The Science of Literature Reviews: Searching, Identifying, Selecting, and Synthesising

Abstract

The ability to conduct an explicit and robust literature review by students, scholars or scientists is critical in producing excellent journal articles, academic theses, academic dissertations or working papers. A literature review is an evaluation of existing research works on a specific academic topic, theme or subject to identify gaps and propose future research agenda. Many postgraduate students in higher education institutions lack the necessary skills and understanding to conduct in-depth literature reviews. This may lead to the presentation of incorrect, false or biased inferences in their theses or dissertations. This study offers scientific knowledge on how literature reviews in different fields of study could be conducted to mitigate against biased inferences such as unscientific analogies and baseless recommendations. The literature review is presented as a process that involves several activities including searching, identifying, reading, summarising, compiling, analysing, interpreting and referencing. We hope this article serves as reference material to improve the academic rigour in the literature review chapters of postgraduate students’ theses or dissertations. This article prompts established scholars to explore more innovative ways through which scientific literature reviews can be conducted to identify gaps (empirical, knowledge, theoretical, methodological, application and population gap) and propose a future research agenda.

A scoping review of community-based facilities management for public services through social enterprises in developing communities

“…A scoping review is different from traditional systematic reviews, as scoping uses methods that focus on three aspects of mapping, namely, literature, conceptual and policy mapping. Usually, a scoping study is like a systematic literature review, except that it embraces less restrictions on the materials resourced (Chigbu et al , 2023). Scoping reviews are relevant in fields with a paucity of rigorous evidence (Levac et al , 2010), such as in this case, to provide an overview of literature and because of limited comprehensive literature in the field.…”

Project-Based Learning as a Methodology to Improve Reading and Comprehension Skills in the English Language

“…Reading requires understanding the ideas presented in the text, relating them to what the reader already knows, drawing conclusions, and using this information according to the stated purpose of the text, whether it be to investigate, study, collect data, or entertain. Teaching this process is essential, as the lack of guidance may be one reason students obtain low scores on reading comprehension tests [25].…”

“…Chigbu, 2023 [25] Santos, 2023 [23] Rivadeneira, 2023 [27] Velasco, 2023 [17] Perez, 2023 [12] Castro, 2023 [18] Lozano, 2023 [16] Proposal Authors…”

Revitalizing English Language Teaching (ELT): Unveiling Evolving Pedagogies and AI-Driven Dynamics in the Post-Pandemic Era

“…These participants, labeled as "Par 1" to "Par 30," were selected from the College of Arts and Sciences in St. Michael's College. The informal interview process involved semistructured conversations, allowing participants to freely express their experiences, challenges, and perceptions regarding AI integration (Chigbu et al, 2023). This approach fosters a relaxed atmosphere that encourages open dialogue, thus uncovering comprehensive qualitative data.…”

“…Initially, open coding was conducted, where data segments were broken down into meaningful units and assigned codes that capture their essence. These codes were generated inductively from the data itself, allowing for an unbiased representation of participants' perspectives (Chigbu et al, 2023).…”