the role of literature review in research

Unravelling customer gratitude: navigating the literature and paving the way forward with the TCCM framework

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• Published: 30 August 2024

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• Karan Grover   ORCID: orcid.org/0009-0006-3430-3722 1 &

In light of the critical need for businesses to cultivate enduring customer relationships, this study investigates the role of customer gratitude (CG). Research has demonstrated that gratitude plays a transformative role in interpersonal relationships. Despite significant research growth in CG in recent years, there is a notable lack of comprehensive reviews in this field. This study conducts a systematic review of the extensive literature on CG and introduces a unified framework that identifies potential avenues for future research. The thorough review encompasses 44 articles spanning the period from 2005 to 2023, offering an in-depth exploration of the CG concept. The study synthesizes diverse literature on CG, by employing theories, contexts, characteristics, and methodologies (TCCM) framework as outlined by Paul and Rosado-Serrano (2019). The framework-based approach effectively provides a comprehensive analysis of the evolutionary trajectory of CG research over time. Findings of the study indicate that research on CG has been conducted in 16 countries, with a significant focus on the United States, where it has been featured in 19 studies. The majority of research in this area employed survey-based designs, followed by experimental and mixed-method approaches. Among the 25 theories used in CG studies, Social Exchange Theory is the most frequently employed. Based on the synthesis, a conceptual framework is proposed, outlining the antecedents, mediators, and consequences of CG. Additionally, the TCCM framework is utilized to structure potential trajectories for future research. This study makes various forms of contributions, including incremental, revelatory, and consolidatory contributions. Furthermore, marketers can capitalize on the insights gathered from this study to cultivate a nuanced understanding of CG across diverse industries and countries. The current study presents a thorough analysis of CG that has rarely been explored in depth previously.

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Grover, K., Garima Unravelling customer gratitude: navigating the literature and paving the way forward with the TCCM framework. Int Rev Public Nonprofit Mark (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12208-024-00415-8

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Krsnik, S.; Erjavec, K. Comprehensive Study on the Determinants of Green Behaviour of Slovenian Consumers: The Role of Marketing Communication, Lifestyle, Psychological, and Social Determinants. Sustainability 2024 , 16 , 7555. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16177555

Krsnik S, Erjavec K. Comprehensive Study on the Determinants of Green Behaviour of Slovenian Consumers: The Role of Marketing Communication, Lifestyle, Psychological, and Social Determinants. Sustainability . 2024; 16(17):7555. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16177555

Krsnik, Sabina, and Karmen Erjavec. 2024. "Comprehensive Study on the Determinants of Green Behaviour of Slovenian Consumers: The Role of Marketing Communication, Lifestyle, Psychological, and Social Determinants" Sustainability 16, no. 17: 7555. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16177555

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• Published: 30 August 2024

Impact of the destination image and government policy responsiveness of China on Korean travelers’ destination trust and behaviors in the post-pandemic era

• Heesup Han   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6356-3001 1 ,
• Hong Ngoc Nguyen 2 , 3 ,
• Sanghyeop Lee 4 &
• Wei Quan   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-1174-6209 5  

Humanities and Social Sciences Communications volume  11 , Article number:  1110 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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• Business and management
• Development studies

The underlying mechanism of the destination trust of Korean travelers and behaviors toward China after the COVID-19 pandemic is explored in the present study, which considers the role of the destination image constituents and perceived government policy responsiveness for tourism recovery. The data was collected from Korean nationals who are currently residing in South Korea and have traveled to China in the last five years. The results revealed that the developed conceptual framework had a satisfactory level of explanatory ability in regards to predicting the travel and recommendation intentions of Korean travelers toward China, which destination trust serves as the key mediator. Moreover, the perception of Korean travelers in regards to Chinese government policy responsiveness for tourism recovery significantly strengthened the effect of image factors on destination trust. The study also discovered that the importance of image factors varies in regards to the formation of trust and destination behaviors. This research provides significant theoretical insights into the post-health crisis tourism recovery, which emphasizes changes in Korean travel patterns in the aftermath of COVID-19 as well as the wider socio-political environment that influences travel destinations. It also presents useful guidance for Chinese tourism stakeholders in regards to implementing effective recovery strategies that are aimed at the lucrative Korean outbound travel market during the post-COVID-19 pandemic period.

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Introduction.

The COVID-19 global pandemic is the most severe and lethal public health crisis to date (Ozbay et al. 2022 ). The World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) in March 2020 (WHO 2023 ). The pandemic inflicted more than 800 million individuals worldwide, which left our societies with unparalleled economic, social, and cultural spillovers (Mofijur et al. 2021 ; Ozbay et al. 2022 ). The travel and tourism industry suffered an unprecedented disruption during COVID-19. The number of international tourist arrivals drastically decreased over a two-year span from late 2019 to 2021, and it underperformed by more than 70% compared to pre-pandemic times (UNWTO 2021 ). The governments of numerous nations imposed strict lockdown policies, which resulted in the shutdown of a plethora of tourism and travel services, such as airlines, accommodations, restaurants, and cruises (Gössling et al. 2021 ; Škare et al. 2021 ).

Many countries successfully contained the virus by 2021, which was due to the effectiveness of vaccinations and social distancing practices (Gössling et al. 2021 ). However, it is undeniable that COVID-19 completely transformed the global tourism sector, which was marked by heightened travel anxiety and drastic behavioral shifts among travelers (Li et al. 2020 ; Seyfi et al. 2023 ; Zenker et al. 2021 ). These changes are not universal. They significantly vary across cultures and nations (Seyfi et al. 2023 ). The success of a country’s tourism recovery therefore largely depends on its effective responses, which are tailored to the distinct attitudes and preferences of the different international market segments (Han et al. 2020 ; Huang et al. 2021 ; Sung et al. 2020 ).

Korean travelers, which are also referred to as Korean tourists or Koreans in this study, are individuals with Korean nationalities, and they have domestically traveled in South Korea or to other countries for leisure purposes. The previous tourism research found that this demographic group has undergone significant transformation amid the impacts of COVID-19 (Sung et al. 2020 ). The number of outbound Korean tourists recently reached 2.01 million, which represents a substantial growth of 225.4% compared to 2022. This number, which indicated 98% of the outbound travel that was recorded in October 2019, signifies an almost complete recovery to the pre-pandemic levels (Eun-Byel 2023 ). The post-pandemic Koreans are nevertheless showing a strong preference for local and destinations that are close to home, which is allegedly due to the higher level of perceived safety that is associated with domestic vacations (Bae and Chang 2021 ; Han et al. 2023 ; Lee et al. 2023 ; Yi et al. 2024 ). Many studies have concurrently started factoring in government subsidies and policies that are related to COVID-19 prevention as a key determinant in the decision-making process of Korean tourists (Qiao et al. 2022 ; Shin et al. 2022b ; Sung et al. 2020 ). In other words, tourism destinations that were once familiar with Koreans are now being re-considered for future travel plans in post-pandemic times.

China is a prime example. The tourism dynamics between China and South Korea commenced in 1988. There has been a swift increase in the number of tourist visits from both nations ever since, which denotes a strong bilateral tourism relationship among the two nations. South Korea was in fact deemed as the top contributor to the inbound tourist market in China during the pre-pandemic period (Qiao et al. 2021 ). However, China’s image as an international tourism destination has been negatively portrayed, which is due to being a former COVID-19 epicenter with one of the highest death rates (Yang et al. 2022 ). China continues to grapple with attracting international visitors at levels that are comparable to the pre-pandemic times despite nearly a year of relaxed border policies and various efforts in order to boost tourism recovery (Xie 2023 ). It is evident that targeting Korean tourists should be a strategic priority for China in its tourism revival phase given the substantial contribution of tourism revenues from Korea and the distinct tourism partnership between the two countries. As such, there is a need to further investigate China’s destination image factors that are appealing to Korean travelers and how the Chinese government and policy practices might play a role in regards to shaping the destination perception of Koreans in the wake of COVID-19.

Destination behavioral intention stems from an intricate network of factors. Many tourism scholars studied it from the destination attractiveness perspective, and they highlighted the role of functional and psychological image attributes of a destination (Deng et al. 2023 ; Lu and Atadil 2021 ; Lu et al. 2023 ). Other scholars investigated it from a social exchange perspective, and they reported that international tourists consider a set of perceived values as the foundation in order to build trust and positive reciprocity (Shin et al. 2022a , 2022b ; Sun et al. 2022 ). However, the existing studies lack the investigation of destination behavioral intention in a holistic manner where different theoretical perspectives are integrated into the framework. There in particular exists a gap in our understanding of the destination perception of tourists of an international tourism destination in the post-pandemic that take into consideration both destination and the government policy level.

The main goal of this study given the research gaps is to build a comprehensive destination-policy framework, which explains the destination trust of Koreans and destination behaviors toward China in the post-pandemic period. The operational definition of post-pandemic in the context of this study refers to travel periods after the end of COVID-19 travel restrictions in China tourism destinations. The key objectives are fourfold, which include 1) unearthing the underlying dimensions that build the destination image of China that is perceived by Korean travelers, 2) discovering the effect of image factors on the destination trust of Koreans, 3) uncovering the direct and indirect impacts of trust on the travel and recommendation intentions of Koreans toward China, and 4) exploring the moderating influence of perceived government policy responsiveness for tourism recovery on the proposed theoretical framework.

The study enriches the dearth of literature on China’s destination image in the post-COVID-19 period by identifying the salient image factors that respond to the unique travel patterns and the cultural significance of the health-conscious Korean travelers (Lu and Atadil 2021 ). It also connects destination and policy-related attributes with destination trust and destination behaviors, which offers a deeply elaborated trust-focused conceptualization and emphasizes the significance of relationship building between the travelers and the destination in the post-pandemic period (Seyfi et al. 2023 ; Sun et al. 2022 ). Moreover, the examination of government policy responsiveness as the moderator adds novelty to the current body of knowledge on post-health crisis tourism recovery and particularly on rebuilding the country’s tourism image (Allaberganov et al. 2021 ). This study delivers meaningful insights for the Chinese government, policymakers, and tourism authorities from a practical viewpoint in regards to reforming their policies and investing in strategic resources that effectively foster the country’s tourism image post-pandemic. Furthermore, destination managers and marketers in China can leverage the findings in order to refine their branding and marketing strategies, whereas service providers can utilize these findings to reshape their offerings and service delivery process that are designed to the unique needs and demands of Koreans in the new normal.

Literature review

The evolution of korean travelers in china.

The tourism ties between South Korea and China are intricately connected to their common historical past. Korea’s strategic geographical location has historically led to significant Chinese influence across various facets of Korean society, which include its culture, technology, and political systems (Ye 2017 ). However, the upheaval of the Korean War and the strict alignments of the Cold War prior to the 1980s often saw Korea and China on opposite ends of global geopolitical conflicts (Lee 2020 ). Nonetheless, trade between China and Korea has seen a substantial increase since the 1990s, which is due to the restoration of diplomatic ties between the two nations.

The start of bilateral tourism between China and South Korea can be linked to China’s involvement in the 1986 Seoul Asian Games and the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games (Cho and Bairner 2016 ). The early 1990s witnessed a marked increase in the volume of Korean tourists visiting China. 1.72 million Koreans visited China for vacations in 2002. This represents 30% of the total Korean outbound tourism, which is a number that was only surpassed by Japan. The tourist exchange between China and South Korea has grown tenfold in the advent of the 21st century (Kim 2004 ), which bilateral trade exceeded US$220 billion and around six million tourists traveled between the two countries (Timothy and Kim 2015 ). Nonetheless, this progress has been met with its own set of challenges. A range of issues, which are both rooted in history and arise from contemporary circumstances, continue to influence as well as complicate the South Korea-China relationship at times. These elements, which range from geopolitical conflicts to internal political challenges, significantly influence the complexity and dynamics of tourism between these two countries.

The destination perception of Korean travelers

The international travel literature has consistently established the eminence of nationality and cultural background in regards to manifesting the motivations, attitudes, and behaviors of travelers (Kozak 2002 , Kozak et al. 2007 ; Mykletun et al. 2001 ; Pizam and Sussmann 1995 ; Prayag and Ryan 2011 ). The fundamental push-pull factor model (Crompton 1979a ; Fakeye and Crompton 1991 ) suggests that an individual’s attraction to a travel destination is influenced by internal motivations, such as the desire for relaxation, socializing, and new experiences as well as external attributes, such as the destination’s natural and historic resources, infrastructures, accommodations, types of entertainment, and shopping. This concept has served as a robust framework when the destination choices of different outbound tourist segments were explored since then (Guillet et al. 2011 ; Jang and Cai 2002 ; You et al. 2000 ). The research for Korean travelers shows that they are highly influenced by push factors, such as family and friends, education, nature, health and wellness, escapism, and adventure, whereas they are pulled to destinations with competitive prices, quality tourism resources, friendly services, accessibility, and transportation (Chen 2001 ; Kim et al. 2003 ; Yiamjanya and Wongleedee 2014 ).

