| 800 University Dr. Maryville, MO 64468 | 660.562.1193 |
A literature review is a collection of selected articles, books and other sources about a specific subject. The purpose is to summarize the existing research that has been done on the subject in order to put your research in context and to highlight what your research will add to the existing body of knowledge. Literature reviews are typically organized in some way (chronological, thematic, methodological).
Let's take a look at an example of a literature review in an article, a dissertation, and a review article.
A literature review may constitute an essential chapter of a thesis or dissertation, or may be a self-contained review of writings on a subject. In either case, its purpose is to:
The literature review itself, however, does not present new primary scholarship.
Review articles allow the readers to get a landscape view of a topic, but readers can also use the collection of references cited in a review article to dig deeper into a topic. Thus, they are valuable resources to consult. Well written review articles are often highly cited and could increase the visibility and reputation of the authors.
It might be tempting to consider adapting a literature review, that is part of an article, proposal or dissertation, into a published review article. Such a literature review can be used as a starting point to build a review article upon. However, a literature review often does not follow the quality criteria of a formal review article or specific types of reviews and therefore should be reworked based on the steps illustrated in this editorial.
Perspectives, narrative and integrative reviews, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, appropriate ways of approaching a (systematic) review – writing a review step-by-step, step 1. topic and research question.
After the topic is chosen, it may be helpful to narrow the review down to a clear aim or question that the review seeks to answer. This helps to facilitate the selection of the publications to be reviewed. In addition to the topic, the author should seek to clarify the aim of the review by identifying the likely audience for such a review and how these individuals would benefit from this particular review. Review articles should explicitly mention the nature and scope of the intended review, as well as making a case for who would benefit from the review and how they would benefit.
Step 3. inclusion or exclusion of publications, step 4. synthesis of results, step 5. check for clarity and bias, how should review articles be cited as a reference in cerp manuscripts, reflections on the impact of a review article.
One can raise the question of whether a review article is actually supportive or harmful for the original articles included ( Ketcham and Crawford, 2007 ). Authors tend to cite a review article more often compared to original work, thus lowering the number of citations for the respective articles. However, on the other hand, if studies are included and discussed in a review, readers who would like to learn more or access the original perspectives tend to download, read and possibly cite them as well. The benefits of publishing review articles clearly outweigh any potential shortcomings, and their scarcity in the field of chemistry education opens up a venue for publication calls.
Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.
E-waste is a growing concern affecting the entire globe. While the amount of e-waste increases annually as new products are made, our understanding of how to treat and recycle it is also developing.
Disorder in redox-active monolayers arising from pinhole defects, loose packing, heterogeneous distribution of redox-active headgroups, and lateral interactions between immobilized redox-active molecules can cause non-ideal cyclic voltammetry behaviour.
The catalyst-controlled stereoselective synthesis of atropisomers is feasible by four main concepts: desymmetrization, (dynamic) kinetic resolution, direct formation of the stereogenic axis and de novo ring construction. In this Review, pioneering work in atroposelective catalysis is discussed alongside recent advances.
In 1993, a new route for the synthesis of semiconductor nanocrystals was reported that exploited organometallic chemistry to afford nearly monodisperse particles. 30 years later the award of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry can be directly traced to this single publication.
Following the success of our current journal club collaborations, we would like to encourage more groups of early-career researchers to get involved.
Monitoring a planetary resource under threat.
Manipulating disorder within cathodes of alkali-ion batteries.
Nature Reviews Chemistry is committed to facilitating training in peer review and to ensuring that everyone involved in our peer-review process is appropriately recognized. We have therefore joined an initiative to allow and encourage established referees to involve one early-career researcher in our peer-review process
The 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to Moungi G. Bawendi, Louis E. Brus and Alexei I. Ekimov for the discovery and synthesis of quantum dots
Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives aim to foster a community that better reflects the makeup of society. Following the United Nation's 'International Day of Persons with Disabilities', this living collection highlights an all-too-often overlooked aspect of DEI in chemistry: disability.
