2 Where Can You Get Help in Understanding What a Literature Review Entails?

What this handout is about

This handout will explicate what literature reviews are and offer insights into the form and construction of literature reviews in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences.

Introduction

OK. You've got to write a literature review. You lot dust off a novel and a volume of poesy, settle downwardly in your chair, and get ready to issue a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" equally y'all leaf through the pages. "Literature review" washed. Right?

Wrong! The "literature" of a literature review refers to any drove of materials on a topic, not necessarily the smashing literary texts of the world. "Literature" could be annihilation from a set up of regime pamphlets on British colonial methods in Africa to scholarly manufactures on the treatment of a torn ACL. And a review does not necessarily hateful that your reader wants you to requite your personal opinion on whether or not yous liked these sources.

What is a literature review, so?

A literature review discusses published information in a item subject area, and sometimes data in a particular subject area within a certain time menstruum.

A literature review can be just a elementary summary of the sources, but it usually has an organizational pattern and combines both summary and synthesis. A summary is a recap of the of import data of the source, but a synthesis is a re-organization, or a reshuffling, of that information. Information technology might requite a new interpretation of old cloth or combine new with erstwhile interpretations. Or it might trace the intellectual progression of the field, including major debates. And depending on the situation, the literature review may evaluate the sources and advise the reader on the most pertinent or relevant.

But how is a literature review dissimilar from an academic research newspaper?

The main focus of an bookish research paper is to develop a new statement, and a research newspaper is probable to comprise a literature review equally one of its parts. In a enquiry paper, y'all use the literature equally a foundation and every bit support for a new insight that you contribute. The focus of a literature review, however, is to summarize and synthesize the arguments and ideas of others without adding new contributions.

Why practise we write literature reviews?

Literature reviews provide y'all with a handy guide to a item topic. If you accept limited time to deport enquiry, literature reviews tin give you an overview or act as a stepping stone. For professionals, they are useful reports that continue them up to date with what is current in the field. For scholars, the depth and breadth of the literature review emphasizes the credibility of the writer in his or her field. Literature reviews also provide a solid background for a inquiry paper's investigation. Comprehensive knowledge of the literature of the field is essential to almost research papers.

Who writes these things, anyway?

Literature reviews are written occasionally in the humanities, simply mostly in the sciences and social sciences; in experiment and lab reports, they institute a section of the paper. Sometimes a literature review is written every bit a paper in itself.

Permit's get to it! What should I practice before writing the literature review?

Clarify

If your consignment is not very specific, seek clarification from your instructor:

• Roughly how many sources should yous include?
• What types of sources (books, journal articles, websites)?
• Should you summarize, synthesize, or critique your sources by discussing a common theme or issue?
• Should you evaluate your sources?
• Should you provide subheadings and other groundwork information, such as definitions and/or a history?

Find models

Await for other literature reviews in your area of interest or in the discipline and read them to get a sense of the types of themes you might want to look for in your own research or ways to organize your terminal review. You can simply put the word "review" in your search engine forth with your other topic terms to find articles of this type on the Cyberspace or in an electronic database. The bibliography or reference section of sources yous've already read are also excellent entry points into your own research.

Narrow your topic

There are hundreds or fifty-fifty thousands of articles and books on most areas of report. The narrower your topic, the easier information technology will be to limit the number of sources y'all need to read in order to get a adept survey of the material. Your instructor volition probably non expect you lot to read everything that's out in that location on the topic, but you'll brand your job easier if you outset limit your scope.

Keep in heed that UNC Libraries have research guides and to databases relevant to many fields of study. You can reach out to the subject librarian for a consultation: https://library.unc.edu/support/consultations/.

And don't forget to tap into your professor'south (or other professors') noesis in the field. Inquire your professor questions such as: "If you had to read only one volume from the xc'due south on topic X, what would it be?" Questions such as this assistance you to find and decide quickly the most seminal pieces in the field.

Consider whether your sources are current

Some disciplines require that you lot utilize information that is equally current as possible. In the sciences, for instance, treatments for medical issues are constantly changing according to the latest studies. Information even 2 years erstwhile could be obsolete. All the same, if you are writing a review in the humanities, history, or social sciences, a survey of the history of the literature may be what is needed, because what is important is how perspectives have inverse through the years or within a certain time period. Try sorting through some other current bibliographies or literature reviews in the field to become a sense of what your discipline expects. You tin can also use this method to consider what is currently of interest to scholars in this field and what is non.

Strategies for writing the literature review

Find a focus

A literature review, similar a term paper, is usually organized around ideas, non the sources themselves as an annotated bibliography would be organized. This means that you lot volition non only simply list your sources and go into particular virtually each 1 of them, ane at a time. No. As you read widely merely selectively in your topic area, consider instead what themes or issues connect your sources together. Practise they nowadays one or unlike solutions? Is there an attribute of the field that is missing? How well practise they nowadays the material and do they portray it according to an appropriate theory? Do they reveal a trend in the field? A raging argue? Selection one of these themes to focus the organisation of your review.

