literature review on communication pdf

Communication Studies *: The Literature Review

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A literature review surveys scholarly articles, books and other sources relevant to a particular issue, area of research, or theory, and by so doing, providing a description, summary, and critical evaluation of these works. Literature reviews are designed to provide an overview of sources you have explored while researching a particular topic and to demonstrate to your readers how your research fits into the larger field of study.

All contect is from a Literature Review please refer to the sub-tab under The Literature Review created by Dr. Robert Larabee.

Importance of a Good Literature Review

A literature review may consist of simple a summary of key sources, but it usually has an organizational pattern and combines both summary and synthesis, often within specific conceptual categories . A summary is a recap of the important information of the source, but a synthesis is a re-organization, or a reshuffling, of that information in a way that informs how you are planning to investigate a research problem. The analytical features of a literature review might:

• give a new interpretation of old material or combine new with old interpretations,
• trace the intellectual progression of the field, including major debates,
• depending on the situation, evaluate the sources and advise the reader on the most pertinent or relevant, or
• usually in the conclusion of a literature review, identify where gaps exist in how a problem has been researched to date.

The purpose of a literature review is to:

• Place each work in the context of its contribution to the understanding of the research problem being studied,
• Describe the relationship of each work to the others under consideration,
• Identify new ways to interpret, and shed light on any gaps in previous research,
• Resolve conflicts amongst seemingly contradictory previous studies,
• Identify areas of prior scholarship to prevent duplication of effort,
• Point the way in fulfilling a need for additional research, and
• Locate your own research within the context of existing literature.

All contect is from The Literature Review created by Dr. Robert Larabee.

Types of Literature Reviews

As Kennedy (2007) notes*, it is important to think of knowledge in a given field as consisting of three layers. First, there are the primary studies that researchers conduct and publish. Second are the reviews of those studies that summarize and offer new interpretations built from and often extending beyond the original studies. Third, there are the perceptions, conclusions, opinion, and interpretations that are shared informally that become part of the lore of field. In composing a literature review, it is important to note that it is often this third layer of knowledge that is cited as "true" even though it often has only a loose relationship to the primary studies and secondary literature reviews.

Given this, while literature reviews are designed to provide an overview and synthesis of pertinent sources you have explored, there are several approaches to how they can be done, depending upon the type of analysis underpinning your study. Listed below are definitions of types of literature reviews:

Argumentative Review      This form examines literature selectively in order to support or refute an argument, deeply imbedded assumption, or philosophical problem already established in the literature. The purpose is to develop a body of literature that establishes a contrarian viewpoint. Given the value-laden nature of some social science research [e.g., educational reform; immigration control], argumentative approaches to analyzing the literature can be a legitimate and important form of discourse. However, note that they can also introduce problems of bias when they are used to to make summary claims of the sort found in systematic reviews.

Integrative Review      Considered a form of research that reviews, critiques, and synthesizes representative literature on a topic in an integrated way such that new frameworks and perspectives on the topic are generated. The body of literature includes all studies that address related or identical hypotheses. A well-done integrative review meets the same standards as primary research in regard to clarity, rigor, and replication.

Historical Review      Few things rest in isolation from historical precedent. Historical reviews are focused on examining research throughout a period of time, often starting with the first time an issue, concept, theory, phenomena emerged in the literature, then tracing its evolution within the scholarship of a discipline. The purpose is to place research in a historical context to show familiarity with state-of-the-art developments and to identify the likely directions for future research.

Methodological Review      A review does not always focus on what someone said [content], but how they said it [method of analysis]. This approach provides a framework of understanding at different levels (i.e. those of theory, substantive fields, research approaches and data collection and analysis techniques), enables researchers to draw on a wide variety of knowledge ranging from the conceptual level to practical documents for use in fieldwork in the areas of ontological and epistemological consideration, quantitative and qualitative integration, sampling, interviewing, data collection and data analysis, and helps highlight many ethical issues which we should be aware of and consider as we go through our study.

Systematic Review      This form consists of an overview of existing evidence pertinent to a clearly formulated research question, which uses pre-specified and standardized methods to identify and critically appraise relevant research, and to collect, report, and analyse data from the studies that are included in the review. Typically it focuses on a very specific empirical question, often posed in a cause-and-effect form, such as "To what extent does A contribute to B?"

