focused 16 , 17 . Including material just for the sake of it can easily lead to reviews that are trying to do too many things at once. The need to keep a review focused can be problematic for interdisciplinary reviews, where the aim is to bridge the gap between fields [18] . If you are writing a review on, for example, how epidemiological approaches are used in modelling the spread of ideas, you may be inclined to include material from both parent fields, epidemiology and the study of cultural diffusion. This may be necessary to some extent, but in this case a focused review would only deal in detail with those studies at the interface between epidemiology and the spread of ideas.

While focus is an important feature of a successful review, this requirement has to be balanced with the need to make the review relevant to a broad audience. This square may be circled by discussing the wider implications of the reviewed topic for other disciplines.

Rule 6: Be Critical and Consistent

Reviewing the literature is not stamp collecting. A good review does not just summarize the literature, but discusses it critically, identifies methodological problems, and points out research gaps [19] . After having read a review of the literature, a reader should have a rough idea of:

• the major achievements in the reviewed field,
• the main areas of debate, and
• the outstanding research questions.

It is challenging to achieve a successful review on all these fronts. A solution can be to involve a set of complementary coauthors: some people are excellent at mapping what has been achieved, some others are very good at identifying dark clouds on the horizon, and some have instead a knack at predicting where solutions are going to come from. If your journal club has exactly this sort of team, then you should definitely write a review of the literature! In addition to critical thinking, a literature review needs consistency, for example in the choice of passive vs. active voice and present vs. past tense.

Rule 7: Find a Logical Structure

Like a well-baked cake, a good review has a number of telling features: it is worth the reader's time, timely, systematic, well written, focused, and critical. It also needs a good structure. With reviews, the usual subdivision of research papers into introduction, methods, results, and discussion does not work or is rarely used. However, a general introduction of the context and, toward the end, a recapitulation of the main points covered and take-home messages make sense also in the case of reviews. For systematic reviews, there is a trend towards including information about how the literature was searched (database, keywords, time limits) [20] .

How can you organize the flow of the main body of the review so that the reader will be drawn into and guided through it? It is generally helpful to draw a conceptual scheme of the review, e.g., with mind-mapping techniques. Such diagrams can help recognize a logical way to order and link the various sections of a review [21] . This is the case not just at the writing stage, but also for readers if the diagram is included in the review as a figure. A careful selection of diagrams and figures relevant to the reviewed topic can be very helpful to structure the text too [22] .

Rule 8: Make Use of Feedback

Reviews of the literature are normally peer-reviewed in the same way as research papers, and rightly so [23] . As a rule, incorporating feedback from reviewers greatly helps improve a review draft. Having read the review with a fresh mind, reviewers may spot inaccuracies, inconsistencies, and ambiguities that had not been noticed by the writers due to rereading the typescript too many times. It is however advisable to reread the draft one more time before submission, as a last-minute correction of typos, leaps, and muddled sentences may enable the reviewers to focus on providing advice on the content rather than the form.

Feedback is vital to writing a good review, and should be sought from a variety of colleagues, so as to obtain a diversity of views on the draft. This may lead in some cases to conflicting views on the merits of the paper, and on how to improve it, but such a situation is better than the absence of feedback. A diversity of feedback perspectives on a literature review can help identify where the consensus view stands in the landscape of the current scientific understanding of an issue [24] .

Rule 9: Include Your Own Relevant Research, but Be Objective

In many cases, reviewers of the literature will have published studies relevant to the review they are writing. This could create a conflict of interest: how can reviewers report objectively on their own work [25] ? Some scientists may be overly enthusiastic about what they have published, and thus risk giving too much importance to their own findings in the review. However, bias could also occur in the other direction: some scientists may be unduly dismissive of their own achievements, so that they will tend to downplay their contribution (if any) to a field when reviewing it.

In general, a review of the literature should neither be a public relations brochure nor an exercise in competitive self-denial. If a reviewer is up to the job of producing a well-organized and methodical review, which flows well and provides a service to the readership, then it should be possible to be objective in reviewing one's own relevant findings. In reviews written by multiple authors, this may be achieved by assigning the review of the results of a coauthor to different coauthors.

Rule 10: Be Up-to-Date, but Do Not Forget Older Studies

Given the progressive acceleration in the publication of scientific papers, today's reviews of the literature need awareness not just of the overall direction and achievements of a field of inquiry, but also of the latest studies, so as not to become out-of-date before they have been published. Ideally, a literature review should not identify as a major research gap an issue that has just been addressed in a series of papers in press (the same applies, of course, to older, overlooked studies (“sleeping beauties” [26] )). This implies that literature reviewers would do well to keep an eye on electronic lists of papers in press, given that it can take months before these appear in scientific databases. Some reviews declare that they have scanned the literature up to a certain point in time, but given that peer review can be a rather lengthy process, a full search for newly appeared literature at the revision stage may be worthwhile. Assessing the contribution of papers that have just appeared is particularly challenging, because there is little perspective with which to gauge their significance and impact on further research and society.

Inevitably, new papers on the reviewed topic (including independently written literature reviews) will appear from all quarters after the review has been published, so that there may soon be the need for an updated review. But this is the nature of science [27] – [32] . I wish everybody good luck with writing a review of the literature.

