FAQ on Dissertation Literature Review
admin April 25th, 2008
Dissertation literature review is a small but significant part of a huge work called dissertation. Like all the other parts of a dissertation, dissertation literature review has its own rules of organization and many other peculiarities.
No matter whether you know all these peculiarities or not, it would be useful for you to get more information about dissertation literature review. That is why we want to introduce you the frequently asked questions on a dissertation literature review.
What a literature review is about? To be short, literature review is a list of the materials and sources used for writing your work. However, it is not a mere list of the books and articles. Each item of your literature review should have some critical comments and a short description.
Why a literature review is required in a dissertation? 1) Literature review allows the reader to get a short and precise account of what is known upon the topic of your work or within the field of your study. 2) Literature review also introduces various controversies that different authors have on the problem. 3) Literature review allows understanding what remains unstudied on the topic and the answers to what questions will contribute to the progress of this particular field of study.
What is the critical analysis in a literature review? Critical analysis means an unbiased evaluation of the materials. Here you should mind the difference between critical and negative comments. Negative comments actually should not be presented in the literature review. While making critical analysis, you have to estimate the author’s authority (the qualifications, other publications) for making that kind of research. And you will have to evaluate his/her actual research (its originality, significance, methods used and so on).
So, your dissertation cannot go without a literature review and you should know what it is for and how to make it.