Literature Review Definition

According to the partner dissertation writing service, literature review is an overview of important books and sources about a specific subject. Sources for the review can include academic publications, government reports, website, etc. The literature review summarizes, evaluates, and describes each source. The literature review is usually written as an independent graduate thesis or dissertation.

A literature review, or section of a document, brings together the most important sources about a topic and engages in a conversation with them (also known as synthesis). The literature review is an important genre not only in literature but also across many disciplines (e.g., studying works of literature like novels and plays). When we say “literature review”, “the literature” or other terms like that, we mean the research (scholarship), on a certain topic. The terms “research,”‘scholarship,’ and ‘literature’ are often used interchangeably.

What, when, and where would you write a Literature Review?

Each situation has its own requirements. A literature review can be defined differently in different fields.

Authors in the humanities may use more explicit argumentation and interpretation to support their source material. In the sciences authors are more likely in their literature reviews to include study designs and results. This difference reflects the purposes and conventions of scholarship in these disciplines.

It is important to constantly review examples of literature reviews in your subject area and speak to lecturers or mentors within your field so that you can understand the standards for your profession.

Literature reviews can be included as part of a research article or paper. They are usually placed after the introduction and before the section on research methods.

The literature review will only discuss the scholarship relevant to the topic that you are writing on. It may also include sources that have influenced your research methods.

You can publish literature reviews alone or use them as homework. As part of coursework, students may be required by their professors to conduct a literature survey to familiarize them with the subject, other scholars who have studied the topic of interest, to identify gaps in the literature and to develop a theoretical frame and research methodology.

As a publication, a literature review aims to simplify other academics’ work by assembling, summarizing and evaluating current research on a topic.

Why Write a Literature Review?

Literature review is a written report that analyzes the current state of research in a particular field. A Literature Review is:

• The map shows the areas of previous scholarship
• Explain how each source helps to understand the problem, field of study or theory being considered.
• Explain how each reference is related to the other authorities that you have chosen.
• Novel interpretations are identified that fill any gaps in prior research.
• Determines the direction of further research

Components/Parts of the Literature Review

Most literary reviews use the basic introduction-body-conclusion format. If your lit review is a part of a larger work, you might be able to get away with a shorter introduction and conclusion.

The body of the essay should receive the most attention. The introduction and conclusion are more important if your lit review is an essay. You can use them to separate your literature review from your research strategy and findings.

Introduction:

• A brief introduction in which you state your thesis and working topic
• Prediction of major themes or texts to be discussed in the review
• This is more common in separate literature reviews published in publications than in sections of articles or research papers that include a lit review.

Body:

• Synthesize and summarize: Outline and combine the main ideas from each source to create a coherent whole.
• If possible, combine your interpretations with those of other researchers. Discuss the importance of the discoveries in relation to the body of literature.
• Assess your sources critically, noting their strengths and weaknesses.
• You can use transitional words to create contrasts and comparisons by combining them with the topic sentence.

Conclusion:

• Highlight the importance of the results that you derived from the literature in your summary.
• Refer to your research question.

How to Write a Literature Review

Four steps can be taken to write a literature review:

• Your topic and review parameters should be specified.
• Use search engines such as Google Scholar, library catalogues, and databases specific to your field to identify relevant materials.
• Read and analyze the sources to determine if they are suitable for the topic (see section on Evaluating Sources).
• You can use your sources to discuss, analyse, and evaluate their results and conclusions.

Writing Tips and Strategies

Here are some tips and strategies that anyone can use to write an effective literature review.

• Use reliable sources, and do thorough research. If you find a new theme while writing, don’t be afraid to do additional research.
• Compile an annotated Bibliography while you conduct your research. You can use a large amount of data from an annotated Bibliography to create a Literature Review. This will allow you to draft your literature review while you are conducting research.
• Synthesizing research is more important than summarizing it. It involves linking sources in order to give a clear picture of how the academic debate has evolved on a particular subject. Many students find it difficult to synthesize because they feel they don’t have anything to add to the academics that they are quoting. Here are some tips to help you.
• It is important to remember that these synopses are meant to help your reader understand your research and read the rest of your paper.
• Writing instructors say that synthesis is similar to throwing a dinner: imagine your sources as your guests at a place where they can talk about your topic. What are they actually exchanging?
• In each paragraph, check the references within the text. Do you cite only one source per section? Typically, this means that you are only providing a summary. You are more likely synthesizing sources in a paragraph that cites several.

In conclusion, the most persuasive literature reviews often include arguments. In the literature review, you can often prove that your research is relevant or meets a certain need. You can do this in an article’s opening.

The literature review section offers ample opportunities to present the discussion in the way you wish your readers to perceive it. It is up to you to choose the intellectual tradition that has definitions most relevant to your thinking.