The seminal research on the key cultural dimensions by Hofstede ( 1980 and 2011 ) on the other hand provides a clear segmentation of tourists across different cultures. The notion of cultural distance, which is defined as the perceived cultural proximity or disparity of a destination that is relative to the tourist’s own culture (Clark and Pugh 2001 ), has significant impacts on international destination choices (Bi and Lehto 2018 ; Liu et al. 2018 ; Ng et al. 2007 ). Travelers from collectivistic countries, such as South Korea are particularly drawn to destinations with greater cultural differences than their own (Jackson 2001 ). As a result, cultural diversity, which typically encompasses the historical and cultural richness of a local destination (O’leary and Deegan 2003 ), has been a highly influential factor in a Korean traveler’s decision-making process.

In addition, Koreans are among the cultural groups with a lower tolerance for uncertainty, which means that they are notably risk-averse in regards to travel decisions (Ko et al. 2015 ; Quintal et al. 2010 ). The study by Kim and Park ( 2016 ) on post-disaster travels unearthed the significant role of perceived risks on the hesitation behaviors of Koreans toward traveling to Japan in the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear accident. However, their uncertainty avoidance behaviors are probably the most pronounced in regards to coping with health-related crises. This is proven by the recent upsurge of literature that explores the multifaceted risk perceptions and behavioral impacts of the post-COVID-19 outbreak on Korean travelers (Han et al. 2023 ; Lee et al. 2023 ; Shin et al. 2022b ; Qiao et al. 2022 ; Yi et al. 2024 ). An entirely new tourism concept called untact tourism , which is tourism that does not involve or minimizes human contacts, has emerged in order to respond to the marked concerns of COVID-19 within the Korean travel markets (Bae and Chang 2021 ; Bae et al. 2022 ).

Destination image

The concept of image caught academic interest very early on when scholars, such as Boulding ( 1956 ) and Martineau ( 1958 ) proposed that human behavior is dictated by their subjective views of the world, which shape what is called mental image . Destination image reflects a tourist’s aggregate sum of beliefs, emotions, and expectations of a particular destination (Chon 1990 ; Crompton 1979b ). For example, Asian destinations in the minds of the Koreans are often associated with affordability, lush biodiversity, cultural uniqueness, and gastronomy experiences (Chen 2001 ; Chung and Shin 2004 ).

The development of the destination image concept has been discussed for over three decades, which resulted in a construct that is highly complex, dynamic, and multi-dimensional (Gallarza et al. 2002 ; Kim and Chen 2016 ; Kislali et al. 2016 ; Lai and Li 2016 ; Pike 2002 ; Tasci and Gartner 2007 ). It is confounded by various contextual factors, such as the traveler’s demographic characteristics, trip details, and past travel experiences (Baloglu and McCleary 1999 ; Beerli and Martín 2004 ; Carballo et al. 2021 ). Furthermore, perceived image is subject to changes after the tourist has been physically exposed to a destination (Kim et al. 2019 ). The disconfirmation between pre-trip and post-trip destination image, which denotes a service gap between expectation and perception, can exert major impacts on the tourist’s destination perception and their revisit intention (Beerli et al. 2007 ; Chen 2019 ; Kim et al. 2019 ).

Numerous studies utilized a structured approach in order to examine an individual’s destination image formation that breaks down the process into three sequential levels, which is known as the cognitive-affective-conative hierarchy (Agapito et al. 2013 ; Baloglu and McCleary 1999 ; Duan and Lai 2022 ; Gartner, 1994 ; Kim and Yoon 2003 ; Qu et al. 2011 ; Vera and Chang 2022 ; Yuksel et al. 2010 ). A destination image is initially evaluated at the cognitive level, which serves as a basis in order to trigger emotions and ultimately affects the conative behaviors of tourists, such as approaching or avoiding a destination. The tourism scholars Echtner and Ritchie ( 1993 ) proposed an important theoretical framework that describes the human’s cognitive processing of a destination, which encounters a plethora of image attributes, such as natural attractions, weather and climate, infrastructure and accessibility, entertainment and shopping experiences, tourism and accommodation facilities, culture and heritage, cuisine, affordability, language, local people, service quality, and safety (Al-Ansi and Han 2019 ; Beerli and Martín 2004 ; Byon and Zhang, 2010 ; Kaplanidou 2009 ; Kim and Yoon 2003 ; Lee et al. 2005 ; Qu et al. 2011 ). They are further categorized into image factors that are based on their perceived functional and emotional benefits as well as their level of uniqueness compared to other destinations (Crouch and Ritchie 1999 ; Dwyer et al. 2014 ).

Image of China after the pandemic outbreak

The previous research emphasizes the importance of nature and culture in regards to defining the distinctive tourism appeal of China (Gibson et al. 2008 ; Shani et al. 2010 ). Natural and cultural assets are typically assigned with considerable importance due to their enduring nature, which significantly raises a destination’s perceived appeal in the eyes of tourists (Dwyer et al. 2014 ; Mazanec et al. 2007 ; Ndubisi and Nair 2023 ). The growth of natural-based tourism in China has offered tourists a sense of escapism that is fundamental to their health and well-being in the post-pandemic period (Buckley et al. 2023 ; Qiu et al. 2021 ). Moreover, China stands out as one of the culturally and historically richest tourism destinations. The most popular Google searches that are related to China before the pandemic were the Great Wall , which indicates the strong association of international tourists of China with culture and heritage resources (Pan et al. 2011 ).

The past researchers concurrently stressed the importance of the availability and affordability of built tourism amenities, which include accommodations, transportation, culinary experiences, shopping options, and technological innovation in addition to naturally endowed offerings (Chen et al. 2016 ; Ndubisi and Nair 2023 ). Soft factors, such as interactions with service providers, local communities, and fellow tourists are also critical to a destination image formation (Joo et al. 2023 ; Stylidis et al. 2022 ). These factors have collectively elevated China’s global image as a premier tourism destination by showcasing its wealth of cultural and natural resources as well as also its significant investments in tourism facilities and infrastructures (Gibson et al. 2008 ; Shani et al. 2010 ; Yan et al. 2022 ).

Nevertheless, the pandemic impacts on China’s destination image cannot be ignored. China has been faced with numerous instances of negative media coverage, which includes accusations of mishandling the COVID-19 outbreak and contributing to the prolonged global turmoil (Yang et al. 2022 ; Zheng et al. 2020 ). This type of portrayal has led to substantial damage of China’s image as a safe and healthy travel destination (Hoque et al. 2020 ; Qiao et al. 2021 ; Yang et al. 2022 ). Safety has emerged as a core image dimension that contributes to China’s overall destination image in the post-pandemic period (Li et al. 2023 ; Lu and Atadil, 2021 ).

We formed a holistic post-pandemic China tourism image model, which encapsulates destination image via a threefold perspective, based on the previous literature. Firstly, the model comprises of image dimensions that are related to the natural resources of the country, which encompass the natural environment, ecological richness, and cultural richness. Second, the model integrates tourism-specific offerings in China, which comprise of the infrastructures, wallet friendliness, and the local product and services image dimension. Third, (3) destination safety was added to the model in order to reflect the impacts of post-COVID-19 on the perception of international tourists toward China.

Destination trust and its relationship with destination image and intention to visit and recommend

Destination trust is the level of confidence, credibility, and reliability that travelers place in a specific destination (Abubakar and Ilkan 2016 ; Al-Ansi and Han 2019 ). Trust is grounded in the social exchange theory, which posits that higher perceived benefits or values of a destination will likely lead to a tourist’s higher level of trust (Nunkoo and Ramkissoon 2012 ). It specifically involves the traveler considering numerous tangible and intangible image attributes, such as the local products and communities, atmosphere, infrastructures, and the service quality (Al-Ansi et al. 2019 ; Chen and Phou 2013 ; Jebbouri et al. 2022 ; Setiawan et al. 2021 ; Sodawan and Hsu 2022 ). The image of the country after the outbreak of COVID-19, such as how it copes and recovers from it builds the foundation of public trust especially for the international audience (Shen et al. 2022 ). We hypothesize that the more positively Korean travelers evaluate China’s post-pandemic destination image attributes, which include the destination safety, natural environment, ecological richness, cultural richness, infrastructures, wallet friendliness, and the local products and services, the more trust that they would place on the destination.

H1a-g: The image of Korean travelers of China as a tourism destination after the COVID-19 outbreak has a significant positive influence on their destination trust.

The theory of trust and commitment, which was proposed by two renowned marketing scholars Morgan and Hunt ( 1994 ), is the crucial framework that is used in order to rationalize the correlation between trust and behavioral intention. A trusted product, brand, or destination is valued so highly that the consumers are willing to commit his/her personal resources in order to sustain a partnership. People believe a destination will deliver as promised when they trust a destination, and they will also invest a great deal of emotional resources and place attachment behaviors to the destination (Jiang et al. 2017 ; Johnson and Grayson 2005 ). Trust therefore denotes the interest of tourists in regards to sustaining a long-term relationship with a destination and their willingness to support it in times of crises (Rasoolimanesh et al. 2021 ). The positive relationship between trust and behavioral outcomes, which include intention to visit or recommendation intention, has been empirically proven across different destination studies (Abubakar and Ilkan 2016 ; Al-Ansi et al. 2019 ; Pujiastuti et al. 2017 ; Setiawan et al. 2021 ; Shen et al. 2022 ; Su et al. 2020 ). The COVID-19 pandemic bolstered the prominence of trust particularly among the health-conscious Korean travelers (Shin et al. 2022a ). Trust has indeed been identified as a direct precursor to the intentions of Koreans for both domestic and international travel in the post-pandemic period. The imminence of destination trust in the COVID-19 tourism literature essentially signifies a lasting shift in travel behaviors by transitioning from transient visitation patterns to forming enduring and sustainable relationships with the destinations. As such, we believe that the higher level of trust that the Koreans have in regards to China as a destination, the more willing they are to foster a long-term relationship with the destination, which is demonstrated by behaviors, such as intention to visit and recommendation intention.

H2: The destination trust of Korean travelers has a significant positive influence on their intention to travel to China for a vacation.

H3: The destination trust of Korean travelers has a significant positive influence on their willingness to recommend China for a vacation.

The moderating role of government policy responsiveness for tourism recovery

The perception of government policy responsiveness refers to the confidence of tourists in regards to the effectiveness and adaptability of public administration, which are tailored to the evolving needs, desires, and demands of its citizens (Eom et al. 2018 ). It constitutes the timeliness, efficiency, and sustainability of government actions in regards to post-COVID-19, which ensure that responses to the tourism recovery are prompt and efficacious, are consistently maintained and coordinated across the public and private sectors at the same time (Wong and Lai 2022 ). The tourism sector cannot be fully recovered without the involvement of its country’s government and leadership when it faces a global crisis with the magnitude like COVID-19. Effective and timely government policies demonstrate a country’s capacity in regards to managing a crisis, which in turn reassures the tourists that the situation is under control and their well-being is being safeguarded (Wan et al. 2022 ). This has substantial implications for the competitiveness of a destination. According to the hierarchy of needs, fundamental necessities, which include health and safety, must be met before people can turn their attention to higher-level desires, such as leisure and entertainment (Yousaf et al. 2018 ). This implies that a traveler is unlikely to notice and appreciate the different appealing aspects of a destination if he/she already perceives that the government is incompetent in regards to handling COVID-19, which jeopardizes their health and safety at the destination.

The Chinese government introduced a comprehensive tourism support strategy in response to COVID-19 that puts a premium on the physical and emotional well-being of both its residents and travelers (Li et al. 2021 ; Shao et al. 2021 ). The Chinese zero COVID policy was in fact recognized as one of the most stringent preventative policies globally, and its effectiveness led to its adoption by several other countries (Doucleff and Inskeep 2022 ). The authorities also promoted policies that facilitated the resumption of work and production within the tourism sector, such as offering financial incentives for tourism businesses and issuing travel coupons to international tourists (Chen et al. 2020 ).

The significance of policy responsiveness perceived by Korean travelers is highlighted in the studies that were conducted by Shin et al. ( 2022a and 2022b ). The researchers proposed a multi-leveled trust formation framework that is comprised of antecedents at the destination level and at the national level. The involvement of the Chinese government and the policy effectiveness in the post-COVID-19 period would in other words strengthen the trust of Koreans toward a destination. As a result, we propose that the perceived government policy responsiveness of Koreans for tourism recovery will significantly moderate the relationship between China’s destination image attributes and destination trust.

H4a-g: The perception of Korean travelers in regards to China’s government policy responsiveness for tourism recovery has a significant moderating influence on the relationship between the image of China of Koreans and destination trust.

