Writing a literature review is the most common requirement an academic will encounter at the graduate level. However, it is challenging to figure out where to start when you are required to write a literature review on a complex subject area.
When faced with such an assignment, students often overlook the importance of reviewing and classifying the literature they will use in their writing. Below is a simple breakdown of how to craft your piece.
What Is a Literature Review?
A literature review shows that your research is not simply an isolated work but contributes to the field’s already known. It makes your findings relevant and meaningful and can be used by other scholars to build off your findings.
For example, when researching how climate change affects agriculture in the developing world, it would be necessary for your literature review to include examples of how previous researchers have studied this topic and what they found.
A literature review aims not only to provide an overview of previous studies but also to point out areas where more research needs to be done or where further investigation may help clarify specific issues.
A good literature review should be:
1) Comprehensive: It should cover the most relevant sources in depth while also providing an overview of other primary sources that are less relevant or secondary (those written by someone else).
2) Critical: The review should evaluate these sources and explain why they are essential to the issue.
3) Clear: The review should be written in a way that makes sense to other researchers, who may read it for further information about your topic.
Step-by-Step Procedure When Writing a Literature Review
Below is a comprehensive procedure when writing your literature review:
Step 1: Define Your Research Scope
To write a successful literature review, you need to define the scope of your research clearly. It means that you should be able to explain what you will include in the review and what you will exclude from it.
Step 2: Find Relevant Literature
Afterward, you should try to find relevant publications. Start by listing keywords that reflect what you already know about your research topic.
Then, use those keywords to search for peer-reviewed articles on the subject. You can also start by searching Google Scholar or Web of Science for reputable sources that experts have published in the field.
Step 3: Identity Themes, Patterns, and Gaps Within Body of Sources
The third step in writing a literature review is identifying patterns, themes, and gaps within your sources. You can identify these by reviewing the titles and abstracts of your sources. To do this, find all the sources you have gathered for your literature review. Also, create an outline on paper or in a word processor with one column for each source.
Next, start reading through each source’s abstract to see if any commonalities would make it worthwhile to include them in your literature review. This task can be done by looking for certain words or phrases repeatedly appearing throughout the abstracts.
Step 4: Create a Literature Review Outline
A literature review outline is a valuable tool for writing a literature review. It can offer background information, context, and perspective for your research by presenting the state of knowledge regarding your topic.
When creating an outline for your literature review, it’s essential to consider how much information you need to include to provide a thorough overview of the current knowledge on the subject. In addition, it would help if you also considered what format best suits your needs.
Step 5: Review
Finally, it is time to review your work. It is essential because it allows you to analyze all major points in the final report.
To do this, read over your work for grammar and spelling errors. Then, go through it again and ensure all of your statements are supported by a citation. Also, ensure each citation has been formatted correctly.
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