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Theses & Dissertations

Literature Review

What is a Literature Review for a Dissertation or Theses?

The main purpose of literature review is to find out what scholarly research already exists about your topic and identify gaps in the literature in order to provide a context for your own research.

Reviewing the literature will enable you to identify major seminal works (e.g. foundational and highly-cited research in the field) in order for you to examine the relationships between main ideas, methodologies, and research techniques used in previous research studies on a topic.

green book cover for The Literature Review: Six steps to success.
blue book cover for Writing the Literature Review a Practical Guide.
yellow book cover for Conducting Your Literature Review

Structure of a Literature Review

The literature review that you research and write will be a synthesis of the themes that you notice in previously published research on your topic. 

Your synthesis will show connections, comparisons, and other relationships among the articles you're using for the literature review.

For example:

  • What are the research questions being asked about a topic?
  • Who are the key writers and what have they said about the topic?
  • What methods and methodologies are typically used in studies on the topic?
  • What are the prevailing theories and hypotheses related to the topic?

Library Database Search Tips:

  • All scholarly journal articles include a short review of the literature, usually after the introduction paragraph. Select a relevant citation, then find and read that article to begin to understand the scholarly conversation around a topic.
    Below is a screenshot from the journal article: MacKinnon, C. J., Smith, N. G., Henry, M., Milman, E., Berish, M., Farrace, A., Körner, A., Chochinov, H. M., & Cohen, S. R. (2016). A Pilot Study of Meaning-Based Group Counseling for Bereavement. Omega: Journal of Death and Dying, 72(3), 210–233. https://doi.org/10.1177/0030222815575002

Text sample from an article which shows in-text citations.

  • Sometimes, a literature review can be a type of journal article that provides an overview of the scholarly literature on a topic. These types of articles often contain the phrase, literature review or a review of the literature, in the title.

Ex: Here's how to search for a "literature review" article using the EBSCO database, PsycInfo
Database box 1 search term: psychotherapy, box 2 search term: PTSD, box 3 search term: "literature review" .

  • All dissertations include a review of the literature in chapter 2.
    Use the library database, Dissertations and Theses, to search the key concepts related to your topic. Then, review the chapter two of those relevant dissertations. Doing so can help you identify seminal studies that you might have missed.
    Below is a screenshot from the dissertation: Jones, I. (2021). The Future Leading Ladies, Female Leaders by Choice, Obligation, or Necessity. A Qualitative Study Dismantling Millennial-Aged Women’s Assumption, Leadership Perceptions, and Influence on Social Support in the It Industry That’s Viewed Male-Dominated (Order No. 28770260). 

Sample Table of Contents in a Dissertation.

The full citation for a study can be found in the References or Works Cited page located at the end of the dissertation.
Remember: Do not cite the dissertation, find the original articles cited in the author's chapter two literature review.