*The Literature Review should have three parts: introduction, main body and conclusion.
*The structure of Literature review should not be chronological. It should be Thematic or Theoretical.
*Include at least 20 high quality citations, and at least 50% of them should be peer-reviewed academic references.
It is important to have a good introduction that clearly tells the reader what the literature review will be about, and its central themes or organizational pattern. Point out overall trends in what has been published about the topic, and explain the criteria you have used to analyze and compare the literature you reviewed.
The literature review is a critical look at the existing research which is related your research study. It is important for you to read and analyze everything that could be related to your research questions.
After completing a literature review you should be able to identify the prominent authors and texts that are related to your topic, and area of study. The literature review may include both the research (empirical or analytical) on your topic, and theoretical works related to your topic.
The literature review is used as the basis for your Introductions brief description of the background of your study, to identify research trends or areas of interest that are relevant to your study, and to find potential gaps in the existing body of knowledge.
There is no one way to conduct a literature review, but this section should be done in a systematic fashion to capture, evaluate and summarize the literature. Creswell (2013) has a 7 step plan to follow that could be used.