Theoretical Review      The purpose of this form is to concretely examine the corpus of theory that has accumulated in regard to an issue, concept, theory, phenomena. The theoretical literature review help establish what theories already exist, the relationships between them, to what degree the existing theories have been investigated, and to develop new hypotheses to be tested. Often this form is used to help establish a lack of appropriate theories or reveal that current theories are inadequate for explaining new or emerging research problems. The unit of analysis can focus on a theoretical concept or a whole theory or framework.

* Kennedy, Mary M. "Defining a Literature." Educational Researcher 36 (April 2007): 139-147.

Structure and Writing Style

I.  Thinking About Your Literature Review

The structure of a literature review should include the following :

• An overview of the subject, issue or theory under consideration, along with the objectives of the literature review,
• Division of works under review into themes or categories (e.g. works that support of a particular position, those against, and those offering alternative approaches entirely),
• An explanation of how each work is similar to and how it varies from the others,
• Conclusions as to which pieces are best considered in their argument, are most convincing of their opinions, and make the greatest contribution to the understanding and development of their area of research

The critical evaluation of each work should consider :

• Provenance -- what are the author's credentials? Are the author's arguments supported by evidence (e.g. primary historical material, case studies, narratives, statistics, recent scientific findings)?
• Objectivity -- is the author's perspective even-handed or prejudicial? Is contrary data considered or is certain pertinent information ignored to prove the author's point?
• Persuasiveness -- which of the author's theses are most/least convincing?
• Value -- are the author's arguments and conclusions convincing? Does the work ultimately contribute in any significant way to an understanding of the subject?

II.  The Development of the Literature Review

Four stages : 1.  Problem formulation -- which topic or field is being examined and what are its component issues? 2.  Literature search -- finding materials relevant to the subject being explored. 3.  Data evaluation -- determining which literature makes a significant contribution to the understanding of the topic. 4.  Analysis and interpretation -- discussing the findings and conclusions of pertinent literature.

Consider the following issues before writing the literature review: Clarify If your assignment is not very specific about what form your literature review should take, seek clarification from your professor by asking these questions: 1.  Roughly how many sources should I include? 2.  What types of sources should I review (books, journal articles, websites)? 3.  Should I summarize, synthesize, or critique your sources by discussing a common theme or issue? 4.  Should I evaluate the sources? 5.  Should I provide subheadings and other background information, such as definitions and/or a history? Find Models Use the exercise of reviewing the literature to examine how authors in your discipline or area of interest have composed their literature reviews. Read them to get a sense of the types of themes you might want to look for in your own research or ways to organize your final review. The bibliography or reference section of sources you've already read are also excellent entry points into your own research. Narrow the Topic The narrower your topic, the easier it will be to limit the number of sources you need to read in order to obtain a good survey of relevant resources. Your professor will probably not expect you to read everything that's available about the topic, but you'll make your job easier if you first limit scope of the research problem. A good strategy is to begin by searching the HOMER catalog for books about the topic and review their contents for chapters that focus on more specific issues. You can also review the subject indexes of books to find references to specific issues that can serve as the focus of your research. For example, a book surveying the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict may include a chapter on the role Egypt has played in mediating the conflict. Consider Whether Your Sources are Current Some disciplines require that you use information that is as current as possible. This is very common in the sciences where research conducted only two years ago could be obsolete. However, when writing a review in the social sciences, a survey of the history of the literature may be what is needed because what is important is how perspectives have changed over the years or within a certain time period. Try sorting through some other current bibliographies or literature reviews in the field to get a sense of what your discipline expects. You can also use this method to consider what is consider by scholars to be a "hot topic" and what is not.