Our hypothesized model overall includes a total of 12 variables. The constructs are utilized in order to explicate the intention of Korean travelers to travel to China and their willingness to recommend China as a tourism destination. The model also contains the moderating effect of perceived Chinese government policy responsiveness for tourism recovery. A total of four main research hypotheses are formulated for the research framework, and the constructed research model is provided in Fig. 1 .

Hypothesized conceptual framework.

Measurement items and methodology

The study model that was constructed in this research consists of seven image factors of China as an international tourism destination, which include destination safety, natural environment, cultural richness, ecological richness, infrastructure, wallet friendliness, and the local products and services. The measures of these seven factors consist of items that have been explored and tested in the previous research (Al-Ansi et al. 2019 ; Lu and Atadil 2021 ; Vera and Chang 2022 ). In addition, destination trust, intention to travel to China, willingness to recommend China, and perceived government policy responsiveness for tourism recovery were also included in the model. These four construct measurement items are also based on items that have been validated in the previous studies (Ajzen 1991 ; Al-Ansi et al. 2019 ; Han et al. 2023 ; Morgan and Hunt 1994 ; Setiawan et al. 2021 ; Shen et al. 2022 ; Wong and Lai 2022 ), which were modified accordingly for the research context of this study. The detailed sources of the items are outlined in Table 2 . Moreover, items that were irrelevant to this study were omitted during the pilot test. For example, Wong and Lai ( 2022 ) focused on government policy responses during the pandemic. This study in contrast examines the state of government responses during the tourism recovery phase. This explains why the items that were developed from the previous studies did not fully align with its original structure. In addition, a 7-point Likert’s scale was used for the measurements in this study in order to obtain a broader range of responses, allow for more nuances in the answers, and improve the reliability and sensitivity of the measurements (Tarka 2017 ).

Covariance-based structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed in this study in order to assess the validity of the measurement items and the research model. The main rationale for using this method is that all items in this study were previously validated for reliability in the prior research (Dash and Paul 2021 ). This study also builds on the previous research (Al-Ansi et al. 2019 ; Han et al. 2023 ; Morgan and Hunt 1994 ; Setiawan et al. 2021 ; Shen et al. 2022 ; Wong and Lai 2022 ), which aimed to further validate the relationships between the items that were confirmed by the previous studies within a specific research context. All constructs include items that have been proven to be valid for measurement. The previous studies also confirmed the validity of the constructed structural model via the SEM. Hence, the purpose of this study was to revalidate and identify the image of China as a destination and the behavioral intention of Korean travelers who perceived China as an international destination after the outbreak of COVID-19. It is therefore appropriate for this study to complete the empirical analysis via SPSS and AMOS (CB-SEM) statistical programs. This study also accomplished a data analysis via these two statistical analysis programs.

Data collection process and the profiles of the participants

The questionnaire that was developed for this study was collected in May, 2023 by the company Invite using an online survey method, which is a link to a randomized questionnaire that was sent to the potential participants via the company’s user database. Invite is a company in South Korea that has a panel of 860,000 people and uses invited panels as a sampling frame for probability sampling and unbiased sampling. In addition, the questionnaire participants had to be Korean travelers aged 19 years or older with experience visiting China after 2018. The initial questionnaire was developed in the English language, and we invited PhDs and professors who had a full understanding of this study to proofread the questionnaire’s content in detail using a back-to-back translation method, which is English-Korean-English, in order to ensure that the Korean participants involved in the survey were sufficiently aware of the purpose of the study and the relevant content. The back-to-back translation method is considered to be the most frequently used translation method, which enables the translation method that accurately conveys the meaning of the original language (Gupta et al. 2022 ). The questionnaire started with a detailed explanation of the study, and the research participants were assured of their anonymity and confidentiality in regards to the responses. A screening question about their previous experience regarding visiting China was asked at the beginning of the survey process, and only the respondents who answered yes to the question were eligible to participate in the rest of the questionnaire. The questionnaire required approximately 10 min for the participants to complete all parts of it. 293 samples were ultimately used for the empirical analyses out of 374 samples that were collected. We excluded participants from our data if their total response time was less than 10 min, if they had traveled to China before 2018, and if there were duplicates or missing values.

We analyzed the final sample of the data, which was collected using a frequency analysis. The analysis results, which are displayed in Table 1 , show that the percentage of the participants is 52.6% for males and 47.4% for females. The largest proportion of participants, which included 33.1%, was in the 30–39-year-old age group. This was followed by 27.3% in the 40–49-year-old age group, 18.8% in the 19–29-year-old age group, 16.0% in the 50–59-year-old age group, and the lowest number of participants was in the 60 years-old-and-above group, which totaled 4.8%. The distribution of annual income was as follows. 25.3% earned $55,000-$69,999, 22.2% earned $40,000−$54,999, 19.1% earned $70,000-$84,999, 12.3% earned $25,000-$39,999, 10.9% earned $85,000-$99,999, and 8.5% earned $100,000 or more. The participants with annual incomes under $25,000 belonged to the lowest group, which accounted for 1.7%. The results according to the educational level of the participants indicated that college degrees were the highest at 73.4%, graduate degrees accounted for 15.4%, high school degrees totaled 5.8%, and two-year degree/community college degree participants constituted 5.5%. The participants who visited China 2 times in the past 5 years accounted for the largest proportion, which totaled 32.1%. The participants who visited China only once constituted 30.0% of the total, those who visited three times made up 21.8%, individuals who visited five times or more accounted for 13.3%, and 2.7% of the participants had visited China four times. The percentage of the participants who visited China within the last 3 years accounted for 26.6%, the percentage of participants who had visited China within the last year was 24.6%, 21.2% had visited China within 5 years, 19.8% of the participants had visited China within two years, and only 7.8% of the participants had last visited China within 4 years.

Testing of the data quality

A confirmatory factor analysis was utilized in order to validate the quality of the data that was gathered. Tables 2 and 3 illustrate the analysis results. Firstly, the constructed measurement model exhibited a satisfactory fit index (χ2 = 1309.168, df=651, χ2/df=2.011, p  < 0.05, IFI = 0.967, TLI = 0.958, CFI = 0.966, and RMSEA = 0.048), which proved that the measurement model possessed a high level of goodness-of-fit. Secondly, the factor loading values of all the measured items for the 11 variables in the measurement model ranged from 0.616 to 0.937. The average variance extracted (AVE) values for all the study constructs ranged from 0.519 to 0.857, which are higher than the 0.500 that is recommended by Hair et al. ( 2017 ). The composite reliability metric (CR) ranged from 0.780 to 0.947, which was greater than the 0.700 that is recommended by Hair et al. ( 2017 ). These results proved that all the constructs possessed a favorable internal consistency and convergent validity. In addition, the correlation coefficients between each of the constructs were less than the √AVE of the corresponding construct, which revealed the possession of an excellent discriminant validity between all the study variables (Fornell and Larcker 1981 ). The results of the tested data quality illustrate a more favorable confidence and reliability, which provided a better basis in regards to presenting a well-structured SEM. Moreover, some of the values were not obtainable by using a statistical program, so we obtained them by using functions that were set up in excel (AnalysisInn 2020 ).

Assessment of the SEM and indirect/total effects

The SEM was constructed, which is displayed in Fig. 2 , given that the quality of the data that was collected was favorable. The results showed a model with good fit indicators (χ2 = 1495.193, df=588, χ2/df=2.543, p  < 0.01, IFI = 0.945, TLI = 0.927, CFI = 0.944, and RMSEA = 0.052). The findings of the hypotheses developed showcased a positive effect for destination safety (β = 0.168**), natural environment (β = 0.368**), infrastructure (β = 0.382**), and the local products and services (β = 0.658**) on destination trust. However, cultural richness (β = 0.017), ecological richness (β = 0.097), and wallet friendliness (β = 0.066) have no meaningful effect on destination trust. Therefore, H1a, H1b, H1e, and H1g were supported, and H1c, H1d, and H1f were not supported. In addition, destination trust had a significant influence on intention to travel to China for a vacation (β = 0.712**) and willingness to recommend China for a vacation (β = 0.785**), so H2 and H3 were supported. In addition, destination safety, natural environment, cultural richness, ecological richness, infrastructure, wallet friendliness, and the products and services were able to explain 65.6% of the total variance in destination trust. The total variance also explained that intention to travel to China and willingness to recommend China were 71.6% and 80.7%, respectively.

Structural equation modeling.

We tested the latent indirect effects afterwards in the constructed structural equation model. Destination safety (β = 0.119**), natural environment (β = 0.262**), infrastructure (β = 0.272**), and the local products and services (β = 0.469**) had significant indirect effects on intention to travel to China as well as also on willingness to recommend China, which included destination safety (β = 0.132**), natural environment (β = 0.289**), infrastructure (β = 0.300**), and the local products and services (β = 0.516**). Cultural richness, ecological richness, and wallet friendliness have no significant indirect influence on the two outcome variables, which include intention to travel to China and willingness to recommend China. A detailed report of the SEM and indirect/total effects is presented in Table 4 .

Evaluation of the invariance test for perceived government policy responsiveness for tourism recovery

The invariance test was conducted in order to explore the moderating effect of perceived government policy responsiveness. Firstly, we analyzed the results by selecting perceived government policy responsiveness in the SPSS K-means cluster analysis and filling in the response item as 2. Furthermore, we clicked on the checkbox in order to save the results of the grouping. The outcome after running the program yielded the low and high groups of all responses for the variable. Secondly, the moderating effects in the paths were judged by importing the two groups of data into the SEM and comparing the differences in the chi-square values of the baseline and nested models. The results in Table 5 illustrate that the baseline model demonstrated a goodness-of-fit indicator (χ2 = 2482.570, df = 1176, χ2/df = 2.111, p  < 0.01, IFI = 0.940, TLI = 0.916, CFI = 0.939, and RMSEA = 0.045). The moderating effect of perceived government policy responsiveness was significant in three paths, which included natural environment to destination trust (Δχ2[1] = 8.117, p  < 0.01), ecological richness to destination trust (Δχ2[1] = 7.191 and p  < 0.01), and infrastructure to destination trust (Δχ2[1] = 10.091 and p  < 0.01), so H4b, H4d, and H4e were therefore supported. There was no significant moderating effect of perceived government policy responsiveness in the 4 paths, which included destination safety to destination trust (Δχ2[1] =0.145 and p  > 0.05), cultural richness to destination trust (Δχ2[1] =1.997 and p  > 0.05), wallet friendliness to destination trust (Δχ2[1] =0.191 and p  > 0.05), and local products and services to destination trust (Δχ2[1] =0.184 and p  > 0.05), so H4a, H4c, H4f, and H4g were not supported.

Discussion and implications

Theoretical implication.

The findings of this study offer meaningful theoretical values to the extant literature on post-health crisis management and tourism recovery with a focus on the unique bilateral tourism between South Korea and China. First, this research broadens the social exchange theory application in the destination management contexts (Al-Ansi and Han, 2019 ; Al-Ansi et al. 2019 ; Pinho et al. 2022 ; Su et al. 2020 ). The findings specifically demonstrate how the cognitive evaluation of destination image factors positively influence destination trust of international tourists, which in turn encourages their intention to visit and recommend a destination. Furthermore, this paper reinforces that the value perceptions of international tourists in the post-pandemic period, which is specifically among the Koreans, extend beyond destination-specific offerings and reflect the policy change and collective efforts of tourism stakeholders at the national level with the significant moderating impact of government policy responsiveness (Chua et al. 2020 ; Orden-Mejía et al. 2022 ; Seyfi et al. 2023 ; Sung et al. 2020 ).

This study offers one of the most comprehensive frameworks that explains China’s destination image after the COVID-19 outbreak by unearthing seven image factors. The model includes three dimensions that are related to China’s natural resources, which include the natural environment, ecological richness, and cultural richness, and three dimensions that are related China’s tourism-specific values, which include infrastructures, wallet friendliness, and the local products and services. It also incorporates destination safety by explaining the image of tourists in regards to China’s health and safety measures in response to the pandemic. The findings corroborate the extant literature on destination competitiveness from a resource-based view, which highlight the diverse array of resources, such as natural vs created resources as well as tangible vs intangible resources that are critically evaluated during the destination decision-making of international tourists (Crouch and Ritchie 1999 ; Dwyer and Kim 2003 ; Dwyer et al. 2014 ; Ndubisi and Nair 2023 ). The constructed image factors extend the study by Lu and Atadil ( 2021 ) by emphasizing the role of natural environments and infrastructures as the key image of China’s international tourism.

