Writing a Literature Review

In evaluating what they've read and deciding what to include in the lit. review, researchers should, of course, be objective. They must

• avoid shunning information that contradicts their own views.
  
• keep open minds.
  
• look at the topic from different vantage points.
  
• in short, act in a scholarly manner.

In writing a literature review skilled researchers evaluate their sources and evidence very carefully. For example, they ask such questions as:

• Who funded the research studies? For example, what credence can be given to a study on African American IQs funded by the Ku Klux Klan?
• Who actually performed the research?
• When and where were the studies carried out?
• What were the political, socio-economic, religious, etc. conditions at the time of the research?
• Is there any reason to suspect that the methodology or the interpretation of the results were restrained by some authority? For example, what should a researcher conclude about medical experiments performed in Nazi Germany?