III.  Ways to Organize Your Literature Review

Chronological of Events If your review follows the chronological method, you could write about the materials according to when they were published. This approach should only be followed if a clear path of research building on previous research can be identified and that these trends follow a clear chronological order of development. For example, a literature review that focuses on continuing research about the emergence of German economic power after the fall of the Soviet Union. By Publication Order your sources by publication chronology, then, only if the order demonstrates a more important trend. For instance, you could order a review of literature on environmental studies of brown fields if the progression of revealed a change in the soil collection practices of the researchers who wrote and/or conducted the studies. Thematic (“conceptual categories”) Thematic reviews of literature are organized around a topic or issue, rather than the progression of time. However, progression of time may still be an important factor in a thematic review. For example, a review of the Internet’s impact on American presidential politics could focus on the development of online political satire. While the study focuses on one topic, the Internet’s impact on American presidential politics, it will still be organized chronologically reflecting technological developments in media. The only difference here between a "chronological" and a "thematic" approach is what is emphasized the most: the role of the Internet in presidential politics. Note however that more authentic thematic reviews tend to break away from chronological order. A review organized in this manner would shift between time periods within each section according to the point made. Methodological A methodological approach focuses on the methods utilized by the researcher. For the Interbnet in American presidential politics project, one methodological approach would be to look at cultural differences between the portrayal of American presidents on American, British, and French websites. Or the review might focus on the fundraising impact of the Internet on a particular political party. A methodological scope will influence either the types of documents in the review or the way in which these documents are discussed.

Other Sections of Your Literature Review Once you've decided on the organizational method for your literature review, the sections you need to include in the paper should be easy to figure out because they arise from your organizational strategy. In other words, a chronological review would have subsections for each vital time period; a thematic review would have subtopics based upon factors that relate to the theme or issue. However, sometimes you may need to add additional sections that are necessary for your study, but do not fit in the organizational strategy of the body. What other sections you include in the body is up to you but include only what is necessary for the reader to locate your study within the larger scholarship framework.

Here are examples of other sections you may need to include depending on the type of review you write:

• Current Situation : information necessary to understand the topic or focus of the literature review.
• History : the chronological progression of the field, the literature, or an idea that is necessary to understand the literature review, if the body of the literature review is not already a chronology.
• Selection Methods : the criteria you used to select (and perhaps exclude) sources in your literature review. For instance, you might explain that your review includes only peer-reviewed articles and journals.
• Standards : the way in which you present your information.
• Questions for Further Research : What questions about the field has the review sparked? How will you further your research as a result of the review?

IV.  Writing Your Literature Review

Once you've settled on how to organize your literature review, you're ready to write each section. When writing your review, keep in mind these issues.

Use Evidence A literature review in this sense is just like any other academic research paper. Your interpretation of the available sources must be backed up with evidence to show that what you are saying is valid. Be Selective Select only the most important points in each source to highlight in the review. The type of information you choose to mention should relate directly to the research problem, whether it is thematic, methodological, or chronological. Use Quotes Sparingly Some short quotes are okay if you want to emphasize a point, or if what the author said just cannot be rewritten in your own words. Sometimes you may need to quote certain terms that were coined by the author, not common knowledge, or taken directly from the study. Do not use extensive quotes as a substitute your own summary and interpretation of the literature. Summarize and Synthesize Remember to summarize and synthesize your sources within each paragraph as well as throughout the review. Recapitulate important features of a research study, but then synthesize it by rephrasing the study's significance and relating it to their own work. Keep Your Own Voice While the literature review presents others' ideas, your voice (the writer's) should remain front and center. For example, weave references to other sources into what you are writing but maintain your own voice by starting and ending the paragraph with your own ideas and wording. Use Caution When Paraphrasing When paraphrasing a source that is not your own, be sure to represent the author's information or opinions accurately and in your own words. Even when paraphrasing an author’s work, you still must provide a citation to that work.

V.  Common Mistakes to Avoid

The most common mistakes made in reviewing social science research literature are that the researcher:

• does not clearly relate the findings of the literature review to the research problem;
• does not take sufficient time to define and identify the most relevent sources to use in the literature review related to the research problem;
• relies exclusively on secondary analytical sources rather than including primary research studies or data;
• uncritically accepts another researcher's findings and interpretations as valid, rather than examining critically all aspects of the research design and analysis;
• does not describe the search procedures that were used in the literature review;
• reports isolated statistical results rather than sythesizing them in chi-squared or meta-analytic methods; and,
• only includes research that validates assumptions and does not consider contrary findings and alternative interpretations found in the literature.

Writing Tip

Break Out of Your Disciplinary Box!

