How should a literature review be structured? Tips below
I know what you're thinking: "How do I structure a literature review? That sounds like one of the hardest things I'll ever have to do in college!" Well, it can be. But with some preparation and research, you'll be able to craft an engaging introduction that outlines your argument and shows how it builds on previous scholarship within your discipline or field.
Here are some things to consider when structuring your literature review.
The literature review summarises the research that has been done on a topic. It can be part of your introduction, or it can stand as an independent section, depending on what kind of paper you’re writing and how much space you have. Your literature review should be based on a clear thesis statement, which will help you organise your research material. Students can also benefit from literature reviewing writing help if they struggle to figure out how to create a paper that stands out.
Literature reviews can be part of your introduction or stand-alone.
The literature review can be part of your introduction, but it can also be an independent section. This is because the literature review is a separate section in the paper and does not need to be included in your introduction.
Make sure the sources you use are relevant and recent.
Relevance is a matter of degree. Your sources should be relevant to your topic but not necessarily directly related. For example, if you're writing about the effects of the Great Recession on small businesses, it would be appropriate to include other research papers that looked at how economic recessions affect different types of companies in different countries. It wouldn't make sense to include an article that examined the effect of economic recessions on large corporations as they have nothing to do with small businesses or your particular subject matter (although it could still be helpful for background reading).
Relevance is a matter of context. While there are many ways in which something can be considered “relevant” or “irrelevant” to another topic, one thing must always be considered in context: what time? What place? Who else has been studying this topic? The answers will depend on what kind of paper you're writing—just like everything else in life!
Each paragraph's topic sentence should repeat the thesis statement's words.
In a short paper, the topic sentence of each paragraph should repeat words or phrases from the thesis statement.
A good topic sentence should be:
- * clear and direct
- * appropriate for its audience (not too complicated)
- * specific enough to guide readers through your argument
The topic sentences in your paper will serve as signposts for readers when trying to understand where you're going with your argument. That's why they must be clear, direct, and simple—so they'll help guide readers instead of confusing them!
Do not simply summarise or paraphrase.
When you paraphrase a source, you take the author's words and put them into your own words. This is not necessarily bad! But it's not always necessary to do so. If all you're doing is summarising an article or chapter, consider citing specific passages instead of paraphrasing them.
If you are using an author's ideas in ways that don't fit neatly under one of these three categories (i.e., your originality), cite the passage(s) from which those ideas were drawn and explain how they were used/adapted by you to demonstrate your understanding of how this information was incorporated into your work
Intimate knowledge of the arguments and textual evidence
Literature review samples have intimate knowledge of the arguments and textual evidence in at least a dozen articles, combining several of these articles into their analysis. If you don’t use more than a dozen sources, you are likely to be parroting what the authors say without knowing much about the literature yourself.
Try to integrate your outside sources into your discussion
You should also integrate your outside sources into your discussion of the text under analysis so that each paragraph has a main topic supported by both primary and secondary sources.
This is important because it prevents you from simply repeating what someone else has said about the work. Instead, you will be framing arguments around evidence from both sides of an issue or providing an interpretation based on evidence from multiple perspectives. It makes your argument more robust and nuanced!
Conclusion
As you can see, many ways to structure a literature review exist. The most important thing is to find the approach that works for you—and stick with it! By deciding early on how to structure your paper and sticking with this structure throughout the writing process, you’ll save yourself from having to make significant changes later on when things don’t work out as planned.
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