How to write literature reviews

How to write literature reviews

Feb 22,  · Writing a literature review involves finding relevant publications (such as books and journal articles), critically analyzing them, and explaining what you found. There are five key steps: Search for relevant literature; Evaluate sources; Identify themes, debates and gaps; Outline the structure; Write your literature review How to Write a Literature Review Literature reviews are a vital part of a research project or paper, and they are particularly important during graduate school. This handout will focus on defining what a literature review is, how to organize and synthesize information, and what the different parts of a literature review are Jun 11,  · Keep your voice front and center. Even though a literature review describes ideas from other authors, you should maintain your voice. Try to start and end the paragraph with your statements and words. Like any other academic paper, you should reference a

How To Write A Literature Review, with Example

By: Derek Jansen MBA October The literature review chapter of your dissertation or thesis is where you synthesise this prior work and lay the foundation for your own research. So, what exactly is the purpose of the literature review process? There are at least four core functions:. Importantly, you must complete steps one and two before you start writing up your chapter.

Instead, you need to read first and distil the information, how to write literature reviews plan and execute the writing. Trust me on this one! While you probably already have a decent base of this from your research proposalyou need to expand on this substantially in the dissertation or thesis itself. So, you need to put on your hunting cap. Most valuably, it tells you how many times each article has been cited, which gives you an idea of how credible or at least, popular it is.

Some articles will be free to access, while others will require an account, which brings us to the next method. Generally, universities provide students with access to an online library, which provides access to many but not all of the major journals.

Note that, generally, the search engine capabilities of these databases are poor, so make sure you search for the exact article name, or you might not find it. You can do this by assessing the citation count of any given article in Google Scholar. If you need help with assessing the credibility of any article, or with finding relevant research in general, you can chat with one of our Research Specialists. See how Grad Coach can help you Book A Free Consultation. This is perfectly natural — through the reading process, your thoughts will developnew avenues might crop up, directional adjustments might arise.

This is, after all, how to write literature reviews, one of the main purposes of the literature review process i. to familiarise yourself with the current state of research in your field. There are three aspects to this:. As you read each article, you should add it to your reference management software. In the beginning, you might feel confident that you can remember who said what, where, and what their main arguments were.

If you do a thorough review of the relevant literature as you must! I would suggest using Excel to build your catalogue, as it allows you to run filters, colour code and sort — all very useful when your list grows large which it will.

Most importantly, as you work through the literature and build your catalogue, how to write literature reviews, you need to synthesise all the information in your own mind — how does it all fit together? Look for links between the various articles and try to develop a bigger picture view of the state of the research. Some important questions to ask yourself are:.

To help you develop a big-picture view and synthesise all the information, you might find mind mapping software such as Freemind useful. There are two steps here — outlining and writing:. Having spent so much time reading, it might be tempting to just start writing up without a clear structure in mind.

Your literature review chapter needs to present a clear, logical and an easy to follow narrative — and that requires some planning. The right choice depends on your topic, research objectives and research questions, which we discuss in this article. Pay particular attention to the flow and narrative — does it fall fit how to write literature reviews and flow from one section to another smoothly?

The best way to assess this is to ask them to explain the chapter back to you. You Might Also Like: How To Write A Research Proposal: 5 Straightforward Steps Literature Review Killers: 7 Common Literature Review Mistakes To Avoid How To Write Your Introduction Chapter 7 Simple Steps 22 Comments Phindile Mpetshwa on November 17, at pm Thank you very much.

This page is an eye opener and easy to comprehend. Thank you for the kind words. All the best writing your literature review. Thank you for a very useful literature review session. Although I am doing most of the steps…it being my first masters an Mphil is a self study and one not sure you are on the right track.

I have an amazing supervisor but one also knows they are super busy. So how to write literature reviews wanting to bother on the minutae. Thank you. It is very good video of guidance for writing a research proposal and a dissertation. Since I have been watching and reading instructions, I have started my research proposal to write.

