Literature review is known as a group of researches and books that are related to the study topic and through it the researcher gets acquainted with all matters related to his study. The researcher must be keen and precise in choosing Literature review as he must choose the studies that fit his study topic, also he must be able to extract the information he needs and be able to present the Literature review in his study in a correct way.

Literature review considered as the second section of the theoretical framework of any study, the researcher can identify the similarities and the differences between his study and other Literature review (previous studies) that dealt with the same topic and highlight the new additions that his study will provide.

There is a set of reasons that push the researcher to write Literature review (previous studies), and there are ways to present it, and all this and more will be explained in details in this article.

 The importance of Literature Review 

1. The Literature review helps the researcher to avoid all the mistakes that others have made. It can also help the researcher to avoid studying the consumed and things that it has already been studied.
2. Through Literature review, the researcher gains many experiences about his topic. He or she can get some ideas from the questions set by previous researchers and Literature review (previous studies), which makes him put forward and distinct questions.
3. Literature review can add a touch of creativity to the study, through his study of new, unique and unexplored things.
4.  Literature review may answer researcher questions that are on his mind and that will save his time and effort. It will alert the researcher to things he may not pay attention to and find them in those studies.
5. Literature review can give the researcher a general idea about his undertaking topic, and will give him a great background about it.
6. Literature review shows the importance of the study; therefore, they direct him towards the right path and help him in knowing the benefit that his study will provide to society.
7. Literature review is going to clarify the study problem for the researcher, as it provides him with a large number of sources and references that he can return to.
8. Literature review is great for new researchers, it makes them complete the journey that previous researchers started, and it makes them add something new.

 Literature Review Presenting Method 

There is a set of methods to present Literature review and the most prominent are:

• The Annotated Bibliography Method of Literature review: In this method in the Literature review the researcher states the name of the study, and then writes a small summary of it, after that he states the results, analyses and comments on them. However, this method has a set of defects like: lack of objectivity, it does not make comparisons and it doesn’t mention the similarities and differences between Literature review (previous studies) and the study, also it doesn’t classify researchers into groups, and doesn’t link previous studies in terms of branches and topics.
• The Historical Sequence Method of Literature review:through this method in Literature review the researcher collects all the sources and references related to his study, and then he arranges these sources from the oldest to the most recent, this way can present the developments of the research topic as well as the developments of the researchers’ tools.
• Topics Method of Literature review :In this method of Literature review (previous studies), the researcher collects all previous studies and then classifies them by dividing them into information he mentioned them in advance.
• General Concepts Method of Literature review :The researcher writes all the Literature review (previous studies) that it related to his study and present them through conceptual maps using a tree form.
• Comparison method between similarities and differences method of Literature review :The researcher identifies the similarities and differences between his study and Literature review (previous studies).
• Classification method based on study methodology of Literature review :The researcher classifies Literature review (previous studies) by specifying their type, whether quantitative or qualitative.

 Literature review (previous studies) Elements 

1. Researcher’s Name and Previous Study Authoring Year in the Literature review : specify the year the researcher authored that study.
2. The Study Title in the Literature review :The researcher must write the title of the study he returned to in a very clear way in the Literature review (previous studies)
3. The Main Objective of the Study in the Literature review :Every study has goals that the researcher seeks to achieve, so the researcher must define the main goal of every Literature review (previous studies) that he returned to.
4. Study methodology in the Literature review :The researcher must mention in the Literature review (previous studies) all the approaches that previous researchers used in their studies.
5. Study Population and Sample in the Literature review: The researcher must define the characteristics of each society in every study he returned to, and he must also specify the study sample that the previous author use in Literature review (previous studies).
6. Results of Literature review: After that, the researcher must talk about the results of the Literature review (previous studies), and he must make comparisons with the results of the study he is doing.
7. Recommendations of Literature review (previous studies): At the end, the researcher must present the recommendations that were included in the previous studies that he returned to.

In conclusion, we hope that we have answered the question that we asked at the beginning of the article, which was “What is a Literature review (previous studies)?”

 Video: What Is A Literature Review In Research Thesis 

With greetings: Al - Manara Consulting to help researchers and graduate students