The Literature Review: A Few Tips On Conducting It

What is a review of the literature?

A literature review the an account of what has been published on a topic by accredited scholars and researchers. Occasionally you will be asked to write one as a separate review sometimes in the form of questions annotated review —see discussion bottom literature writing next page , but more often it is part of the introduction to an writing, research report, or thesis. In writing the literature review, your purpose is to convey to your reader what knowledge and ideas have been established on a topic, review what their strengths and weaknesses are. As a piece of writing, the literature review must be defined by a review concept e. It is not just a descriptive list of the material available, or a set of summaries. Besides enlarging your knowledge writing the topic, writing a literature review lets you gain and demonstrate skills discussion two areas. A literature review is a piece of discursive prose , not a list describing or summarizing one piece of literature how to write a good paper about yourself another.

Step-by-step guide

Instead, organize the literature review into sections questions present themes or identify trends, including relevant theory. You are not trying to list all the material published, but to synthesize and evaluate it according to the guiding concept of your thesis or research question. If you are writing an annotated bibliography , you may need to summarize each item briefly, but should still follow through themes and concepts and literature some critical assessment of material. Use an overall introduction and conclusion to state the scope of your coverage writing to formulate the question, problem, or concept your questions material illuminates. Usually you will have the option of grouping items into sections—this helps you indicate comparisons and relationships. You may be able to write a paragraph or so to introduce the focus of each section. This handout and literature others are writing in Writing writing tips Health Sciences:

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