How to Write a Good Literature Review

All students need to write a literature review sooner or later. Basically, it’s all about an attempt to create a full account in everything published on the chosen topic. You should place it near the beginning of your academic writing in essays, research papers, and other assignments. Learn how to write a literature review outline to earn good grades. Intro It’s possible to loosely define a literature review as an overview of all related research findings based on your chosen subject. In other words, writing it sets the entire stage for the rest of your academic paper, so it must include what is unknown and what is known. Get a better idea of what makes your study relevant and master the right literature review format. What is a literature review? Your literature review is a brief survey of everything written about a specific topic, research question, or theory. It should provide a background for further work or stand on its own. This paper is not only a basic list of sources, but it also needs to synthesize and analyze data about key issues and themes. Read this comprehensive guide to writing literature review to find out more. Types of literature review There are different approaches that can be used to effectively draft and organize your literature review: Argumentative reviews examine literature selectively to either refute or support a major argument, and its basic purpose is to develop the body of literature that can establish contrarian points of view; Integrative reviews synthesize and critique representative literature on the chosen topic to generate a new perspective or framework; Historical reviews are targeted at examining research within a certain period of time and identify possible directions for future studies; Methodological reviews are focused on specific methods of analysis; Systematic reviews should offer an overview of existing proofs; Theoretical reviews concretely examine a particular theory. What is described in the literature review? The main purpose of any literature review is to provide readers with a critically written account of current research on your topic. Use effective guidelines for writing a literature review and ensure that your paper does the following: Placing every source of information in the context of its contribution to a better understanding of your issue; Determining the area of interest; Identifying new ways to interpret previous research and focusing on its gaps; Describing a connection of every source to others; Pointing the best way for further research. Key elements of good literature review To understand how to write a great literature review, ensure that it contains the following key elements: Objective; Overview of your chosen subject; Clear categories of all sources; Specific position; Discussions of every source and its similarity with others. Structure of literature review Your literature review should be structured well, while your major ideas should flow logically. Be sure to use only relevant and current references cited based on your discipline. Present all viewpoints and terms in a comprehensive and unbiased manner to end up with the best literature review structure. Introduction The introduction must identify your chosen subject, include a strong thesis to outline the conclusions that you want to draw from your literature synthesis and analysis, and offer a discussion of its importance. Don’t forget to explain the role of your review to a specific research question. Body In the main body, you should assess and discuss research based on different organizational principles instead of addressing every source separately. Ensure that every paragraph discusses only one source. Conclusion The conclusion of your literature review must provide a brief summary of your important findings. Explain and provide useful suggestions for future studies to fill existing gaps. References Ensure that all of your references are formatted properly because writing a successful literature review is all about using them. It’s necessary to cite everything you discuss. Steps of writing literature review How to write a review of literature? Start with gathering reliable sources while being focused on your topic. Read them all with a certain purpose in your mind because you need to isolate key issues and themes related to a research question. Next, you should evaluate all sources while considering their credentials and evidence. When comparing them, think about possible gaps, omissions, and conclusions. How to write a literature review step-by-step To learn how to write a literature review paper, take a few basic steps. Ensure that it’s guided by a particular research question and decide on its correct scope, which depends on your academic assignment. Choose some reliable databases to use in your research and make their convenient list. You can find them in local libraries and online. The next step is conducting your research to find updated and relevant literature. Review all abstracts to save a lot of time and take helpful notes. You should use references and bibliographies to find other interesting sources. Review literature while asking a few important questions: What is your research question? Can these sources impact your findings? What are their research methodologies? Are there any conflicting studies? Track your thinking processes at this stage and start writing your literature review after defining its general organizational pattern. Choosing a topic for literature review If you find it hard to choose a good topic for your literature review, use a few helpful tips. Look for the subjects that are not too narrow or too broad. However, ensure that your topic is wide enough to find relevant materials and information, especially when writing a longer article review. Choose something that you like or are interested in because this academic assignment must be a survey of a current field state. The less you know about the chosen subject, the more work you will have to do to provide readers with a better insight of current research. Pick topics that are interesting to other people too. Your chosen subject should be debatable and controversial enough because your article review should contribute to existing knowledge and understanding. Writing literature review outline If you want to earn high grades, but you don’t know how to write a literature review, create its detailed outline. The right structure plays a huge role, just like in any other type of academic writing. Pay attention to detailed assignment guidelines and instructions to understand how to outline your article review correctly. Some of the most popular options include the following: By theme (when there are some strands in your subject that should be considered separately before you put them all together); Chronologically (be sure to write both descriptively and critically); By sector (based on different backgrounds); By the development of ideas (when there are some identifiable stages that should be looked at); By combinations of the above-mentioned methods or your own structure. There are many possible ways to create and organize your literature review outline. All you need to do is to make the one that best fits your topic. Tips and tricks The academic task of writing an efficient and logical literature review is challenging for many students. The good news is that you can use some helpful guidelines to simplify it: Frame it based on your research question; It should be relevant to your study; Make it clear to the audience where it will go; Use original source materials instead of reviews or summaries; Be selective and in control; Be engaged in a dialogue with sources; Treat your literature review as a specific research project. Your basic goal is to provide targeted readers with a clear appreciation of what, why, and how you do after finishing a literature review. Feel free to end it with a statement of your research question. Examples If you have no idea of how to start your literature review, find relevant and updated examples. They will teach you how to complete this academic task and what mistakes to avoid while providing you with excellent ideas and suggestions. Conclusion When writing all the above-mentioned elements of literature reviews, take into account a few basic considerations about viewpoints and authors, including: What are their other studies? Are they really reliable? Are perspectives of these studies subjective or objective? Are all topic sides represented in them? Can they significantly contribute to any broader field? If you want your literature review to provide other people with their relevant understanding of the chosen topic, it’s necessary to achieve these key goals: Emphasizing the need for future topic studies; Identifying new ways to understand research and interpret data; Placing your paper in the context of other works; Resolving existing conflicts in contradictory studies. If any of these steps seem daunting or confusing, you have effective ways to take them successfully. For example, turn to our experienced and trained custom paper writers who know everything about creating the best literature review. 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