Tips on Writing a Literature Review For Master’s Dissertation
A literature review is one of the important components of master’s dissertation or a dissertation proposal. When you decide to work on a dissertation, you have to begun with research. Before finalizing your dissertation topic you must trace the amount of accredited work done by research scholars in a given field. This helps you analyse the progress of research in a particular field and opt for a current and relevant research topic to take the research further.
This account of relevant research material available on a given topic in various forms, print and electronic, makes for a literature review. A literature review, as the term may suggest, is not a review of a literary work, but a review of the amount of literature or research resources available on a given dissertation topic.
You may be asked to write a literature review as a separate assignment by your instructor or as a part of the introduction to your master’s dissertation. In both cases, the review will occur at the beginning of the dissertation. Here are few tips on writing a literature review for your master’s dissertation.
1. Before you begin with a literature review ask for a reading list from your instructor. Make a rough outline of the number of sources to refer. Explore all forms of resource material: Books, Magazines, Journals, online databases and student’s dissertations submitted in previous years. Referring a dissertation, masters or doctoral, in a similar subject or topic may prove very resourceful as it offers a literature review until the date it was published.
2. Know the limitations of your dissertation project. You must consult your supervisor regarding the number of resources you are required to consult and mention in your dissertation. If it is an honor’s dissertation your list of references must not exceed twenty, if you are writing a master’s dissertation, you will be required to cite at least thirty references, for doctoral dissertation, the ideal number is fifty. Irrespective of the number of sources consulted and mentioned, it is more important to trace the development of the research over the years. While a master’s dissertation will have an in-depth account of the development, a casual assignment on literature review can have a general outline.
3. A good literature review will be more than a mere summary of the references consulted. The aim of a literature review is defeated if it fails to provide a comprehensive development of various research methodologies applied in the field of study. It must be able to clearly classify the advantages and limitations of various research projects and bring to the conclusion the reasons of your research project and its contribution to the academic world.
4. You must critically evaluate each and every text before citing it in your literature review. Your review must reflect the skills and ability to scan through the vast amount of literature for the relevant and appropriate content. It is thus indispensable to refer only those resources that are academically accredited and have contributed to the growth and understanding of the given research topic.
5. When consulting literature review from a dissertation, or writing one before the actual submission, make sure to update it for any current developments. The more recent entries you will have in your literature review, the better your masters dissertation will be.
