Copyright © 2020 pubrica. All rights reserved 1

The Importance of Literature Review Writing in Research Article and

Dissertation on Biomedical Research

Dr. Nancy Agens, Head,

Technical Operations, Pubrica

sales@pubrica.com

In brief

The main aim of any research is making

relevant contribution to the field of

research in a field and to be able to add

relevant content to the ‘conversation’.i To

achieve this, one must begin by

understanding the context of the

‘conversation’. And this important task is

done by a properly conducted and

documented review of literature.

Keywords: Literature review, research

article, biomedical dissertation,

biomedical literature review.

I. NEED FOR LITERATURE IN

RESEARCH ARTICLE AND

DISSERTATION

Biomedical research is at its peak

today and publicationsare also increasing

exponentially in the last few decades

necessitating the need for dedicated

medical writing services with domain-

related expertise. Despite this, the number

of rejections is on the rise. A good

literature review, identifying the area of

research in a crisp manner and clearly

defining relevance of the research are often

lacking resulting in rejection of

manuscripts. Biomedical literature review

is the first step towards any research.ii

Literature review explores previous

research conducted in the field of

interest, the limitations and conflict

areas identified and the need for further

research. This justifies the relevance

and originality of the research work.

It also helps one in understanding and

formulating one’s area of research in a

better manner and justifies the

methodology used.iii

Literature review helps connectthe

statistical findings of the research with

prior research statistics.

Review also conveys eagerness and

preparedness to do the research till

completion.

Review helps in preventing duplication

of research and avoiding redundant

fields and is needed for good quality

research paper.

Dissertation is an important

requirement for completion of

academics and literature review is an

important part of this academic

requirement.iv

In short, literature review is done to

place our research within the context of the

topic-related existing research and justifies

the need for proposed research.

II. USE OF LITERATURE REVIEW

There are various circumstances under

which one must do a literature review.

Introduction to a primary research

topic – This sets the context for the

research article or dissertation by

analysing previously published

literature and clearly defining the place

of the current research and its

contribution to the advancement in the

understanding of the topic in question.

Systematic review –It is related to

meta-analysis and provide a

quantitative or less often qualitative

statistic summarizing several papers.

Secondary data analysis projects- It is a

research project on its own and begins

Copyright © 2020 pubrica. All rights reserved 2

with a clear research question. The

project aims at analysing available data

in answering the question.

III. SOURCE OF DATA

Data has been sourced from libraries as

well as digital sources. This is a

cumbersome activity which continues

throughout all the stages of the study and

hence, it should be started early in the

phase of research.

IV. CITATIONS

Picking up articles for review is

another art and one should have clear

inclusion and exclusion criteria to

perform a relevant review. Also,

citations should be recent and not too

old and outdated in current context.v

Adequate number of citations is often

defined by the journal and that needs to

be followed. Too few or too many

citations fail to convey the crux in the

correct proportions.

Citations should include not only those

studies with clear-cut outcomes or

inferences, it should also include those

that are inconclusive or require further

research. This is required for 360

degree understanding, avoiding bias,

and defining further scope for research.

Bias in citations that intentionally

quote only those that are congruent in

their conclusions to the current study

should be avoided.

Critical appraisal of the studies cited

with an analytical review of the same

is desirable.

V. ORGANISING DATA

There are several ways to organize

biomedical literature review and are used

by PhD students for their biomedical

dissertations.vi

Scientific manuscript writing services

commonly use chronological sequence

for listing out literature for review.

This is often the method adopted when

we are talking about something that we

wish to trace over time and the topic

has evolved over the years.

Another method often used in

scientific article writing is a well-

argued format grouping those with one

school of thought together to contrast

with those that are different from the

first school of thought. This

methodology is useful whenever there

are two or more contrasting views that

have probably been debated and still

hold ground in different studies.

A reverse-triangle approach is where

we start discussing based on the

broader concepts and then gradually

narrow in onto the topic of interest.

Finally zeroing in on the study that is

like the research question or objective

in mind.

A similar approach involves starting

with the known facts supported by

literature and then moving to the grey

zones and the less known to the

unknown debated areas.

Basically, depending on the

requirement of the topic of literature

research, whether it is recent or been

around for several years, whether most

facts are clear or unclear, whether

researchers agree or disagree on most

matters and what is the outcome needed

out of the literature search in context of the

objective of the current study.In short, the

review should be well-structured and

should have some form to the flow of

information.

Some broad guidelines are

provided by PRISMA that gives a

checklist of 27 items along with flowcharts

to help in a comprehensive search. vii

VI. FUTURE SCOPES

Literature review guidelines need

to be defined in more precise terms. There

are many shortcomings in the review of

literature in the absence of uniformity of

performing this task. Bias is to be reduced

Copyright © 2020 pubrica. All rights reserved 2

by clear definition of the methodology that

is the need of the hour.

VII. CONCLUSION

With increase in the number of

publications, it becomes important to set

the factual context of the current research

study that one wishes to get published.

This is relevant to participate in the

ongoing ‘dialogue’ on the subject and

contribute positively to that area of

research. A thorough and relevant review

of literature is paramount for this.

REFERENCES

iLingard L. Joining a conversation: the problem/gap/hook

heuristic. Perspect Med Educ. 2015 Oct; 4(5):252-3.

iiMaggio, L. A., Sewell, J. L., &Artino, A. R., Jr (2016).

The Literature Review: A Foundation for High-Quality

Medical Education Research. Journal of graduate

medical education, 8(3), 297–303.

https://doi.org/10.4300/JGME-D-16-00175.1

iiiBaker, J.D. (2016), The Purpose, Process, and Methods

of Writing a Literature Review. AORN Journal, 103:

265-269. doi:10.1016/j.aorn.2016.01.016 ivChristine Susan Bruce (1994) Research students' early

experiences of the dissertation literature review, Studies

in Higher Education, 19:2, 217-

229, DOI: 10.1080/03075079412331382057 vBollacker, K., Lawrence, S., and Giles, C. L.

Discovering relevant scientific literature on the web.

IEEE Intelligent Systems, 15(2), 42--47, 2000

vi Amanda Bolderston. Writing an effective literature

review. Journal of Medical Imaging and Radiation

Sciences 39 (2008) 86-92

vii Moher D, Liberati A, Tetzlaff J, Altman DG,

PRISMA Group. Preferred reporting items for systematic

reviews and meta-analyses: the PRISMA statement.

PLoS Med. 2009 Jul 21; 6(7):e1000097.