Q: Is it important to do the review of only latest studies?
During literature review, we usually do a review of latest studies (as old as 5 years from now). But what if there is some important old study that got published around 10-15 years ago? Should I ignore it as I have selected previous 5 year studies? Is it important to do the review of only latest studies?
Thank you for your question. The literature review for a study should be thorough, so you can certainly refer to or cite important studies that was published 10–15 years ago.
Ensuring that the references in your literature review are recent is a practice recommended in order to make sure that the information you’re referring to is current, but depending on the context, you may need to cite an older study, perhaps when you’re talking about the pioneering work in the field. In most cases though, you’d be able to locate more recent review articles that would likely present an extensive coverage of the important studies in the field.
For some useful guidance on writing literature reviews, do check out this article: How to write the literature review of your research paper
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