Systematic Literature Review: A Definition and Purposes

Writing research papers and dissertations students should follow a specific structure. The introduction, the literature review, the methodology, the results, the discussion, the conclusion, and the recommendations for further research are the specific sections students should complete.

We are not going to dwell upon all of those. We would rather discuss a problem of writing a systematic literature review. Here is some specific information students should know while conducting a research.

What is the systematic literature review?

The systematic literature review is a definite type of work when students focus their attention on a particular problem, try to search for secondary sources, like peer-reviewed ones, and identify, evaluate and analyze the information devoted to the specific problem under consideration. The systematic literature reviews have superseded traditional narrative reviews.

What are the purposes for systematic literature reviews?

The systematic literature reviews are aimed at:

1. Considering all published and unpublished information devoted to one particular problem.
2. Selecting some reports, statistics and other primary sources of information.
3. Assessing the received information and evidence.
4. Evaluating and analyzing the information. It is crucial to remain unprejudiced while preparing a systematic literature review. 
5. Interpreting the results of the research. These results of systematic literature review should be balanced and presented in a written form.

What are the steps for preparing systematic literature reviews?

To conduct a good research while writing a systematic literature reviews students should:

1. Formulate a problem
2. Search for credible sources which contain necessary information.
3. Critically evaluate the information in the sources.
4. Choose those sources which directly correspond to the problem.
5. Analyze and present results.
6. Discuss results.