Thinking interdisciplinarily about a research problem can be a rewarding exercise in applying new ideas, theories, or concepts to an old problem. For example, what might cultural anthropologists say about the continuing conflict in the Middle East? In what ways might geographers view the need for better distribution of social service agencies in large cities than how social workers might study the issue? You don’t want to substitute a thorough review of core research literature in your discipline for studies conducted in other fields of study. However, particularly in the social sciences, thinking about research problems from multiple vectors is a key strategy for finding new solutions. Consult with a librarian about identifying research databases in other disciplines; almost every discipline has at least one comprehensive database devoted to indexing its research literature.

Another Writing Tip

Don't Just Review for Content!

While conducting a review of the literature, maximize the time you devote to this part of writing a research paper by thinking broadly about what you should be looking for and evaluating. Review not just what scholars are saying, but how are they saying it. How are they structuring their ideas? What methods have they used to study the problem? What sources have they cited to support of their conclusions? How have they used non-textual elements [e.g., charts, graphs, figures, etc.] to illustrate key points?

Yet Another Writing Tip

When Do I Know I Can Stop Looking and Move On?

Here are several strategies you can utilize to assess whether you've adequately reviewed the research literature:

• Look for repeating patterns in the research findings . If the same thing is being said, just by different people, then this likely demonstrates that the research problem has hit a dead end. At this point consider: Does your study extend current research?  Does it forge as new path? Or, does is merely add more of the same thing being said?
• Look at the sources authors cite to in their work . If you begin to see the same researchers cited again and again, then this is often an indication that no new ideas have been introduced to the research question.
• Search the World of Knowledge Citation database and Google Scholar to identify who has subsequently cited leading scholars already identified in your literature review. This is called citation tracking and there are a number of sources that can help you identify who has cited whom, particularly scholars from outside of your discipline.
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What is a literature review?

What are Literature Reviews?

Literature reviews examine scholarly literature surrounding a subject-area, topic, or historical event. Literature reviews typically synthesize popular academic arguments, spanning multiple viewpoints. They often explore common trends, themes, and arguments, examining how perceptions of an event have changed over time. However, literature reviews are more than historiographies. Literature reviews should evaluate sources, determining common argumentative flaws. They should also identify knowledge-gaps in the field. You should not make a new argument in your literature review. However, you should evaluate the legitimacy of current sources and arguments. 

An example literature review, from the University of West Florida, is attached below:

How Should I Write My Literature Review? 

• Literature reviews on your subject likely already exist. Before writing your literature review, you should examine pre-existing ones. This process will quickly familiarize you with prominent themes, arguments, and sources in your field.
• Once you are familiar with influential arguments and sources, you should begin organizing your literature review. Literature reviews are organized by ideas, not sources. You should align your sources to popular arguments, evaluating the similarities and differences between these arguments. Ideally, you should examine how the scholarly conversation has changed over time. What aspects of the conversation have become more important? What arguments have fallen out of favor? Why has this happened? 
• The introduction should briefly introduce common themes, and foreshadow your organizational strategy.
• The "body" of your literature review should analyze sources and arguments.
• Finally, the conclusion should identify gaps in the scholarly conversation, and summarize your findings. Where is further research needed?
• Like a research paper, your literature review should include a bibliography. 

For more information on literature reviews, including more tips on writing them, visit the link below:

Literature Review: Conducting & Writing  by the  University of West Florida Library

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Communication Strategies to Improve Medication Adherence: A Systematic Review of Literature

2021, Review of Communication Research

Less than optimal medication adherence is a persisting issue among many patient groups, resulting in poorer health outcomes along with increased strain on financial and time resources. However, communication strategies employed by clinicians may offer a simple, cost-effective method for improving medication adherence and health outcomes. We conducted a review of literature that rendered search results from seven databases, resulting in 1,513 abstracts. A final sample of 44 studies was included to compare the effectiveness of communication-based adherence strategies among various health conditions. After reviewing the full text of included studies, we organized communication strategies into four categories: patient reminders, collaborative communication, patient education, and counseling strategies. Although all of the strategies indicated some level of success, studies examining patient education components showed the most promise both in generalizability and results. This review's results indicate that a need remains for quantitative research examining the effectiveness of these strategies to increase medical adherence.

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COMM 3020: Communication Research Methods

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Library Help

What is a literature review.