The SEM analysis results further highlight the relative importance of these seven image dimensions. Destination safety, natural environment, infrastructures, and the local products and services are found to be the fundamental factors for Koreans to build trust and long-term commitments toward tourism destinations in China. It is not surprising that destination safety is a top priority for Korean travelers, which is due to the fact that their health and travel risk perceptions related to COVID-19 have been extensively discussed in the previous studies (Bae and Chang 2021 ; Bae et al. 2022 ; Han et al. 2021 ). On the other hand, the interest of Koreans in regards to natural resources, infrastructures, and the local services of China might be attributed to an increased emphasis on personal health and well-being in the post-pandemic period (Fan et al. 2023 ; Sung et al. 2020 ). Nature-based tourism can have a significant healing effect on tourists, whereas the overall quality of the tourism infrastructure, amenities, and services ensure that the tourists will have a seamless, stress-free, and joyful travel experience. However, it is interesting to see that while China is internationally recognized for its diverse culture and ecology, this type of appeal was of low importance among Korean travelers in this study. This finding was in fact consistent with the results that were found among American travelers who visited China after COVID-19 (Lu and Atadil 2021 ). It is likely that the enhanced expectations for health and safety of the tourists may overshadow their interest in cultural and ecological aspects at a destination (Fan et al. 2023 ; Orden-Mejía et al. 2022 ).

Moreover, our study validated the dynamic role of trust in tourism recovery, which directly impacted intention to visit China and willingness to recommend the country as well as also served as the mediator that bridges destination image factors with these behavioral outcomes (Aktan et al. 2022 ; Fan et al. 2023 ; Pinho et al. 2022 ). Our data strengthens the series of studies by Shin et al. ( 2022a and 2022b ), which emphasize that trust is one of the core determinants in the decisions of Koreans to travel both domestically and internationally. Nevertheless, our results from the mediation analysis definitely strengthened these existing studies by revealing how trust mediated the correlation between seven different image factors with destination behaviors. The mediating impact of trust might not be crucial in the pre-pandemic times (Su et al. 2017 ), but its significance has emerged among international tourists after the COVID-19 outbreak. Destination marketing efforts alone are in other words unlikely to attract Korean tourists to China in the post-pandemic period. These types of attempts, which in this case is the promotion of China’s safety, natural environment, infrastructures, and local products and services image, have to be intentional in order to build trust and long-term relationships with Korean tourists.

Lastly, the study confirms the significant moderating effect of perceived government policy responsiveness in the correlations between the three destination image dimensions, which include natural environment, ecological richness, and infrastructure, with the intention to visit of Koreans and recommend China as a tourism destination. This is perhaps the first study that integrated destination image and policy responsiveness perception in order to explain trust and behavioral outcomes of travelers. The finding reaffirms that destination image and tourism recovery cannot solely be the responsibility of the destination. It also depends on the development and effective implementation of sustainability strategies at both the policy and national level (Sharma et al. 2022 ; Yan et al. 2021 ). Thus, traditional destination marketing models, which only investigate destination-specific attributes and resources, would no longer be sufficient in regards to meeting the expectations of tourists in the post-COVID-19 era (Pinho et al. 2022 ). In addition, it highlights the sophistication and growth of Korean tourists, such as how they have become more mindful of the broader socio-political contexts where the travel destinations operate as well as factor in the effectiveness of governmental actions in regards to their travel decisions (Shin et al. 2022a ; Sung et al. 2020 ).

Practical implications

This study offers meaningful insights for multi-stakeholders in China, which support the recovery of the nation’s tourism industry and particularly the revival of South Korean tourists in China. First, destination safety is prioritized among Korean travelers, so it is paramount that the Chinese government continues to enforce stringent preventative measures against COVID-19 and potential new variants. Non-pharmaceutical interventions, encompassing tourist controls, social distancing practices, the regulation of business hours, and public healthcare system improvements should be considered as indispensable parts of the long-term tourism recovery strategies (Castañeda-García et al. 2023 ; Moreno-González et al. 2020 ). It is also vital for the government’s public relation department as well as destination marketing managers to be transparent and timely combat the spread of misinformation, which is due to the fact that trust is significantly influenced by the government’s official announcements, the national news, and social media (Qiao et al. 2021 ).

Another important finding is that Korean travelers in the post-pandemic period are drawn to Chinese destinations with rich natural resources and high-quality tourism infrastructures and services. Hence, environmental protection initiatives should be initiated to reduce pollution and address other major environmental issues in order to to preserve China’s natural offerings and attract Korean tourists (Hu and Zhu, 2023 ; Luo et al. 2016 ). It is also recommended that destination marketers leverage the country’s natural assets in order to enhance and promote China’s destination image. For example, digital marketing strategies, such as short videos or virtual tours that showcase China’s unique natural landscapes and wildlife should be utilized in regards to promoting nature-based tourism vacation packages to Korean travelers (Liu et al. 2022 ; Shani et al. 2010 ; Ye et al. 2022 ; Zhu et al. 2023 ). Furthermore, the moderation analysis reveals the significant role of government support in regards to China’s destination promotion. Henceforth, it is recommended that the Chinese government advocates for tourism recovery policies, such as tax breaks or interest-free loans that can support tourism enterprises during these critical times (Chen et al. 2020 ). Infrastructure improvement is necessary, but it should be conducted in a sustainable way, such as developing green infrastructures and smart technologies that result in a robust digital economy and a resilient tourism recovery framework (Liu et al. 2022 ; Song et al. 2022 ; Yan et al. 2022 ). The destination image of post-pandemic Koreans toward China can also be further improved by the tourism service providers, which should focus on training the frontline staff in order to deliver high quality and personalized services, and more importantly empathize with the various travel concerns and anxiety following COVID-19 of their guests (Akroush et al. 2016 ).

Lastly, the role of trust cannot be ignored in the practical applications of this study. The discovered mediating effect of trust denotes that the government response toward tourism recovery should avoid quick fixes that compromise the health and safety of China’s citizens and tourists as well as prioritizing long-term commitment and sustainability of its tourism sector. This can be facilitated via the formation of dynamic partnerships by engaging both the public and private stakeholders in China, such as government and tourism authorities, destination marketing organizations, hospitality and tourism service providers, and local communities (Liu et al. 2022 ; Wan et al. 2022 ; Wang and Xu 2014 ). Moreover, China should leverage the unique bilateral tourism relationship that is shared with South Korea by establishing tight connections with Korean governments, travel agencies, airlines, public relations & media outlets, celebrities, and social influencers. These cross-border collaboration efforts would help China in regards to building trust and deeply penetrating into the Korean outbound tourism market (Kozak and Buhalis 2019 ).

Limitations and future research

This study provides insightful rationale and findings, but some limitations do exist, which can be addressed in the future research endeavors. First, the study proposes seven image dimensions, which elaborate the cognitive evaluation of Koreans toward China as an international tourism destination in the post-pandemic period. Thus, the following research could extend this framework by adding the affective images of China of Korean travelers. This would surely enrich our understanding of the hierarchical and interrelated nature of the cognitive-affective-conative destination image framework (Agapito et al. 2013 ; Duan and Lai 2022 ; Kim and Yoon 2003 ). Other contextual factors can also be considered in regards to extending the proposed theoretical model. For example, the future studies can attain more nuanced views of the perception of Koreans toward China’s tourism destination by taking into account China’s regional disparities that include vast differences in regards to geographical characteristics and varying levels of socio-cultural development (Shani et al. 2010 ; Zha and Li 2017 ). This study focuses on the role of the governments, but other tourism stakeholders, such as local communities, environmental groups, and the media & influencers could also be incorporated into the future models. This would better reflect the intricate and sophisticated decision-making process of Korean travelers in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study delves into a unique subset of international tourists, which is Korean travelers, in regards to the respondent’s profile. Hence, this scope can be broadened by conducting cross-cultural studies that test the behavioral differences between Koreans and other international tourists, such as tourists who are more culturally distant to Chinese and/or are less concerned about COVID-19 health risks. Moreover, our study was able to highlight the notable impact of the political dynamics between South Korea and China on the behavioral intentions of Korean travelers after COVID-19, but these types of results might be subject to changes over time (Timothy and Kim 2015 ). As a result, the future research should examine how the influence of geopolitical tensions on the destination behaviors of travelers may vary across different time periods.

Data availability

The datasets are provided in the supplementary information.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2020S1A5A2A01046684).

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Hong Ngoc Nguyen

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HH developed a research framework and contributed to writing the original draft and administrating the project. NHN contributed to writing the literature review and editing. LS to developing the survey questionnaire and data collection. QW contributed to writing the methods and results.

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The evaluation survey questionnaire and methodology were examined, approved, and endorsed by the research ethics committee of Sejong University (SUIRB-HR-E2024-013). The study meets the requirements of the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research (2007). The procedures used in this study adhere to the tents of the declaration of Helsinki.

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Han, H., Nguyen, H.N., Lee, S. et al. Impact of the destination image and government policy responsiveness of China on Korean travelers’ destination trust and behaviors in the post-pandemic era. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 11 , 1110 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-03642-w

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Report: Belonging a Key Factor in Student Retention

A newly released literature review from the Institute for Higher Education Policy highlights the role of student experience and belonging on college student success—and offers suggestions for how this could be applied practically to campuses.

By  Ashley Mowreader

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A student’s feelings of belonging in the classroom and on campus are tied to their academic outcomes, plus graduation rates and mental health, according to a new brief.

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Despite colleges and universities enrolling more diverse student populations now than ever before, there continue to be inequities in completion and retention.

Belonging and student experience are two key factors to student retention and completion, particularly for students from historically minoritized backgrounds, and investing in these kinds of interventions can help them get across the finish line, says Diane Cheng, vice president of research and policy at the Institute for Higher Education Policy.

A new brief from IHEP highlights belonging and student experience–focused interventions with proven outcomes in aiding academic achievement, supporting student mental health and promoting completion of postsecondary degrees.

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Across the institution: A student’s sense of belonging is their sense of being connected, academically and socially, to their community, according to the report. The student experience, or the day-to-day experiences students have on campus and with the institution, can include interactions and communications between instructors, administrators, staff and peers.

Prior research shows the value of belonging in student retention, engagement and graduation, and this is particularly true for students from historically minoritized backgrounds who may face additional barriers to connection, community and positive experiences on campus.

Often, belonging interventions are implemented at the institutional level, but the work can be supported by federal policymakers, Cheng says. This can be done by providing institutions with the resources to scale and evaluate initiatives through the Post-Secondary Student Success Grant or by implementing the Postsecondary Student Success Recognition program.

“Completion is an important stepping-stone to postsecondary outcomes,” Cheng says.

In the classroom: As a faculty member at the University of New Mexico, Sushilla Knottenbelt has seen how a focus on belonging and students’ experiences improve learning, engagement and motivation among her students.

Since shifting practices to be more student-focused, Knottenbelt has seen higher levels of engagement from her students in asking course-related questions and seeking help, and she’s experienced more interpersonal connection with learners.

“Teaching in a way that pays attention to the student experience connects you to the students in a fundamental way that speaks to the human experience,” says Knottenbelt, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry.

Additionally, in her introductory general chemistry courses, Knottenbelt is able to cover more material and introduce more concepts than ever before, which she attributes to creating a culture of growth that elevates the impact of her active teaching and other pedagogical strategies.

“The focus on belonging and mindset, for me, has allowed me to set the environment where all those other practices can be effective,” Knottenbelt says.

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Students are also generally receptive to the belonging interventions, and these habits carry with them from one course to another, helping them persist throughout their time at the university.

The how-to: To promote student success, according to Cheng and Knottenbelt, higher education practitioners and administrators can:

• Rephrase language around academic probation. Students who hold a 2.0 GPA or lower are often placed on academic probation , which may cause them to stop out or not finish their degree program. Colleges that changed communication and messaging around academic probation saw students were more likely to improve their grades and stay enrolled, compared to their peers who received traditional messages. Language can also be modified in the faculty handbook to focus more on recovery and growth than failure and success.
• Promote a growth mindset among learners. Professors and support staff can impact students’ self-perceptions and encourage learning by providing education around growth mindset and how failure is related to learning. Normalizing challenges and helping students see college-level courses are intrinsically difficult are two ways to do this. A study from Washington State University found email communication that encourages a growth mindset and learning skills helped first-generation students earn higher grades.
• Encourage at-risk students. Knottenbelt will email students who are not on track to pass her class to encourage them to try again in the next term, recognizing many of them faced extenuating circumstances that hindered their academics. In her emails, Knottenbelt encourages students to reach out to identify success strategies for the next time they take the course.
• Demystify the hidden curricula of higher education. For first-generation students, in particular, confusing language can impact their retention and success because it is difficult to navigate institutional structures and receive support. Campus leaders should work to decode academic processes to improve students’ feelings of belonging and inclusion.
• Reduce bureaucracy in processes. Streamlining processes such as how to access financial aid or register for courses can also promote retention among college students because they are not facing additional barriers to access.
• Create a community of practice. Administrators should facilitate spaces for faculty and staff members to meet, discuss ideas and work to solve problems together, allowing personnel to learn and reflect among peers. This work could be centered on pedagogy or larger institutional strategies such as data .