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to M. Barbosa, K. Dehnen-Schmutz, T. Döring, D. Fontaneto, M. Garbelotto, O. Holdenrieder, M. Jeger, D. Lonsdale, A. MacLeod, P. Mills, M. Moslonka-Lefebvre, G. Stancanelli, P. Weisberg, and X. Xu for insights and discussions, and to P. Bourne, T. Matoni, and D. Smith for helpful comments on a previous draft.

Funding Statement

This work was funded by the French Foundation for Research on Biodiversity (FRB) through its Centre for Synthesis and Analysis of Biodiversity data (CESAB), as part of the NETSEED research project. The funders had no role in the preparation of the manuscript.

• Skip to main content
• Accessibility help

Information

We use cookies to collect anonymous data to help us improve your site browsing experience.

Click 'Accept all cookies' to agree to all cookies that collect anonymous data. To only allow the cookies that make the site work, click 'Use essential cookies only.' Visit 'Set cookie preferences' to control specific cookies.

Your cookie preferences have been saved. You can change your cookie settings at any time.

Literature Review on the Impact of Digital Technology on Learning and Teaching

This literature review was commissioned by the Scottish Government to explore how the use of digital technology for learning and teaching can support teachers, parents, children and young people in improving outcomes and achieving our ambitions for education in Scotland

Digital learning and raising attainment

Key findings

There is conclusive evidence that digital equipment, tools and resources can, where effectively used, raise the speed and depth of learning in science and mathematics for primary and secondary age learners. There is indicative evidence that the same can be said for some aspects of literacy, especially writing and comprehension. Digital technologies appear to be appropriate means to improve basic literacy and numeracy skills, especially in primary settings.

The effect sizes are generally similar to other educational interventions that are effective in raising attainment, though the use of digital learning has other benefits. Also, the extent of the effect may be dampened by the level of capability of teachers to use digital learning tools and resources effectively to achieve learning outcomes. More effective use of digital teaching to raise attainment includes the ability of teachers to identify how digital tools and resources can be used to achieve learning outcomes and adapting their approach, as well as having knowledge and understanding of the technology. This applies in all schools.

Where learners use digital learning at home as well as school for formal and non-formal learning activities these have positive effects on their attainment, because they have extended their learning time. This is particularly important for secondary age learners.

The assessment framework, set out in Annex 2 , identifies a number of educational benefits that digital learning and teaching has the potential to help learners aged 5 to 18 to realise, through the opportunity to learn in different ways, access more sources of information, and be tested and get feedback differently. In terms of raising attainment, these benefits include short term outcomes, such as having a greater feeling of control over learning and more confidence to practise a skill, through to medium term outcomes such as faster acquisition of knowledge and skills, and improved impacts in terms of learners achieving higher exam or test results where digital technology has been used.

In this section, the impact of digital technology on children's attainment in a range of areas is discussed, followed by the impact on aspects of numeracy, literacy and science learning.

Raising children's attainment

There is a substantial body of research that has examined the impact of digital tools and resources on children's attainment in a range of areas.

Higgins et al (2012) provide a summary of research findings from studies with experimental and quasi-experimental designs, which have been combined in meta-analyses to assess the impact of digital learning in schools. Their search identified 48 studies which synthesised empirical research of the impact of digital tools and resources on the attainment of school age learners (5-18 year olds).

They found consistent but small positive associations between digital learning and educational outcomes. For example, Harrison et al (2004) identified statistically significant findings, positively associating higher levels of ICT use with school achievement at each Key Stage in England, and in English, maths, science, modern foreign languages and design technology. Somekh et al (2007) identified a link between high levels of ICT use and improved school performance. They found that the rate of improvement in tests in English at the end of primary education was faster in ICT Test Bed education authorities in England than in equivalent comparator areas. However, Higgins et al note that while these associations show, on average, schools with higher than average levels of ICT provision also have learners who perform slightly higher than average, it may be the case that high performing schools are more likely to be better equipped or more prepared to invest in technology or more motivated to bring about improvement.

Higgins et al report that in general analyses of the impact of digital technology on learning, the typical overall effect size is between 0.3 and 0.4 - just slightly below the overall average for researched interventions in education (Sipe & Curlette, 1997; Hattie, 2008) and no greater than other researched changes to teaching to raise attainment, such as peer tutoring or more focused feedback to learners. The range of effect sizes is also very wide (-0.03 to 1.05),which suggests that it is essential to take into account the differences between technologies and how they are used.

Table 4: Summary of meta-analyses published between 2000 and 2012 (in Higgins et al 2012)

In an earlier meta-analysis, Liao et al (2007), considered the effects of digital tools and resources on elementary school learners' achievement in Taiwan. Synthesizing research comparing the effects of digital learning (equipment, tools and resources) with traditional instruction on elementary school learners' achievement, they considered quantitative and qualitative information from 48 studies including over 5,000 learners. Of the 48 studies, 44 (92%) showed positive effects in favour of a computer assisted intervention, while four (8%) were negative and favoured a traditional instruction method. Nearly 60% of the studies examined the effects of computer aided instruction for teaching mathematics or science. Another 11% of the studies concentrated on the teaching of reading and language. They found an overall positive effect size across all the studies of 0.45 (study-weighted grand mean), which is considered to be a moderate effect, with a wide range of effect sizes (from 0.25 to 2.67).

