how to write a literature review in a dissertation

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How to Write a Literature Review | Guide, Examples, & Templates

How to Write a Literature Review | Guide, Examples, & Templates

Published on January 2, 2023 by Shona McCombes . Revised on September 11, 2023.

What is a literature review? A literature review is a survey of scholarly sources on a specific topic. It provides an overview of current knowledge, allowing you to identify relevant theories, methods, and gaps in the existing research that you can later apply to your paper, thesis, or dissertation topic .

There are five key steps to writing a literature review:

Search for relevant literature
Evaluate sources
Identify themes, debates, and gaps
Outline the structure
Write your literature review

A good literature review doesn’t just summarize sources—it analyzes, synthesizes , and critically evaluates to give a clear picture of the state of knowledge on the subject.

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What is the purpose of a literature review, examples of literature reviews, step 1 – search for relevant literature, step 2 – evaluate and select sources, step 3 – identify themes, debates, and gaps, step 4 – outline your literature review’s structure, step 5 – write your literature review, free lecture slides, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions, introduction.

Quick Run-through
Step 1 & 2

When you write a thesis , dissertation , or research paper , you will likely have to conduct a literature review to situate your research within existing knowledge. The literature review gives you a chance to:

Demonstrate your familiarity with the topic and its scholarly context
Develop a theoretical framework and methodology for your research
Position your work in relation to other researchers and theorists
Show how your research addresses a gap or contributes to a debate
Evaluate the current state of research and demonstrate your knowledge of the scholarly debates around your topic.

Writing literature reviews is a particularly important skill if you want to apply for graduate school or pursue a career in research. We’ve written a step-by-step guide that you can follow below.

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Writing literature reviews can be quite challenging! A good starting point could be to look at some examples, depending on what kind of literature review you’d like to write.

Example literature review #1: “Why Do People Migrate? A Review of the Theoretical Literature” ( Theoretical literature review about the development of economic migration theory from the 1950s to today.)
Example literature review #2: “Literature review as a research methodology: An overview and guidelines” ( Methodological literature review about interdisciplinary knowledge acquisition and production.)
Example literature review #3: “The Use of Technology in English Language Learning: A Literature Review” ( Thematic literature review about the effects of technology on language acquisition.)
Example literature review #4: “Learners’ Listening Comprehension Difficulties in English Language Learning: A Literature Review” ( Chronological literature review about how the concept of listening skills has changed over time.)

You can also check out our templates with literature review examples and sample outlines at the links below.

Download Word doc Download Google doc

Before you begin searching for literature, you need a clearly defined topic .

If you are writing the literature review section of a dissertation or research paper, you will search for literature related to your research problem and questions .

Make a list of keywords

Start by creating a list of keywords related to your research question. Include each of the key concepts or variables you’re interested in, and list any synonyms and related terms. You can add to this list as you discover new keywords in the process of your literature search.

Social media, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, TikTok
Body image, self-perception, self-esteem, mental health
Generation Z, teenagers, adolescents, youth

Search for relevant sources

Use your keywords to begin searching for sources. Some useful databases to search for journals and articles include:

Your university’s library catalogue
Google Scholar
Project Muse (humanities and social sciences)
Medline (life sciences and biomedicine)
EconLit (economics)
Inspec (physics, engineering and computer science)

You can also use boolean operators to help narrow down your search.

Make sure to read the abstract to find out whether an article is relevant to your question. When you find a useful book or article, you can check the bibliography to find other relevant sources.

You likely won’t be able to read absolutely everything that has been written on your topic, so it will be necessary to evaluate which sources are most relevant to your research question.

For each publication, ask yourself:

What question or problem is the author addressing?
What are the key concepts and how are they defined?
What are the key theories, models, and methods?
Does the research use established frameworks or take an innovative approach?
What are the results and conclusions of the study?
How does the publication relate to other literature in the field? Does it confirm, add to, or challenge established knowledge?
What are the strengths and weaknesses of the research?

Make sure the sources you use are credible , and make sure you read any landmark studies and major theories in your field of research.

You can use our template to summarize and evaluate sources you’re thinking about using. Click on either button below to download.

Take notes and cite your sources

As you read, you should also begin the writing process. Take notes that you can later incorporate into the text of your literature review.

It is important to keep track of your sources with citations to avoid plagiarism . It can be helpful to make an annotated bibliography , where you compile full citation information and write a paragraph of summary and analysis for each source. This helps you remember what you read and saves time later in the process.

Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.

