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Literature Review Definition: Choosing an Effective Strategy
Difficulties of giving a literature review definition
Collecting the materials, a researcher looks through diverse sources, deciding on the most reliable and valuable of them. However, not making notes, relying on one’s memory, an individual may overlook some significant facts and valuable data. For this reason, literature review may be helpful for enhancing the effectiveness of the investigation process. However, it is not that easy to give a universal literature review definition and point at the most effective strategy for conducting it.
The importance of the literature review can hardly be underestimated though every researcher would formulate one’s own literature review definition, sharing professional experience with beginners. Interviewing experts, an individual would get to know about main approaches to giving a literature review definition.
Thus, some professional researchers give preference to focusing on the latest sources, while others choose the reliability of the source as the main criterion for including it into the paper. Despite the diversity of literature review definitions, everyone would point at the importance of meeting the format requirements and proper referencing of sources in this part of the paper. This might simplify the researcher’s work on the reference list after completing the rest of the report.
Giving one’s personal literature review definition
Sharing one’s experience with younger colleagues, a researcher should consider the following assessment criteria for giving a literature review definition:
- Usefulness of the literature review definition for inexperienced researchers. It should provide students with a brief practical guideline.
- Objectivity of literature review definition. Focusing on peculiarities of one’s personal learning style is inadmissible.
- Clarity of literature review definition. It is important to consider the level of preparation of the target audience.