A literature review is often set as a preliminary assignment before beginning a dissertation. It is an opportunity to discover the literature available within a particular research topic and also an opportunity to examine various author's viewpoints as well as their evidence and theories. The aim of the literature review is to ultimately find gaps in the knowledge available and introduce a new theory through a written dissertation.
The IMI Knowledge Centre has created an introductory guide to writing a literature review. The guide explains the steps to finding and choosing the literature using libraries available and also how to focus on a question. The guide also includes help with assessing the literature found by critically examining the views presented and finally how to write the review in a structured way.
To access the guide select to the following link: https://library.imi.ie/assets/Guide-to-Writing-A-Literature-Review.pdf. The guide is also available in the Library Guides section of the website and there are books about literature reviews available to borrow in the IMI Knowledge Centre.