To begin organizing your literature review’s argument and structure, be sure you understand the connections and relationships between the sources you’ve read. Based on your reading and notes, you can look for:

Trends and patterns (in theory, method or results): do certain approaches become more or less popular over time?
Themes: what questions or concepts recur across the literature?
Debates, conflicts and contradictions: where do sources disagree?
Pivotal publications: are there any influential theories or studies that changed the direction of the field?
Gaps: what is missing from the literature? Are there weaknesses that need to be addressed?

This step will help you work out the structure of your literature review and (if applicable) show how your own research will contribute to existing knowledge.

Most research has focused on young women.
There is an increasing interest in the visual aspects of social media.
But there is still a lack of robust research on highly visual platforms like Instagram and Snapchat—this is a gap that you could address in your own research.

There are various approaches to organizing the body of a literature review. Depending on the length of your literature review, you can combine several of these strategies (for example, your overall structure might be thematic, but each theme is discussed chronologically).

Chronological

The simplest approach is to trace the development of the topic over time. However, if you choose this strategy, be careful to avoid simply listing and summarizing sources in order.

Try to analyze patterns, turning points and key debates that have shaped the direction of the field. Give your interpretation of how and why certain developments occurred.

If you have found some recurring central themes, you can organize your literature review into subsections that address different aspects of the topic.

For example, if you are reviewing literature about inequalities in migrant health outcomes, key themes might include healthcare policy, language barriers, cultural attitudes, legal status, and economic access.

Methodological

If you draw your sources from different disciplines or fields that use a variety of research methods , you might want to compare the results and conclusions that emerge from different approaches. For example:

Look at what results have emerged in qualitative versus quantitative research
Discuss how the topic has been approached by empirical versus theoretical scholarship
Divide the literature into sociological, historical, and cultural sources

Theoretical

A literature review is often the foundation for a theoretical framework . You can use it to discuss various theories, models, and definitions of key concepts.

You might argue for the relevance of a specific theoretical approach, or combine various theoretical concepts to create a framework for your research.

Like any other academic text , your literature review should have an introduction , a main body, and a conclusion . What you include in each depends on the objective of your literature review.

The introduction should clearly establish the focus and purpose of the literature review.

Depending on the length of your literature review, you might want to divide the body into subsections. You can use a subheading for each theme, time period, or methodological approach.

As you write, you can follow these tips:

Summarize and synthesize: give an overview of the main points of each source and combine them into a coherent whole
Analyze and interpret: don’t just paraphrase other researchers — add your own interpretations where possible, discussing the significance of findings in relation to the literature as a whole
Critically evaluate: mention the strengths and weaknesses of your sources
Write in well-structured paragraphs: use transition words and topic sentences to draw connections, comparisons and contrasts

In the conclusion, you should summarize the key findings you have taken from the literature and emphasize their significance.

When you’ve finished writing and revising your literature review, don’t forget to proofread thoroughly before submitting. Not a language expert? Check out Scribbr’s professional proofreading services !

This article has been adapted into lecture slides that you can use to teach your students about writing a literature review.

Scribbr slides are free to use, customize, and distribute for educational purposes.

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If you want to know more about the research process , methodology , research bias , or statistics , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

Sampling methods
Simple random sampling
Stratified sampling
Cluster sampling
Likert scales
Reproducibility

Statistics

Null hypothesis
Statistical power
Probability distribution
Effect size
Poisson distribution

Research bias

Optimism bias
Cognitive bias
Implicit bias
Hawthorne effect
Anchoring bias
Explicit bias

A literature review is a survey of scholarly sources (such as books, journal articles, and theses) related to a specific topic or research question .

It is often written as part of a thesis, dissertation , or research paper , in order to situate your work in relation to existing knowledge.

There are several reasons to conduct a literature review at the beginning of a research project:

To familiarize yourself with the current state of knowledge on your topic
To ensure that you’re not just repeating what others have already done
To identify gaps in knowledge and unresolved problems that your research can address
To develop your theoretical framework and methodology
To provide an overview of the key findings and debates on the topic

Writing the literature review shows your reader how your work relates to existing research and what new insights it will contribute.

The literature review usually comes near the beginning of your thesis or dissertation . After the introduction , it grounds your research in a scholarly field and leads directly to your theoretical framework or methodology .

A literature review is a survey of credible sources on a topic, often used in dissertations , theses, and research papers . Literature reviews give an overview of knowledge on a subject, helping you identify relevant theories and methods, as well as gaps in existing research. Literature reviews are set up similarly to other academic texts , with an introduction , a main body, and a conclusion .