Many of these actions involve limited resources and can be applied to a variety of institution types and instruction delivery method. The Student Experience Project also offers resources for faculty members interested in this work, many of them low-lift, Knottenbelt says.

Join a community of higher education leaders and practitioners supporting student success in person this fall. Register for Student Success US here .

The Virginia women’s college made the change to comport with its founding documents, creating a stricter gender admis

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Library Guide to Capstone Literature Reviews: Library Guide to Capstone Literature Reviews

The role of the literature review.

Your literature review gives readers an understanding of the scholarly research on your topic.

In your literature review you will:

• demonstrate that you are a well-informed scholar with expertise and knowledge in the field by giving an overview of the current state of the literature
• find a gap in the literature, or address a business or professional issue, depending on your doctoral study program; the literature review will illustrate how your research contributes to the scholarly conversation
• provide a synthesis of the issues, trends, and concepts surrounding your research

Be aware that the literature review is an iterative process. As you read and write initial drafts, you will find new threads and complementary themes, at which point you will return to search, find out about these new themes, and incorporate them into your review.

The purpose of this guide is to help you through the literature review process. Take some time to look over the resources in order to become familiar with them. The tabs on the left side of this page have additional information.

Short video: Research for the Literature Review

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Literature review as a dinner party

To think about the role of the literature review, consider this analogy:  pretend that you throw a dinner party for the other researchers working in your topic area. First, you’d need to develop a guest list.

• The guests of honor would be early researchers or theorists; their work likely inspired subsequent studies, ideas, or controversies that the current researchers pursue.
• Then, think about the important current researchers to invite. Which guests might agree with each other?  Which others might provide useful counterpoints?
• You likely won’t be able to include everyone on the guest list, so you may need to choose carefully so that you don’t leave important figures out. 
• Alternatively, if there aren’t many researchers working in your topic area, then your guest list will need to include people working in other, related areas, who can still contribute to the conversation.

After the party, you describe the evening to a friend. You’ll summarize the evening’s conversation. Perhaps one guest made a comment that sparked a conversation, and then you describe who responded and how the topic evolved. There are other conversations to share, too. This is how you synthesize the themes and developments that you find in your research. Thinking about your literature research this way will help you to present your dinner party (and your literature review) in a lively and engaging way.

Short video: Empirical research

Video: How to locate and identify empirical research for your literature review

(6 min 16 sec) Recorded May 2020 Transcript 

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• Familiarize yourself with Walden support
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Literature reviews, what is a literature review, learning more about how to do a literature review.

• Planning the Review
• The Research Question
• Choosing Where to Search
• Organizing the Review
• Writing the Review

A literature review is a review and synthesis of existing research on a topic or research question. A literature review is meant to analyze the scholarly literature, make connections across writings and identify strengths, weaknesses, trends, and missing conversations. A literature review should address different aspects of a topic as it relates to your research question. A literature review goes beyond a description or summary of the literature you have read. 

• Sage Research Methods Core This link opens in a new window SAGE Research Methods supports research at all levels by providing material to guide users through every step of the research process. SAGE Research Methods is the ultimate methods library with more than 1000 books, reference works, journal articles, and instructional videos by world-leading academics from across the social sciences, including the largest collection of qualitative methods books available online from any scholarly publisher. – Publisher

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• Introduction

Literature Review: The What, Why and How-to Guide — Introduction

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• Strategies to Find Sources
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• Writing Literature Review: Useful Sites
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What are Literature Reviews?

So, what is a literature review? "A literature review is an account of what has been published on a topic by accredited scholars and researchers. In writing the literature review, your purpose is to convey to your reader what knowledge and ideas have been established on a topic, and what their strengths and weaknesses are. As a piece of writing, the literature review must be defined by a guiding concept (e.g., your research objective, the problem or issue you are discussing, or your argumentative thesis). It is not just a descriptive list of the material available, or a set of summaries." Taylor, D.  The literature review: A few tips on conducting it . University of Toronto Health Sciences Writing Centre.

Goals of Literature Reviews

What are the goals of creating a Literature Review?  A literature could be written to accomplish different aims:

• To develop a theory or evaluate an existing theory
• To summarize the historical or existing state of a research topic
• Identify a problem in a field of research 

Baumeister, R. F., & Leary, M. R. (1997). Writing narrative literature reviews .  Review of General Psychology , 1 (3), 311-320.

What kinds of sources require a Literature Review?

• A research paper assigned in a course
• A thesis or dissertation
• A grant proposal
• An article intended for publication in a journal

All these instances require you to collect what has been written about your research topic so that you can demonstrate how your own research sheds new light on the topic.

Types of Literature Reviews

What kinds of literature reviews are written?

Narrative review: The purpose of this type of review is to describe the current state of the research on a specific topic/research and to offer a critical analysis of the literature reviewed. Studies are grouped by research/theoretical categories, and themes and trends, strengths and weakness, and gaps are identified. The review ends with a conclusion section which summarizes the findings regarding the state of the research of the specific study, the gaps identify and if applicable, explains how the author's research will address gaps identify in the review and expand the knowledge on the topic reviewed.

• Example : Predictors and Outcomes of U.S. Quality Maternity Leave: A Review and Conceptual Framework:  10.1177/08948453211037398  

Systematic review : "The authors of a systematic review use a specific procedure to search the research literature, select the studies to include in their review, and critically evaluate the studies they find." (p. 139). Nelson, L. K. (2013). Research in Communication Sciences and Disorders . Plural Publishing.

• Example : The effect of leave policies on increasing fertility: a systematic review:  10.1057/s41599-022-01270-w

Meta-analysis : "Meta-analysis is a method of reviewing research findings in a quantitative fashion by transforming the data from individual studies into what is called an effect size and then pooling and analyzing this information. The basic goal in meta-analysis is to explain why different outcomes have occurred in different studies." (p. 197). Roberts, M. C., & Ilardi, S. S. (2003). Handbook of Research Methods in Clinical Psychology . Blackwell Publishing.

• Example : Employment Instability and Fertility in Europe: A Meta-Analysis:  10.1215/00703370-9164737

Meta-synthesis : "Qualitative meta-synthesis is a type of qualitative study that uses as data the findings from other qualitative studies linked by the same or related topic." (p.312). Zimmer, L. (2006). Qualitative meta-synthesis: A question of dialoguing with texts .  Journal of Advanced Nursing , 53 (3), 311-318.

• Example : Women’s perspectives on career successes and barriers: A qualitative meta-synthesis:  10.1177/05390184221113735

Literature Reviews in the Health Sciences

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Ten Simple Rules for Writing a Literature Review

Marco pautasso.

1 Centre for Functional and Evolutionary Ecology (CEFE), CNRS, Montpellier, France

2 Centre for Biodiversity Synthesis and Analysis (CESAB), FRB, Aix-en-Provence, France

Literature reviews are in great demand in most scientific fields. Their need stems from the ever-increasing output of scientific publications [1] . For example, compared to 1991, in 2008 three, eight, and forty times more papers were indexed in Web of Science on malaria, obesity, and biodiversity, respectively [2] . Given such mountains of papers, scientists cannot be expected to examine in detail every single new paper relevant to their interests [3] . Thus, it is both advantageous and necessary to rely on regular summaries of the recent literature. Although recognition for scientists mainly comes from primary research, timely literature reviews can lead to new synthetic insights and are often widely read [4] . For such summaries to be useful, however, they need to be compiled in a professional way [5] .

When starting from scratch, reviewing the literature can require a titanic amount of work. That is why researchers who have spent their career working on a certain research issue are in a perfect position to review that literature. Some graduate schools are now offering courses in reviewing the literature, given that most research students start their project by producing an overview of what has already been done on their research issue [6] . However, it is likely that most scientists have not thought in detail about how to approach and carry out a literature review.

Reviewing the literature requires the ability to juggle multiple tasks, from finding and evaluating relevant material to synthesising information from various sources, from critical thinking to paraphrasing, evaluating, and citation skills [7] . In this contribution, I share ten simple rules I learned working on about 25 literature reviews as a PhD and postdoctoral student. Ideas and insights also come from discussions with coauthors and colleagues, as well as feedback from reviewers and editors.

Rule 1: Define a Topic and Audience

How to choose which topic to review? There are so many issues in contemporary science that you could spend a lifetime of attending conferences and reading the literature just pondering what to review. On the one hand, if you take several years to choose, several other people may have had the same idea in the meantime. On the other hand, only a well-considered topic is likely to lead to a brilliant literature review [8] . The topic must at least be:

• interesting to you (ideally, you should have come across a series of recent papers related to your line of work that call for a critical summary),
• an important aspect of the field (so that many readers will be interested in the review and there will be enough material to write it), and
• a well-defined issue (otherwise you could potentially include thousands of publications, which would make the review unhelpful).

Ideas for potential reviews may come from papers providing lists of key research questions to be answered [9] , but also from serendipitous moments during desultory reading and discussions. In addition to choosing your topic, you should also select a target audience. In many cases, the topic (e.g., web services in computational biology) will automatically define an audience (e.g., computational biologists), but that same topic may also be of interest to neighbouring fields (e.g., computer science, biology, etc.).

Rule 2: Search and Re-search the Literature

After having chosen your topic and audience, start by checking the literature and downloading relevant papers. Five pieces of advice here:

• keep track of the search items you use (so that your search can be replicated [10] ),
• keep a list of papers whose pdfs you cannot access immediately (so as to retrieve them later with alternative strategies),
• use a paper management system (e.g., Mendeley, Papers, Qiqqa, Sente),
• define early in the process some criteria for exclusion of irrelevant papers (these criteria can then be described in the review to help define its scope), and
• do not just look for research papers in the area you wish to review, but also seek previous reviews.

The chances are high that someone will already have published a literature review ( Figure 1 ), if not exactly on the issue you are planning to tackle, at least on a related topic. If there are already a few or several reviews of the literature on your issue, my advice is not to give up, but to carry on with your own literature review,

The bottom-right situation (many literature reviews but few research papers) is not just a theoretical situation; it applies, for example, to the study of the impacts of climate change on plant diseases, where there appear to be more literature reviews than research studies [33] .

• discussing in your review the approaches, limitations, and conclusions of past reviews,
• trying to find a new angle that has not been covered adequately in the previous reviews, and
• incorporating new material that has inevitably accumulated since their appearance.

When searching the literature for pertinent papers and reviews, the usual rules apply:

• be thorough,
• use different keywords and database sources (e.g., DBLP, Google Scholar, ISI Proceedings, JSTOR Search, Medline, Scopus, Web of Science), and
• look at who has cited past relevant papers and book chapters.

Rule 3: Take Notes While Reading

If you read the papers first, and only afterwards start writing the review, you will need a very good memory to remember who wrote what, and what your impressions and associations were while reading each single paper. My advice is, while reading, to start writing down interesting pieces of information, insights about how to organize the review, and thoughts on what to write. This way, by the time you have read the literature you selected, you will already have a rough draft of the review.

Of course, this draft will still need much rewriting, restructuring, and rethinking to obtain a text with a coherent argument [11] , but you will have avoided the danger posed by staring at a blank document. Be careful when taking notes to use quotation marks if you are provisionally copying verbatim from the literature. It is advisable then to reformulate such quotes with your own words in the final draft. It is important to be careful in noting the references already at this stage, so as to avoid misattributions. Using referencing software from the very beginning of your endeavour will save you time.

Rule 4: Choose the Type of Review You Wish to Write

After having taken notes while reading the literature, you will have a rough idea of the amount of material available for the review. This is probably a good time to decide whether to go for a mini- or a full review. Some journals are now favouring the publication of rather short reviews focusing on the last few years, with a limit on the number of words and citations. A mini-review is not necessarily a minor review: it may well attract more attention from busy readers, although it will inevitably simplify some issues and leave out some relevant material due to space limitations. A full review will have the advantage of more freedom to cover in detail the complexities of a particular scientific development, but may then be left in the pile of the very important papers “to be read” by readers with little time to spare for major monographs.

There is probably a continuum between mini- and full reviews. The same point applies to the dichotomy of descriptive vs. integrative reviews. While descriptive reviews focus on the methodology, findings, and interpretation of each reviewed study, integrative reviews attempt to find common ideas and concepts from the reviewed material [12] . A similar distinction exists between narrative and systematic reviews: while narrative reviews are qualitative, systematic reviews attempt to test a hypothesis based on the published evidence, which is gathered using a predefined protocol to reduce bias [13] , [14] . When systematic reviews analyse quantitative results in a quantitative way, they become meta-analyses. The choice between different review types will have to be made on a case-by-case basis, depending not just on the nature of the material found and the preferences of the target journal(s), but also on the time available to write the review and the number of coauthors [15] .

