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LITERATURE REVIEW
Literature Review
Amy Perez
Feb. 9, 2018
Getting Lit with a Lit Review
A literature review is a paper written before the actually project begins. Literature reviews are usually written by college students writing an undergraduate dissertation. It should “not be confused with a book review” although they are somewhat similar. The paper consists of the available literature in your chosen topic as well as analyze and organize the information. It is more than “just a simple summary of the sources” as defined in an article from The University of North Carolina. Instead, it is an evaluation of the research conducted.
There are also different types of literature reviews that should be taken under consideration. For example, argumentative, integrative, historical, methodological, systematic, and theoretical. Each type of review is different. Argumentative reviews literature to either support or go against a given topic. Integrative reviews works so new ideas are conducted. Historical reviews literature in a time period for a topic. Methodological “focus on what someone said [findings], but how they came about saying what they say [method of analysis].” Systematic reviews existing evidence and helps express a question. Finally, theoretical reviews “helps to establish what theories already exist, [and] the relationships between them”.
Literature reviews are written to do the following: broaden your knowledge on the subject as well as see what you already know, helps you figure out if the particular topic has already been researched, identify those working in the same subject, and helps you research more in depth. A lit. review is not a summary of the research you have accomplished, but more of if there is information on the subject matter and it works as a “guide to a particular topic.” It also helps to narrow a topic down to a specific subject matter. As expressed on the Writing center “the narrower your topic, the easier it will be to limit the number of sources.”
On the Royal Literary Fund’s website it states the structure of writing a good literature review. Although the website has just three main parts in writing a lit. review, introduction, main body, and conclusion, most reviews are longer than three paragraphs. The introduction clearly states the topic, reasoning, and literary works. The middle portion consists of the literature that is in review clearly organizing it. Then it can move on touching on the general subject to give some background information and then focusing on the specific topic. Finally the conclusion summarizes the information and is the “review” part of the literature review. It focuses on prior knowledge and gaps as well as evaluate the literature.
When writing a literature review the information gathered should be put “into categories”, so that the information is organized and easier to review. It should also do a comparison on the information to see the differences and similarities. “Describe the relationship of each work to the others under consideration” doing this helps understand what you know and do not know about the subject.
There are many things to keep in mind when writing a literature review, but a literature review is an analysis of the literature researched. It is created to help organize the information and point out flaws. It makes the research project run smoothly and helps ease the pain in writing a research paper.
Writing a literature review. (n.d.). Retrieved February 9, 2018, from https://www.citewrite.qut.edu.au/write/litreview.jsp
(n.d.). Retrieved February 09, 2018, from https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/literature-reviews/
How to do a literature search. (n.d.). Retrieved February 09, 2018, from
Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper: 5. The Literature Review. (n.d.). Retrieved February 09, 2018, from http://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide/literaturereview
Write a Literature Review. (n.d.). Retrieved February 9, 2018, from https://guides.library.ucsc.edu/write-a-literature-review