No significant differences were found between subject areas, and the authors suggest that digital learning has the potential to be implemented in many different subject areas. They found that the two subjects that showed the highest effects were reading and languages, which had a high positive effect size of 0.7. Studies using computer simulations also had higher effects. The authors suggest this may be because simulations can provide learners with the opportunity to engage in a learning activity which could not be replicated in a classroom.

More qualitative studies have identified how improvements in attainment are achieved. From a wide study of primary and secondary schools in England that were early adopters in using digital learning and teaching, Jewitt et al (2011) concluded that:

• Using digital resources provided learners with more time for active learning in the classroom;
• Digital tools and resources provided more opportunity for active learning outside the classroom, as well as providing self-directed spaces, such as blogs and forums, and access to games with a learning benefit;
• Digital resources provided learners with opportunities to choose the learning resources;
• The resources provided safer spaces for formative assessment and feedback.

The sections below focus on specific key areas of attainment: literacy, numeracy, and science learning.

There is a large body of research that has examined the impact of digital equipment, tools and resources on children's literacy. The effects are generally positive, though not as large as the effects found where digital learning is used to improve numeracy, and consistent in finding that ICT helps improve reading and writing skills, as well as developing speaking and listening skills.

Effect of context

Archer and Savage (2014) undertook a meta-analysis to reassess the outcomes presented in three previous meta-analyses considering the impact of digital learning on language and literacy learning: Slavin et al (2008 and 2009) and Torgenson and Zhu (2003). Overall they found a relatively small average positive effect size of 0.18, with a few of the studies having a negative effect and three studies showing moderate to large effect sizes. The authors found that programmes with a small number of participants tended to show larger effect sizes than larger programmes but that not all were statistically significant.

Archer and Savage sought to understand whether the context within which the digital tool or resource was used has an impact on outcomes. In particular, they examined whether training and support given to the teachers or other staff delivering the programme had an impact. The authors found that training and support could be identified in around half of the studies and that it did appear to have a positive impact on the effectiveness of the literacy intervention, with the average effect size rising to 0.57. The authors conclude that this indicates the importance of including implementation factors, such as training and support, when considering the relative effectiveness of digital learning and teaching.

Effect on specific literacy skills

In their meta-analysis, Higgins et al (2012) found that digital learning has a greater impact on writing than on reading or spelling. For example, Torgenson and Zhu (2003) reviewed the impact of using digital technology on the literacy competences of 5-16 year-olds in English and found effect sizes on spelling (0.2) and reading (0.28) much lower than the high effect size for writing (0.89).

In their meta-analysis of studies investigating the effects of digital technology on primary schools in Taiwan, Laio et al (2007) considered studies over a range of curriculum areas; 11 of which addressed the effects of using digital learning in one or more literacy competence. They found no significant differences in effect size between the different subject areas, suggesting the potential for digital technology to raise outcomes is equal across different subjects. However, they did note that the two areas that showed the highest effect sizes (over 0.7) were reading and comprehension.

Effect of specific digital tools and resources

Somekh et al (2007) evaluated the Primary School Whiteboard Expansion ( PSWB ) project in England. They found that the length of time learners were taught with interactive whiteboards ( IWB s) was a major factor in learner attainment at the end of primary schooling, and that there were positive impacts on literacy (and numeracy) once teachers had experienced sustained use and the technology had become embedded in pedagogical practice. This equated to improvements at Key Stage 2 writing (age 11), where boys with low prior attainment made 2.5 months of additional progress.

Hess (2014) investigated the impact of using e-readers and e-books in the classroom, among 9-10 year olds in the USA . The e-books were used in daily teacher-led guided reading groups, replacing traditional print books in these sessions. Teachers also regularly used the e-readers in sessions where the class read aloud, and e-readers were available to learners during the school day for silent reading. The study found a significant difference in reading assessment scores for the group using the e-readers. Scores improved for both male and female learners and the gap between males and females decreased.

The use of digital tools and resources also appears to affect levels of literacy. Lysenko and Abrami (2014) investigated the use of two digital tools on reading comprehension for elementary school children (aged 6-8) in Quebec, Canada. The first was a multimedia tool which linked learning activities to interactive digital stories. The tool included games to engage learners in reading and writing activities, and instructions were provided orally to promote listening comprehension. The second tool was a web-based electronic portfolio in which learners could create a personalised portfolio of their reading and share work with peers, teachers and parents to get feedback. The authors found that in classes where both tools were used together during the whole school year learners performed significantly better both in vocabulary and reading comprehension (with medium-level effect sizes) than learners in classes where the tools were not part of English language instruction.

Rosen and Beck-Hill (2012) reported on a study programme that incorporated an interactive core curriculum and a digital teaching platform. At the time of their report it was available for 9-11 year old learners in English language, arts and mathematics classes in Dallas, Texas. The online platform contained teaching and learning tools. Learners were assessed using standardised tests administered before the programme and after a year's participation. The results of increased achievement scores demonstrated that in each of the two school year groups covered, the experimental learners significantly outperformed the control learners in reading and maths scores. In observations in classrooms that used the programme, the researchers observed higher teacher-learner interaction, a greater number and type of teaching methods per class, more frequent and complex examples of differentiation processes and skills, more frequent opportunities for learner collaboration, and significantly higher learner engagement. The authors report that the teaching pedagogy observed in the classrooms differed significantly from that observed in more traditional classrooms. The teachers following the programme commented that the digital resources made planning and implementing 'differentiation' more feasible. This is differentiation of teaching in terms of content, process, and product, to reflect learners' readiness, interests, and learning profile, through varied instructional and management strategies.