An annotated bibliography is a list of source references that has a short description (called an annotation ) for each of the sources. It is often assigned as part of the research process for a paper .

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McCombes, S. (2023, September 11). How to Write a Literature Review | Guide, Examples, & Templates. Scribbr. Retrieved July 22, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/dissertation/literature-review/

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Knowledge Base
Dissertation
What is a Literature Review? | Guide, Template, & Examples

What is a Literature Review? | Guide, Template, & Examples

Published on 22 February 2022 by Shona McCombes . Revised on 7 June 2022.

There are five key steps to writing a literature review:

Search for relevant literature
Evaluate sources
Identify themes, debates and gaps
Outline the structure
Write your literature review

A good literature review doesn’t just summarise sources – it analyses, synthesises, and critically evaluates to give a clear picture of the state of knowledge on the subject.

Instantly correct all language mistakes in your text

Be assured that you'll submit flawless writing. Upload your document to correct all your mistakes.

Why write a literature review, examples of literature reviews, step 1: search for relevant literature, step 2: evaluate and select sources, step 3: identify themes, debates and gaps, step 4: outline your literature review’s structure, step 5: write your literature review, frequently asked questions about literature reviews, introduction.

Quick Run-through
Step 1 & 2

When you write a dissertation or thesis, you will have to conduct a literature review to situate your research within existing knowledge. The literature review gives you a chance to:

Demonstrate your familiarity with the topic and scholarly context
Develop a theoretical framework and methodology for your research
Position yourself in relation to other researchers and theorists
Show how your dissertation addresses a gap or contributes to a debate

You might also have to write a literature review as a stand-alone assignment. In this case, the purpose is to evaluate the current state of research and demonstrate your knowledge of scholarly debates around a topic.

The content will look slightly different in each case, but the process of conducting a literature review follows the same steps. We’ve written a step-by-step guide that you can follow below.

Prevent plagiarism, run a free check.

Writing literature reviews can be quite challenging! A good starting point could be to look at some examples, depending on what kind of literature review you’d like to write.

Example literature review #1: “Why Do People Migrate? A Review of the Theoretical Literature” ( Theoretical literature review about the development of economic migration theory from the 1950s to today.)
Example literature review #2: “Literature review as a research methodology: An overview and guidelines” ( Methodological literature review about interdisciplinary knowledge acquisition and production.)
Example literature review #3: “The Use of Technology in English Language Learning: A Literature Review” ( Thematic literature review about the effects of technology on language acquisition.)
Example literature review #4: “Learners’ Listening Comprehension Difficulties in English Language Learning: A Literature Review” ( Chronological literature review about how the concept of listening skills has changed over time.)

You can also check out our templates with literature review examples and sample outlines at the links below.

Download Word doc Download Google doc

Before you begin searching for literature, you need a clearly defined topic .

If you are writing the literature review section of a dissertation or research paper, you will search for literature related to your research objectives and questions .

If you are writing a literature review as a stand-alone assignment, you will have to choose a focus and develop a central question to direct your search. Unlike a dissertation research question, this question has to be answerable without collecting original data. You should be able to answer it based only on a review of existing publications.

Make a list of keywords

Start by creating a list of keywords related to your research topic. Include each of the key concepts or variables you’re interested in, and list any synonyms and related terms. You can add to this list if you discover new keywords in the process of your literature search.

Social media, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, TikTok
Body image, self-perception, self-esteem, mental health
Generation Z, teenagers, adolescents, youth

Search for relevant sources

Use your keywords to begin searching for sources. Some databases to search for journals and articles include:

Your university’s library catalogue
Google Scholar
Project Muse (humanities and social sciences)
Medline (life sciences and biomedicine)
EconLit (economics)
Inspec (physics, engineering and computer science)

You can use boolean operators to help narrow down your search:

Read the abstract to find out whether an article is relevant to your question. When you find a useful book or article, you can check the bibliography to find other relevant sources.

To identify the most important publications on your topic, take note of recurring citations. If the same authors, books or articles keep appearing in your reading, make sure to seek them out.

You probably won’t be able to read absolutely everything that has been written on the topic – you’ll have to evaluate which sources are most relevant to your questions.

For each publication, ask yourself:

What question or problem is the author addressing?
What are the key concepts and how are they defined?
What are the key theories, models and methods? Does the research use established frameworks or take an innovative approach?
What are the results and conclusions of the study?
How does the publication relate to other literature in the field? Does it confirm, add to, or challenge established knowledge?
How does the publication contribute to your understanding of the topic? What are its key insights and arguments?
What are the strengths and weaknesses of the research?

