A literature review is an important part of scholarly research and is used in a variety of disciplines. It is a document or part of a document that collects published scholarly sources on a topic and then summarizes and synthesizes them. It is often interchangeably used with terms like “the scholarship,” “the research,” and “the literature.”
This article discusses the functions and objectives of a literature review and provides helpful tips and guidelines to write a good one.
Functions of a Literature Review
A literature review provides a comprehensive overview of current knowledge about a topic, enabling researchers to identify relevant methods and themes, as well as to highlight gaps in existing scholarship. As a summary, the literature review recapitulates the important information provided by a source; as a synthesis, it reshuffles or reorganizes that information. This combination of summary and synthesis can offer new interpretations of existing knowledge or connect existing knowledge with new viewpoints. It might trace major debates and scholarly progress in a subject. It can also evaluate sources and highlight the most relevant or pertinent ones for the benefit of the reader.
Objectives of a Literature Review
A lit review functions as a handy guide to a particular topic. It provides an overview or acts as a stepping stone for researchers who have limited time to conduct research. It also serves as a report that keeps them abreast of current knowledge in the field. For researchers, the depth and breadth of the literature review highlights their credibility in a subject. A lit review also creates a substantial background for conducting academic research. Comprehensive knowledge of current scholarship about a subject is crucial for a research paper. In a nutshell, a lit review:
- Demonstrates the researcher’s knowledge of the topic
- Identifies gaps in existing literature and shows how the research paper proposes to fill one or more of those
- Provides the foundation for the paper’s conceptual framework (if it has one)
- Informs the researcher’s methodology and research design
Structure of a Literature Review
Like any other chapter in the thesis or dissertation, a lit review needs to have a clear, logical structure. The average literature review has three main parts – an introduction, a main body, and a conclusion.
1. Introduction
The introduction should:
- Define the topic of research and offer an appropriate context for the review
- Establish the author’s reasons for reviewing the literature
- Specify the organizational pattern
- Explicitly state the scope of the review
2. Main Body
The body should:
- Organize the sources in accordance with common themes
- Pinpoint connections between the research topic and the wider subject area
- Move in a logical way from the wider perspective of the literature review to the specific focus of the paper
3. Conclusion
The conclusion should:
- Summarize important aspects of the existing body of literature on the topic
- Evaluate the current state of knowledge
- Highlight significant gaps or flaws in existing knowledge
- Connect the paper to existing scholarship on the topic
- Identify areas for future study
Preparing to Write a Literature Review
Here are some of the things researchers need to do before they get down to writing a lit review:
1. Clarify
- How many sources do they plan to include?
- What types of sources (websites, journal articles, books, etc.) do they plan to include?
- Should the summary, synthesis, or critique of sources be linked by a common theme?
- Should they provide an evaluation of sources?
- Should they provide background information, such as definitions and/or a history?
- Should they include subheadings?
2. Find Prior Examples
Reading older literature reviews on the topic or subject is a good way to get a sense of the themes the researcher might want to incorporate in their research or for ways to organize their final review. This can be done via an internet search or through electronic databases. The reference section or bibliography of sources they have already read also work as useful entry points into their own research.
3. Narrow Down the Focus of the Topic
Most research topics will have hundreds or even thousands of scholarly sources. Therefore, it makes sense to narrow down the focus of the topic in order to limit the number of sources the researcher needs to read for a comprehensive survey of the material.
4. Check if Sources are Up to Date
Some disciplines, especially the sciences, require the use of information that is as current as possible. Information that is even slightly out of date is considered to be obsolete. Others like the social sciences, the humanities, or history require a survey of the history of the literature in order to show how perspectives have changed within a specific period of time.
Researchers must read current literature reviews or bibliographies in their subject to understand the expectations of their discipline and identify what scholars in their field are currently interested in.
Tips for Writing a Literature Review
1. Find a Focus
Unlike an annotated bibliography, a literature review usually focuses on ideas not on the sources themselves. This means that the researcher will not just list their sources and examine each one in detail, one at a time. They will go further and consider what issues or themes connect these sources and focus on them to organize the review.
2. Inform the Reader
A literature review does not contain a thesis statement or argument, but the author does need to tell readers what to expect. This can be done through a simple statement that lays out the chief organizing principle of the review.
3. Organize the Literature Review
After the focus of the review is identified and clearly stated, the next step is to present the information in the most effective way possible. This includes important topics and subtopics as well as the way they should be presented. The review needs to be organized at a global as well as a local level.
Like most academic papers, a lit review generally contains three basic elements – introduction or background information, the body or discussion of sources, and, finally, a conclusion or recommendation. Once these elements are in place, an appropriate organizational method to present the sources within the body of the review is chosen.
Sources in a review can be organized chronologically, thematically, methodologically, by publication, or by trend.
4. Compose the Review
Once the general pattern of composition is settled upon, each section is written. Here are a few guidelines for composing the writing section:
- The author’s interpretation of their sources must be backed by evidence to prove the validity of their statements.
- Only the most important points in each source should be highlighted in the review. The type of information chosen must relate directly to the focus of the review.
- Quotes should be used sparingly or, as in the case of direct or lengthy quotes, avoided altogether.
- Sources must be summarized and synthesized within each paragraph as well as throughout the review.
- While the literature review presents other scholars’ ideas, the author’s own voice must be prominent throughout.
- Sources’ ideas and opinions must be accurately paraphrased.
5. Revise
Once the draft is ready, it should be revised and checked to see if the material has been presented appropriately and concisely. Authors also need to make sure that:
- The terminology is suited to the audience.
- There is no unnecessary slang or jargon.
- Sources have been documented and formatted appropriately for the discipline.
Researchers would do well to follow these guidelines to write a thorough and properly structured literature review. For any further assistance, they ought to consult their project guides or peers.
