Undertaking a Literature Review: a Step-by-Step Approach by Cronin, Ryan, and Coughlan - Article Example

The authors’ three main points are the types of literature reviews, the process of completing a literature review, and sections of a literature review. The first point identifies four types of literature reviews, “traditional or narrative literature review,” “systematic literature review,” “Meta-analysis,” and “Meta-synthesis” (Cronin, Ryan, and Coughlan, 2008, p. 38, 39). The next main point is the review process that begins with a determination of the topic to be explored.

The topic should, however, be refined to a specific line and should have sufficient literature for review. A search of the literature, using key terms, then follows before analysis and conceptualization of the selected materials. The literature review process then ends with documentation of the findings that should follow a systematic layout. The last important point is the proposed structure for writing literature reviews and the authors identify four sections, introduction, the review’s body, conclusion, and references, which should be consecutively ordered.