Convey it to your reader

A literature review may not have a traditional thesis statement (one that makes an argument), but you lot practise need to tell readers what to expect. Try writing a simple argument that lets the reader know what is your chief organizing principle. Here are a couple of examples:

The current trend in handling for congestive centre failure combines surgery and medicine.
More and more cultural studies scholars are accepting popular media as a subject worthy of bookish consideration.

Consider organization

You lot've got a focus, and you've stated it clearly and direct. Now what is the about effective way of presenting the data? What are the most of import topics, subtopics, etc., that your review needs to include? And in what order should yous nowadays them? Develop an arrangement for your review at both a global and local level:

First, comprehend the basic categories

Merely similar most bookish papers, literature reviews likewise must comprise at least three basic elements: an introduction or background information section; the body of the review containing the word of sources; and, finally, a conclusion and/or recommendations section to end the paper. The following provides a brief description of the content of each:

• Introduction: Gives a quick idea of the topic of the literature review, such as the central theme or organizational blueprint.
• Torso: Contains your discussion of sources and is organized either chronologically, thematically, or methodologically (see beneath for more information on each).
• Conclusions/Recommendations: Discuss what you have drawn from reviewing literature and so far. Where might the discussion keep?

Organizing the trunk

Once yous have the bones categories in place, so you must consider how yous will nowadays the sources themselves within the trunk of your paper. Create an organizational method to focus this section even farther.

To help you come up upwardly with an overall organizational framework for your review, consider the following scenario:

You've decided to focus your literature review on materials dealing with sperm whales. This is because you've just finished reading Moby Dick, and you wonder if that whale's portrayal is really existent. You lot commencement with some articles most the physiology of sperm whales in biology journals written in the 1980'south. Just these manufactures refer to some British biological studies performed on whales in the early 18th century. So you check those out. So you look up a book written in 1968 with data on how sperm whales take been portrayed in other forms of fine art, such as in Alaskan poetry, in French painting, or on whale bone, equally the whale hunters in the late 19th century used to exercise. This makes yous wonder most American whaling methods during the fourth dimension portrayed in Moby Dick, and so yous observe some academic manufactures published in the last five years on how accurately Herman Melville portrayed the whaling scene in his novel.

Now consider some typical means of organizing the sources into a review:

• Chronological: If your review follows the chronological method, you lot could write about the materials above according to when they were published. For instance, first you would talk nigh the British biological studies of the 18th century, so nearly Moby Dick, published in 1851, then the book on sperm whales in other art (1968), and finally the biology articles (1980s) and the contempo articles on American whaling of the 19th century. Only there is relatively no continuity among subjects here. And notice that even though the sources on sperm whales in other fine art and on American whaling are written recently, they are nigh other subjects/objects that were created much earlier. Thus, the review loses its chronological focus.

• By publication: Order your sources past publication chronology, then, but if the social club demonstrates a more of import trend. For example, y'all could social club a review of literature on biological studies of sperm whales if the progression revealed a alter in autopsy practices of the researchers who wrote and/or conducted the studies.

• By tendency: A improve manner to organize the in a higher place sources chronologically is to examine the sources under another trend, such as the history of whaling. Then your review would have subsections according to eras within this period. For instance, the review might examine whaling from pre-1600-1699, 1700-1799, and 1800-1899. Under this method, you would combine the recent studies on American whaling in the 19th century with Moby Dick itself in the 1800-1899 category, even though the authors wrote a century apart.

• Thematic: Thematic reviews of literature are organized around a topic or issue, rather than the progression of time. Notwithstanding, progression of time may notwithstanding be an important gene in a thematic review. For instance, the sperm whale review could focus on the development of the harpoon for whale hunting. While the study focuses on one topic, harpoon applied science, it will even so be organized chronologically. The only difference here between a "chronological" and a "thematic" arroyo is what is emphasized the most: the development of the harpoon or the harpoon applied science.Just more authentic thematic reviews tend to suspension abroad from chronological lodge. For instance, a thematic review of material on sperm whales might examine how they are portrayed as "evil" in cultural documents. The subsections might include how they are personified, how their proportions are exaggerated, and their behaviors misunderstood. A review organized in this manner would shift betwixt time periods within each section according to the point made.

• Methodological: A methodological approach differs from the two higher up in that the focusing factor usually does not have to do with the content of the material. Instead, it focuses on the "methods" of the researcher or author. For the sperm whale projection, one methodological arroyo would exist to await at cultural differences between the portrayal of whales in American, British, and French art work. Or the review might focus on the economic impact of whaling on a customs. A methodological telescopic will influence either the types of documents in the review or the way in which these documents are discussed.
  Once you lot've decided on the organizational method for the body of the review, the sections y'all need to include in the paper should exist easy to figure out. They should arise out of your organizational strategy. In other words, a chronological review would have subsections for each vital fourth dimension period. A thematic review would have subtopics based upon factors that relate to the theme or issue.