Effect of the amount and quality of digital technology use

The uses of digital technology and access to it appear to be critical factors. Lee et al (2009) analysed how in the US 15-16 year-old learners' school behaviour and standardised test scores in literacy are related to computer use. Learners were asked how many hours a day they typically used a computer for school work and for other activities. The results indicated that the learners who used the computer for one hour a day for both school work and other activities had significantly better reading test scores and more positive teacher evaluations for their classroom behaviours than any other groups [5] . This was found while controlling for socio-economic status, which has been shown to be a predictor of test scores in other research. The analysis used data from a national 2002 longitudinal study, and it is likely that learners' usage of computers has increased and changed since that time.

Biagi and Loi (2013), using data from the 2009 Programme for International Student Assessment ( PISA ) and information on how learners used digital technology at school and at home (both for school work and for entertainment), assessed the relationship between the intensity with which learners used digital tools and resources and literacy scores. They examined uses for: gaming activities (playing individual or collective online games), collaboration and communication activities (such as linking with others in on-line chat or discussion forums), information management and technical operations (such as searching for and downloading information) and creating content, knowledge and problem solving activities (such as using computers to do homework or running simulations at school). These were then compared to country specific test scores in reading. The authors found a positive and significant relationship between gaming activity and language attainment in 11 of the 23 countries studied. For the other measures, where relationships existed and were significant, they tended to be negative.

The more recent PISA data study ( OECD , 2015, using 2012 results) also found a positive relationship between the use of computers and better results in literacy where it is evident that digital technology is being used by learners to increase study time and practice [6] . In addition, it found that the effective use of digital tools is related to proficiency in reading.

There is a large body of research which has examined the impact of digital equipment, tools and resources on children's numeracy skills and mathematical competences throughout schooling. Higgins et al (2012) found from their meta-analysis that effect sizes of tested gains in knowledge and understanding tend to be greater in mathematics and science than in literacy. The key benefits found relate to problem solving skills, practising number skills and exploring patterns and relationships (Condie and Monroe, 2007), in addition to increased learner motivation and interest in mathematics.

Effect on specific numeracy skills

Li and Ma's (2010) meta-analysis of the impact of digital learning on school learners' mathematics learning found a generally positive effect. The authors considered 46 primary studies involving a total of over 36,000 learners in primary and secondary schools. About half of the mathematics achievement outcomes were measured by locally-developed or teacher-made instruments, and the other half by standardized tests. Almost all studies were well controlled, employing random assignment of learners to experimental or control conditions.

Overall, the authors found that, on average, there was a high, significantly positive effect of digital technology on mathematics achievement (mean effect size of 0.71), indicating that, in general, learners learning mathematics with the use of digital technology had higher mathematics achievement than those learning without digital technology. The authors found that:

• Although the difference was small, younger school learners (under 13 years old) had higher attainment gains than older secondary school learners;
• Gains were more positive where teaching was more learner-centred than teacher-centred. In this regard, the authors differentiate between traditional models, where the teacher tends to teach to the whole class, and a learner-centred teaching model which is discovery-based (inquiry-oriented) or problem-based (application-oriented) learning;
• Shorter interventions (six months or less) were found to be more effective in promoting mathematics achievement than longer interventions (between six and 12 months). It is suggested that such gains in mathematics achievement are a result of the novelty effects of technology, as suggested in other research, and as learners get familiar with the technology the novelty effects tend to decrease;
• The authors found no significant effects from different types of computer technology on mathematics achievement. Whether it was used as communication media, a tutorial device, or exploratory environment, learners displayed similar results in their mathematics achievement;
• Equally, the authors found no significant relationship between the effect of using digital technology and the characteristics of learners included in the samples for studies, such as gender, ethnicity, or socio-economic characteristics.

The studies by Lee et al (2009) and Biagi and Loi (2013) found similar results for mathematics as they did for reading and literacy in relation to the use of digital equipment. Learners who used a computer at least one hour a day for both school work and other activities had significantly better mathematics test scores and more positive teacher evaluations for their classroom behaviour in mathematics classes than those who did not use the computer. Biagi and Loi (2013) found a significant positive relationship between intensity of gaming activity and maths test scores in 15 countries out of the 23 studied. As with language, the authors found that learners' total use of digital technologies was positively and significantly associated with PISA test scores for maths in 18 of the 23 countries studied.

Studies have found that using digital equipment for formal learning is also associated with increases in learners' motivation for learning mathematics. House and Telese (2011 and 2012) found that:

• For learners aged 13 and 14 in South Korea, for example, those who expressed high levels of enjoyment at learning mathematics, more frequently used computers in their mathematics homework. However, learners who more frequently played computer games and used the internet outside of school tended to report that they did not enjoy learning mathematics;
• Learners in the USA and Japan aged 13 and 14 who showed higher levels of algebra achievement also used computers more at home and at school for school work. Those who used computers most for other activities had lower test scores. In each of the USA and Japan they found that overall computer usage which included use for school work was significantly related to improvements in test scores.

Somekh et al (2007) found that, once the use of IWB s was embedded, in Key Stage 1 mathematics (age 7) in England, high attaining girls made gains of 4.75 months, enabling them to catch up with high attaining boys. In Key Stage 2 mathematics (age 11), average and high attaining boys and girls who had been taught extensively with the IWB made the equivalent of an extra 2.5 to 5 months' progress over the course of two years.

