Image: “First off, by way of establishing some credibility, I’d like to note that…” New Yorker Cartoon by Donald Reilly
Producing this chapter for your thesis enables you to gain and demonstrate skills in two areas:
1. information seeking: the ability to scan the literature efficiently, using manual or computerized methods, to identify a set of useful articles and books
2. critical appraisal: the ability to apply principles of analysis to identify unbiased and valid studies.
The Literature Review emphasizes the credibility of the writer in his or her field. Literature reviews also provide a solid background for a research paper’s investigation.
Often it is comes right after the introduction. It position early in the thesis means that it is an opportunity to establish your credibility early on with the reader and examiner. They are likely to be fresher and less tired than when they first read your later chapters. Get the literature right and you set a positive tone for the rest of the thesis. You want the reader to move on to later chapters feeling confidence in you as a scholar.