The second stage is a literature review – a review of work that has been done on the subject area, so before you can do any research, your first task is to read what others have done and to write a review of it. This is typically an assigned paper of several pages (or more), and it represents the theoretical framework for the research you wish to conduct and explains why it is important. A literature review also helps you to think about where your research questions (or hypotheses) fit with reference to previous research. The best way to structure a literature review is to organise your sources logically and critically analyse their relevance, which is why many students seek literature review writing help to ensure clarity and coherence. UKWritings.com offers professional writing services that can assist you in writing a well-structured and insightful literature review. It’s very important to organise this literature review so that readers can understand the different strands of past research, as well as feel the urgency of the new study.
Purpose of a Literature Review
Before we discuss the shape it can take, it’s important to examine what a literature review actually does. Contrary to the popular wisdom, a literature review is not a summary of the available studies. Instead, a review elaborates trends, patterns, gaps and tensions in the literature in order to help the researcher situate his/her work in relation to other academic work, and demonstrate how it contributes to the broader conversation.
The best literature reviews are organised in a way that makes this story easy for readers to follow, enabling them to grasp how the field has evolved and how the researcher’s work builds on or challenges what has come before.
Initial Considerations for Structuring a Literature Review
First we need to consider the specificity of the review that we are conducting: how many works should be included in it (for example, the entirety of 19th-century British literature or only works by women?); the research questions or objectives, that is the issue or issues that we are exploring; and our target audience. These considerations will bear on the organisation and presentation of the review.
Scope of the Review
To effectively structure a literature review, using online literature review writing services can provide valuable guidance and ensure your review is well-organised and comprehensive. The scope of the review is the range within which a study considers literature. It is determined by what literature is included, what time period is examined and where the literature is located (eg, in what discipline or field). A narrow scope might examine a particular angle of a topic, while a broad scope might look at the review’s topic more widely, incorporating more studies. It is important to clearly define the scope at the beginning because this will inform the organisation and focus of the literature review.
Research Questions or Objectives
The questions or aims of the research should drive the organisation of the material, because it is they – not the general topic – that determine what the relevant aspects of the literature are. If the research question asks whether an intervention is effective, for instance, the literature review might be organised around studies looking at different aspects of the intervention.
Audience
An awareness of your audience will inform how you should structure your literature review: you might be able to get away with a more detailed, complex and focused approach in a review aimed at experts; but you might similarly be able to get away with less context and background in a review aimed at students or at an academic audience generally. In a review for experts you might be dealing with someone who already knows much about the subject. In a literature review for students, on the other hand, you have to provide context and background from the very beginning.
Common Structures for a Literature Review
Many familiar structural patterns are available to help organise a literature review, and you will likely choose between them based on the nature of the topic; the nature of the research questions; and the nature of the literature base.
Chronological Structure
Chronological structure orders the literature by publication date, showing how the methods and approaches used in the topic area have developed over time. This structure is particularly valuable for topics where the understanding of the subject or the methods used to study it has changed a lot over time. Readers can see the incremental development of ideas and of the study itself in sequential order.
Thematic Structure
A thematic organisation organises the literature around key themes or concepts. It can be a good way to organise a literature review when there are several themes or concepts recurring across the literature that are relevant to the research question. With a thematic organisation, the reviewer can group similar studies together to make comparisons easier.
Methodological Structure
A methodological structure groups the literature based on the research methods used. This structure is appropriate when the research question relates to comparing research methods, or when the methods are an important component of the literature. A methodological structure can be used when the researcher wants to make a point about how different methods have been applied to a topic, and what the relative strengths and weaknesses of each approach might be.
Theoretical Structure
A theoretical structure arranges the literature according to the theoretical frameworks under which studies have been conducted, and this can be a useful structure to apply to a topic that’s highly theory-driven. Organising the review around theories allows the researcher to reveal how different theoretical approaches have structured the research, and where gaps might exist in the theoretical approaches that will need to be closed in future work.
Combining Structures
Often, a literature review makes use of more than one of these structures – for instance, the review might begin with a chronological overview of the research, progress to a thematic discussion of the key findings, and end with a methodological critique. This combination of structures allows for the researcher to provide an overview of the literature as a whole, while still highlighting aspects that are central to the research question at hand.
Writing the Literature Review
After the architecture is established, you’re ready to assemble the literature review. This is not a summarising exercise. Effective literature reviews require critical analysis and synthesis of the literature in a manner that orchestrates the reader through the body of work, bringing attention to the seminal studies, calling out the problems or the holes, and setting up the case for the new work.
Introduction
The introduction of a literature review should begin by including some overall context to set up the topic and explain what’s to come (in terms of the purpose of the literature review). The introduction should establish the research questions or objectives the writer wants to address, and sketch out the organisation of the review. The introduction of a literature review sets up the reader, providing some needed background and explanation.
Main Body
This is where most of the actual analysis and synthesis takes place: your discussion, which may be divided into sections that follow your chosen structure (chronological, thematic, methodological, theoretical, or a combination of these). Within each section, you should begin with a short introductory paragraph, which transitions into a paragraph-by-paragraph discussion of the studies that are relevant to your topic. In each paragraph, you should paraphrase and summarise the studies, but also appraise their relevance and quality, responsiveness to the question, and possible weaknesses, gaps or surprises.
Example of Combining Structures in a Literature Review
Conclusion
The conclusion of the literature review is an opportunity to summarise the main findings of the literature and highlight the gaps or inconsistencies found, as well as how the new research will fill in gaps or advance the knowledge. In this section, the reader should finish with a clear sense of the present shape of the research on the subject, and its importance with respect to the new study.
Revising and Refining the Literature Review
However, once the literature review is written, it should be carefully edited. This includes checking the organisation and fluency: is the structure clear and logical? Does the discussion flow naturally from one topic to another? Is it clear and concise? asks.
FAQ Section
What is the main purpose of a literature review?
The purpose of a literature review is to provide a broad overview of prior research with respect to a given research topic, identify patterns, gaps and disputes in the literature, and provide context for new research.
How should I decide on the structure of my literature review?
The shape of the literature review will depend on the questions or objectives of the research, its scope and its audience. Some common structures are chronological, thematic, methodological and theoretical, and these can be combined as needed.
What should be included in the introduction of a literature review?
A review’s introduction should describe and contextualise the subject, state the goals of the review, outline the research question(s) or objectives, and establish an organising framework for the review.
How do I write the main body of a literature review?
It needs to be divided and structured according to the type of the text and will contain a discussion of the research studies. Each part will need to start with an introduction and there needs to be a discussion of the studies. These should include critical analysis and synthesis of each study, considering its strengths and weaknesses, followed by information on why this particular study is relevant to the research question.
Why is revising and refining the literature review important?
Revising and editing help you to structure, clarify and focus the literature review and improve the flow of the text, so that the review is well-structured and easy to follow. This is another important and important step in the creation of a literature review.