Digital tools and resources can also increase some learners' confidence in mathematics as well as their engagement in new approaches to learning and their mathematical competences. Overcoming learners' anxieties about mathematics and their competence in specific aspects of the subject are common concerns in teaching mathematics which hampers their ability to learn (reported in Huang et al 2014).

Huang et al (2014) researched the outcomes, in Taiwan, from a computer game simulating the purchase of commodities, from which 7 and 8 year-old primary school learners can learn addition and subtraction, and apply mathematical concepts. The model combined games-based learning with a diagnosis system. When the learner made a mistake, the system could detect the type of mistake and present corresponding instructions to help the learner improve their mathematical comprehension and application. The authors compared two learning groups: both used the game-based model but one without the diagnostic, feedback element. They found that the learning achievement post-test showed a significant difference and also that the mathematics anxiety level of the two learner groups was decreased by about 3.5%.

Passey (2011) found that among over 300 schools in England using Espresso digital resources, those that had been using them over a longer period made significantly greater increases in end of primary school numeracy test results than schools which were recent users.

Science learning

Effects on science knowledge and skills

In their meta-analysis, Laio et al (2007) considered 11 studies looking at the impact of digital technology on science learning. These had a moderate average effect size of 0.38 and generally had positive effects. Condie and Monroe (2007) identified that digital learning made science more interesting, authentic and relevant for learners and provided more time for post-experiment analysis and discussion.

In their study of the PISA data, Biagi and Loi (2013) found a significant positive relationship between learners' total use of digital equipment and science test scores in 21 of the 23 countries they studied. They also found evidence of a significant positive relationship between the intensity of using gaming activity and science scores in 13 of the 23 countries they studied. Somekh et al (2007) found that in primary school science all learners, except high attaining girls, made greater progress when given more exposure to IWB s, with low attaining boys making as much as 7.5 months' additional progress.

Effects of specific digital tools and resources

Digital tools and resources generally have a positive effect on learners' science learning. This can be seen from a number of studies assessing outcomes for learners in different stages of education.

Hung et al (2012) explored the effect of using multi-media tools in science learning in an elementary school's science course in Taiwan. Learners were asked to complete a digital storytelling project by taking pictures with digital cameras, developing the story based on the pictures taken, producing a film based on the pictures by adding subtitles and a background, and presenting the story. From the experimental results, the authors found that this approach improved the learners' motivation to learn science, their attitude, problem-solving capability and learning achievements. In addition, interviews found that the learners in the experimental group enjoyed the project-based learning activity and thought it helpful because of the digital storytelling aspect.

Hsu et al (2012) investigated the effects of incorporating self-explanation principles into a digital tool facilitating learners' conceptual learning about light and shadow with 8-9 year old learners in Taiwan. While they found no difference in the overall test scores of the experimental and control groups, they found a statistically significant difference in retention test scores. Those learners who had paid more attention to the self-explanation prompts tended to outperform those in the control group.

Anderson and Barnett's (2013) study, in the US , examined how a digital game used by learners aged 12-13 increased their understanding of electromagnetic concepts, compared to learners who conducted a more traditional inquiry-based investigation of the same concepts. There was a significant difference between the control and experimental groups in gains in knowledge and understanding of physics concepts. Additionally, learners in the experimental group were able to give more nuanced responses about the descriptions of electric fields and the influence of distance on the forces that change experience because of what they learnt during the game.

Güven and Sülün (2012) considered the effects of computer-enhanced teaching in science and technology courses on the structure and properties of matter, such as the periodical table, chemical bonding, and chemical reactions, for 13-14 year olds in Turkey. Their proposition was that computer-enhanced teaching can instil a greater sense of interest in scientific and technological developments, make abstract concepts concrete through simulation and modelling, and help to carry out some dangerous experiments in the classroom setting. They found a significant difference in achievement tests between the mean scores of the group of learners who were taught with the computer-enhanced teaching method and the control group who were taught with traditional teaching methods.

Belland (2009) investigated the extent to which a digital tool improved US middle school children's ability to form scientific arguments. Taking the premise that being able to construct and test an evidence-based argument is critical to learning science, he studied the impact of using a digital problem based learning tool on 12-14 year olds. Learners worked in small groups and were asked to develop and present proposals for spending a grant to investigate an issue relating to the human genome project. Those in the experimental group used an online system which structured the project into stages of scientific enquiry. The system prompted the learners to structure and organise their thinking in particular ways: by prompting the learners individually, sharing group members' ideas, tasking the group to form a consensus view, and prompting the group to assign specific tasks among themselves.

Using pre- and post- test scores to assess the impact on learners' abilities to evaluate arguments, Belland found a high positive effect size of 0.62 for average-achieving learners compared to their peers in the control group. No significant impacts were found for higher or lower-achieving learners. Belland suggests that for high-achieving learners, this may be because they already have good argument making skills and are already able to successfully structure how they approach an issue and gather evidence. The study also used qualitative information to consider how the learners used the digital tool and compared this to how learners in the control group worked. The author found that in the experimental group they made more progress and were more able to divide tasks up between them, which saved time. They also used the tool more and the teacher less to provide support.

