Creswell_Research_Design_ Qualitative Quantitative and Mixed Methods Approaches 2018 5th Ed

The Literature Review
Once the researcher identifies a topic that can and should be studied, the search can begin for related
literature on the topic. The literature review accomplishes several purposes. It shares with the reader the
results of other studies that are closely related to the one being undertaken. It relates a study to the larger,
ongoing dialogue in the literature, filling in gaps and extending prior studies (Cooper, 2010; Marshall &
Rossman, 2016). It provides a framework for establishing the importance of the study as well as a benchmark
for comparing the results with other findings. All or some of these reasons may be the foundation for writing
the scholarly literature into a study (see Boote & Beile, 2005, for a more extensive discussion of purposes for
compiling a literature review in research). Studies need to add to the body of literature on a topic, and
literature sections in proposals are generally shaped from the larger problem to the narrower issue that leads
directly into the methods of a study.
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