Defining Literature Reviews and Why They are Important
What is a Literature Review?
A Literature review is a critical recap of what has already been researched on a topic. The contents of a literature review can consist of anything from books, journal articles, and other kinds of sources that have to do with the topic.This is sometimes also called a narrative review.
There are many different types of literature reviews. If you are interested in evidence synthesis based reviews such as systematic reviews, scoping reviews, rapid reviews, etc. please see our companion guide at https://researchguides.uic.edu/SystematicReviews/Introduction
What is the purpose of a Literature Review?
A literature review can be used to:
- Find out for yourself what's already known about the topic.
- Give your reader a critical overview of what you found.
- Find out what's missing from the current knowledge you have found so you can contribute something original.
How To Write a Literature Review
Steps to Writing a Literature Review
1. Search for relevant literature on your topic
Literature that you can use should come from academic sources like books or journal articles.
2. Evaluate and Select Sources
As you look for sources, you probably do not need everything about the topic. When you find credible sources, read the abstract and check the bibliography in order to find out whether the literature is relevant or not.
3. Identify themes, debates, and gaps.
As you read, take notes and pay attention to the connections between different sources. By doing so, you can organize your literature review's arguments and structure a lot easier.
Things to look for:
- Trends and patterns in theory, method, or results
- Themes
- Debates or contradictions
- Influential studies
- Gaps
4. Outline your literature review' s structure.
There are four approaches to structure a literature review
- Chronological: From older to more recent publications
- Thematic: Organized by several key themes
- Methodological: Compare the different research methods being used across studies
- Theoretical: Your review's main goal is to discuss opposing theories or models
5. Start writing!
After you have have planned and organized how you are going to write, you are finally ready to actually make the review. Although all literature reviews are different, make sure your review has an intro, main body, and conclusion.
Watch this video to learn some tips when writing
Explore More
Books
So, You Have to Write a Literature Review: A Guided Workbook for Engineers: A Guided Workbook for Engineers by ISBN: 9781119555063Publication Date: 2020presents a dynamic and practical method in which engineering students—typically late-career undergraduates or graduate students—can learn to write literature reviews, and translate genre-based writing instruction into easy-to-follow, bite-sized activities and content
The literature review : six steps to success by ISBN: 9781071858998Publication Date: 2022The essential guide-updated, expanded, and easier to use than ever. This pioneering book has provided countless graduate students and researchers with a road map to a quality literature review. Using its six-step model, you'll narrow your research topic, focus your literature search, negotiate the myriad of books, periodicals, and reports about your topic-and, of course, write the review
Articles
- How to Write a Literature Review Paper? by Wee, Bert Van & Banister, David
This paper discusses the question about how to write a literature review paper (LRP). It stresses the primary importance of adding value, rather than only providing an overview, and it then discusses some of the reasons for (or not) actually writing an LRP, including issues relating to the nature and scope of the paper. It also presents different types of LRPs, advises on reporting the methodology used for the selection of papers for review, and the structure of an LRP.
Sources
Content:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkAnKGuX7fs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIYC6zG265E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kW6Uzn-8uMI
Image(s):
https://pixabay.com/photos/coffee-school-homework-coffee-shop-2351437/