By doing a literature review, you indicate that the context for your academic essay has been studied. It is an overview of relevant literature which helps identify areas where further research should be done.
If you are stuck on how to begin and have no ideas about what to write, keep reading. This in-depth exploration of how to write a literature review is here to help improve your scholarly articles!
What Is a Literature Review?
Literature reviews are a requirement for many subjects and usually come at the beginning of your research project. They outline literature within your research topic, showcasing current theoretical concepts. Within a literature review, you need to explain and analyze previous research, comparing arguments and concepts.
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When Might You Write a Literature Review?
A literature review is common in the majority of subjects. You may be required to write a literature review section for:
- Your undergraduate thesis
- Research papers
- Grant proposals
- Review articles
- Course assignments
You might also write a stand-alone literature review in high school as a way of practicing for college.
What Should a Literature Review Include
There’s a lot that needs to be included in a literature review (besides reviewing literature!). Depending on the subject, you’ll likely need to:
- Have an annotated bibliography
- Perform a critical analysis of the literature
- Showcase relevant theories
- Give context to your own research
- Draw connections between scholars
- Identify patterns and trends in previous research
- Interpret previous findings
If you’re unsure of what your school requires, check the guidelines provided. This should give you a better idea of the key elements you need to add.
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12 Steps for Writing a Literature Review
If you’re not sure where to start with your literature review writing, don’t stay in the dark. While it can feel like a daunting task, breaking it down into manageable chunks will help.
Read on to find out what you should include in a literature review and how you should present your findings if you want to impress your assessors.
1. Define Your Research Question or Topic
Your literature review must have a clear objective of what you’re going to talk about. You should always start by clearly defining the topic of your research paper. This will help you concentrate your search and make sure your review matches the goals of your research paper.
Ask yourself, “What particular aspect of my subject matter am I interested in? and “What do I hope to find out from reading about the subject?”
This step is one of the most important ones as you start to write your literature review. If you choose a research paper topic that you’re not interested in, you’ll struggle to enjoy your project. You’ll likely get a better grade if you’re genuinely excited about what you’ve chosen to discuss!
2. Conduct a Comprehensive Literature Search
As you start thinking about writing a literature review, you need to do your research. Your college or school will likely have a paid subscription to databases like JSTOR and PubMed. From here, you can search for resources like:
- Academic journals
- Books
- Conference papers
- Dissertations
This key literature will form the basis of your review. The amount of existing literature you should use will depend on your subject. For humanities subjects like History and English Literature, you’ll likely need several cultural sources theoretical or real, for example, depending on your topic. While we recommend checking resources provided by your school, here is a breakdown of how many sources to analyze:
- For an 8,000-word dissertation, you’ll need 8-10 books or articles
- For 12,000 to 15,000 words, you’ll need to analyze up to 20 recognized sources
- For 20,000 words plus, expect to analyze 30 or more pieces of literature
If you’re in your final year of college, you likely have some experience gathering resources. If not, try to use keywords and phrases in your subject matter when searching in academic databases.
You may want to keep track of what you search for. Organize the information as soon as possible so that it does not take up too much time later on.
3. Evaluate and Select Sources
Not all sources are created equal – some are more reliable than others! Critically evaluate each source that you have found. Do this according to its credibility, relevance, quality, etc. Remember that there are do’s and don’ts regarding academic writing and research.
Give more preference to peer-reviewed articles and studies published by reputable institutions or journals. You may want to discard those that are outdated, biased, or not directly related to your research question.
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4. Organize Your Literature
Arrange the selected literature in a way that makes sense logically. You could organize your sources by:
- Themes
- Methodologies used
- Chronological order
- Theoretical approaches
The way you choose to approach this should depend on what works best for your assignment and subject.
Once you’ve chosen and organized your sources, we recommend creating an annotated bibliography early on. This can take hours to finish, so it’s better to get it out of the way early. It also helps you to summarize and critique every source you come across.
