The literature review usually comes near the beginning of your thesis or dissertation. After the introduction , it grounds your research in a scholarly field and leads directly to your theoretical framework or methodology. A literature review is a survey of credible sources on a topic, often used in dissertations , theses, and research papers. Literature reviews give an overview of knowledge on a subject, helping you identify relevant theories and methods, as well as gaps in existing research. Literature reviews are set up similarly to other academic texts , with an introduction , a main body, and a conclusion.

An annotated bibliography is a list of source references that has a short description called an annotation for each of the sources. It is often assigned as part of the research process for a paper. McCombes, S. Have a language expert improve your writing. Proofreading Services. Run a free plagiarism check in 10 minutes. Plagiarism Checker. Generate accurate citations for free. Citation Generator. Prevent plagiarism, run a free check. Try for free. What is the purpose of a literature review? Where does the literature review go in a dissertation?

What is the difference between a literature review and an annotated bibliography? Is this article helpful? Shona McCombes Shona has a bachelor's and two master's degrees, so she's an expert at writing a great thesis. She has also worked as an editor and teacher, working with students at all different levels to improve their academic writing. Other students also liked. What Is a Theoretical Framework? Guide to Organizing A theoretical framework is a foundational review of existing theories that serves as a roadmap for your own arguments. What Is a Research Methodology? Describe what you did and show how your methods match your aims. It should explain the context, objectives, and methods of your research. Developing and refining your literature review Word. Developing and refining your literature review Word rtf.

Writing a literature review has a lot in common with other assignment tasks. There is advice on our other pages about thinking critically, reading strategies and academic writing. Our literature review top tips suggest some specific things you can do to help you submit a successful review. Literature review top tips pdf. Literature review top tips Word rtf. Our reading page includes strategies and advice on using books and articles and a notes record sheet grid you can use. Reading at university. The Academic writing page suggests ways to organise and structure information from a range of sources and how you can develop your argument as you read and write.

Academic writing. The Critical thinking page has advice on how to be a more critical researcher and a form you can use to help you think and break down the stages of developing your argument. Critical thinking. As with other forms of academic writing, your literature review needs to demonstrate good academic practice by following the Code of Student Conduct and acknowledging the work of others through citing and referencing your sources. Good academic practice. As with any writing task, you will need to review, edit and rewrite sections of your literature review. The Editing and proofreading page includes tips on how to do this and strategies for standing back and thinking about your structure and checking the flow of your argument.

Editing and proofreading. The Academic Support Librarians have developed LibSmart I and II, Learn courses to help you develop and enhance your digital research skills and capabilities; from getting started with the Library to managing data for your dissertation. Finding resources in your subject: Subject guides. The Academic Support Librarians also provide one-to-one appointments to help you develop your research strategies. Advice to help you optimise use of Google Scholar, Google Books and Google for your research and study: Using Google. A literature review is a document or section of a document that collects key sources on a topic and discusses those sources in conversation with each other also called synthesis. The lit review is an important genre in many disciplines, not just literature i.

There are a number of different situations where you might write a literature review, each with slightly different expectations; different disciplines, too, have field-specific expectations for what a literature review is and does. A literature review can be a part of a research paper or scholarly article, usually falling after the introduction and before the research methods sections. In these cases, the lit review just needs to cover scholarship that is important to the issue you are writing about; sometimes it will also cover key sources that informed your research methodology. Lit reviews can also be standalone pieces, either as assignments in a class or as publications.

This can be especially helpful for students or scholars getting into a new research area, or for directing an entire community of scholars toward questions that have not yet been answered. Most lit reviews use a basic introduction-body-conclusion structure; if your lit review is part of a larger paper, the introduction and conclusion pieces may be just a few sentences while you focus most of your attention on the body.

Published on February 22, by Shona McCombes. Revised on September 14, What is a literature review? A literature review is a survey of scholarly sources on a specific topic. It provides an overview of current knowledge, allowing you to identify relevant theories, methods, and gaps in the existing research. Table of contents What is the purpose of a literature review? When you write a thesis , dissertation , or research paper , you will likely have to conduct a literature review to situate your research within existing knowledge. The literature review gives you a chance to:. Writing literature reviews is a particularly important skill if you want to apply for graduate school or pursue a career in research.

Writing literature reviews can be quite challenging! You can also check out our templates with literature review examples and sample outlines at the links below. Download Word doc Download Google doc. Before you begin searching for literature, you need a clearly defined topic. If you are writing the literature review section of a dissertation or research paper, you will search for literature related to your research problem and questions. Start by creating a list of keywords related to your research question. You can add to this list as you discover new keywords in the process of your literature search.