Make sure the sources you use are credible, and make sure you read any landmark studies and major theories in your field of research.

You can find out how many times an article has been cited on Google Scholar – a high citation count means the article has been influential in the field, and should certainly be included in your literature review.

The scope of your review will depend on your topic and discipline: in the sciences you usually only review recent literature, but in the humanities you might take a long historical perspective (for example, to trace how a concept has changed in meaning over time).

Remember that you can use our template to summarise and evaluate sources you’re thinking about using!

Take notes and cite your sources

As you read, you should also begin the writing process. Take notes that you can later incorporate into the text of your literature review.

It’s important to keep track of your sources with references to avoid plagiarism . It can be helpful to make an annotated bibliography, where you compile full reference information and write a paragraph of summary and analysis for each source. This helps you remember what you read and saves time later in the process.

You can use our free APA Reference Generator for quick, correct, consistent citations.

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how to write a literature review in a dissertation

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To begin organising your literature review’s argument and structure, you need to understand the connections and relationships between the sources you’ve read. Based on your reading and notes, you can look for:

Trends and patterns (in theory, method or results): do certain approaches become more or less popular over time?
Themes: what questions or concepts recur across the literature?
Debates, conflicts and contradictions: where do sources disagree?
Pivotal publications: are there any influential theories or studies that changed the direction of the field?
Gaps: what is missing from the literature? Are there weaknesses that need to be addressed?

This step will help you work out the structure of your literature review and (if applicable) show how your own research will contribute to existing knowledge.

Most research has focused on young women.
There is an increasing interest in the visual aspects of social media.
But there is still a lack of robust research on highly-visual platforms like Instagram and Snapchat – this is a gap that you could address in your own research.

There are various approaches to organising the body of a literature review. You should have a rough idea of your strategy before you start writing.

Depending on the length of your literature review, you can combine several of these strategies (for example, your overall structure might be thematic, but each theme is discussed chronologically).

Chronological

The simplest approach is to trace the development of the topic over time. However, if you choose this strategy, be careful to avoid simply listing and summarising sources in order.

Try to analyse patterns, turning points and key debates that have shaped the direction of the field. Give your interpretation of how and why certain developments occurred.

If you have found some recurring central themes, you can organise your literature review into subsections that address different aspects of the topic.

Methodological

Look at what results have emerged in qualitative versus quantitative research
Discuss how the topic has been approached by empirical versus theoretical scholarship
Divide the literature into sociological, historical, and cultural sources

Theoretical

A literature review is often the foundation for a theoretical framework . You can use it to discuss various theories, models, and definitions of key concepts.

You might argue for the relevance of a specific theoretical approach, or combine various theoretical concepts to create a framework for your research.

Like any other academic text, your literature review should have an introduction , a main body, and a conclusion . What you include in each depends on the objective of your literature review.

The introduction should clearly establish the focus and purpose of the literature review.

If you are writing the literature review as part of your dissertation or thesis, reiterate your central problem or research question and give a brief summary of the scholarly context. You can emphasise the timeliness of the topic (“many recent studies have focused on the problem of x”) or highlight a gap in the literature (“while there has been much research on x, few researchers have taken y into consideration”).

Depending on the length of your literature review, you might want to divide the body into subsections. You can use a subheading for each theme, time period, or methodological approach.

As you write, make sure to follow these tips:

Summarise and synthesise: give an overview of the main points of each source and combine them into a coherent whole.
Analyse and interpret: don’t just paraphrase other researchers – add your own interpretations, discussing the significance of findings in relation to the literature as a whole.
Critically evaluate: mention the strengths and weaknesses of your sources.
Write in well-structured paragraphs: use transitions and topic sentences to draw connections, comparisons and contrasts.

In the conclusion, you should summarise the key findings you have taken from the literature and emphasise their significance.

If the literature review is part of your dissertation or thesis, reiterate how your research addresses gaps and contributes new knowledge, or discuss how you have drawn on existing theories and methods to build a framework for your research. This can lead directly into your methodology section.

A literature review is a survey of scholarly sources (such as books, journal articles, and theses) related to a specific topic or research question .

It is often written as part of a dissertation , thesis, research paper , or proposal .

