How to Write a Literature Review

A literature review is a thorough analysis of research articles on a particular topic. This page has a few steps to help guide you through the process of learning how to write a literature review from picking a topic to the end product.

The literature review is a common genre found at the graduate level in many disciplines. Students are expected to master this particular genre through their studies by writing literature reviews for classes and then ultimately demonstrating mastery when completing a thesis or dissertation. Students who go on to pursue careers as researchers will then use modified forms of this genre in their professional publications. However, very few schools offer classes on How to Write a Literature Review. Most students learn through trial and error as they attempt to write the papers.

Literature reviews serve several important functions: to provide a foundation or to situate research in reference to the larger body of work that has been done in the field; to ensure the researchability of the topic by knowing how it is different from what has been done before; to identify gaps in theory, methodology or results which may be notable; to demonstrate a high level of scholarship by analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of a topic.http://books.google.com/books?id=tc8LS6qa_KIC&lpg=PP1&dq=hart%20literature%20review&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q=&f=false

The best way to learn this genre, like all writing, is to practice. Fortunately, graduate students are given ample opportunity to practice because many classes require students to write them.

The research, synthesis, and writing parts take lots of time. If your literature review is a small part of a larger piece of research for a class, then the best advice is to do the literature review as early in the semester as possible in order to dedicate the remaining portion to the data collection, analysis, and write-up.

Three things will make this process easier:

1. Choose a topic of interest to you. Since you will have to work with a literature review throughout a semester, choosing a topic that is interesting to you will make the process a bit easier. While most classes want the topic geared toward the overall subject of the class, there are many angles to take with research that will allow you to choose a topic that will benefit you and still fulfill the requirements of the class.
2. Choose a topic that will help you in the future If you are planning on writing a master’s thesis or doctoral dissertation, any opportunity to work on some of the background material is beneficial.
3. Narrow your focus. If this is an assignment for a class, as opposed to a cumulative thesis or dissertation, make sure that the topic is narrow enough to be completed during the semester. Many students attempt to cover too much information and end up asking for an extension. Avoid extensions at all cost. Theses or dissertations are supposed to be large and comprehensive, but a class project should be doable within the semester.

A review of the literature requires finding two kinds of articles: watershed pieces and supporting articles on the topic. Watershed pieces are the really important research articles or books that everyone makes reference to. You will start to figure out which articles are the most important because almost every article you read will most likely cite them. After those articles, other articles that seem of interest and importance, including those that might disagree with other research.

College and University libraries pay money so that faculty and students have access to the best databases for research. Using keywords related to your topic, access several of these databases and start reviewing the articles. While doing this, keep a list of the databases and keywords used, since you may need to write this into your paper. Make notes about why certain types of articles were kept in for review and why other articles were omitted.

There are most likely multiple databases available because not all databases subscribe to the same journals. Several databases should be checked for pertinent articles. Books on the subject can also be located and integrated into the paper. For a class project, you can probably set a certain limit on the articles, for instance only articles written within the last ten years. http://depts.washington.edu/psywc/handouts/pdf/litrev.pdf

Once you start reading the articles, it’s best to keep notes on each article using some type of bibliographic software, such as Endnote or a system similar to it. This software will keep all of the citation information along with any notes you choose to enter. Newer version of the software will also hold .pdf versions of articles for easy access.

The paper should begin with an introduction that explains some background of the topic to the reader. Essentially, explain what your paper is about and why it is important, especially in reference to the broader view of the topic. This information should lead up to the question that the rest of the paper attempts to answer.

For example, if you are writing about genre theory,

1. The introduction will explain some of the basic schools of thought about genre theory
2. The paper may continue with the specific school of thought that your thesis will concentrate on
3. You end the section with the research question that will guide the rest of the literature review.

If your entire paper is one long literature review then your methodology section may follow the introduction or may be part of the introduction. Here is where you would explain how you found the data and what criteria was used for inclusion or exclusion. You can explain which databases were consulted and what keywords were used in the search. You should explain the parameters of the articles chosen and the reason that other articles were omitted.

If your literature review is only a small part of your overall research paper, then the methodology section of your paper will explain your actual research. A smaller literature review as part of a research article will be limited in the information that it presents versus a research paper whose sole purpose is to review the literature of a topic.

The next section is the body of the paper and can be organized in any number of ways. This is where you will use all of the information collected in step 2. You will have to decide how you want to organize the data: chronologically, methodologically, or thematically are fairly common ways.http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/literature_review.html The body of your paper will tell the story of your data. What did you find out? Why is it important? How can you organize the information to make it most relevant to your readers?

A literature review that only summarized all the articles out there is of little use to others, except in certain limited circumstances such as an annotated bibliography. The ultimate purpose of a literature review written for a college class is to take all the data and information to gather and analyze and synthesize in order to bring something new to the field. http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/specific-types-of-writing/literature-review A commonly heard phrase is, “what story does the data tell us?” Your goal in this paper is to lead the reader through the story of the data interpreted by you. You must explain why is it important and what the reader needs to know about it.

Your ideas should be supported by the research data that you read. Proper citations should be given for ideas and direct quotes according to whatever citation method you are using.

It is tempting to want to write about every single article read to show your professors how much work you did. However, this is not necessary. If your literature review reads like a laundry list of past research, this will not get you bonus points with your professor.

Remember to only cite articles actually referenced in the paper. That means, don’t add a reference at the end just because you read it. You will probably read many articles that won't make it into the final paper. Don't feel the need to list every article found on the topic. Organizing the data means finding a way to present the material that is interesting and sheds new light on old research.