How to Write

Literature Review

Why write a Literature review?

The literature review is a critical look at the
existing research that is significant to your
project.
You should evaluate what has already
been done,
Show the relationships between different
work, and
Show how it relates to your project.
It is not supposed to be just a summary of
other people's work.

Why do a Literature Review?

Know what to do (before starting research):
to identify gaps in the literature

Know where to start (starting):

to carry on from where others have already reached, or
position your project relative to previous work
to identify information, methods and ideas that may be
relevant to your project (i.e. avoid reinventing the wheel)

Know what you have done (finishing):

to increase your breadth of knowledge of your area
to put your work into perspective

Other:
to identify opposing views
to identify other people working in the same fields

What sort of questions should

the review answer?
What do you already know in the area
concerned?
What are the existing theories?
Are there any inconsistencies or other
shortcomings?
What views need to be (further) tested?
What evidence is lacking, inconclusive,
contradictory or too limited?
Why study (further) the research problem?

What literature should you review? 1.

Journal articles: these are good,
especially for up-to-date information. They
are frequently used in literature reviews
because they offer a relatively concise, upto-date format for research.
Depending on the publication, these
materials may be refereed or non-refereed
materials.

What literature should you review? 2.

Books: remember that books tend to be
less up-to-date, as it takes longer for a
book to be published than for a journal
article.
They are still likely to be useful for
including in your literature review as they
offer a good starting point from which to
find more detailed and up-to-date sources
of information.

What literature should you review? 3.

Conference proceedings: these can be
useful in providing the latest research, or
research that has not been published.
They are also helpful in providing information
about people in different research areas, and
so can be helpful in tracking down other
work by the same researchers.

What literature should you review? 4.

Government/corporate reports: many

government departments and corporations
commission or carry out research. Their
published findings can provide a useful
source of information, depending on your
field of study.

What literature should you review? 5.

Theses and dissertations: these can be
useful sources of information. However
there are disadvantages:
they can be difficult to obtain since they
are not published, but are generally only
available from the library or interlibrary
loan
the student who carried out the research
may not be an experienced researcher
and therefore you might have to treat their
findings with more caution than published
research.

What literature should you review? 6.

Newspapers: since newspapers are
generally intended for a general (not
specialised) audience, the information they
provide will be of very limited use for your
literature review.
Newspapers are more helpful as providers
of information about recent trends,
discoveries or changes,
Newspapers do not give unbiased
opinions.

What literature should you review? 7.

Internet: the fastest-growing source of
information is on the Internet.
bear in mind that anyone can post
information on the Internet so the quality
may not be reliable
the information you find may be intended
for a general audience and so not be
suitable for inclusion in your literature
review (information for a general audience
is usually less detailed)

Outline of Literature Review

1. Specifying
formulating the problem

2. Searching
collecting the data from various sources

3. Collating
evaluating the results

4. Analyzing
interpretation of the results

5. Writing
presentation of results

1. Specifying the Review

Topic
What subject will the review cover

Type of Review
Integrative, Theoretical, Methodological

Breadth of Review
The range of subjects that are covered

Depth of Review
The amount of detail that it goes into

Topic
Should be the easiest step, but
remember:
Doesnt need to be too specific
Has to be a subject covered in the
literature

Be prepared to make (minor)

alterations to the scope of the review
as it proceeds

2. Searching
Informal channels
Yourself, friends, colleagues, conferences

Primary channels (very important !!!)

Journals, Conference proceedings, Books,
Review articles (but remember, dont
plagiarize)

Secondary sources
Bibliographies, abstract archives

Bad sources of information (dont use,

or use carefully)
Google (!!), wikipedia (!!!)

www.sciencedirect.com

www.scirus.com

Web of Knowledge

SPIRES

NCBI PubMed

The Library

3. Collating
Critical analysis of available literature:
Practical (Is it going to be useful?)
Is it in a language you can read?
Is it from the area you are reviewing?
It is from a peer-reviewed Journal you
respect?
Quality (Is it any good?)
Did the authors sample the population fairly?
Did they treat the errors consistently and
well?

4. Analyzing

What does the data actually tell us?

How does it apply to the topic of the review?
What conclusions can you draw?
Are there any major disagreements between
different sources/studies?

5. Writing
Introduction
Define topic, & also parameters/terms

Body, where the review proceeds

Chronologically
Thematically
Methodologically

Conclusions
Include future questions to be answered

Writing Hints
Dont confuse a literature review with
an annotated bibliography; discuss
themes, referencing many sources
simultaneously
Dont make a statement without a
reference (unless it is obvious or
trivial)
Include a bibliography (!)

Literature Review
12 Guiding Questions
Sajadin Sembiring, S.Si., M.Sc
sajadinbiring@gmail.com

Conceptual/Theoretic Questions
1) What do you already know in the
immediate area of concern?
2)What are the existing theories that
help explain the phenomenon?
3)What are the characteristics of the
key concepts or the main factors or
variables?
4) What are the relationships between
these key concepts, factors, or
variables?

Research/Empirical Questions
5) How do you know and what do you
know?

