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The Literature Review: 5. Organizing the Search this Guide Search

Literature Review
This guide provides an introduction to the conduct and organization of a literature review

1. Introduction 2. Why Do a Literature Review? 3. Methods for Searching the Literature

4. Analysing the Literature 5. Organizing the Literature Review 6. Writing the Review

1. Organizing Principles

A literature review is a
piece of discursive prose,
not a list describing or
summarizing one piece of
literature after another. It
should have a single
organizing principle:

Thematic -
organize around a
topic or issue
Chronological -
sections for each
vital time period
Methodological -
focus on the
methods used by
the
researchers/writers

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4. Selected Online 2. Structure of the Literature Review 3. Tips on Structure

Resources
Although your literature review will rely heavily on A common error in literature reviews is
Literature Review in the sources you read for its information, you for writers to present material from one
Education & should dictate the structure of the review. It is author, followed by information from
Behavioral Sciences important that the concepts are presented in an another, then another.... The way in
This is an interactive order that makes sense of the context of your which you group authors and link ideas
tutorial from Adelphi research project. will help avoid this problem. To group
University Libraries on authors who draw similar conclusions,
There may be clear divisions on the sets of ideas
how to conduct a you can use linking words such as:
you want to discuss, in which case your structure
literature review in
may be fairly clear. This is an ideal situation. In also
education and the
most cases, there will be several different possible additionally
behavioural sciences
structures for your review. again
using library databases
similarly.
Writing Literature Similarly to the structure of the research report

Reviews itself, the literature review consists of: When authors disagree, linking words

This tutorial is from the
Writing section of
Monash University's
Language and
Learning Online site Introduction - profile of the study
The Literature Review:
A Few Tips on
Conducting It
This guide is from the
Health Services
Writing Centre at the
University of Toronto
Learn How to Write a
Review of the
Literature
This guide is part of
the Writer's Handbook
provided by the Writing
that indicate contrast will show how
Introduction
you have analysed their work. Words
Body
such as:
Conclusion
however
conversely
Define or identify the general topic to on the other hand
provide the context for reviewing the nonetheless
literature
will indicate to your reader how you
Outline why the topic is important
have analysed the material. At other
Identify overall trends in what has been
times, you may want to qualify an
published about the topic
author's work (using such words as
Identify conflicts in theory, methodology,
specifically, usually, or generally) or
evidence, and conclusions
use an example (thus, namely, to
Identify gaps in research and scholarlship
illustrate). In this way you ensure that
Explain the criteria to be used in analysing
you are synthesizing the material, not
and comparing the literature
just describing the work already carried
Describe the organization of the review (the
out in your field.
sequence)

Center at the If necessary, state why certain literature is Another major problem is that literature

University of or is not included (scope) reviews are often written as if they

Wisconsin-Madison stand alone, without links to the rest of

Body - summative, comparative, and evaluative
discussion of literature reviewed
For a thematic review:
the paper. There needs to be a clear
relationship between the literature
review and the methodology to follow.

organize the review into paragraphs that

present themes and identify trends relevant
to your topic
each paragraph should deal with a different
theme - you need to synthesize several of
your readings into each paragraph in such
a way that there is a clear connection
between the sources
don't try to list all the materials you have
identified in your literature search

Conclusion

From each of the section summaries:

summarize the main agreements and

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5. A Final Checklist

Have you indicated the purpose of the

review?
Have you emphasized recent
developments?
Is there a logic to the way you organized
the material?
Does the amount of detail included on an
issue relate to its importance?
Have you been sufficiently critical of design
and methodological issues?
Have you indicated when results were
conflicting or inconclusive and discussed
possible reasons?
Has your summary of the current literature
contributed to the reader's understanding of
the problems?

Last Updated: Oct 22, 2019 10:56 AM URL: https://libguides.uwi.edu/litreviewsoe Print Page Login to LibApps

Subjects: Research Tags: academic_research, literature_review, lit_review, review_of_literature

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