Rule 5: Keep the Review Focused, but Make It of Broad Interest

Whether your plan is to write a mini- or a full review, it is good advice to keep it focused 16 , 17 . Including material just for the sake of it can easily lead to reviews that are trying to do too many things at once. The need to keep a review focused can be problematic for interdisciplinary reviews, where the aim is to bridge the gap between fields [18] . If you are writing a review on, for example, how epidemiological approaches are used in modelling the spread of ideas, you may be inclined to include material from both parent fields, epidemiology and the study of cultural diffusion. This may be necessary to some extent, but in this case a focused review would only deal in detail with those studies at the interface between epidemiology and the spread of ideas.

While focus is an important feature of a successful review, this requirement has to be balanced with the need to make the review relevant to a broad audience. This square may be circled by discussing the wider implications of the reviewed topic for other disciplines.

Rule 6: Be Critical and Consistent

Reviewing the literature is not stamp collecting. A good review does not just summarize the literature, but discusses it critically, identifies methodological problems, and points out research gaps [19] . After having read a review of the literature, a reader should have a rough idea of:

• the major achievements in the reviewed field,
• the main areas of debate, and
• the outstanding research questions.

It is challenging to achieve a successful review on all these fronts. A solution can be to involve a set of complementary coauthors: some people are excellent at mapping what has been achieved, some others are very good at identifying dark clouds on the horizon, and some have instead a knack at predicting where solutions are going to come from. If your journal club has exactly this sort of team, then you should definitely write a review of the literature! In addition to critical thinking, a literature review needs consistency, for example in the choice of passive vs. active voice and present vs. past tense.

Rule 7: Find a Logical Structure

Like a well-baked cake, a good review has a number of telling features: it is worth the reader's time, timely, systematic, well written, focused, and critical. It also needs a good structure. With reviews, the usual subdivision of research papers into introduction, methods, results, and discussion does not work or is rarely used. However, a general introduction of the context and, toward the end, a recapitulation of the main points covered and take-home messages make sense also in the case of reviews. For systematic reviews, there is a trend towards including information about how the literature was searched (database, keywords, time limits) [20] .

How can you organize the flow of the main body of the review so that the reader will be drawn into and guided through it? It is generally helpful to draw a conceptual scheme of the review, e.g., with mind-mapping techniques. Such diagrams can help recognize a logical way to order and link the various sections of a review [21] . This is the case not just at the writing stage, but also for readers if the diagram is included in the review as a figure. A careful selection of diagrams and figures relevant to the reviewed topic can be very helpful to structure the text too [22] .

Rule 8: Make Use of Feedback

Reviews of the literature are normally peer-reviewed in the same way as research papers, and rightly so [23] . As a rule, incorporating feedback from reviewers greatly helps improve a review draft. Having read the review with a fresh mind, reviewers may spot inaccuracies, inconsistencies, and ambiguities that had not been noticed by the writers due to rereading the typescript too many times. It is however advisable to reread the draft one more time before submission, as a last-minute correction of typos, leaps, and muddled sentences may enable the reviewers to focus on providing advice on the content rather than the form.

Feedback is vital to writing a good review, and should be sought from a variety of colleagues, so as to obtain a diversity of views on the draft. This may lead in some cases to conflicting views on the merits of the paper, and on how to improve it, but such a situation is better than the absence of feedback. A diversity of feedback perspectives on a literature review can help identify where the consensus view stands in the landscape of the current scientific understanding of an issue [24] .

Rule 9: Include Your Own Relevant Research, but Be Objective

In many cases, reviewers of the literature will have published studies relevant to the review they are writing. This could create a conflict of interest: how can reviewers report objectively on their own work [25] ? Some scientists may be overly enthusiastic about what they have published, and thus risk giving too much importance to their own findings in the review. However, bias could also occur in the other direction: some scientists may be unduly dismissive of their own achievements, so that they will tend to downplay their contribution (if any) to a field when reviewing it.

In general, a review of the literature should neither be a public relations brochure nor an exercise in competitive self-denial. If a reviewer is up to the job of producing a well-organized and methodical review, which flows well and provides a service to the readership, then it should be possible to be objective in reviewing one's own relevant findings. In reviews written by multiple authors, this may be achieved by assigning the review of the results of a coauthor to different coauthors.

Rule 10: Be Up-to-Date, but Do Not Forget Older Studies

Given the progressive acceleration in the publication of scientific papers, today's reviews of the literature need awareness not just of the overall direction and achievements of a field of inquiry, but also of the latest studies, so as not to become out-of-date before they have been published. Ideally, a literature review should not identify as a major research gap an issue that has just been addressed in a series of papers in press (the same applies, of course, to older, overlooked studies (“sleeping beauties” [26] )). This implies that literature reviewers would do well to keep an eye on electronic lists of papers in press, given that it can take months before these appear in scientific databases. Some reviews declare that they have scanned the literature up to a certain point in time, but given that peer review can be a rather lengthy process, a full search for newly appeared literature at the revision stage may be worthwhile. Assessing the contribution of papers that have just appeared is particularly challenging, because there is little perspective with which to gauge their significance and impact on further research and society.

Inevitably, new papers on the reviewed topic (including independently written literature reviews) will appear from all quarters after the review has been published, so that there may soon be the need for an updated review. But this is the nature of science [27] – [32] . I wish everybody good luck with writing a review of the literature.

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to M. Barbosa, K. Dehnen-Schmutz, T. Döring, D. Fontaneto, M. Garbelotto, O. Holdenrieder, M. Jeger, D. Lonsdale, A. MacLeod, P. Mills, M. Moslonka-Lefebvre, G. Stancanelli, P. Weisberg, and X. Xu for insights and discussions, and to P. Bourne, T. Matoni, and D. Smith for helpful comments on a previous draft.

Funding Statement

This work was funded by the French Foundation for Research on Biodiversity (FRB) through its Centre for Synthesis and Analysis of Biodiversity data (CESAB), as part of the NETSEED research project. The funders had no role in the preparation of the manuscript.

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What is a literature review?

A literature review is an integrated analysis -- not just a summary-- of scholarly writings and other relevant evidence related directly to your research question.  That is, it represents a synthesis of the evidence that provides background information on your topic and shows a association between the evidence and your research question.

A literature review may be a stand alone work or the introduction to a larger research paper, depending on the assignment.  Rely heavily on the guidelines your instructor has given you.

Why is it important?

A literature review is important because it:

• Explains the background of research on a topic.
• Demonstrates why a topic is significant to a subject area.
• Discovers relationships between research studies/ideas.
• Identifies major themes, concepts, and researchers on a topic.
• Identifies critical gaps and points of disagreement.
• Discusses further research questions that logically come out of the previous studies.

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1. Choose a topic. Define your research question.

Your literature review should be guided by your central research question.  The literature represents background and research developments related to a specific research question, interpreted and analyzed by you in a synthesized way.

• Make sure your research question is not too broad or too narrow.  Is it manageable?
• Begin writing down terms that are related to your question. These will be useful for searches later.
• If you have the opportunity, discuss your topic with your professor and your class mates.

2. Decide on the scope of your review

How many studies do you need to look at? How comprehensive should it be? How many years should it cover? 

• This may depend on your assignment.  How many sources does the assignment require?

3. Select the databases you will use to conduct your searches.

Make a list of the databases you will search. 

Where to find databases:

• use the tabs on this guide
• Find other databases in the Nursing Information Resources web page
• More on the Medical Library web page
• ... and more on the Yale University Library web page

4. Conduct your searches to find the evidence. Keep track of your searches.

• Use the key words in your question, as well as synonyms for those words, as terms in your search. Use the database tutorials for help.
• Save the searches in the databases. This saves time when you want to redo, or modify, the searches. It is also helpful to use as a guide is the searches are not finding any useful results.
• Review the abstracts of research studies carefully. This will save you time.
• Use the bibliographies and references of research studies you find to locate others.
• Check with your professor, or a subject expert in the field, if you are missing any key works in the field.
• Ask your librarian for help at any time.
• Use a citation manager, such as EndNote as the repository for your citations. See the EndNote tutorials for help.

Review the literature

Some questions to help you analyze the research:

• What was the research question of the study you are reviewing? What were the authors trying to discover?
• Was the research funded by a source that could influence the findings?
• What were the research methodologies? Analyze its literature review, the samples and variables used, the results, and the conclusions.
• Does the research seem to be complete? Could it have been conducted more soundly? What further questions does it raise?
• If there are conflicting studies, why do you think that is?
• How are the authors viewed in the field? Has this study been cited? If so, how has it been analyzed?

Tips: 

• Review the abstracts carefully.  
• Keep careful notes so that you may track your thought processes during the research process.
• Create a matrix of the studies for easy analysis, and synthesis, across all of the studies.
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What is a literature review?

A literature review is a critical analysis of the literature related to your research topic. It evaluates and critiques the literature to establish a theoretical framework for your research topic and/or identify a gap in the existing research that your research will address.

A literature review is not a summary of the literature. You need to engage deeply and critically with the literature. Your literature review should show your understanding of the literature related to your research topic and lead to presenting a rationale for your research.

A literature review focuses on:

• the context of the topic
• key concepts, ideas, theories and methodologies
• key researchers, texts and seminal works
• major issues and debates
• identifying conflicting evidence
• the main questions that have been asked around the topic
• the organisation of knowledge on the topic
• definitions, particularly those that are contested
• showing how your research will advance scholarly knowledge (generally referred to as identifying the ‘gap’).

This module will guide you through the functions of a literature review; the typical process of conducting a literature review (including searching for literature and taking notes); structuring your literature review within your thesis and organising its internal ideas; and styling the language of your literature review.

The purposes of a literature review

A literature review serves two main purposes:

1) To show awareness of the present state of knowledge in a particular field, including:

• seminal authors
• the main empirical research
• theoretical positions
• controversies
• breakthroughs as well as links to other related areas of knowledge.

2) To provide a foundation for the author’s research. To do that, the literature review needs to:

• help the researcher define a hypothesis or a research question, and how answering the question will contribute to the body of knowledge;
• provide a rationale for investigating the problem and the selected methodology;
• provide a particular theoretical lens, support the argument, or identify gaps.

Before you engage further with this module, try the quiz below to see how much you already know about literature reviews.

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Literature Review - what is a Literature Review, why it is important and how it is done

• Strategies to Find Sources

Evaluating Literature Reviews and Sources

Reading critically, tips to evaluate sources.

• Tips for Writing Literature Reviews
• Writing Literature Review: Useful Sites
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• Useful Resources

A good literature review evaluates a wide variety of sources (academic articles, scholarly books, government/NGO reports). It also evaluates literature reviews that study similar topics. This page offers you a list of resources and tips on how to evaluate the sources that you may use to write your review.

• A Closer Look at Evaluating Literature Reviews Excerpt from the book chapter, “Evaluating Introductions and Literature Reviews” in Fred Pyrczak’s Evaluating Research in Academic Journals: A Practical Guide to Realistic Evaluation , (Chapter 4 and 5). This PDF discusses and offers great advice on how to evaluate "Introductions" and "Literature Reviews" by listing questions and tips. First part focus on Introductions and in page 10 in the PDF, 37 in the text, it focus on "literature reviews".
• Tips for Evaluating Sources (Print vs. Internet Sources) Excellent page that will guide you on what to ask to determine if your source is a reliable one. Check the other topics in the guide: Evaluating Bibliographic Citations and Evaluation During Reading on the left side menu.

To be able to write a good Literature Review, you need to be able to read critically. Below are some tips that will help you evaluate the sources for your paper.

Reading critically (summary from How to Read Academic Texts Critically)

• Who is the author? What is his/her standing in the field.
• What is the author’s purpose? To offer advice, make practical suggestions, solve a specific problem, to critique or clarify?
• Note the experts in the field: are there specific names/labs that are frequently cited?
• Pay attention to methodology: is it sound? what testing procedures, subjects, materials were used?
• Note conflicting theories, methodologies and results. Are there any assumptions being made by most/some researchers?
• Theories: have they evolved overtime?
• Evaluate and synthesize the findings and conclusions. How does this study contribute to your project?

Useful links:

• How to Read a Paper (University of Waterloo, Canada) This is an excellent paper that teach you how to read an academic paper, how to determine if it is something to set aside, or something to read deeply. Good advice to organize your literature for the Literature Review or just reading for classes.

Criteria to evaluate sources:

• Authority : Who is the author? what is his/her credentials--what university he/she is affliliated? Is his/her area of expertise?
• Usefulness : How this source related to your topic? How current or relevant it is to your topic?
• Reliability : Does the information comes from a reliable, trusted source such as an academic journal?

Useful site - Critically Analyzing Information Sources (Cornell University Library)

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What is a Literature Review?

So, what is a literature review .

"A literature review is an account of what has been published on a topic by accredited scholars and researchers. In writing the literature review, your purpose is to convey to your reader what knowledge and ideas have been established on a topic, and what their strengths and weaknesses are. As a piece of writing, the literature review must be defined by a guiding concept (e.g., your research objective, the problem or issue you are discussing, or your argumentative thesis). It is not just a descriptive list of the material available or a set of summaries." - Quote from Taylor, D. (n.d)."The Literature Review: A Few Tips on Conducting it".