I appreciate to Mr Jansen hugely. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. As a research student, you learn better with your learning tips in research. I was really stuck in reading and gathering information but after watching these things are cleared thanks, it is so helpful.

Excellent information, Clear explanation, and Easy to follow, Many thanks Derek! Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment, how to write literature reviews. There are at least four core functions: For you to gain an understanding and demonstrate this understanding of where the research is at currently, what the key arguments, conflicts, etc are. For you to identify the gap s in the literature and then use this as justification for your research topic.

To help you build a theoretical framework for empirical testing if applicable to your research topic. To inform your methodological choices i. see what methods were used in similar studies and help you source tried and tested questionnaires for interviews and measurement instruments for surveys.

Understandingdistilling and organising the literature, how to write literature reviews. Planning and writing up your literature review, how to write literature reviews. Method 2 — University Database Scrounging Generally, universities provide students with access to an online library, which provides access to many but not all of the major how to write literature reviews. Need a helping hand?

This will make how to write literature reviews easy for you to search for titles with how to write literature reviews words, how to write literature reviews, order research by date, or group by author.

Context — Note the socioeconomic context in which the research was undertaken. For example: US-based, respondents agedlower- income, etc. This will be useful for making an argument about gaps in the research.

Methodology — Note which methodology was used and why. Also note any issues you feel arise due to the methodology, how to write literature reviews. Again, you can use this to make an argument about gaps in the research. Quotations — Note down any quoteworthy lines you feel might be useful later.

Notes — Make notes about anything not already covered. For example, linkages to or disagreements with other theories, questions raised but unanswered, shortcomings or limitations, and so forth.

Some important questions to ask yourself are: What answers does the existing research provide to my own research questions? Which points do the researchers agree and disagree on? How has the research developed over time? Where do the gaps in the current research lie? Step 3: Outline and write it up! There how to write literature reviews two steps here — outlining and writing: 3.

Then, tighten it up and send it off to your supervisor for comment. Make sure you understand the 4 core functions of the process. The first step is to hunt down the relevant literature. You can do this using Google Scholar, your university database, the snowballing technique and by reviewing other dissertations and theses. Next, how to write literature reviews, you need to log all the articles in your reference managerbuild your own catalogue of literature and synthesise all the research.

Following that, you need to develop a detailed outline of your entire chapter — the more detail the better. Remember, done beats perfect. Then tighten it up and submit to your supervisor. You Might Also Like: How To Write A Research Proposal: 5 Straightforward Steps Literature Review Killers: 7 Common Literature Review Mistakes To Avoid How To Write Your Introduction Chapter 7 Simple Steps.

Phindile Mpetshwa on How to write literature reviews 17, at pm. Thank you very much. Yinka on June 24, at am. This is awesome! I wish I come across GradCoach earlier enough. Thank you for this good job. Keep it up! Derek Jansen on July 8, at am, how to write literature reviews. Renee Buerger on August 2, at am. Derek Jansen on August 12, at pm. Good luck with your literature review �� Reply. Sheemal Prasad on September 9, at am.

LITERATURE REVIEW: Step by step guide for writing an effective literature review

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The Literature Review | A Complete Step-by-Step Guide

Any lit review is only as good as the research it discusses; make sure your sources are well-chosen and your research is thorough. Don’t be afraid to do more research if you discover a new thread as you’re writing. More info on the research process is available in our "Conducting Research" resources The page header must be a shortened version of your essay title and limited to 50 characters, including spacing and punctuation. Put page numbers in the upper right corner of every page. When shaping your literature review outline in APA, don’t forget to include a title page Oct 01,  · As mentioned above, writing your literature review is a process, which I’ll break down into three steps: Finding the most suitable literature (treasure hunting). Understanding, distilling and organising the literature. Planning and writing up your literature blogger.comted Reading Time: 7 mins