The pathology of Literature review in historical studies(Case study: master theses in the field of history)

Every research work is based previous researches and works and basically, the purpose of some research works is to supplement and fill the blind spots of previous works. Therefore, knowledge and awareness about the research works of the predecessors in relation to the subject and problem of research is one of the necessities of conducting researches and especially student researches. In this regard, in the general chapter of student research, there is a section titled literature review in which the researcher must review and analyze the literature or the background of her/his work. It is obvious that doing this part correctly and methodically can play an important role in providing the reader with a suitable mental background about the importance and position of the subject and question of research. However, in this article, the authors intend to first express this main question: What are the main exclusivity and principles of writing a scientific literature review? And then in response to it and by using the analytical method and case study, while enumerating the importance and main goals of the literature review, the appropriate structure and framework for it is introduced and based on this structure, finally, as the main results and findings of this article, pathologically examine the literature review of master's theses in the field of history in several prestigious universities of the country.