• Citation: "The Literature Review: A Few Tips on Conducting it"

What kinds of literature reviews are written?

Each field has a particular way to do reviews for academic research literature. In the social sciences and humanities the most common are:

• Narrative Reviews: The purpose of this type of review is to describe the current state of the research on a specific research topic and to offer a critical analysis of the literature reviewed. Studies are grouped by research/theoretical categories, and themes and trends, strengths and weaknesses, and gaps are identified. The review ends with a conclusion section that summarizes the findings regarding the state of the research of the specific study, the gaps identify and if applicable, explains how the author's research will address gaps identify in the review and expand the knowledge on the topic reviewed.
• Book review essays/ Historiographical review essays : A type of literature review typical in History and related fields, e.g., Latin American studies. For example, the Latin American Research Review explains that the purpose of this type of review is to “(1) to familiarize readers with the subject, approach, arguments, and conclusions found in a group of books whose common focus is a historical period; a country or region within Latin America; or a practice, development, or issue of interest to specialists and others; (2) to locate these books within current scholarship, critical methodologies, and approaches; and (3) to probe the relation of these new books to previous work on the subject, especially canonical texts. Unlike individual book reviews, the cluster reviews found in LARR seek to address the state of the field or discipline and not solely the works at issue.” - LARR

What are the Goals of Creating a Literature Review?

• To develop a theory or evaluate an existing theory
• To summarize the historical or existing state of a research topic
• Identify a problem in a field of research 
• Baumeister, R.F. & Leary, M.R. (1997). "Writing narrative literature reviews," Review of General Psychology , 1(3), 311-320.

When do you need to write a Literature Review?

• When writing a prospectus or a thesis/dissertation
• When writing a research paper
• When writing a grant proposal

In all these cases you need to dedicate a chapter in these works to showcase what has been written about your research topic and to point out how your own research will shed new light into a body of scholarship.

Where I can find examples of Literature Reviews?

Note:  In the humanities, even if they don't use the term "literature review", they may have a dedicated  chapter that reviewed the "critical bibliography" or they incorporated that review in the introduction or first chapter of the dissertation, book, or article.

• UCSB electronic theses and dissertations In partnership with the Graduate Division, the UC Santa Barbara Library is making available theses and dissertations produced by UCSB students. Currently included in ADRL are theses and dissertations that were originally filed electronically, starting in 2011. In future phases of ADRL, all theses and dissertations created by UCSB students may be digitized and made available.

Where to Find Standalone Literature Reviews

Literature reviews are also written as standalone articles as a way to survey a particular research topic in-depth. This type of literature review looks at a topic from a historical perspective to see how the understanding of the topic has changed over time. 

• Find e-Journals for Standalone Literature Reviews The best way to get familiar with and to learn how to write literature reviews is by reading them. You can use our Journal Search option to find journals that specialize in publishing literature reviews from major disciplines like anthropology, sociology, etc. Usually these titles are called, "Annual Review of [discipline name] OR [Discipline name] Review. This option works best if you know the title of the publication you are looking for. Below are some examples of these journals! more... less... Journal Search can be found by hovering over the link for Research on the library website.

Social Sciences

• Annual Review of Anthropology
• Annual Review of Political Science
• Annual Review of Sociology
• Ethnic Studies Review

Hard science and health sciences:

• Annual Review of Biomedical Data Science
• Annual Review of Materials Science
• Systematic Review From journal site: "The journal Systematic Reviews encompasses all aspects of the design, conduct, and reporting of systematic reviews" in the health sciences.
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Frequently asked questions

What is the purpose of a literature review.

There are several reasons to conduct a literature review at the beginning of a research project:

• To familiarize yourself with the current state of knowledge on your topic
• To ensure that you’re not just repeating what others have already done
• To identify gaps in knowledge and unresolved problems that your research can address
• To develop your theoretical framework and methodology
• To provide an overview of the key findings and debates on the topic

Writing the literature review shows your reader how your work relates to existing research and what new insights it will contribute.

Frequently asked questions: Academic writing

A rhetorical tautology is the repetition of an idea of concept using different words.

Rhetorical tautologies occur when additional words are used to convey a meaning that has already been expressed or implied. For example, the phrase “armed gunman” is a tautology because a “gunman” is by definition “armed.”

A logical tautology is a statement that is always true because it includes all logical possibilities.

Logical tautologies often take the form of “either/or” statements (e.g., “It will rain, or it will not rain”) or employ circular reasoning (e.g., “she is untrustworthy because she can’t be trusted”).

You may have seen both “appendices” or “appendixes” as pluralizations of “ appendix .” Either spelling can be used, but “appendices” is more common (including in APA Style ). Consistency is key here: make sure you use the same spelling throughout your paper.

The purpose of a lab report is to demonstrate your understanding of the scientific method with a hands-on lab experiment. Course instructors will often provide you with an experimental design and procedure. Your task is to write up how you actually performed the experiment and evaluate the outcome.

In contrast, a research paper requires you to independently develop an original argument. It involves more in-depth research and interpretation of sources and data.

A lab report is usually shorter than a research paper.

The sections of a lab report can vary between scientific fields and course requirements, but it usually contains the following:

• Title: expresses the topic of your study
• Abstract: summarizes your research aims, methods, results, and conclusions
• Introduction: establishes the context needed to understand the topic
• Method: describes the materials and procedures used in the experiment
• Results: reports all descriptive and inferential statistical analyses
• Discussion: interprets and evaluates results and identifies limitations
• Conclusion: sums up the main findings of your experiment
• References: list of all sources cited using a specific style (e.g. APA)
• Appendices: contains lengthy materials, procedures, tables or figures

A lab report conveys the aim, methods, results, and conclusions of a scientific experiment . Lab reports are commonly assigned in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields.

The abstract is the very last thing you write. You should only write it after your research is complete, so that you can accurately summarize the entirety of your thesis , dissertation or research paper .

If you’ve gone over the word limit set for your assignment, shorten your sentences and cut repetition and redundancy during the editing process. If you use a lot of long quotes , consider shortening them to just the essentials.

If you need to remove a lot of words, you may have to cut certain passages. Remember that everything in the text should be there to support your argument; look for any information that’s not essential to your point and remove it.

To make this process easier and faster, you can use a paraphrasing tool . With this tool, you can rewrite your text to make it simpler and shorter. If that’s not enough, you can copy-paste your paraphrased text into the summarizer . This tool will distill your text to its core message.

Revising, proofreading, and editing are different stages of the writing process .

• Revising is making structural and logical changes to your text—reformulating arguments and reordering information.
• Editing refers to making more local changes to things like sentence structure and phrasing to make sure your meaning is conveyed clearly and concisely.
• Proofreading involves looking at the text closely, line by line, to spot any typos and issues with consistency and correct them.

The literature review usually comes near the beginning of your thesis or dissertation . After the introduction , it grounds your research in a scholarly field and leads directly to your theoretical framework or methodology .

A literature review is a survey of scholarly sources (such as books, journal articles, and theses) related to a specific topic or research question .

It is often written as part of a thesis, dissertation , or research paper , in order to situate your work in relation to existing knowledge.

Avoid citing sources in your abstract . There are two reasons for this:

• The abstract should focus on your original research, not on the work of others.
• The abstract should be self-contained and fully understandable without reference to other sources.

There are some circumstances where you might need to mention other sources in an abstract: for example, if your research responds directly to another study or focuses on the work of a single theorist. In general, though, don’t include citations unless absolutely necessary.

An abstract is a concise summary of an academic text (such as a journal article or dissertation ). It serves two main purposes:

• To help potential readers determine the relevance of your paper for their own research.
• To communicate your key findings to those who don’t have time to read the whole paper.

Abstracts are often indexed along with keywords on academic databases, so they make your work more easily findable. Since the abstract is the first thing any reader sees, it’s important that it clearly and accurately summarizes the contents of your paper.

In a scientific paper, the methodology always comes after the introduction and before the results , discussion and conclusion . The same basic structure also applies to a thesis, dissertation , or research proposal .

Depending on the length and type of document, you might also include a literature review or theoretical framework before the methodology.

Whether you’re publishing a blog, submitting a research paper , or even just writing an important email, there are a few techniques you can use to make sure it’s error-free:

• Take a break : Set your work aside for at least a few hours so that you can look at it with fresh eyes.
• Proofread a printout : Staring at a screen for too long can cause fatigue – sit down with a pen and paper to check the final version.
• Use digital shortcuts : Take note of any recurring mistakes (for example, misspelling a particular word, switching between US and UK English , or inconsistently capitalizing a term), and use Find and Replace to fix it throughout the document.

If you want to be confident that an important text is error-free, it might be worth choosing a professional proofreading service instead.

Editing and proofreading are different steps in the process of revising a text.

Editing comes first, and can involve major changes to content, structure and language. The first stages of editing are often done by authors themselves, while a professional editor makes the final improvements to grammar and style (for example, by improving sentence structure and word choice ).

Proofreading is the final stage of checking a text before it is published or shared. It focuses on correcting minor errors and inconsistencies (for example, in punctuation and capitalization ). Proofreaders often also check for formatting issues, especially in print publishing.

The cost of proofreading depends on the type and length of text, the turnaround time, and the level of services required. Most proofreading companies charge per word or page, while freelancers sometimes charge an hourly rate.

For proofreading alone, which involves only basic corrections of typos and formatting mistakes, you might pay as little as $0.01 per word, but in many cases, your text will also require some level of editing , which costs slightly more.

It’s often possible to purchase combined proofreading and editing services and calculate the price in advance based on your requirements.

There are many different routes to becoming a professional proofreader or editor. The necessary qualifications depend on the field – to be an academic or scientific proofreader, for example, you will need at least a university degree in a relevant subject.

For most proofreading jobs, experience and demonstrated skills are more important than specific qualifications. Often your skills will be tested as part of the application process.

To learn practical proofreading skills, you can choose to take a course with a professional organization such as the Society for Editors and Proofreaders . Alternatively, you can apply to companies that offer specialized on-the-job training programmes, such as the Scribbr Academy .

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The Scribbr Citation Generator is developed using the open-source Citation Style Language (CSL) project and Frank Bennett’s citeproc-js . It’s the same technology used by dozens of other popular citation tools, including Mendeley and Zotero.

You can find all the citation styles and locales used in the Scribbr Citation Generator in our publicly accessible repository on Github .

Matada Research

Understanding the importance of a literature review in research

• March 29, 2023

Gerald Naepi

When conducting research, a literature review plays a crucial role as it provides an overview of the existing literature related to a specific topic. Its main objective is to identify the gaps in the current knowledge and provide direction for future research. This article delves into the purpose and structure of a literature review, along with the various types of literature reviews typically employed in research. By familiarising themselves with the different types of literature reviews and their unique features, researchers can determine which review type would best suit their research question and help them achieve their desired results.

Purpose of a literature review in research

The primary goal of a literature review in research is to offer a comprehensive overview of the relevant research within a given area. A well-executed literature review should provide readers with a clear understanding of the theoretical and empirical contributions made in the field, while also highlighting areas that require further exploration or investigation. Additionally, literature reviews help researchers identify gaps in existing knowledge that can lead to new hypotheses or questions for future study.

When conducting a literature review, researchers should pay close attention to key themes and topics covered by previous studies, including the approaches used to answer specific questions or address particular issues. This ensures that any conclusions drawn by the researcher are supported by established evidence and build on prior work in the field. Moreover, when synthesising information from multiple studies, researchers should aim to identify conflicting opinions or discrepancies in the literature and draw implications for further study. Through this process, a comprehensive literature review can provide invaluable insights into the current state of research and inform future studies.

Literature review format

The format of a literature review in research typically consists of the following elements:

Introduction: The introduction is an important part of a literature review, as it gives the reader a sense of what to expect. It should start with a clear statement of the research question or objective, so that the reader understands what the review is trying to achieve. It’s also important to explain why the topic is important, so that the reader understands the relevance of the review. Finally, the introduction should give the reader an overview of the structure and organisation of the review, so that they can easily navigate through the rest of the content.

Search Strategy: The search strategy should be comprehensive, focused, and systematic. It involves selecting appropriate databases, developing effective search terms, and utilizing other sources to collect information. To begin, the researcher needs to determine the most relevant databases to search. Depending on the topic, discipline, and research question, different databases may be more suitable. Some commonly used databases are PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. Once the databases are selected, the researcher can develop a set of search terms that accurately reflect the topic and research question. These search terms can be a combination of keywords and subject headings. Other sources of information may include reference lists, grey literature, conference proceedings, and experts in the field. These sources can provide additional insights and help to ensure a comprehensive search.

The search strategy should be documented in detail to enable replication and transparency. This documentation should include the databases searched, search terms used, search dates, and any filters or limits applied. By having a clear and systematic search strategy, the researcher can ensure that they have identified all relevant literature and that the research findings are reliable and valid.

Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria: Inclusion criteria refer to the characteristics that a study must have to be included in the review, while exclusion criteria refer to the characteristics that disqualify a study from being included. The inclusion and exclusion criteria may vary depending on the research question, but generally, they should be clearly defined and stated in the methods section of the review. Common criteria include study design, population, intervention or exposure, and outcome measures. For example, a systematic review on the effectiveness of a particular drug for a specific condition may include only randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with a minimum sample size of 50 participants, and exclude non-randomized studies or studies with a high risk of bias.

Defining clear inclusion and exclusion criteria is crucial in ensuring that the studies included in the review are relevant, appropriate, and of high quality. It also helps to minimize bias and enhance the validity of the review’s findings. Additionally, transparent reporting of inclusion and exclusion criteria allows readers to assess the rigor of the review process and the generalizability of the findings to their own context.

Methodology: The methodology section typically involves outlining the procedures and techniques employed to collect relevant data and information, including any data extraction forms that were used. Additionally, this section may also include information about the process of data extraction, such as how the data was collected, coded, and analysed. Furthermore, it is essential to include a description of the quality assessment process used to ensure that the extracted data was reliable and valid. This may involve explaining the criteria used to evaluate the quality of the studies, as well as any potential biases or limitations that were taken into consideration. By providing a thorough description of the methodology, readers will be able to assess the rigor of the research and better understand the context and implications of the findings.

Results: The results section summarises the main outcomes and findings of the review process, including the key themes, concepts, and trends identified in the literature. The results section provides a clear and concise description of the analysed data and should be presented in a logical and organized manner to make it easy for readers to understand. The results section of a literature review provides an overview of the evidence and information obtained from the analysed sources and explains how the findings support or challenge the research question or hypothesis. It is essential to ensure that the results are presented accurately, and any limitations or weaknesses of the study are acknowledged to provide a transparent and objective review of the literature.

Discussion: The discussion section of a literature review in research is an important component that provides a critical analysis of the literature reviewed in the study. This section allows the researcher to present their findings and interpretations of the literature, as well as to draw conclusions about the research question or problem being investigated. In the discussion section, the researcher will typically summarise the key findings of the literature review and then discuss these findings in relation to the research question or problem. The discussion section may also identify gaps in the literature and suggest areas for further research, as well as discuss the implications of the findings for theory, practice, or policy. Ultimately, the discussion section of a literature review should provide a comprehensive and insightful analysis of the literature reviewed, which contributes to the overall understanding of the research question or problem at hand.

Conclusion: The conclusion section in a literature review summarises the key findings and implications of the reviewed studies. It is the final part of the literature review that brings together all the main points and themes discussed in the previous sections. In this section, the researcher should provide a critical evaluation of the reviewed literature, highlighting the strengths and limitations of the studies, and how they relate to the research question or problem. The conclusion section should also address any gaps or inconsistencies in the existing literature and suggest future research directions. Furthermore, it should provide a clear and concise summary of the main findings and their significance for the field of study.

References: The reference section provides a comprehensive list of all the sources that have been cited in the literature review, including books, journal articles, reports, and other relevant materials. The purpose of the reference section is to give credit to the authors whose work has been used to support the arguments and ideas presented in the paper. Additionally, the reference section allows readers to locate and retrieve the sources that have been cited, which can help them further explore the topic or verify the accuracy of the information presented. The reference section is typically organized in alphabetical order by the last name of the first author of each source, and it includes all of the necessary bibliographic information such as the title of the work, the name of the journal or book, the date of publication, and the page numbers

Download our literature review template

Types of literature review in research

Literature reviews in research can be conducted for a variety of reasons, including to gain a comprehensive understanding of a topic, to identify research gaps, or to support the development of research proposals.

Here are the different types of literature reviews in research:

• Narrative Literature Review: A narrative literature review is an overview of the literature on a specific topic or research question that does not follow a structured or systematic approach. It is a qualitative review that summarizes and synthesizes the findings from different studies.
• Systematic Literature Review: A systematic literature review is a rigorous and structured approach to reviewing literature that involves a comprehensive search strategy, inclusion/exclusion criteria, and critical appraisal of the quality of evidence. It involves a meta-analysis and quantitative synthesis of data from multiple studies.
• Meta-analysis: A meta-analysis is a quantitative review of the literature that involves statistical analysis of the data from multiple studies. It combines the results of different studies to produce an overall estimate of the effect size of a particular intervention or treatment.
• Scoping Review: A scoping review is a type of literature review that aims to map the existing literature on a topic, identify research gaps, and provide an overview of the evidence. It is useful when the research question is broad or unclear.
• Rapid Review: A rapid review is a type of systematic review that uses streamlined methods to quickly and efficiently review the literature. It is useful when there is a time constraint or when there is a need to update a previous review.
• Umbrella Review: An umbrella review is a type of systematic review that synthesizes the findings of multiple systematic reviews on a particular topic. It provides a higher level of evidence by combining the findings from multiple studies.
• Critical Review: A critical review involves the evaluation and analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the literature on a particular topic. It assesses the quality, credibility, and relevance of the literature and identifies research gaps.

Literature review example:

A literature review can play a crucial role in connecting with qualitative talanoa research. Talanoa is a research approach that emphasises collaboration, dialogue, and relationships within Pacific communities. Conducting a thorough literature review can help researchers to identify existing knowledge and gaps in ta specific field. This can inform the design of Talanoa research that centers on community engagement and dialogue. By reviewing literature that focuses on Pacific cultures, histories, and knowledge systems, researchers can develop a deeper understanding of the context and values of the community they are working with. This can help to build trust and establish meaningful relationships between researchers and community members.

An example of a literature review is our social research on Pacific peoples’ concerns about COVID-19, titled “The $7 cabbage dilemma: Pacific peoples’ experiences and New Zealand’s COVID-19 response.pdf” The objective of our study was to investigate how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the wellbeing of Pacific peoples in New Zealand. To accomplish this, we conducted a comprehensive literature review of existing research on Pacific peoples’ urban climate change, health, economy, and housing in New Zealand. Through our talanoa-based research, we discovered that many Pacific peoples were worried about the cost of living, access to healthcare, support for parents, and affordable healthy food options, which were all connected to the broader themes of urban climate change, health, economy, and housing that we had identified in our literature review.

In conclusion, a literature review is an essential component of research as it helps to identify gaps in existing knowledge, provide direction for future research and support or challenge research questions or hypotheses. The purpose of a literature review is to offer a comprehensive overview of the relevant research within a given area, identify key themes and topics, and synthesize information from multiple studies. Researchers need to pay attention to the different types of literature reviews and their unique features when conducting literature reviews to determine which review type would best suit their research question and help them achieve their desired results. A well-structured literature review should include an introduction, search strategy, inclusion and exclusion criteria, methodology and results sections. A well-executed literature review ensures that the research findings are reliable and valid and provides invaluable insights into the current state of research to inform future studies.

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Matada is a social enterprise that specializes in transformative research, evaluation, consultation, knowledge dissemination and program development to improve the health and wellbeing of communities in Aotearoa New Zealand. Our mission is to create solutions that enhance the wellbeing of individuals, communities, and society. We are backed by highly qualified and experienced researchers with both international and domestic experience. We lead with core values (relationships, respect, reciprocity, community and service) that shape our goals and vision which helps us create positive change.

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By: Gerald Naepi

[email protected].

• University of Texas Libraries

Literature Reviews

• What is a literature review?
• Steps in the Literature Review Process
• Define your research question
• Determine inclusion and exclusion criteria
• Choose databases and search
• Review Results
• Synthesize Results
• Analyze Results
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What is a Literature Review?

A literature or narrative review is a comprehensive review and analysis of the published literature on a specific topic or research question. The literature that is reviewed contains: books, articles, academic articles, conference proceedings, association papers, and dissertations. It contains the most pertinent studies and points to important past and current research and practices. It provides background and context, and shows how your research will contribute to the field. 

A literature review should: 

• Provide a comprehensive and updated review of the literature;
• Explain why this review has taken place;
• Articulate a position or hypothesis;
• Acknowledge and account for conflicting and corroborating points of view

From  S age Research Methods

Purpose of a Literature Review

A literature review can be written as an introduction to a study to:

• Demonstrate how a study fills a gap in research
• Compare a study with other research that's been done

Or it can be a separate work (a research article on its own) which:

• Organizes or describes a topic
• Describes variables within a particular issue/problem

Limitations of a Literature Review

Some of the limitations of a literature review are:

• It's a snapshot in time. Unlike other reviews, this one has beginning, a middle and an end. There may be future developments that could make your work less relevant.
• It may be too focused. Some niche studies may miss the bigger picture.
• It can be difficult to be comprehensive. There is no way to make sure all the literature on a topic was considered.
• It is easy to be biased if you stick to top tier journals. There may be other places where people are publishing exemplary research. Look to open access publications and conferences to reflect a more inclusive collection. Also, make sure to include opposing views (and not just supporting evidence).

Source: Grant, Maria J., and Andrew Booth. “A Typology of Reviews: An Analysis of 14 Review Types and Associated Methodologies.” Health Information & Libraries Journal, vol. 26, no. 2, June 2009, pp. 91–108. Wiley Online Library, doi:10.1111/j.1471-1842.2009.00848.x.

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• Last Updated: Aug 26, 2024 5:59 AM
• URL: https://guides.lib.utexas.edu/literaturereviews

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What is the Purpose of a Literature Review?

4-minute read

• 23rd October 2023

If you’re writing a research paper or dissertation , then you’ll most likely need to include a comprehensive literature review . In this post, we’ll review the purpose of literature reviews, why they are so significant, and the specific elements to include in one. Literature reviews can:

1. Provide a foundation for current research.

2. Define key concepts and theories.

3. Demonstrate critical evaluation.

4. Show how research and methodologies have evolved.

5. Identify gaps in existing research.

6. Support your argument.

Keep reading to enter the exciting world of literature reviews!

What is a Literature Review?

A literature review is a critical summary and evaluation of the existing research (e.g., academic journal articles and books) on a specific topic. It is typically included as a separate section or chapter of a research paper or dissertation, serving as a contextual framework for a study. Literature reviews can vary in length depending on the subject and nature of the study, with most being about equal length to other sections or chapters included in the paper. Essentially, the literature review highlights previous studies in the context of your research and summarizes your insights in a structured, organized format. Next, let’s look at the overall purpose of a literature review.

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Literature reviews are considered an integral part of research across most academic subjects and fields. The primary purpose of a literature review in your study is to:

Provide a Foundation for Current Research

Since the literature review provides a comprehensive evaluation of the existing research, it serves as a solid foundation for your current study. It’s a way to contextualize your work and show how your research fits into the broader landscape of your specific area of study.  

Define Key Concepts and Theories

The literature review highlights the central theories and concepts that have arisen from previous research on your chosen topic. It gives your readers a more thorough understanding of the background of your study and why your research is particularly significant .

Demonstrate Critical Evaluation 

A comprehensive literature review shows your ability to critically analyze and evaluate a broad range of source material. And since you’re considering and acknowledging the contribution of key scholars alongside your own, it establishes your own credibility and knowledge.

Show How Research and Methodologies Have Evolved

Another purpose of literature reviews is to provide a historical perspective and demonstrate how research and methodologies have changed over time, especially as data collection methods and technology have advanced. And studying past methodologies allows you, as the researcher, to understand what did and did not work and apply that knowledge to your own research.  

Identify Gaps in Existing Research

Besides discussing current research and methodologies, the literature review should also address areas that are lacking in the existing literature. This helps further demonstrate the relevance of your own research by explaining why your study is necessary to fill the gaps.

Support Your Argument

A good literature review should provide evidence that supports your research questions and hypothesis. For example, your study may show that your research supports existing theories or builds on them in some way. Referencing previous related studies shows your work is grounded in established research and will ultimately be a contribution to the field.  

Literature Review Editing Services 

Ensure your literature review is polished and ready for submission by having it professionally proofread and edited by our expert team. Our literature review editing services will help your research stand out and make an impact. Not convinced yet? Send in your free sample today and see for yourself! 

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Conducting a literature review: why do a literature review, why do a literature review.

• How To Find "The Literature"
• Found it -- Now What?

Besides the obvious reason for students -- because it is assigned! -- a literature review helps you explore the research that has come before you, to see how your research question has (or has not) already been addressed.

You identify:

• core research in the field
• experts in the subject area
• methodology you may want to use (or avoid)
• gaps in knowledge -- or where your research would fit in

It Also Helps You:

• Publish and share your findings
• Justify requests for grants and other funding
• Identify best practices to inform practice
• Set wider context for a program evaluation
• Compile information to support community organizing

Great brief overview, from NCSU

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• Last Updated: Apr 25, 2024 1:10 PM
• URL: https://guides.lib.berkeley.edu/litreview