Just like most academic papers, literature reviews also must contain at least three basic elements:
an introduction or background information section
; the body of the review containing the discussion of sources; and, finally, a conclusion and/or recommendations section to end the paper.
What is the four literature review strategies?
Select only those sources that are most relevant to your project. 3) Analyzing:
summarize, synthesize, critique, and compare
your sources in order to assess the field of research as a whole. 4) Drafting: develop a thesis or claim to make about the existing research and decide how to organize your material.
What are the basic steps to writing a literature review?
- Narrow your topic and select papers accordingly.
- Search for literature.
- Read the selected articles thoroughly and evaluate them.
- Organize the selected papers by looking for patterns and by developing subtopics.
- Develop a thesis or purpose statement.
- Write the paper.
- Review your work.
What are the 5 steps in writing a literature review?
- Search for relevant literature.
- Evaluate sources.
- Identify themes, debates and gaps.
- Outline the structure.
- Write your literature review.
What is a basic literature review?
A literature review is
a comprehensive summary of previous research on a topic
. The literature review surveys scholarly articles, books, and other sources relevant to a particular area of research. The review should enumerate, describe, summarize, objectively evaluate and clarify this previous research.
What is literature review and example?
1. A literature review is
a survey of scholarly sources that provides an overview of a particular topic
. It generally follows a discussion of the paper’s thesis statement or the study’s goals or purpose. *This sample paper was adapted by the Writing Center from Key, K.L., Rich, C., DeCristofaro, C., Collins, S.
What a literature review is not?
A literature review is NOT:
is
a brief critical discussion about the merits and weaknesses of a particular book
. Book reviews of creative works are sometimes called literary reviews. Scholarly books are also reviewed by other scholars. Scholarly book reviews are often published in scholarly journals.
What makes a strong literature review?
A good literature review will not only summarize the information, but also point out weaknesses in the experimental procedures as well as possible theoretical conflicts. It
builds on the current knowledge by identifying gaps in the available literature and suggesting future directions for research
.
What is the importance of doing a literature review?
The purpose of a literature review is
to gain an understanding of the existing research and debates relevant to a particular topic or area of study
, and to present that knowledge in the form of a written report. Conducting a literature review helps you build your knowledge in your field.
What should a literature review include?
A literature review consists of
an overview, a summary, and an evaluation (“critique”) of the current state of knowledge about a specific area of research
. It may also include a discussion of methodological issues and suggestions for future research.
How is a literature review structure?
A literature review should be structured like any other essay: it
should have an introduction, a middle or main body, and a conclusion
.
How long is a literature review?
For a written literature review document, the size of a written literature review document should be
between 2000-3000 words
. But the size of a written literature review depends on many factors which are the area study of a written literature review document.
What a literature review looks like?
A literature review discusses published information in a particular subject area, and sometimes information in a particular subject area within a certain time period. A literature review can be just a simple summary of the sources, but it usually has an
organizational pattern and combines both summary and synthesis
.
What should not be included in a literature review?
Do not include extended quotations
, and use direct quotes sparingly, if at all. The literature review is a synthesis and analysis of research on your topic in your own words. Most ideas can be and should be paraphrased. Professors sometimes perceive undue reliance on quotations as intellectual laziness.
What should you avoid in a literature review?
- Over-reliance on low-quality sources.
- A lack of landmark/seminal literature.
- A lack of current literature.
- Description instead of integration and synthesis.
- Irrelevant or unfocused content.
- Poor chapter structure and layout.
- Plagiarism and poor referencing.
