Sample Literature Reviews: My Take on Them

As I read the three sample literature reviews that were provided, I realized that they had several characteristics in common. Each of the literature reviews began with an introduction, in which the authors identified the topic/research question, described the set up of the review, explained what they expected to accomplish in the review, and provided a brief summary of the literature and its findings. In addition, each one was separated into sections and included a list of keywords, detailed information regarding the source data that was used and its relevance to the research question, a summary of the literature, and the authors' synthesis of the research findings.

While the sample reviews had many commonalities, they had some differences as well. The following are the differences I noted and my reactions to them:

• Length of literature review – The length of the literature reviews were varied. The second review, "Teaching Courses Online: A Review of the Research", particularly caught my attention in this area, as I felt that it was excessively long in comparison to the others.
  
• Depth of summaries – Some of the summaries were more detailed than others. Again, the second review stood out for me because I felt that the summaries it provided were somewhat limited and general in nature compared to the other reviews.
  
• Rhetoric - The rhetoric used differed in each of the reviews. The first one, "Gender in Teaching: A Literature Review", was not an easy read for me. In fact, this is one that I had to read twice to get a true grasp of what it was about. On the other hand, I felt that the third review, "Online Collaborative Learning for Healthcare Continuing Professional Development: Lessons from the Recent Research", was the easiest to read and understand.

Although I thought that the three samples provided were good, I was most impressed and would be most inclined to emulate "Online Collaborative Learning for Healthcare Continuing Professional Development: Lessons from the Recent Research" in my own literature review.