Sometimes, though, you lot might need to add together additional sections that are necessary for your report, but exercise not fit in the organizational strategy of the body. What other sections you include in the body is up to you lot. Put in only what is necessary. Here are a few other sections you might want to consider:

• Current Situation: Information necessary to empathise the topic or focus of the literature review.
• History: The chronological progression of the field, the literature, or an idea that is necessary to understand the literature review, if the trunk of the literature review is non already a chronology.
• Methods and/or Standards: The criteria yous used to select the sources in your literature review or the manner in which y'all present your data. For instance, you might explain that your review includes only peer-reviewed manufactures and journals.

Questions for Further Inquiry: What questions about the field has the review sparked? How will you lot further your research as a result of the review?

Begin composing

Once y'all've settled on a general pattern of organisation, you're ready to write each section. There are a few guidelines you lot should follow during the writing stage as well. Here is a sample paragraph from a literature review nigh sexism and language to illuminate the following give-and-take:

However, other studies have shown that even gender-neutral antecedents are more likely to produce masculine images than feminine ones (Gastil, 1990). Hamilton (1988) asked students to complete sentences that required them to fill in pronouns that agreed with gender-neutral antecedents such as "writer," "pedestrian," and "persons." The students were asked to depict any image they had when writing the judgement. Hamilton found that people imagined 3.iii men to each woman in the masculine "generic" condition and 1.v men per adult female in the unbiased condition. Thus, while ambient sexism accounted for some of the masculine bias, sexist language amplified the effect. (Source: Erika Falk and Hashemite kingdom of jordan Mills, "Why Sexist Linguistic communication Affects Persuasion: The Office of Homophily, Intended Audience, and Offense," Women and Language19:two).

Use bear witness

In the example to a higher place, the writers refer to several other sources when making their betoken. A literature review in this sense is only like any other academic inquiry paper. Your interpretation of the bachelor sources must be backed up with evidence to show that what you are saying is valid.

Be selective

Select only the most important points in each source to highlight in the review. The type of information you cull to mention should relate direct to the review'south focus, whether it is thematic, methodological, or chronological.

Use quotes sparingly

Falk and Mills do not utilize any direct quotes. That is because the survey nature of the literature review does not allow for in-depth give-and-take or detailed quotes from the text. Some short quotes hither and there are okay, though, if you want to emphasize a point, or if what the writer said simply cannot be rewritten in your ain words. Notice that Falk and Mills practise quote certain terms that were coined by the author, not mutual knowledge, or taken directly from the report. Simply if you discover yourself wanting to put in more than quotes, check with your instructor.

Summarize and synthesize

Remember to summarize and synthesize your sources inside each paragraph as well as throughout the review. The authors here recapitulate important features of Hamilton's written report, merely then synthesize it by rephrasing the study's significance and relating it to their own work.

Proceed your own vocalisation

While the literature review presents others' ideas, your voice (the author's) should remain forepart and center. Discover that Falk and Mills weave references to other sources into their own text, but they still maintain their own vox by starting and ending the paragraph with their own ideas and their own words. The sources support what Falk and Mills are saying.

Utilise caution when paraphrasing

When paraphrasing a source that is not your ain, exist sure to represent the author's information or opinions accurately and in your ain words. In the preceding instance, Falk and Mills either directly refer in the text to the author of their source, such every bit Hamilton, or they provide aplenty notation in the text when the ideas they are mentioning are non their own, for instance, Gastil'due south. For more data, please come across our handout on plagiarism.

Revise, revise, revise

Draft in hand? Now you're ready to revise. Spending a lot of time revising is a wise thought, because your principal objective is to present the cloth, non the argument. So bank check over your review again to make sure it follows the assignment and/or your outline. Then, just as y'all would for near other academic forms of writing, rewrite or rework the linguistic communication of your review so that yous've presented your information in the most concise manner possible. Be sure to use terminology familiar to your audience; get rid of unnecessary jargon or slang. Finally, double check that you've documented your sources and formatted the review appropriately for your subject area. For tips on the revising and editing process, see our handout on revising drafts.

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is non a comprehensive listing of resource on the handout'southward topic, and we encourage you lot to do your ain research to discover additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may non match the citation style y'all are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please come across the UNC Libraries commendation tutorial. We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Anson, Chris M., and Robert A. Schwegler. 2010. The Longman Handbook for Writers and Readers, 6th ed. New York: Longman.

Jones, Robert, Patrick Bizzaro, and Cynthia Selfe. 1997. The Harcourt Caryatid Guide to Writing in the Disciplines. New York: Harcourt Brace.

Lamb, Sandra East. 1998. How to Write It: A Consummate Guide to Everything You'll Always Write. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press.

Rosen, Leonard J., and Laurence Behrens. 2003. The Allyn & Bacon Handbook, 5th ed. New York: Longman.

Troyka, Lynn Quittman, and Doug Hesse. 2016. Simon and Schuster Handbook for Writers, 11th ed. London: Pearson.

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