40 Summary

The chapter outlined the process of conducting a literature review and the components of it. It reminded you to search widely (e.g., using your university library, Google scholar and databases) and strive for some measure of saturation. This is essential because your literature review has implications for every other section of your thesis. Previous scholarship (or the lack thereof) will impact your methodological choices, analytical techniques, interpretation of your findings and suggestions for future works in the field. It is therefore important that you invest time in producing a strong literature search. It can be quite time consuming to be searching for new literature if after you have analyzed your findings and you discover that your literature review did not anticipate or is unable to explain your results. Having said that, it is key to remember that the literature review does not end when you first complete it. It will be a work-in-progress until your thesis is finished. Hence, it is an iterative process: you will likely be doing new literature searches at every step of the thesis journey. However, a good initial review will provide a solid platform and will minimize the searches that you will need to complete.

You are also reminded to develop a thesis statement and organize the body according to one (or a combination) of the principles suggested: systematic, argumentative, theoretical, chronological/historical or methodological. It is also crucial that you take an analytical approach to note taking by asking the five W questions, by synthesizing and using an active voice in your presentation. Finally, we strongly recommend that you develop a system for managing your citations. While the literature review can be a daunting prospect, by following the suggestions offered in the chapter and the checklists, it can be a fulfilling and rewarding task.