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Writing a Literature Review

What is a literature review?

A literature review is a survey of scholarly materials that offers an overview of a certain topic. A literature review is a collection of the most relevant and significant articles on a certain topic in order to provide a comprehensive overview of what has been written about it and by whom. The basic components of a literature review are:

a description of the publication
a summary of the publication’s main points
a discussion of gaps in research
an evaluation of the publication’s contribution to the topic.

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Writing a literature review is no small undertaking! But then again, neither is writing your thesis, dissertation, or even a lengthy, comprehensive research paper. The purpose of a literature review is to collect relevant, timely research on your chosen topic, and synthesize it into a cohesive summary of existing knowledge in the field. This then prepares you for making your own argument on that topic, or for conducting your own original research.

What is the distinction between a literature review and an annotated bibliography?

An annotated bibliography is a list of your references with a summary of the content and the publication’s relationship to your research question.

A literature review is an overview of the topic, an explanation of how publications differ from one another, and an examination of how each publication contributes to the discussion and understanding of the topic.

What is the purpose of a literature review?

A literature review gives a reader a detailed overview of past conversations preceding the one the reviewer will make in his or her own research paper, thesis, or dissertation.

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. You’ll learn about important concepts, research methods, and experimental techniques that are used in your field. You’ll also gain insight into how researchers apply the concepts you’re learning in your unit to real world problems.

Another great benefit of literature reviews is that as you read, you’ll get a better understanding of how research findings are presented and discussed in your particular discipline. If you pay attention to what you read and try to achieve a similar style, you’ll become more successful at writing for your discipline.

In summary, the primary objective of a literature review is to provide a survey of writings on a certain topic in order for the reviewer to establish their own viewpoint within the existing area of scholarship on that issue.

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literature review

Literature reviews provide an opportunity for you to see and even evaluate successful and unsuccessful assessment and research methods in your field.

A literature review is an overview of the academic sources you have used for your research when undertaking academic work. Generally speaking, literature reviews are only required when working on a large academic project like a thesis, research paper, or dissertation.

However, when writing shorter academic writing pieces, such as essays, the works cited page is sufficient.

A literature review is a big task to write! However, this also doesn’t apply to writing a thesis, dissertation, or even an extensive, in-depth research paper.

Before beginning work on your paper, you are frequently expected to write a literature review and send it to your academic supervisor. This allows your supervisor to observe what you’re investigating, how you’re performing it, and, if needed, offer comments and recommendations to strengthen the research. This can entail recommending different sources or changing the focus of your study.

The purpose of writing a literature review is to present the sources you’ve used in your research to your work’s readers. By doing this, you’re communicating several things:

literature review

In other words, you’re explaining the type of research you conducted, how you conducted your research and collected your data, your reasons for choosing the sources you chose, and how you analyzed the data you collected.

literature review

This is essentially a map of your research showing where you started, which concepts you chose to dive into deeply, and where following those concepts brought you. Generally, these concepts are theories and models established by academics in your field.

literature review

Here, you explain how your findings connect to the existing body of research on your topic. This means how it relates to other pieces of research, any existing gaps it fills, any debates to which it contributes, and where you fit in among others in your field.

Benefits of Literature Reviews

A literature review’s objective is to gather timely, pertinent research on the subject of your choice and combine it into a coherent synopsis of the body of knowledge already known in the field. This then sets you up to present your own case or carry out independent study on the subject.

Reviews of the literature can take many forms, depending on your subject of study. Certain academic fields demand that you arrange your paragraphs in a topological synthesis, taking into account the ways in which your sources cover related subjects. Certain academic fields demand that you address every source in separate paragraphs, addressing different facets within a same book, chapter, or article.

