51+ SAMPLE Literature Review

What Is a Literature Review?

This should not be in any way confused with a book review. Though they may share some similarities. There is a huge difference between the two. A literature review is a discussion about a topic or a study that has been published already. On the other hand, a book review or also referred to as a book report, focuses on a book or an article. This focus on a singular source while a literature review makes use of multiple sources to have an in depth study of a particular topic.

Key Elements Needed in a Literature Review

Most literature reviews will be made up of 3 core components. They are the introduction, the body and the conclusion. However, there are also some elements that can be added to make the review credible as well as easy to comprehend.

The introduction: The first section of the review should give an overview of the main topic or the major problem that you will further discuss in the body paragraphs. In the introductory paragraph, the objective of the study should be stated as well. This will give the target audience or viewers a background as to why this review was conducted and why this review is important. It is also a good idea to add questions in the first part of the review. This will stimulate the mind of the readers to think as well. This will peak their interest to continue on reading the document.The body paragraphs: The body should contain the discussion of the different credible sources that you were able to obtain. The discussion may further be divided into three subsections. The first section is the party or the research that agrees with the review. This should contain reliable sources and clearly show why they are in support of the particular study or position. The second one is the discussion about the party or research that is against or the side of the opposition. This should discuss as to why they are against that particular study or review. Just like in a persuasive essay, it is a good idea to give out the opinion of the other party. This should contain their argument. The third section is not particularly used by everyone. But, it can greatly affect mind and decision of the readers. This will focus the discussion on the party that is neither in support nor against the study. They are the ones that are offering an alternative approach or research. There are also three ways to organize the discussion and sources included in the body. They are chronologically, thematically and methodologically.The conclusion: The next section will provide a concluding statement or paragraph. This will integrate, summarize and provide the culmination and interpretation of the author of the literature review. The conclusion should answer the questions given out in the introductory paragraph as well. This should clearly solve the major questions or iterate the main idea of the review.The references: One of the biggest and most important things to add in the literature review is the references. This is just like a school research or a thesis wherein you need to add at the last page of your paper the reference page sheet you used in the review. Examples of credible sources are university studies or case study, scholarly books, published articles from the government and statistics. Included in the references section is the criteria in which you chose the resources you used.The past and present situation: This is an optional section. This is usually included if the way you organized the body paragraphs is not in chronological order. It is important to give a background statement on the topic. As for the present situation, this will make the topic easier to comprehend. The readers will also be reminded of the relevance of the topic to our times today and to our society today.

Step by Step Process in Creating a Literature Review

Step 1: Select a Format or a Template

The first step in order to create an organized and strong literature review is to make use of formats or templates. This will allow the author or the user present the ideas and research in a clear and methodized manner. This type of document should be presented as visually pleasing as possible. This will allow the readers to be able to comprehend the review easily and without going back to read a statement again.

Step 2: Identify the Major Problem or the Main topic

After selecting a format, the first thing to do is to acquire or think of a topic or problem statement that you would want to discuss and explain. Identify also the key element of the topic. What are the matters in question and the point of issue about the topic?

A tip that may help in choosing a topic is relating it to the current situation as of the moment. This will make sure that you will garner a huge crowd to read the review. Make sure that the topic is relevant to the society as of the moment. In some cases, other people opt to make a literature review about subject matters that they are passionate about. This will be a great help, especially if you have a prior knowledge about the subject matter at hand.

Step 3: Do an Extensive Research

After identifying the topic and the key elements included in that particular topic, do an extensive research about it. It is important that the sources you will use are relevant or in direct correlation with the topic. The resources you will have must be credible and reliable. It is a must to be thorough on checking if the articles or books you will be basing your review on is true and accurate. This is done in order for the actual review to be accurate and reliable.

Evaluate the materials or sources you have gathered and make sure to only utilize those that are of significant importance to your main topic.

It is also a must to do an extensive research that is against the review you are doing. This will give the author an idea about the point of view of the opposition. This way the author will be able to create a strong argument about his or her document.

