The main goals of a literature review are to survey the literature, to synthesize the information, to analyze it critically and present it in an organized way.
A literature review, defined as an account of different scholarly sources, is written to demonstrate a person’s knowledge about a certain field of study. It indicates what has been distributed at a given point by specialists and enables understudies to get skills in critical thinking and information searching.
When a literature review appears to be an introduction to a particular research report or essay, consult any “How to write a brief literature review?” guide to know the peculiarities of writing a short review. Each type of academic writings has its definite rules of structuring and formatting a short literature review.
In this article, we will highlight the general aspects of literature review writing.
Let’s figure out first what is the main purpose of writing a literature review. The main thing a review does is that it conveys to the readers the most important ideas on the topic under research. It should be guided by the problems you discuss in your work, the research objective or an argumentative thesis. You must show your deep knowledge and expertise of the topic you study.
Don’t confuse a literature review and a book review. Let’s see the core difference.
- A book review is a critical comment on a given book.
- A literature review is a research of literature that investigates a particular topic.
We will try to answer your question – How to write a literature review?
When students are assigned to write a thesis paper or another type of academic writing they usually ask our writers, “How to write a good literature review for thesis?” Looking for some samples of literature review, students usually fail to write their own review as they forget to follow the formatting style instructions given by their professor. Note that if you are instructed to write the text following APA, MLA, Chicago or Harvard format, you need to search for the corresponding information over the Internet or scholarly sources, e.g. “How to write a literature review APA” or “How to write a literature review APA style sample”.
You should search for this kind of information over the Internet as there are comprehensive guidelines on general rules of formatting the text in APA, MLA, Harvard, Chicago and other styles. You may request a guide from your professor as every college or university has its own formatting guideline.
By searching for the relevant information you will be able to write your paper according to the proper formatting style. In case you have difficulties with finding a reliable guideline, contact our writer for assistance.
How to write a literature review template from OZessay writers
This template on How to Write a Literature Review will help you learn the essential structure and outline for compiling your paper. Like other kinds of academic writings, a review of the literature has the same basic structure: Introduction, Body, and Conclusion.
Let’s figure out what content each part of the review structure should contain. Here is a table demonstrating how to write an introduction to a literature review and other major parts, including a body and a conclusion.
- Introduction
contains the name of your topic together with the context. Here, you must state your reasons for doing a review and your opinions, followed by the scope and sequence of the literature reviewed.
- Body
should be an organized record of the literature and show the connection between the researched topic and a larger investigation of the subject. It should move from the wider and general review of the issue towards a certain topic of your research.
- Conclusion
summarizes all the principal focuses of the current literature, presents new areas for further studies, and connects your study with the existing research.
How to write a good literature review example outline we share with you
What is important to get started writing a literature review? We have collected the most effective tips and prepared a kind of “How to Write a Review of Literature” Quick Reference.
- Mind that you shouldn’t list and describe all literature.
- Your review is not an inspection of every single draft written on the researched topic.
- It should demonstrate to your reader all ideas that have been researched in your area of study.
- Pay attention to the author’s credentials before including his/her work in your literature review.
- Consider whether the author’s conclusions and ideas add to the value of your ones.
- Use corresponding verbs to indicate your attitude and assessment. For example, for positive assessment use the verbs argue or see, for critical one – refute or object, etc. There are many reporting verbs to demonstrate your attitude. Consult the dictionary for them and make a list of helpful phrases before writing a literature review.
- Ask yourself if the quotes within the text are clear to you. Choose the most relevant quotations for developing your topic, building your arguments, using the facts, etc.
How to write a literature review for a research paper
- Make sure that you understand the topic you are given to conduct your research on. Build a list of helpful keywords to use within your literature review.
- Search for all relevant scholarly resources that may add value to your work.
- Begin conducting your literature research right in the library. It will facilitate your further studies and writing work.
- Don’t forget about journals, magazines, and newspapers. Search there for current and relevant issues on the topic.
- Use additional but less obvious sources that may include websites, official publications, conference papers, etc.
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