Guidelines on How to Write a Literature Review for an MBA Thesis

A literature review for an MBA thesis involves searching existing knowledge from published scholarly documents, such as journal articles, and synthesizing the information. The purpose of conducting a literature review is to demonstrate familiarity with the topic of the MBA thesis, develop a theoretical framework and methodology for the research study, identify gaps in previous researches, and also provide supporting evidence for a practical problem, hence, demonstrating the significance of the problem.

The various activities involved in writing a literature review for an MBA thesis include developing the search strategy, evaluating and selecting the sources, analyzing those sources, critiquing, and synthesizing the literature. Our company has professional writers to offer the best services in writing the literature review for your MBA thesis.

Locating the Literature

The source of information for a literature review of an MBA thesis is the journal articles. Use the already formulated research topic and research questions in chapter one of the MBA thesis to guide the search of the journal articles.

Identify keywords relating to your research topic and research questions and use them to search electronic databases for journal articles that you could use to source information for your literature review. You can also use a thesaurus to identify more keywords within your area of research and then use them on your databases to enhance your number of sources. Record the articles and create a bibliography for the various sources that you identify during your literature review.

Selection of the Sources

Once you have obtained the various sources of reference, select the appropriate sources that you will use for your MBA thesis. The process of selecting the sources involves scanning the sources, determining the scope of the review, and using criteria for inclusion and exclusion.

Scanning involves you determining the relevance of each article to the MBA thesis. You then decide on the scope of the review by determining the coverage and purpose of your literature review. Finally, you can develop inclusion and exclusion criteria to narrow the number of articles you will consider for your MBA thesis literature review. For example, in the inclusion criteria for journal articles to use in your literature review, the journal articles should be published within the past five years, they are within the context of the study, among others.

(a). Identifying Relevant Information and Themes

Read the sources you have identified and analyze the selected texts while taking notes of relevant information considering the MBA thesis research topic and questions. Identify the major themes from the sources around your research topic and record them in thematic circles.

(b). Evaluating Research Articles

Once you have extracted, summarized, and analyzed relevant information from the sources, evaluate the literature. Identify the strengths and weaknesses of every study to assess the claims and identify the methodology. Also, confirm the validity and credibility of findings and the impact of this information on your review.

(C). Synthesizing Research Articles

Synthesis involves structuring the literature review to combine the relationships between the different studies and sources of information. The strategies that can be adapted to synthesize literature include a synthesis matrix, summary table, mapping, and outline. The four strategies help you to identify themes, and patterns in your sources, determine how they relate to each other, and identify the similarities and differences among them.

Developing Arguments and Supporting Claims

Once you have identified the specific sources and information, you then develop an argument to show your view on the research topic.  You then support your argument using evidence. The process of developing a simple argument involves a claim, evidence, and warrant. The claim is the statement or the idea you are arguing in the review. The evidence is the information you gather to support the claim.   The warrant connects the evidence to the claim and describes how the information backs the claims.

There are two kinds of arguments used in a literature review, that is, the argument of discovery and the argument of advocacy. In The argument of discovery,  you analyze previous research studies and present what you discover about your research topic from those sources. The argument of advocacy interprets the meaning of knowledge in the context of future implications.

The role of the argument of advocacy is to summarize the information you gathered in your readings and to interpret it in the context of the research questions. The process of developing the argument of advocacy involves first, summarizing, interpreting the information you have acquired from the sources, and developing an argument of discovery. Secondly, critically evaluate the advantages and limitations of the studies done on your topic and identify gaps, contradictions, and omissions. Finally, extend the current knowledge by giving recommendations within the literature review of your MBA thesis.

Synthesizing the Literature

Once you have developed your argument, combine the separate components from the particular sources of evidence and arrange them logically to form a conclusion. The various approaches you can use to synthesize your literature include grouping the sources, comparing and contrasting the sources, exploring contradicting findings, and adopting critical dispositions. Consider the research questions throughout the process of synthesis. To achieve quality synthesis of the literature, conduct with a critical stance, whereby, you assess and describe the strengths and weaknesses of the information in the journal articles.

The Theoretical Framework

The theoretical framework is the foundation of the knowledge of research in the MBA thesis based on formal theory from previous research studies. The theoretical framework guides on the methodology and design you will use in the MBA thesis. The literature review process helps to develop any theories related to your research considering the research questions of your MBA  thesis and to assert the concepts and definitions in the research theory regarding your research topic. You should, therefore, understand the role of the literature review in the theoretical framework of your MBA thesis.

Writing the Review

The literature review of an MBA thesis comprises of an introduction, headings and subheadings, and a summary. The introduction section describes the overview of the literature review, that is, the order and arrangement of thoughts and ideas in the literature review. The headings guide on the main arguments presented in the literature review, while subheadings support the presented arguments in these headings. The summary briefly describes the content of the already written literature review and comprehensively interprets the arguments.

Ensure you include all the sources of information in your references and that you appropriately cite these sources within the literature review. The various styles you can use in citing your references include the MLA, The APA styles, among others. Referencing and citation is one way of avoiding plagiarism when writing your literature review.

You should consider the writer's voice when writing your literature review to ensure you control the text and be firm in your arguments regarding the sources of literature. Some of the ways you can achieve the authorial voice is the use of citations, and connecting words and phrases to show the relationship between those citations and the contents of your MBA thesis.

Proofread your literature review to check for any errors in grammar, order of words, sentences, and paragraphs, styling, among others. In case of any mistakes, make the necessary changes through the process of editing. If you would like some professional assistance in writing your literature review, our writers are always available to assist you. Join our live chat now for prompt assistance.

 

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