Step 4: Interpretation of the Pieces of Information

A literature review will come from the point of view of the author. After reviewing and evaluating all the research papers you have gathered, it is a must that you create a literature review from your own words. How did you as the author of the review analyze the topic? How will you interpret it from your own understanding? It is not enough that you will only cite the research you gathered. It is a must that you exhaustively discuss the topic and thoroughly explain it from your own perspective.

Make use of the different elements stated above in order to come up with a solid piece of document. Take note to make the ideas as organized as possible. An organized paper will encourage the target audience or readers to finish reading the whole document.

Step 5: Proofread the Review

Before you will publish or submit the review, it is important to double check it. Thoroughly read over the document from start to finish in order to spot any errors you might have made. This is to make sure that there are no spelling or grammar errors done. This will also guarantee that the flow of sentences is organized and clear.

Purpose of a Literature Review

This will provide knowledge about a certain study or topic.This will as well review and find new ways to analyze and interpret the study of a topic that in turn will lead to discoveries of gaps or missing pieces of information.This will provide a way to indicate that there is a need for further research about that certain topic.This is a way to integrate the research of the author with the existing research of others.Lastly, it identifies the relationship of the different sources or previous works as well as their relationship with different external fields or studies.

FAQs

What Are the Different Types of Literature Reviews?

Argumentative review

This type of review will focus on backing up an argument or proving an argument to be wrong. The most common type of this and the main purpose of this is to construct a review or document that will oppose the opinion of the study or paper with the authors point of view.

Integrative review

This type of review will integrate all the credible sources that are in relation with the topic or discussion. This will mainly lead to the formulation of a new research or to the realization of a new problem.

Historical review

The main point of this is to look into research studies that are done in the past and compare it with the development that has happened. This will let people realize the path that the research takes and lead to more research in the near future.

Methodological review

This type of review will focus less on the sources or the content of the materials and focus more on the approach or method statement that the author of the paper used. This means that this will focus on how the author analyzes the problem or the topic. This will give the readers the opportunity to look at the review in a different level and perspective.

Systematic review

This type of review will make use of a standardized method and will make use of existing sources to identify and evaluate researches. This is mostly done in a cause and effect structure.

Theoretical review

This will mainly focus on theories about certain topics. This will identify the theories as well as the relationship of different theories about a topic or discussion. This will lead to the formulation of a new hypothesis.

What Are the Ways in Organizing the Body of the Literature Review?

There are three common ways in organizing the ideas and sources stated in your body paragraphs. They can be arranged in a methodological order, in a thematic order or in a chronological order.

Methodological order:

This is the type of arrangement that would not take into consideration the significant importance of a source or the date that they were published. Rather, this would look into a different criteria for organizing the materials. In this type of arrangement, it will be based on the author on how he or she will put into order the materials. The author will make use of his or her own strategy in organizing the materials. However, there should still be a clear and organized way of arranging the sources or materials.

Thematic order:

In a thematic order, more often than not, the date that the source was published will be disregarded. In here, you will focus more on the topic and the significant importance of the source on the said topic. The publication date would not matter in this type of arrangement. Rather, it would arrange the sources or materials based on the essential pieces of information that they will contribute about the discussion or topic.

Chronological order:

This means that you will be arranging the sources you have gathered based on the date that they were published. A chronological order may further be divided into two types. They are:

Chronological order by publication – This is the most common type of arrangement. This means that you will be arranging the sources purely based on their date of publication.

Chronological order by trend – This is the second type of arrangement. This will mean that you will make use of subsection. For example a book is published in the 1800s and 1900s then you find a source that was released in the early 2000s, you can integrate the latest study with the study published in the 1800s. It will then be considered as a supporting document or a subsection of that study.

What Is the Difference of a Systematic Review to a Literature Review?

A systematic review in general will take years to finish while a literature review can be completed in months. The difference in time is due to their scope. A systematic review will focus on answering the clinical question about the topic. On the other hand, a literature review provide an abstract or overview of the topic. In a systematic review there needs to be prior and thorough knowledge about the topic. While, in the literature review simple understanding of a topic will suffice.

In a literature review it is important to summarize and synthesize your point of view with the sources you have gathered. This will lead to the formulation of a clear and on point overview of the topic. Make use of the templates available above to have an outline and guide in constructing this type of review. Read the details as well in order to construct a detailed literature review.