The Concept Of Literature Review

Introduction

 The report has attempted to evaluate that what is the concept of literature review, and it has also tried to discuss some of the features which make a literature review effective. The detail of the features of the literature review discussed by explaining the CRAAP test. The two articles are being chosen and they are being checked by applying every component of the test on the articles to identify that how much the articles have been able to fulfill the requirements that are required in a good literature review.  The discussions have highlighted that the articles more have been able to fulfill the requirements which are needed to make a literature review good.

Literature reviews

A literature review is the summary of the existing scholarship for which is done about a particular topic. It is always in the secondary sources as to what people have already written on the subject. It is not concerned about this covering of new information or a knowledge. A literature review must focus on the relevant academic literature, non-academic sources which may be used to illustrate a point. A literature review also helps in looking at the existing research as much as possible. It helps in reducing the scholarly books, and the various subjects to provide up-to-date information about a topic (Maier, 2013). The literature review is also defined as Cinderella of the research because it is seen as a poor connection to the primary research but necessary for a research report. A good literature review can extract new ideas from the work of others by summarizing and synthesizing previous information. It helps in building the new theories from the evidence which has already been discussed and provides a new direction for the future.

 There are many components that have to be present in a good literature review and ask for researcher Steward, a good literature review must be comprehensive, selective, fully reference, relevant, critical, valence, analytical and must be able to have a proper synthesis of ideas and theme. Literature review must be able to provide a closed discussion and examination of evidence in a proper way. Literature review must be able to provide the reader with the proper and clear image of the subject and the related perspectives on views about it. There can also be some kind of similarities which can be seen in annotated bibliography and literature reviews. It considers the research which has been carried out in a particular area but in the case of annotated Bibliography, there is no attempt to synthesize the various sources to reach a proper solution (Denney & Tewksbury, 2013). The main purpose of research is to discover something useful and new. A good literature review must be able to identify the knowledge gaps in the domain area. This is done by making use of proper steps in which research objectives are being set and then a proper research methodology is made to find out the results. Then the conclusions for being arrived at by making a proper study (Griffin, 2001). The quality of the literature reviews is very important to find the answers to the knowledge gaps which are being identified in the study and that would be able to contribute to the knowledge. This needs a clear specification of the problem area and a critical review of literature related to that area.

Steps of a literature review

Some of the steps of a good literature review can be seen as follows:

• gathering of sources: the main aim of the literature review is that it covers the research related to a given topic. It would try to gather the required materials from various sources. It is also important to summarise the various sources and the various themes have to be isolated depending upon the research interests.
• Evaluating sources: the evaluation of the sources is done about checking the credentials of the author. It is being evaluated that various evidence has been given to support the conclusion given in the study. When the comparison is being made to the sources then the conclusions are being made and the gaps which are raised by the literature of the studied (Burns, 2004). The conclusion of the literature review must provide a summary of the findings. It should explain about analysis which has been made. Even some of the suggestions are being highlighted for doing future Research and how the gaps would be filled in the existing body of work. A literature review is overall the summary of all the relevant literature to determine what is known and what is not known about a particular topic.
• The application of CRAAP is done to evaluate the authenticity of the sources. It is a very good guide that has helped in evaluating the journal based on the test. This test was developed by Molly Bee strum and this tells that whether the literature review is credible or not. This test considers four main areas which are reliability, currency, author, and purpose of the journals. The evaluation is being denned relating to these four areas based on which the decision is being taken that the source is authentic or not (Patio & Louse, 2017).
• Sources of information are available on the internet and it becomes difficult to ascertain which source is trustworthy. The crap test makes it easy for the students and for the educator to understand that whether the source can be trusted or not. CRAP is an acronym that is used to check the currency, relevance, authority, accuracy, and the purpose of the test. This test is also used by higher education consultants at universities.

Criteria of a good literature review- CRAAP Test

• Currency: this is the first test to evaluate any source and that helps in checking the currency. The currency refers to the fact that the information found in the journal is recent or not. It is being evaluated that work when the information was published or started and then when the information was updated and revised. It also checks that whether the literature review can rely on multiple sources in various platforms or not. The answers to the questions are being found that whether the topic is current in nature or not and it is helping in pinpointing the recent trends of information properly or not. The answers to these questions are important as they help in understanding that serve literature review is updated as for the changes taking place in the external environment (Balderston, 2008).
• Relevance: in the next step of the information is being checked. The writers of the restaurants have to focus on the intended audience. There are many topics available and the relevance of information has the audience to understand them properly. It is being said that whether the date is providing the appropriate level of understanding or not. There are many sources of information and the educated have to keep in their mind about the usage of the source.
• Authority: the authorities factor is also very important as it helps in understanding the significance level. The students and the educator have to understand that who is a publisher or author and sponsor so that they can trust the information. The attempt is being done to look into the affiliations and the education level of the author as it helps to understand that water is qualified to write about the topic on not.   When the authority is being cited in the sources and it establishes trust between the author of the work and the reader.
• Accuracy: Accuracy means that the trustworthiness of the sources is being evaluated. There must be sufficient evidence which has to support the information which is presented to the audiences. The evidence must include the observations, field notes, and the finding. The review report has to be referred to and reviewed with verifiable other sources. The content of the source should also be free from any kind of grammatical typographical and spelling errors.
• Purpose: the purpose of the service also helps in understanding that whether the information has provided the information which is required. The identification of the purpose of the sources ranges from informing, teaching, entertaining, selling to many other areas. Many other aspects have to be taken into consideration whether the information is an opinion, as well as personal, political, or any other ideological fact. It is important to understand the purpose of the information which helps the researcher properly.