While reviewing published literature on your topic, you may discover a "gap" in the research, such as little or no research focusing on a specific demographic or no research on a potential intervention for a problem. Finding a "gap" can help guide the direction of your research. It’s OK if you can’t find an article that exactly aligns with your proposal—that's actually a good thing, because it demonstrates a need for your own research and how you can contribute to the scholarly conversation surrounding your topic!

A good literature review in a research proposal will:

• Inform readers of the existing research surrounding your topic, including major concepts and trends they need to know to understand your work.
• Demonstrate why your own proposed research is needed.

Your literature review will primarily include scholarly articles published in peer-reviewed journals. Keep reading this guide to learn how to locate your articles, find tips for reading articles effectively, and find tools for formatting your citations. Literature review requirements can vary significantly, so be sure to review the guidelines for your assignment for length requirements and number of sources you need to include.

Examples of Literature Reviews

Literature reviews are often included in the intro of research articles, but they are also published as full-length, stand-alone articles. Systematic reviews are another type of full-length article that compile published literature on a topic and compare and analyze the results from the included studies. Looking at published literature reviews or systematic reviews can help you learn how to organize this type of work, and they can also be a gold mine of potential articles you could include in your own paper!

The following are examples of published literature reviews in communication. You can look for more in our databases by adding AND "literature review" or AND "systematic review" after your search terms. For example: family AND communication AND "literature review"

• Social Media Use and Offline Interpersonal Outcomes during Youth: A Systematic Literature Review
• Risk, Crisis, and Social Media: A Systematic Review of Seven Years' Research
• Understanding Conspiracy Theories

Organization Tips

Because literature reviews can require many sources, you might get a little overwhelmed by all the research you find. As you research, it's important to keep track of the citation information (authors, titles, journal titles, etc.) so that you can easily build your reference list later and to save copies of sources as you go—finding some sources a second time can be tricky.

Here are some ways to keep your sources organized:

• Keep good notes for each source, along with the source's citation information.
• Use folders to sort sources by sub-topic.
• Use online resources like the Citation Management tools on the Citations page of this guide.

Reading & Writing Tips

• Scan the Abstracts, Introductions, Discussions, and Conclusions. Highlight and make note of important findings, main ideas and arguments, and references to previous studies and theories.
• Keep track of research methods used in the Methods section—these may come in useful when designing your own research study!
• See the Identifying & Using Scholarly Articles page in this guide for more information on this step.
• Create an outline that organizes your sources into an order (topical, chronological, etc.) for you to follow in your review.
• Write a short introduction to your summary that lets your reader know what to expect.
• Write paragraphs that summarize the findings found in the literature. Each paragraph should address one major idea. Similar sources can be summarized together in statements like, "Most researchers agree that..." or "Current trends in the literature are..."
• Use transitions to show how different sources interact with each other. For example, you might write, "While earlier researchers thought X, new discoveries have led researchers to think Y." Or "Researcher applied W in new circumstances and found Z."
• Use direct quotations sparingly in your review—you should be summarizing and paraphrasing as much as possible. Remember to cite your sources using in-text citations when you refer to an idea from a specific source, whether you're paraphrasing or using a direct quotation. See the Citations page in this guide for help with this step.
• Write a short conclusion that sums up the major points from the literature. If you've noticed there are subjects that the literature hasn't tackled yet, you can point out that further research is needed.
• Only include sources in your references that you quoted, paraphrased, or mentioned in your paper. 

More Resources

• UVU Writing Center's Literature Review Guide
• Write a Literature Review
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COMM 300: Communication Research

• Your Literature Review
• Getting Started
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Why Write a Lit review?

• They can help you better understand your topic.
• They demonstrate to your audience that you know what you're talking about.
• They can help you develop new ideas or perspectives.

Guide to Literature Review

• Cook Library's Guide to Literature Reviews

What is a literature review?

A literature review is designed to summarize, synthesize, and discuss the current state of knowledge about a topic. You will survey information related to your research topic ito critically analyze prior research and how it will inform your  research question. A literature review is not an annotated bibliography. 

Organizing your research

Use the research resources page on this guide to find information to support your topic. One strategy to help organize your literature review by theme is to create a synthesis matrix. 

You can download the blank matrix template below to help organize your research.

• Research Synthesis Matrix Template for Literature Review
• Research Synthesis Matrix Instruction
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