Kucukozer et al (2009) examined the impact of digital tools on teaching basic concepts of astronomy to 11-13 year old school children in Turkey. Learners were asked to make predictions about an astronomical phenomenon such as what causes the seasons or the phases of the moon. A digital tool was used to model the predictions and display their results. The learners were then asked to explain the differences and the similarities between their predictions and their observations. In the prediction and explanation phase the learners worked in groups to discuss their ideas and come to a conclusion. In the observation phase they watched the 3D models presented by their teacher. Thereafter, they were asked to discuss and make conclusions about what they had watched. The authors found that instruction supported by observations and the computer modelling was significantly effective in bringing about better conceptual understanding and learning on the subject.

Ingredients of success

Where studies examine the process that brings about positive results from digital learning and teaching compared to traditional approaches, it is evident that these are more likely to be achieved where digital equipment, tools and resources are used for specific learning outcomes and built into a teaching model from the outset. This broadly supports Higgins et al's (2012) conclusions that:

• Digital technology is best used as a supplement to normal teaching rather than as a replacement for it;
• It is not whether technology is used (or not) which makes the difference, but how well the technology is applied to support teaching and learning by teachers;
• More effective schools and teachers are more likely to use digital technologies effectively than other schools.

Differences in effect sizes and the extent that learners achieve positive gains in attainment are ascribed by most authors of the studies above to:

• The quality of teaching and the ability of teachers to use the digital equipment and tools effectively for lessons;
• The preparation and training teachers are given to use equipment and tools;
• The opportunities teachers have to see how digital resources can be used and pedagogies adapted (Rosen and Beck-Hill, 2012; Belland, 2009).

Teachers have to adapt to learner-centred approaches to learning if they are to use digital tools and resources (Li and Ma, 2010).

As well as ensuring digital tools and resources are supporting learning goals, success appears to also be linked to some other factors:

• The availability of equipment and tools within schools (and at home);
• How learners use digital equipment. Higgins et al (2012) found that collaborative use of technology (in pairs or small groups) is usually more effective than individual use, though some learners - especially younger children - may need guidance in how to collaborate effectively and responsibly;
• The extent that teaching continues to innovate using digital tools and resources (Higgins et al, 2012).

Fullan (2013) suggested four criteria that schools should meet if their use of digital technology to support increased attainment is to be successful. These were that systems should be engaging for learners and teachers; easy to adapt and use; ubiquitous - with access to the technology 24/7; and steeped in real life problem solving.

Fullan and Donnelly (2013) developed these themes further, proposing an evaluation tool to enable educators to systematically evaluate new companies, products and school models, using the context of what they have seen as necessary for success. Questions focus on the three key criteria of pedagogy (clarity and quality of intended outcome, quality of pedagogy and the relationship between teacher and learner, and quality of assessment platform and functioning); system change (implementation support, value for money, and whole system change potential) and technology (quality of user experience/model design, ease of adaptation, and comprehensiveness and integration).

Email: Catriona Rooke

There is a problem

Thanks for your feedback

Your feedback helps us to improve this website. Do not give any personal information because we cannot reply to you directly.

We use cookies to enhance our website for you. Proceed if you agree to this policy or learn more about it.

• Essay Database >
• Essays Samples >
• Essay Types >
• Literature Review Example

Information Technology Literature Reviews Samples For Students

34 samples of this type

While studying in college, you will definitely have to craft a bunch of Literature Reviews on Information Technology. Lucky you if putting words together and organizing them into meaningful content comes naturally to you; if it's not the case, you can save the day by finding an already written Information Technology Literature Review example and using it as a model to follow.

This is when you will certainly find WowEssays' free samples catalog extremely useful as it includes numerous professionally written works on most various Information Technology Literature Reviews topics. Ideally, you should be able to find a piece that meets your criteria and use it as a template to build your own Literature Review. Alternatively, our competent essay writers can deliver you an original Information Technology Literature Review model crafted from scratch according to your custom instructions.

Sample Literature Review On Building Health Information Technology Workforce: Challenges And Strategies

Literature review: building health information technology workforce, good literature review on technology and cost containment, factual elements of underrepresentation of women in the it industry; literature review samples, introduction.

This literature review examines the patterns in female involvement and under-representation in the world of information technology and information systems. This will be the application of elements and aspects of a structured literature review and will cover three main areas:

Don't waste your time searching for a sample.

Get your literature review done by professional writers!

Just from $10/page

Free Literature Review About Human Resource Management: Leadership And Its Influence On Innovation In Business

Literature review on the benefits of information technology in the management of diabetes, example of cobit – business framework for governance and management of enterprise it literature review, information technology management.

Management Concepts and Models IT portfolio management IT portfolio management is the efficient management application to deal with the investments, activities and projects of the department of information technology (IT) in the enterprise. It is the application of all the IT resources including planned and current to provide a framework for the planning, analysis and execution of portfolio of IT in the organization (Casco-Arias et al 2012).

Business/IT alignment

Good example of literature review on hr and information technology (hirs), hr and information technology (hris), healthcare information system literature review example, healthcare information system (his) and challenges in healthcare, example of effect of culture in knowledge management literature review, e-health in developing countries with a special focus on nigeria literature review sample, nature of sharing knowledge in smes literature review, literature review on knowledge sharing in smes, good clinic's auto reception literature review example, supply chain management literature reviews example.

Supply chain management is a term that is used in order to describe the activities associated with logistics, control and planning of the materials and it is also used to describe the flow of the information internally as well as externally between the organizations (Hang and Chau, 2007). It is also used in order to explain the strategic and the organizational issues that are internal to an organization (Sabri, 2015).

