Writing Your Literature Review The process of summarizing, synthesizing and/or critiquing literature around a specific topic/idea. This work can help a researcher understand what has happened before and also how past research intersects and or diverges from other research. A literature review can be a full-length manuscript or a subsection within a larger research article.
Once you’re ready to start writing your review, you’ll organize your it into three main parts:
- Introduction The start of a research article providing background information and an overview of the research presented in the article.: this provides an overview of the topic of your literature review, and your focus or purpose; in a standalone literature review, you’ll want to describe the method you used to conduct your review, but not when your literature review is a section of an article.
- Main body: this is where you describe your findings The section of a research article where researchers share the results from the research. This section takes the results and directly connects them to the research questions or hypotheses posed at the start of the article. Also can be called “Findings.” ; you can organize this section with subheadings by theme, time period, or however you’ve decided to structure your review. Keep the following in mind as you write:
- Summarize — give an overview of the main points you’ve gleaned from the sources you’ve reviewed.
- Analyze — provide your own interpretations and discuss their significance.
- Evaluate — mention the strengths and weaknesses of the literature.
- Conclusion The end of a research article that wraps up the work presented. A conclusion can also be a spot to discuss limitations of the research or future avenues for this line of research.: discuss what you’ve ultimately drawn from reviewing the literature thus far and connect it to your research question. What are the gaps? What hasn’t been mentioned in the literature that you hope to address with your research? This is where you make a case for why your research is relevant to the field.
You don’t have to exhaustively review all the literature related to your topic before you start writing your review. It’s often helpful to start writing and then read more as you continue to flesh out your review. You’ll want to keep revising your review as you read more of the literature related to your research question/problem statement.
Activity
Complete the following activity in your LPOL Workbook. This activity will help you work toward a final curriculum deliverable, and it will help you develop your overall research plan.
Use the 4.2.2: Lit Review The process of summarizing, synthesizing and/or critiquing literature around a specific topic/idea. This work can help a researcher understand what has happened before and also how past research intersects and or diverges from other research. A literature review can be a full-length manuscript or a subsection within a larger research article. Practice worksheet in your LPOL Workbook to help you frame, structure, and start writing your literature review.
Writing Your Literature ReviewLiterature Review The process of summarizing, synthesizing and/or critiquing literature around a specific topic/idea. This work can help a researcher understand what has happened before and also how past research intersects and or diverges from other research. A literature review can be a full-length manuscript or a subsection within a larger research article.
Once you’re ready to start writing your review, you’ll organize your it into three main parts:
You don’t have to exhaustively review all the literature related to your topic before you start writing your review. It’s often helpful to start writing and then read more as you continue to flesh out your review. You’ll want to keep revising your review as you read more of the literature related to your research question/problem statement.
Activity
Complete the following activity in your LPOL Workbook. This activity will help you work toward a final curriculum deliverable, and it will help you develop your overall research plan.
Use the 4.2.2: Lit ReviewLiterature Review The process of summarizing, synthesizing and/or critiquing literature around a specific topic/idea. This work can help a researcher understand what has happened before and also how past research intersects and or diverges from other research. A literature review can be a full-length manuscript or a subsection within a larger research article. Practice worksheet in your LPOL Workbook to help you frame, structure, and start writing your literature review.