Process of Literature Review

Textbooks

Textbooks are a useful source of theory in a specific area. An advantage of textbooks is that they can cover a broad range of topics.

 Journals

Both academic and professional journals are important sources of up‐to‐date information.

Research articles also provide a detailed description of the purpose of the study, the method(s) used, and the results of the study.

Articles in professional journals are a valuable source of recent developments in the field and of facts and figures.

Theses

PhD theses often contain an exhaustive review of the literature in a specific area.

 Conference proceedings

Conference proceedings can be useful in providing the latest research, or research that has not (yet) been published.

Conference proceedings are very up to date, and for this reason this information source is quite valuable

 Unpublished manuscripts

The APA defines an unpublished manuscript as any information source that is not “officially” released by an individual, publishing house, or other company. Examples of unpublished manuscripts may include papers accepted for publication

Reports

Government departments and corporations commission or carry out a large amount of research. Their published findings provide a useful source of specific market, industry, or company information.

 Newspapers

Newspapers provide up‐to‐date business information. They are a useful source of specific market, industry, or company information. Note that opinions in newspapers are not always unbiased.

 The Internet

The amount of information that can be found on the World Wide Web is enormous. You can search for (the details of) books, journals and journal articles, and conference proceedings, as well as for specialized data such as company publications and reports.

Search engines such as Google can help you to find relevant information. For instance, Google Scholar,