Literature reviews allow you to gain familiarity with the current knowledge in your chosen field, as well as the boundaries and limitations of that field.
Literature reviews also help you to gain an understanding of the theory(ies) driving the field, allowing you to place your research question into context.
Literature reviews provide an opportunity for you to see and even evaluate successful and unsuccessful assessment and research methods in your field.
Literature reviews prevent you from duplicating the same information as others writing in your field, allowing you to find your own, unique approach to your topic.
Literature reviews give you familiarity with the knowledge in your field, giving you the chance to analyze the significance of your additional research.

Choosing Your Sources

When selecting your sources to compile your literature review, make sure you follow these guidelines to ensure you are working with the strongest, most appropriate sources possible.

Topically Relevant

Find sources within the scope of your topic

Appropriately Aged

Find sources that are not too old for your assignment

Credible

Find sources whose authors have authority on your topic

Appropriately “Published”

Find sources that meet your instructor’s guidelines (academic, professional, print, etc.)

NOTE: Treat your professors and librarians as experts you can turn to for advice on how to locate sources. They are a valuable asset to you, so take advantage of them!

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Writing a Literature Review

How to write a literature review?

Recall that the objective of literature review is to determine what is known on the topic, how well this knowledge is established and
where future research might best be directed” (University of Melbourne, 2013).

The length and depth of your literature review are determined by the scope of your research. Use your judgment and, most importantly, communicate with your instructor about expectations.

Here is a step-by-step approach to drafting your literature review

Define Your Goal
Do Your Research
Ground Summary in Relevance
Develop Review Logically
Include References/Works Cited List

Tips for Organizing Your Literature Review Courtesy of Top Grade Professors

Synthesizing Topically

Some assignments require discussing your sources together, in paragraphs organized according to shared topics between them.

For example, in a literature review covering current conversations on Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home, authors may discuss various topics including:

her graphic style
her allusions to various literary texts
her story’s implications regarding LGBT experiences in 20^th century America.

In this case, you would cluster your sources on these three topics. One paragraph would cover how the sources you collected dealt with Bechdel’s graphic style. Another, her allusions. A third, her implications.

Each of these paragraphs would discuss how the sources you found treated these topics in connection to one another. Basically, you compare and contrast how your sources discuss similar issues and points.

To determine these shared topics, examine aspects including:

Thesis
Definition of terms
Common ground
Issues that divide
Rhetorical context

If you are writing a literature review as part of a larger assignment, you generally do not need an introduction and/or conclusion, because it is embedded within the context of your larger paper.

Summarizing Individually

Depending on the assignment, your professor may prefer that you discuss each source in your literature review individually (in their own, separate paragraphs or sections). Your professor may give you specific guidelines as far as what to cover in these paragraphs/sections.

If, for instance, your sources are all primary research studies, here are some aspects to consider covering:

Purpose
Scope
Participants
Methods
Results
Discussion
Limitations
Implications
Significance

Each section of your literature review, in this case, will identify all of these elements for each individual article.

You may or may not need to separate your information into multiple paragraphs for each source. If you do, using proper headings in the appropriate citation style (American Psychological Association (APA), the Modern Language Association (MLA), and the Chicago Manual of Style (CMS), etc.) will help keep you organized.

Typically, a literature review concludes with a full bibliography of your included sources. Make sure you use the style guide required by your professor for this assignment.

Top Grade Professors is your Academic partner in Writing a Literature Review

What is a literature review?

What is the distinction between a literature review and an annotated bibliography?

What is the purpose of a literature review?

Hire Top Grade Professors to Write a Stellar Literature Review

The purpose of writing a literature review is to present the sources you’ve used in your research to your work’s readers. By doing this, you’re communicating several things:

Benefits of Literature Reviews

Choosing Your Sources

Topically Relevant

Appropriately Aged

Credible

Appropriately “Published”

Study Smart With Top Grade Professors and Build The Skills for Your Success

How to write a literature review?

Here is a step-by-step approach to drafting your literature review

Tips for Organizing Your Literature Review Courtesy of Top Grade Professors

Synthesizing Topically

Summarizing Individually

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