Literature Review and Use of Benjamin Bloom’s Taxonomy

Abstract

This paper explores the use of Benjamin Bloom’s taxonomy in the process of reviewing the related literature and writing a literature review. Specifically, the discussion focuses on four fundamental issues raised in the study as follows: purpose and focus of literature review, literature review in the research proposal, literature review and use of Benjamin Bloom’s taxonomy, and writing a literature review. Six categories in Bloom’s taxonomy (ways of thinking) are elucidated as follows: remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating and creating. Through the use of these tasks and ways of thinking in the literature review process, the study shows that the review of the related scholarship is one of the most important processes of research methods in the sense that it enables the researcher to determine the state of research in his or her area of investigation. The background knowledge acquired in the course of the research enables him or her to make useful connections between the literature review and other parts of the research project, ensuring that the lacunae in the previously concluded research are addressed and that any possible gap is filled by the present study. Hence, it also shows that doing a review of the related literature is a serious business aimed at enhancing the quality and relevance of the research focus, theoretical framework, methodology and findings, thereby helping to promote originality and excellence in research in the scholar’s area of investigation or specialization.