Advertisement
Photoclick reactions have found applications ranging from surface functionalization and polymer crosslinking to protein labelling and bioimaging, but they typically require near-UV and mid-UV light to proceed. This Review presents and discusses strategies and recent advances for long wavelength-driven photoclick reactions.
Compartmentalization is crucial for life’s evolution. Yet, the origin of modern phospholipid membranes and their species-dependent homochirality remains unknown. Amphiphile detection in extraterrestrial samples suggests diverse interstellar chemistry, enriching Earth’s prebiotic chemistry with vital membrane precursors. Moreover, chiroptical properties guide research into membrane homochirality origins.
In this Review, synthetic approaches to polycyclic scaffolds, which can act as saturated, three-dimensional bioisosteric replacements of ortho -substituted, meta -substituted and multi-substituted benzenes, are discussed. Their application in medicinal chemistry is also summarized.
Disorder can be used as a design parameter to improve the electrochemical performance of cathode materials. In this Review, the advantages of disorder engineering are highlighted by revisiting cathode materials and the chemical interactions that lead to different types of disorder.
Deaf professionals experience inequitable access at conferences, but conference hosts can learn to recognize and understand the contributing barriers. Establishing clear accessibility protocols can enhance organizational success and ensure a successful conference.
Sushila Maharjan is a biochemist and bioengineer and co-founder of Nepal’s Research Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology (RIBB).
Sapana Jadoun explains how metals can be extracted from, for example, mining and electronic waste with her purpose-built solar raceway pond reactor for use in sunny locations such as the Atacama Desert.
Li-ion intercalation often induces phase changes in transition metal dichalcogenides, but only the transition of 2H-to-1T/1T' in MoS 2 is well-known. Here, researchers report emerging phase transitions in 1T'-MoTe 2 , leading to the discovery of two new electronic phases.
In the quest for green ethylene production, perovskite oxides show promise as photocatalysts able to strip hydrogen from ethane and generate ethylene with solar energy.
Understanding our water supplies is vital for our health and wellbeing. While traditional water quality analyses require a slow and costly approach, Fluidion deploys automated chemical and microbiological monitoring in areas with impaired drinking water and at the Seine River 2024 Paris Olympics site, enhancing public health and environmental protection.
IMAGES
COMMENTS
A literature review can be a short introductory section of a research article or a report or policy paper that focuses on recent research. Or, in the case of dissertations, theses, and review articles, it can be an extensive review of all relevant research. The format is usually a bibliographic essay; sources are briefly cited within the body ...
The quality of literature reviews can be highly variable, depending not only on the author's knowledge of the topic but also their skill in navigating and synthesizing the literature. This paper discusses different types of review articles and provides information on how to improve the quality of literature reviews in chemistry, through better planning, rigorous literature searching, and ...
Personal: To familiarize yourself with a new area of research, to get an overview of a topic, so you don't want to miss something important, etc. Required writing for a journal article, thesis or dissertation, grant application, etc. Literature reviews vary; there are many ways to write a literature review based on discipline, material type ...
Personal: To familiarize yourself with a new area of research, to get an overview of a topic, so you don't want to miss something important, etc. Required writing for a journal article, thesis or dissertation, grant application, etc. Literature reviews vary; there are many ways to write a literature review based on discipline, material type ...
Literature reviews contribute to the communication and advancement of scientific knowledge. They help us understand how knowledge in a particular field is changing and developing over time, they provide a good introduction ot the major work in a field, and they may uncover gaps in research, conflicting results, and under-examined areas.
Introduction Science education and chemistry education articles have proliferated in the last two decades. For researchers new to the field, it can be hard to get an overview about a research area, for example what has been studied and general trends over time. ... Writing a review article: what to do with my literature review N. Graulich, S. E ...
The best proposals are timely and clearly explain why readers should pay attention to the proposed topic. It is not enough for a review to be a summary of the latest growth in the literature: the ...