Good Literature Review About Ways To Prevent Social Media Bullying

Literature review on refined purpose of the proposed study.

The purpose of the proposed study is to look into the issues concerning communication that arise due to the increasing use of mobile phones in society. communication among children, specifically the role of mobile technology in threatening to change the future generation’s patterns of communication. The prevalent use of mobile phones among children presents positive but also negative influences on this population. The continuous development of technology is a potential threat on disrupting and changing communication patterns in our interconnected world.

Refined Literature Review

Optimizing the medical treatment data synchronization in relation to the hospital literature review.

4.1 Main research questions and sub research questions used Main question: How can the current medical treatments data synchronization be optimized in relation to the hospital billing system for a more efficient and accurate billing system?

Sub question 1: Which medical billing systems is state-of-the-art in medical treatment data synchronization at this moment? (Literature)

Ict applications in the healthcare sector literature review examples, free sub problem 1: what is impact of globalization on 3rd world countries how has internet enhanced these effects literature review sample, literature review: the impact of globalization on organizational development and change..

For the purpose of this literature review, the following Problem Statement will be deliberated upon: What is the Impact of Globalization on organizational development and change? In this regard, two sub-problems and their respective hypotheses have been identified. An examination of related resources has brought to light a number of theoretical perspectives and research findings which have been evaluated, described and synthesized hereunder.

Free The Effects Of Social Media On Students' Communication Skills Literature Review Sample

Does corporate governance affect audit quality in australia literature review example, cloud computing applications literature reviews example, synthesis essay on technology literature reviews examples, free main decision makers literature review example, information technology, computer-mediated communication (cmc) literature review sample, the four seasons hotels literature review, example of universal translation: an emerging technology literature review, literature review, good literature review on 3d modeling and animation, academic level.

What follows below are the abstracts of articles on the instructional uses of 3D modeling and animation. There is a total of eight articles, and then there is a description of the search strategy and findings. Finally, there is a literature review on the topic with the comparison and contrasts on the findings from the articles covered and conclusions made from these articles. There is a demonstration of how these findings can be applied to a potential future 3D animation project.

Chapter 18. The Animation and Interactivity Principles in Multimedia Learning

Good literature review on effectiveness of constructivist using technology.

<Put your name here> <Put the name of your school / University here>

Research Questions

Facebook effect on friendship: boon or bane literature reviews examples, security erp literature review example, business process management, recession & the four seasons hotel literature review example, example of literature review on care of a person with heart failure disease, care of the person with heart failure, electronic library literature review sample, enterprise performance management literature review.

Password recovery email has been sent to [email protected]

Use your new password to log in

You are not register!

By clicking Register, you agree to our Terms of Service and that you have read our Privacy Policy .

Now you can download documents directly to your device!

Check your email! An email with your password has already been sent to you! Now you can download documents directly to your device.

or Use the QR code to Save this Paper to Your Phone

The sample is NOT original!

Short on a deadline?

Don't waste time. Get help with 11% off using code - GETWOWED

No, thanks! I'm fine with missing my deadline

Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.

To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to  upgrade your browser .

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.

• We're Hiring!
• Help Center

Information Technology Investments: A Literature Review

While researchers have encouraged further examination on the causal links between Information Technology (IT) investments and a firm’s performance, results of empirical studies have been varied. This is to a certain extent due to the exclusion of IT-business partnership (also known as IT-business strategic alignment). Indeed, strategic alignment has emerged as one of the most important concern facing business and IT executives all over the world (Raymond and Croteau, 2009, Johnson and Lederer, 2010). Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to provide a detailed literature review that both academics and practitioners can use in order to understand the resources required to realize the potential values of their IT investments. This is achieved by providing a review of the IT and IT-business literature on a firm’s business performance. It is hoped that the article will spark helpful discussion on the merits of continuous examination of IT investments.

Related Papers

sciepub.com SciEP

Information technology (IT) investment and aligning methodologies require thorough understanding of analyses on different parallel present values and strong internal rates of return. E-commerce has given a new dimension to IT investing that elevates the role of strong IT performance as a driver of corporate strategy. Stakeholders concerned with maximizing IT return on investment (ROI) recognize the importance of central, comprehensive information resources to effective strategic business planning. Alignment of corporate and IT strategies is now a vital element of business success. To empirically support this conclusion, this study measures the relationship between strategic alignment of IT investment returns and corporate performance. A Descriptive research design using survey methodology was employed. The study included analyses of variable values involving stakeholders in banks, such as new customers and employees. A Simple Percentage Method, chi-square tests, Tables and weighted average were used to analyze data of at least five (5) banks in Ajman Emirates of UAE to determine the degree of alignment and its impact on the two strategic dimensions. A binary logistic regression analysis using Chan's STROIS model incorporated with Venkatraman's STROBE model was proposed to collect survey data and determine the extent of the strategic alignment. The research results provide empirical evidence that supports the hypothesis that closer alignment between corporate and IT strategies leads to increased IT ROI and improved corporate performance. This relationship holds true for all firms regardless of strategic intent for IT. The study also shows a positive correlation between early adoption of newly emergent technologies and business competitive advantage which leads to positive conclusions that strategic competition is imperative towards corporate performances.