Use your keywords to begin searching for sources. Some useful databases to search for journals and articles include:. You can also use boolean operators to help narrow down your search. Make sure to read the abstract to find out whether an article is relevant to your question. When you find a useful book or article, you can check the bibliography to find other relevant sources. Make sure the sources you use are credible , and make sure you read any landmark studies and major theories in your field of research. Click on either button below to download. As you read, you should also begin the writing process. Take notes that you can later incorporate into the text of your literature review. It is important to keep track of your sources with citations to avoid plagiarism. It can be helpful to make an annotated bibliography , where you compile full citation information and write a paragraph of summary and analysis for each source.

This helps you remember what you read and saves time later in the process. Based on your reading and notes, you can look for:. This step will help you work out the structure of your literature review and if applicable show how your own research will contribute to existing knowledge. There are various approaches to organizing the body of a literature review. Depending on the length of your literature review, you can combine several of these strategies for example, your overall structure might be thematic, but each theme is discussed chronologically. The simplest approach is to trace the development of the topic over time. However, if you choose this strategy, be careful to avoid simply listing and summarizing sources in order. Try to analyze patterns, turning points and key debates that have shaped the direction of the field.

Give your interpretation of how and why certain developments occurred. If you have found some recurring central themes, you can organize your literature review into subsections that address different aspects of the topic. For example, if you are reviewing literature about inequalities in migrant health outcomes, key themes might include healthcare policy, language barriers, cultural attitudes, legal status, and economic access. If you draw your sources from different disciplines or fields that use a variety of research methods , you might want to compare the results and conclusions that emerge from different approaches.

For example:. A literature review is often the foundation for a theoretical framework. You can use it to discuss various theories, models, and definitions of key concepts. You might argue for the relevance of a specific theoretical approach, or combine various theoretical concepts to create a framework for your research. Like any other academic text , your literature review should have an introduction , a main body, and a conclusion. What you include in each depends on the objective of your literature review. Depending on the length of your literature review, you might want to divide the body into subsections.

You can use a subheading for each theme, time period, or methodological approach. In the conclusion, you should summarize the key findings you have taken from the literature and emphasize their significance. Not a language expert? This article has been adapted into lecture slides that you can use to teach your students about writing a literature review. Open Google Slides Download PowerPoint. A literature review is a survey of scholarly sources such as books, journal articles, and theses related to a specific topic or research question. It is often written as part of a thesis, dissertation , or research paper , in order to situate your work in relation to existing knowledge. There are several reasons to conduct a literature review at the beginning of a research project:. Writing the literature review shows your reader how your work relates to existing research and what new insights it will contribute.

The literature review usually comes near the beginning of your thesis or dissertation. After the introduction , it grounds your research in a scholarly field and leads directly to your theoretical framework or methodology. A literature review is a survey of credible sources on a topic, often used in dissertations , theses, and research papers. Literature reviews give an overview of knowledge on a subject, helping you identify relevant theories and methods, as well as gaps in existing research. Literature reviews are set up similarly to other academic texts , with an introduction , a main body, and a conclusion.

An annotated bibliography is a list of source references that has a short description called an annotation for each of the sources. It is often assigned as part of the research process for a paper. McCombes, S. Have a language expert improve your writing. Proofreading Services. Run a free plagiarism check in 10 minutes. Plagiarism Checker. Generate accurate citations for free. Citation Generator. Prevent plagiarism, run a free check. Try for free. What is the purpose of a literature review? Where does the literature review go in a dissertation? What is the difference between a literature review and an annotated bibliography?

Is this article helpful? Shona McCombes Shona has a bachelor's and two master's degrees, so she's an expert at writing a great thesis. She has also worked as an editor and teacher, working with students at all different levels to improve their academic writing. Other students also liked. What Is a Theoretical Framework? Guide to Organizing A theoretical framework is a foundational review of existing theories that serves as a roadmap for your own arguments. What Is a Research Methodology? Describe what you did and show how your methods match your aims. It should explain the context, objectives, and methods of your research. What is your plagiarism score? Scribbr Plagiarism Checker.

Open Google Slides Download PowerPoint. There are a number of different situations where you might write a literature review, each with slightly different expectations; different disciplines, too, have field-specific expectations for what a literature review is and does. Proofreading Services. psychology, sociology, pharmacy? Depending on the length of your literature review, you can combine several of these strategies for example, your overall structure might be thematic, but each theme is discussed chronologically.

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