Why you are writing the literature review will tell you much about what you want it to be.
If you are writing a literature review for an undergraduate paper, then you will be working within the amount of time available during your class and you may be limited by your level of knowledge of the discipline at this time. Your professor may also not expect as much from an undergraduate as from a graduate student.
If it is a thesis or dissertation, then you will receive guidance from your Chair and committee and from the College of Graduate and Professional Studies regarding the requirements for an acceptable thesis or dissertation. The literature review for a thesis or dissertation is generally more comprehensive than that for a research paper.
The masters thesis selects research methodologies relevant to the research question, more than theory and concepts. It is likely to replicate existing research to show the student's competency. Only one relevant theory or concept is usually presented.
The doctoral dissertation demonstrates the creation of new knowledge. This means the literature review demonstrates that there was a knowledge gap that needed to be filled. The new knowledge can be methodologica;, conceptual, or theoretical. You will be expected to include all of the major theories, research results, and research techniques relevant to your topic to tell a broader story. Literature from your discipline and other relavant disciplines should be included.
If you are writing a literature review for background for a professional research paper, then you will be selecting information relevant to your research topic to provide context for your readers and discarding the rest of the information you find.Your literature review will be selective.
If you are writing a review article, then essentially the entire article is a literature review.
What comprises a "good" topic may be discipline specific. Some disciplines may value topics with practical applications. Some may value more current subjects. Utilize your committee to help you refine your topic into something appropriate. Some may expect your dissertation to inevitably become a book someday.
Only you can decide what interests you and what you think is important. But the best topics are felt to be important to others, too, either because others already feel it is important or because you manage to persuade them that it is important. The best topics are not too broad and generalized. They will add new information or a new perspective to the existing body of knowledge.
Guide to writing empirical papers, theses, and dissertations (2002)
by G. David Garson
ISU Main Library LB2369 .G27 2002