5. Identify Key Themes and Gaps
As you begin to analyze different texts, you should try figuring out the key themes and findings in each. Then, link each piece of literature by opposing or converging views. Look for patterns to help you highlight key concepts and theories and link these to your research paper topic.
Remember, a literature review isn’t just about analyzing key research. You need to make a case as to why your research paper is necessary. So, identify gaps in research and explain how you’re filling this need. Ensure there is good writing flow when presenting your arguments.
6. Develop a Structure for Your Review
After doing all the above, it should now be possible to come up with a structure. This should organize the different ideas gathered so far.
Some commonly used structures include:
- Thematic
- Chronological
- Methodological
- A combination of all three
Having an outline here will also help you think through things more clearly. It also ensures a smooth flow of information during the actual writing process itself.
7. Write the Introduction
Your introduction section is where you outline your research topic and give some background information regarding its relevance in academia. It also needs to include a section on what you hope to achieve from your research paper, i.e., your objectives.
Don’t use hundreds of words in your introduction. It should be short and punchy but informative enough to let readers know what to expect. Like any introduction, the reader should want to continue reading on.
8. Synthesize and Summarize the Literature
Your key findings from different sources should make up the body of your text. Synthesize information and summarize key points, making sure your literature review is well structured. Try to use one or two sources per idea and compare and contrast them depending on your assignment instructions.
You want to include sources that:
- Agree with each other
- Disagree with each other
- Partially agree with each other
How you synthesize your existing literature will depend on how you’ve chosen to structure your review.
9. Highlight Gaps and Future Directions
The last thing to do before concluding is to identify any gaps left in the research. Do this by looking through all available materials and suggesting areas for future research. This can help bridge any missing information and showcase your expertise.
For instance, you could write something like this:
“Future research on the subject will improve upon the current state of knowledge regarding (X).”
10. Conclude Your Review
In the conclusion section, you should summarize everything covered throughout the entire review. However, don’t repeat the same words or sentences from earlier sections.
The conclusion helps you restate how important your research question is to academia. It will also reflect on your findings so the reader can better understand the context of your search paper. After your concluding paragraph, indicate how your paper will fill in the current gaps in knowledge.
11. Cite Your Sources
Ensure all sources cited within your research paper adhere to the guidelines provided by your school. Pay attention to the citation style (APA, MLA, Chicago) and check your grammar and punctuation. Not complying with the citation style could lead to losing valuable points.
Also, remember to include a comprehensive bibliography with work from other researchers at the end of the document. Readers should be able to easily locate where information was obtained from so they can do their own research.
12. Assess and Modify
Don’t submit your first literature review draft. You need to critique and rework what you have written to make it clear and logical.
Look for little things like grammar mistakes, proper citation format, and the regulations set by your school. If you’re worried, share your work with peers or your supervisor to get ideas on where you can improve.
By following all these steps, you’ll be able to submit a well-structured, accurate literature review. This will set the tone for the rest of your research paper.
FAQs
How long should a literature review be?
The length of a literature review depends on the intent and scale of the research being conducted. For example:
- A review usually consists of 3-5 pages for an undergraduate thesis or course assignment.
- It may be anywhere from 20 to 40 pages for a Master’s thesis.
- Within a dissertation or journal article section, literature reviews might run about 10-20 pages long.
Always make sure that you check with your institution’s guidelines before starting any writing project. They will have more specific information about how many words are expected in each section.
Is a research paper the same as a literature review?
Nope. The research paper and the literature review are not the same thing.
Research papers are original research complete with an introduction, methodology, results, and discussion. They also contribute new knowledge or ideas in a given area of study.
A Literature review analyzes existing research about a specific subject matter. Its main goal is to show what has already been done in relation to your own work. It also points out areas that need further research.
Are journal articles like literature reviews?
Literature reviews can be found in a journal article, but they’re not the same. A journal article is a broad concept covering different kinds of academic writing. It includes original research papers, review articles, and case studies.
Many research articles include literature reviews within their introduction. This sets the stage for undertaking your study.
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