Traditional Literature Review and Research Synthesis

Abstract

The exponential growth of research and enormity of the body of knowledge that has been accumulated in applied linguistics make the need for quality and reliable synthesis of the available research more pressing than ever. Traditional reviews seek to critique existing research, provide an overview of the research, and/or contextualize a new study. Research syntheses aim at reaching conclusions by means of aggregating the totality of the empirical research that has been carried out on a certain topic. This chapter discusses the procedures and best practices of each of the two approaches and concludes by making a comparison between the two approaches and proposing ways to integrate them.