6) What research approaches have

been used to study the event?
7) What are the methodological
strengths, shortcomings/limitations?

Assessment Questions
8) Where are there inconsistencies or
other shortcomings in our knowledge
and understanding?
9) What views need to be (further)
tested?
10) What evidence is lacking,
inconclusive, contradictory or too
limited?
11) Why study (further) the research
problem?

Focus Question
12) What contribution can the
present study be expected to
make to the knowledge base?

Traps to Writing
a Literature Review

Trying to Read Everything.

Reading but not Writing.
Not Maintaining a Bibliography.
Giving an comprehensive summary of
every study/article you read.
Not being selective when including
sources.
Only including research literature.
Only including conceptual literature.

Conceptual Literature
Work that discusses theory,
summaries, or assessment of
research studies.
Work that provides a general
overview of the concepts related to
your study.
Work that gives insight to
assumptions and the historical
development of the problem.

Strategies for Avoiding Traps

Take notes rather than
highlighting passages.
Create an outline for your
literature review.
Begin writing early.
Share early drafts with your
supervisor.
Use Headings.

Strategies for Avoiding Traps

Use different styles to present
material: in one section/passage
focus on grouping the material, in
another section highlight specific
works.
After you have written the chapter, go
back and outline it again.

Conclusion
A well-written literature review:
Organizes literature
Evaluates literature
Identifies patterns and trends in
literature
Synthesizes literature

35

Resources
Conducting Research Literature Reviews,
Arlene Fink, 1998, Sage Publications
The Integrative Research Review - a systematic
approach, Harris M. Cooper, 1984, Sage
Publications
Performing a Literature Review, Lois E. Reed,
http://fie.engrng.pitt.edu/fie98/papers/1298.pdf
natbib reference sheet
http://merkel.zoneo.net/Latex/natbib.php

Resources
American University Library:
http://www.library.american.edu/Help/research/lit_revi
ew/index.html
A constellation of sites with tips on writing a literature
review, a sample literature review, checklists, and
sources for further reading

University of California-Santa Cruz Library:

http://library.ucsc.edu/ref/howto/literaturereview.html
An outline of the definition and purposes of a
literature review as well as its key components
37

Some Tips
Early back-and-forth:
Select a topic and formulate a few welldefined research questions

Brainstorm a list of search terms related to

your topic and then search for sources
Keyword searches
Text/bibliographic databases
Reviewing reference sections

Briefly review sources and use what you learn

to refine your topic and research questions 38

Some Tips
Working backwards:
Begin with a collection of recent research on a given topic
What authors or papers appear in the texts introductions,
literature reviews, or references sections?

Identifying core literature:

What authors or papers do researchers keep citing?
What works do researchers identify as classic, landmark,
pioneering, or path-breaking?

Search out this preceding literature

39

Some writing Tips

Musts for writing:
Linkage I: Continually link your discussion of
the literature back to your thesis and research
questions
Linkage II: Link studies to one another; stress
relatedness of research on your topic.
Prioritize/Classics: Identify classic studies
and discuss them accordingly (i.e., with more
detail, and with an eye for their influence)
40

Some Writing Tips

Musts for writing:
Evaluate/Gaps: Identify shortcomings of
particular studies and/or the body of
research as a whole; be critical!
Frontier: Identify areas for further
research; where can research on your
topic go from here?
41

Some Writing Tips

Mechanics of writing:
- Audience:
Scholarly, but avoid jargon
Wants to know about literature
Wants to know what you have to say about the
literature
Wants to know where your research fits

Short paragraphs can help to keep writing

crisp
Subheadings can help to clarify structure of
review (for full-length literature reviews)
42

Some Writing Tips

Mechanics of writing:
Use direct quotations sparingly; paraphrase
studies
Prioritize studies in the literature:
Signal importance by discussing relatively more
important studies with more detail
Signal importance by noting influence on
subsequent studies
43

Some Writing Tips

Rhetorical moves:
Similarity: also, again, in addition to, additionally,
similar to, similarly, alike, like, agree, agrees with
Disagreement: contradicts, counter, opposite,
differs, debate, at odds, on the other hand,
disagree, disagrees with
Evaluation: classic, pioneering, important,
influential, lacks, fails to consider, ignores,
overlooks, limited by/to, confined to, restricts
attention to
44

KUIS
Assessment Strategies
1) Do you literature review help to define the
specific problem/thesis/research
question(s) that support your study?
2) Is there a specific relationship between the
literature you have reviewed and the
problem you have formulated?
3) Have you critically analyzed the literature
used? (Do you just list and summarize
articles, or do you assess them?)

Assessment Strategies Continued

4) What is the scope of your review? (Have
you included a variety of sources - books,
journals, government documents, theses/
dissertations?)
5) Have you included studies contrary to
your viewpoint?
6) Have you included theoretical information
that helps offer insight into the origin of the
problem/issues?

Assessment Strategies Continued

7) Will readers find your literature review
useful?
8) Have you organized your review to help
promote clarity of ideas?
9) Do you literature review establish the
basis for your study?
10) Do you find your literature review
interesting and informative?