The development of the skills to read and understand scientific literature is crucial to the future success of students. A literature review project was introduced into an organic chemistry laboratory course, in which undergraduate students were asked to acquire the skills of scientific literature searching, reading, and summarizing. The course project was improved during the COVID-19 pandemic ...
The number of studies analyzing chemistry textbooks has steadily increased over the years and has notably surged in the past decade. In this literature review, we examine the research literature on chemistry textbooks. The review spans 40 years of research (from 1981 to 2021) and includes 79 studies published in over 20 different journals, analyzing secondary and postsecondary chemistry ...
Chem Soc Rev ( Chemical Society Reviews) is the Royal Society of Chemistry's leading reviews journal. We publish high-impact, authoritative and reader-friendly review articles covering important topics at the forefront of the chemical sciences. We welcome and encourage proposals for reviews from members of the research community: To write a ...
There are several types of literature in chemistry designed to give an overview of a research area, methodology or practice, these resources are referred to as tertiary literature. Review articles and chapter-books give an overview of a research field at a given time.
Peptide stapling is a powerful technique used to lock peptide conformations and modulate peptide functions. This Review highlights the newest development in non-symmetric stapling of native ...
Personal: To familiarize yourself with a new area of research, to get an overview of a topic, so you don't want to miss something important, etc. Required writing for a journal article, thesis or dissertation, grant application, etc. Literature reviews vary; there are many ways to write a literature review based on discipline, material type ...
Reviews summarize and synthesize the current state of the research on a particular topic. Ideally, the writer analyzes all recent literature to provide a coherent narrative of the state of knowledge on that topic. Since reviews do not report new original research, they are part of the Secondary Literature. Review articles will tell you about:
Review articles comprehensively summarize article after article about what is already known on a topic. Primary research articles report new findings. The review of literature in a primary article is based on significance and relevance to the research question rather than being comprehensive.
This literature review can be helpful for researchers, teachers and instructional developers to implement effective technologies and instructional design elements that are based on research on virtual chemical laboratories. ... Digital learning technologies in chemistry education: a review (editors) Digital technologies: sustainable innovations ...
A literature review may constitute an essential chapter of a thesis or dissertation, or may be a self-contained review of writings on a subject. In either case, its purpose is to: Place each work in the context of its contribution to the understanding of the subject under review; Describe the relationship of each work to the others under ...
Explore the latest full-text research PDFs, articles, conference papers, preprints and more on CHEMISTRY, ORGANIC. Find methods information, sources, references or conduct a literature review on ...
This Review of Chemistry Education Research (CER) provides an overview of the development of research in chemistry education from the early days, when ideas about how to teach chemistry and help students learn were guided by practitioner wisdom, to current research that is based on theories of learning and provides evidence from which to make arguments about improving teaching and learning. We ...
A formal literature review is an evidence-based, in-depth analysis of a subject. There are many reasons for writing one and these will influence the length and style of your review, but in essence a literature review is a critical appraisal of the current collective knowledge on a subject. Rather than just being an exhaustive list of all that ...
While studies have been conducted on metacognition in chemistry education, none have included detailed assignments covering a range of metacognitive strategies. Our review of studies on metacognition in chemistry secondary and higher education also includes also several exemplary assignments on the energy topic for facilitating and assessing ...
Writing a review article: what to do with my literature review. Nicole Graulich a, Scott E. Lewis b, Ajda Kahveci c, James M. Nyachwaya d and Gwendolyn A. Lawrie * e a Institute of Chemistry Education, Justus-Liebig-University, Giessen, Germany b Department of Chemistry, University of South Florida, USA c Department of Chemistry, Fort Hays State University, USA d Department of Chemistry and ...
Nature Reviews Chemistry is an online-only journal publishing Reviews, Perspectives, Comments and Highlights in all disciplines within pure and applied chemistry ... In this Review, pioneering ...