Tips for conducting a Systematic Literature Review

A good systematic review might achieve most or all of the following (Baumeister & Leary, 1997; Bem, 1995; Cooper, 2003):

• Establish to what extent existing research has progressed towards clarifying a particular problem;
• Identify relations, contradictions, gaps, and inconsistencies in the literature, and explore reasons for these (e.g., by proposing a new conceptualisation or theory which accounts for the inconsistency);
• Formulate general statements or an overarching conceptualization (make a point, rather than summarizing all the points everyone else has made; Sternberg, 1991);
• Comment on, evaluate, extend, or develop theory;
• In doing these things, provide implications for practice and policy;
• Describe directions for future research.