Reviewing Literature in dissertation- Guidelines in details
While for most of us, preparing a dissertation has its own set of problems, the most difficult area seems to be reviewing a piece of literature. The long and detailed guidelines with hundreds of pages available in your library or online resources are enough to confuse any student. So, here is a brief set of guideline that will be able to help you in a thorough manner:
- Understand what actually a literature review is: A review work tests the skill of a student in understanding a particular piece of published literature work. Since it is to be submitted as a part of the dissertation work, it is imperative that the objective of the research is guided through the review.
- Proper review requires analyzing: You must always remember that simply reading from an online sources and then copying them as it is in your own words is not a work of review. Instead, you must always try to read the published work thoroughly and then form your own summary set. It is quite important that a student adapts his own approach towards the literature work since this will guide him to make a critical argument and approach the work in a different light.
- Things to consider: It is very important to make a relation between your current dissertation topic and the literature work that you have chosen for review since the review will be a part of the overall dissertation work. Also, in case if you are disagreeing with the author regarding any particular thing, you must highlight the area and give proper explanation. You can talk about the methodology of the author, how it is same or different from authors writing on the same topic and can even cite an example or two.
- Writing a review: You must always try to find an argument that is clearly mentioned in your dissertation, the lack of which will directly lead to your work falling flat. Make sure that there are introductions that can clearly establish the outline of your work. A literature review must always be written in a formal fashion that is academic and without a hint of colloquial terms.
- Avoid plagiarism at all cost: While you can take down the idea from various sources, direct plagiarism is strictly not allowed. Ensure that you do not lift any work directly from any source. It will be better to cite the reference in case you have to include someone else’s thesis.
The objective of a literature review is to make sure that you are able to convey the purpose of your dissertation. You must critically evaluate your own work prior to submitting it, and must always remember that the review is a part of your overall dissertation and hence must be in tandem to the main work’s structure.
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