What is a literature Review?
Those who have to write a literature review but are not sure as in how to start should prepare the outline first. Literature review assists an individual to stay organized. It is done in a specific field and is based on an academic survey. It organizes the trending ideas and arguments so that they can be used at the time of need. Literature review is usually written in the field of Humanities and Sciences.
Guidelines for creating a Literature Review: A clear and step by step guide assists in writing an impressive review.
- Follow your instructor’s guidelines and accordingly chose the APA/ MLA or Chicago writing style. Pay attention to general guidelines like title page, abstract, text citations etc.
- Choose and decide your topic. Pick any scholarly article for the literature review. The topic should be someway related with your final project.
- Spot the informative literatures for review: Familiarizing with the online database is a must step. Begin with the general descriptor or the one that you already know.
- If necessary, redefine your topic. If you think that the chosen topic is too wide, try to narrow it down.
- Ensure that you identify the landmarks/ classic studies/ theorists as these serve as framework of the study.
- Analyze your literature. After identifying and locating the article for the review, analyze and organize the content before writing. Overview various articles. Categorize the articles into different categories. Start preparing the notes and define the key terms. Select useful notes, key terms to be used in introduction and identify the major trends, gaps, relationships in a literature.
- Summarize your literature in table format. It will give an impressive overview. Organize and write a summary of our findings. Use MS Word or Excel for recording your data.
- Synthesize your literature before you start writing. Use notes that you have prepared and outline the final review.
- Plan to present the conclusion and its implications.
- Offer direction for future research at the end of the review.
- Write the final review where you highlight the significance of the chosen topic.
- Describe the time frame if you are discussing a timeless topic. You can offer reference to the readers for the topics that you will not be discussing in details.
- All relevant references should be written at the end while writing the research paper.
Follow the literature review guidelines
If the above stated guidelines are followed, a great literature review can be written. It is good if the student goes through certain number of references suggested by the professor or scholarly students.