Journal 1

One of the journals which is being evaluated is titled as ‘ cultural diversity in organizational theory and practice’. The criteria of the crap test are being applied to this journal so that it can be interpreted that whether this article has fulfilled all the criteria’s which are required in a good literature review.

• Currency: journal was published in the year 2010 and this journal has not been updated since its Publication. Journal has evaluated the concept of cultural diversity issues in organizational practices. This seems to be a relevant topic that is interesting to be e used by the organizations are the concept of cultural diversity issues have increased due to the globalization of companies. The Journal article is about nine years old so it can be set the journal article is not a current article.
• Reliability: the reliability of the information means that information which is included in the resource is balanced or not. Yes, the research article has discussed the benefits of the diversity in the organizations and at the same time, it has tried to educate about the various steps which could be taken by the organization to maintain a diverse organization (Wee & Banister, 2015). The research has also suggested that diversity is not a great asset or liability what the organizations must try to take maximum advantage of this. The journal article is supported by many references as there is a big list of references attached at the end and at many places the discussions made are supported with the citations. This means that the journal seems to be completely reliable. The information which is discussed in the journal is not too elementary level.
• Authority: the journal is being published in the journal of intercultural Management and it is being authored by Barbara Mazur who works at the University of Technology in the department of management. The contact information of the author is available on the websites and the author seems to be qualified enough to write about the topic. There is contact information that is available to contact the author. This way the journal is authorized by a proper person.
• Accuracy: the accuracy of the general can be seen by understanding the study which it has conducted. The information has not been reviewed or referred to. The language of the journal article seems to be unbiased and free of any emotions. The information which has been discussed can also be verified from the information given in other journals. There are also know the spelling of grammatical errors in the journal. This way the journal is completely accurate in the information which it is providing and is accurate.
• Purpose: the main purpose of the information is to inform the people about the importance of diversity management. The authors have been able to make the intentions clear. The information which is presented as an opinion and point of view is completely objective. There are no political, cultural or personal biases included in any kind of description. This way the purpose of the literature review is completely met.

Journal 2

The second journal which is being evaluated is ‘ Social Media and Organizational Commitment’.

• Currency: The journal is relating to the year 2014 and it seems to be current in nature. The information is not revised since it got published but still they the journal is current. The links which are given with the journal are still workable (Badea, 2014).
• Reliability: the information which is being discussed in the general has evaluated the concept of social media and its impact on organizational commitment.  Consideration has been made of various sources before choosing this source as seems to be most relevant about making a study of the social media and the commitment of the employees in the organization by using such social media. Journal article seems to be relevant to be cited in the research paper.
• Authority: this literature review has been authored by Marious Badea who is working as security of political science former communication and letters the atValahia University of Târgoviște, Lt. Stancu Io This journal has been written by an established to observe and it is also published in Procedia Social and behavioral sciences. The author is qualified to write on this topic he is working at a very important position in the University. He also possesses the right qualifications needed to do research work. The information to contact the author is given and he is also present on various social media websites.
• Accuracy: this tells about the truthfulness, reliability, and correctness of the content. The research work which is done by the author is completely evidenced by giving many references. The article is also Peer-reviewed and the tone of the article is completely unbiased. The main focus of the article is to examine that how organizational communication has been improved and it had also highlighted the risk present in this usage (Zhong & Li, 2016).
• Purpose: the purpose of the information discussed in the literature review is to provide information and to discuss the benefits of social media. The author has tried to make his intentions clear by the journey of a literature review. The point of view appears to be quite clear and impartial and there seems to be no influence of personal biases.

 Overall it can be said that literature review has passed almost all the test which is needed for checking the criteria of the test.

Conclusion

The report has endeavored to assess that what is the idea of writing a survey and it has likewise attempted to talk about a portion of the highlights which make a literature review compelling. The point-by-point investigation of the highlights of the writing survey was examined by clarifying the CRAAP test. The two articles are being picked and they are being checked by applying each part of the test on the articles to distinguish that to what degree the articles have had the option to satisfy the necessities that are required in a decent writing audit. The talks have featured that the articles, as it were, have had the option to satisfy the prerequisites which are expected to make a writing survey great.

References

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