Summary of "Literature Review in a Masters Dissertation"

Main purpose and central lessons

The literature review must demonstrate mastery of your topic at master’s level (a formal quality requirement, e.g., QAA).
It should be a critical evaluation of existing literature, not just a summary of who said what.
Show you know the experts, the current state of research, and where the research is likely to go next.
Use the literature review to support later chapters (discussion, evaluation, further work, recommendations) by making notes as you read.

A strong literature review is evaluative: it justifies your choices, identifies gaps, and builds the foundation for your later analysis.

Start broad and progressively narrow to your specific research focus.
Ensure the review covers all topics implied by your title and research objectives (do not omit keywords or concepts that appear in the title).
As you write, regularly check alignment with your research objectives; remove material that doesn’t add value to your central argument.

Evaluate disagreements and differences between authors; explain and discuss why they might disagree.
Highlight strengths, weaknesses, gaps, and contradictions in the literature.
Use the review to identify areas for further research and to justify your research choices.

Use contemporary, up-to-date references. If your dissertation is current (example given: 2018), expect most citations to be recent (for example, 2013–2016 or later).
Avoid relying solely on dated sources (pre-2000) unless you justify their inclusion and show they remain relevant by citing current confirmations.
Include seminal/classic works when necessary, but always contextualize them with modern literature that confirms or updates their relevance.
Use the latest available editions of books and the most recent journal articles.

While reading, make annotations for later chapters: items to discuss, oddities worth commenting on, suggestions that could become recommendations or further-work topics.
Use the literature review to suggest where future research might go.
Be comprehensive enough to demonstrate mastery, but be prepared to edit out interesting material that doesn’t meet your objectives.

Example topic: “Project life cycles in the automotive industry: case study of Honda.”

You must cover:

General project management theory (and specifically project life cycles)
The automotive industry context
How project management is applied in the automotive industry
Background/current context for Honda (size, production, recent history and issues)

Narrowing path: project management → project life cycles → automotive industry → Honda case specifics

Critically evaluate literature (not just summarize).
Prioritize modern citations; justify older seminal works with recent confirmations.
Use the latest editions of texts and recent journal articles.
Start broad, then narrow to your case/topic.
Cover topics required by your title and objectives.
Make notes for discussion, evaluation, further work, and recommendations.
Continually check the review’s alignment with research objectives.