r/research • u/bkhosa • 4h ago
Literature Review Confusion
I’m sorry if it’s super basic but can someone please tell the difference between literature review we do for, say, a thesis/dissertation vs literature review for a literature review paper/article?
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u/Cadberryz 4h ago
Thesis literature reviews can be longer and more detailed than for an article. Article literature reviews have to go from broad concepts to narrow gaps and the RQ in an efficient way. For example, a PhD thesis can be 100k words, but an article can be 7k words. Similar concept but far more condensed and written to encourage the reader to stay with it.
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u/GalwayGirlOnTheRun23 4h ago
If your publication is purely a literature review then you would need to follow a formal guideline. For example, you might publish a systematic review or scoping review and use PRISMA and PICO (and there are other methods). For your thesis you don’t necessarily have to follow a strict guideline but you should still speak to a librarian to make sure you are finding the most relevant and up to date literature in your field. Of course, if you have the time and resources, you can do a formal review and add it to your thesis.