Journal of Computer Science

Ronald Silalahi

Fernando José B Laurindo

Journal of Management Information Systems

Rajiv Sabherwal

Hamidreza Alipour

Ra'ed Masa'deh

Although researchers have encouraged further exploration on the causal links between Information Technology (IT) investments and a firm’s competitive advantage, outcomes of empirical studies have been non-conclusive. This is to a certain extent owing to the omission of IT-business strategic partnership (also known as strategic alignment). Indeed, strategic alignment has emerged as one of the most important issue facing business and IT executives all over the world. Importance aside, what is not clear is how to achieve and sustain this harmony relating business and IT. Therefore, scholars have continuously called for research that addresses the antecedent factors that lead to the alignment. In addition, some scholars have called for further adjustments to the concept of alignment by applying new theoretical approaches which have not been explored in the field of information systems (IS). Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to provide a detailed roadmap in which practitioners can use to understand the resources required to realize the potential values of their IT investments. This could be achieved by presenting further insight to the factors that could lead to strategic alignment; and investigating the relationships among strategic alignment antecedents, strategic alignment and competitive advantage.

Aurora Sánchez-Ortiz

David J Williamson

IT and business strategy alignment (IT&BSA) has been studied by scholars and attempted by prac-titioners for more than 15 years. Success has remained surprisingly elusive. If it is indeed possible to align a rapidly changing resource with a rapidly moving target, the potential for business benefit from alignment is tremendous. However, without some changes in current paradigms and assump-tions, alignment may be an unachievable state. This systems approach, qualitative paper analyzes 47 IT&BSA studies from 1990 through 2005. It assesses research approaches, methods, strategies, and techniques, and summarizes the key organizational, IT, and alignment concepts and topics using content analysis and semiotics. It then synthesizes the underlying trends in research and top-ics to determine how the field has changed in the last 15 years. Findings include a predominance of the systems approach in IT&BSA research. Both empirical and conceptual research strategies are common. Three dominant schools of thought pervade the study period. Strategic alignment maturi-ty has appeared in the literature relatively consistently since 1993. The balanced scorecard emerged in the late 1990s and is still under consideration. Shared domain knowledge, terminology, and vision is a more recent concept. These larger trends in IT&BSA research have also been sup-plemented by other smaller changes in concepts and topics. The study shows that IT and business strategy alignment is an elusive, if not impossible goal. Implications for practitioners include the need to continually reevaluate the strategic alignment and integration of these critical functions. Implications for researchers include the need for a unifying paradigm or model for future research. Keywords: Information Technology, Strategic Alignment, Research Methods

Hosea A. Ofe

This thesis examines the challenges and strategies to IT-Business alignment from the perspective of IT managers. The increasing importance of Information technology (IT) to organizations in areas such as joint research and development (R&D), Open innovation, and the ever-changing business environment means that organizations need to reassess their IT and business strategies so as to remain competitive. This implies that organizations in general and business and IT professionals in particular would have to work together more often than before in strategic planning. This is not easy because these professionals with diverse viewpoints may understand IT and business quite differently. Using a qualitative research design in the form of semi-structure interviews with open-ended questions, findings indicate that communication, partnership, governance, and skills are major challenges and strategies to alignment. This study contributes to ongoing research in IT-Business alignment by indicating that challenges to aligning business and IT strategies such as communication should not be narrowly thought of to exist just between IT and business professionals, it is equally a main concern among IT professionals.

Proceedings of the Third International Symposium, SEUSL: 6-7 July 2013, Oluvil, Sri Lanka 1

Ilmudeen Aboobucker

This research provides a comprehensive approach to show the business-IT alignment in terms of where they are and what they can do to improve alignment maturity. Identifying an organization's alignment maturity provides an excellent vehicle for understanding and improving the business-IT relationship. Alignment addresses both how IT is in harmony with the business, and how the business should, or could be in harmony with IT. A survey research method was applied to gather data and Strategic Alignment Maturity Model (SAMM) used to measure the business-IT alignment.

RELATED PAPERS

Asian Research Journal of Agriculture

Charles Onyari

The Astrophysical Journal

Jaime Muñoz

Journal of Teaching and Learning

Terry Sefton

Revista Brasileira de Computação Aplicada

Juliano Tonezer da Silva

Journal of Turkish Studies

Emine Kitiş

Ganaya : Jurnal Ilmu Sosial dan Humaniora

Dewi Kurniasih

Shani Johnson

Journal of Ayub Medical College, Abbottabad : JAMC

amir rahnema

Electrochemical Cells - New Advances in Fundamental Researches and Applications

Tiago Falcade

Photochemistry and Photobiology

Peter Pagels

Current Opinion in Microbiology

Charles Turnbough

Journal of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Biotechnology

Aminu Yusuf Fardami

Tahira Akbar

Allison Grupski

Japanese Journal of Applied Physics

Akitoshi Okino

International Journal of Impact Engineering

The New phytologist

Mari Pihlatie

International journal of radiation oncology, biology, physics

Hitesh Gupta

Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine

Douwe van Loon

njjfr hggtgrf

International Journal of Research and Analytical Reviews

Shreya Katoch

EDULEARN proceedings

Beatrix Bacova

Physical Review Letters

Jean-Claude Villegier

RELATED TOPICS

•   We're Hiring!
•   Help Center
• Find new research papers in:
• Health Sciences
• Earth Sciences
• Cognitive Science
• Mathematics
• Computer Science
• Academia ©2024