Are you facing research roadblocks due to not knowing how to write literature review? This blog finds you at the right time. Here we are unpacking all the rules, tips and success strategies about writing a literature review. It’s a guide useful for every academic level.
What is a Literature Review in Research?
A literature review in a research paper is a section where you can discuss the existing literature (materials that cover your research topic). To present a strong and authentic research paper, the preparation of a sound literature review is essential.
What Doesn’t Count as a Literature Review?
Many students have the misconception that a literature review is a summary of sources or is an opinion piece, or an annotated bibliography. Research literature review is none of these. It is a critical analysis of existing research where the reviewer identifies the gaps and goes on to explain how their study corresponds to the particular scholarly conversation.
What Are the Different Types of Literature Review Writing?
Where you write a research paper, you can add a literature review in many ways. As a standalone paper, as a chapter in the thesis, or just a part of the larger research paper. It is important to choose the right format and style when you make it, depending on the purpose and structure. Here are the different formats to consider when you navigate how to do a literature review.
Chronological Literature Review:
In a literature review example, you are supposed to organise the sources by their publication date or historical development. You may choose this style if it is necessary to show how a topic evolved over time.
Thematic Literature Review:
A thematic dissertation literature review focuses on the key themes or issues rather than the timeframe. It is ideal to use this style to start out on a broad topic and narrow down to a specific one.
Methodological Literature Review:
In methodological literature review format, you must concentrate on explaining the way the research was conducted. There is no significance in telling what was found from the research. It is best suited to talk about the strengths and limitations of the research approaches.
How To Write a Literature Review for a Research Paper?
In order to write a systematic literature review, which is a must for a strong research paper, it is highly recommended to have a solid strategy in place. Follow the step-by-step guide below, which discusses every stage in the process: how to start a literature review, how to conduct a literature review and how to structure a literature review.
Define Your Review Topic:
The very first step in writing a literature review is identifying the topic. Without having any idea about the topic, you are literally nowhere to look for the reference materials. Once you have a vivid idea about the topic, you will know what to search for, where and how to organise them for your broad and deep research exercise. Some best practices to follow at this stage include identifying your research question and relevant keywords helpful for your investigation.
Search Relevant Literature Sources:
After successfully defining your research topic, you are good to start your search for relevant materials or literature sources. Limit your searches to peer-reviewed materials and scholarly articles from trusted databases like PsycINFO. In the wider domain of scientific research, the rank of peer-reviewed materials is higher than published books. To quickly identify whether a select material will work or not, go over their abstract after checking the titles.
Read, Analyse, Take Notes:
The secret to writing the best literature review and systematic review is to dive into the finalised literature. Don’t forget to take notes as you do this because when you finally get behind the desk, wondering how to make a literature review, these notes will come to your rescue. Most students get overwhelmed when they see conflicting facts in different materials. When you find yourself in such a dilemma, try to understand the context in which the author developed such a point of view. You will soon realise that what appeared as confusing was actually an opportunity to broaden your perspective on the topic.
Organise Ideas and Outline:
Up next, prepare a strong literature review outline. Although the above steps have already prepared you to write a strong literature review, don’t rush to write it without an outline. The sources you have covered, the information you have gathered, the gaps you have identified, and the recommendations you have conceived must now go in a proper sequence. As we saw earlier, there are different formats for writing a literature review. As you pick an outline, it must correspond to that style.
Write, Edit, and Revise:
You are now ready to put your knowledge on how to write literature review into action. Start with a brief summary of the literature you covered to provide the readers with the context, and also to research further on that line if they want to. Develop ensuing parts, keeping a 100% loyalty to the literature review meaning. After completing the writing, go over the draft several times to identify any mistakes you might have overlooked. For instance, you may find inconsistent citations, repetitive phrasing, or missing transitions between sections. In case of spotting any mistakes, make the necessary revisions to improve overall clarity and coherence.
Integrate Into Final Draft:
Most literature reviews are written as part of a research paper. So, after you complete your draft and revisions following how to write a lit review, you should be looking to integrate it into that. If you are writing the literature review after completing other sections of the research paper, you can quickly add it into the flow. If not, you can think of developing the rest of the content for the paper around it. In either case, the focus should be on keeping consistency in tone, structure, and argument.
Conclusion
Congratulations on taking your time to read it to the end. We are sure that it will make you feel more confident about literature review writing now.
Was this guide helpful in dismantling your doubts and showing you a clear path ahead?
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