There are several reasons to conduct a literature review at the beginning of a research project:

To familiarise yourself with the current state of knowledge on your topic
To ensure that you’re not just repeating what others have already done
To identify gaps in knowledge and unresolved problems that your research can address
To develop your theoretical framework and methodology
To provide an overview of the key findings and debates on the topic

Writing the literature review shows your reader how your work relates to existing research and what new insights it will contribute.

The literature review usually comes near the beginning of your dissertation . After the introduction , it grounds your research in a scholarly field and leads directly to your theoretical framework or methodology .

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the ‘Cite this Scribbr article’ button to automatically add the citation to our free Reference Generator.

McCombes, S. (2022, June 07). What is a Literature Review? | Guide, Template, & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved 22 July 2024, from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/thesis-dissertation/literature-review/

Is this article helpful?

Shona McCombes

Other students also liked, how to write a dissertation proposal | a step-by-step guide, what is a theoretical framework | a step-by-step guide, what is a research methodology | steps & tips.

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Writing a Literature Review

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A literature review is a document or section of a document that collects key sources on a topic and discusses those sources in conversation with each other (also called synthesis ). The lit review is an important genre in many disciplines, not just literature (i.e., the study of works of literature such as novels and plays). When we say “literature review” or refer to “the literature,” we are talking about the research ( scholarship ) in a given field. You will often see the terms “the research,” “the scholarship,” and “the literature” used mostly interchangeably.

Where, when, and why would I write a lit review?

There are a number of different situations where you might write a literature review, each with slightly different expectations; different disciplines, too, have field-specific expectations for what a literature review is and does. For instance, in the humanities, authors might include more overt argumentation and interpretation of source material in their literature reviews, whereas in the sciences, authors are more likely to report study designs and results in their literature reviews; these differences reflect these disciplines’ purposes and conventions in scholarship. You should always look at examples from your own discipline and talk to professors or mentors in your field to be sure you understand your discipline’s conventions, for literature reviews as well as for any other genre.

A literature review can be a part of a research paper or scholarly article, usually falling after the introduction and before the research methods sections. In these cases, the lit review just needs to cover scholarship that is important to the issue you are writing about; sometimes it will also cover key sources that informed your research methodology.

Lit reviews can also be standalone pieces, either as assignments in a class or as publications. In a class, a lit review may be assigned to help students familiarize themselves with a topic and with scholarship in their field, get an idea of the other researchers working on the topic they’re interested in, find gaps in existing research in order to propose new projects, and/or develop a theoretical framework and methodology for later research. As a publication, a lit review usually is meant to help make other scholars’ lives easier by collecting and summarizing, synthesizing, and analyzing existing research on a topic. This can be especially helpful for students or scholars getting into a new research area, or for directing an entire community of scholars toward questions that have not yet been answered.

What are the parts of a lit review?

Most lit reviews use a basic introduction-body-conclusion structure; if your lit review is part of a larger paper, the introduction and conclusion pieces may be just a few sentences while you focus most of your attention on the body. If your lit review is a standalone piece, the introduction and conclusion take up more space and give you a place to discuss your goals, research methods, and conclusions separately from where you discuss the literature itself.

Introduction:

An introductory paragraph that explains what your working topic and thesis is
A forecast of key topics or texts that will appear in the review
Potentially, a description of how you found sources and how you analyzed them for inclusion and discussion in the review (more often found in published, standalone literature reviews than in lit review sections in an article or research paper)
Summarize and synthesize: Give an overview of the main points of each source and combine them into a coherent whole
Analyze and interpret: Don’t just paraphrase other researchers – add your own interpretations where possible, discussing the significance of findings in relation to the literature as a whole
Critically Evaluate: Mention the strengths and weaknesses of your sources
Write in well-structured paragraphs: Use transition words and topic sentence to draw connections, comparisons, and contrasts.

Conclusion:

Summarize the key findings you have taken from the literature and emphasize their significance
Connect it back to your primary research question

How should I organize my lit review?

Lit reviews can take many different organizational patterns depending on what you are trying to accomplish with the review. Here are some examples:

Chronological : The simplest approach is to trace the development of the topic over time, which helps familiarize the audience with the topic (for instance if you are introducing something that is not commonly known in your field). If you choose this strategy, be careful to avoid simply listing and summarizing sources in order. Try to analyze the patterns, turning points, and key debates that have shaped the direction of the field. Give your interpretation of how and why certain developments occurred (as mentioned previously, this may not be appropriate in your discipline — check with a teacher or mentor if you’re unsure).
Thematic : If you have found some recurring central themes that you will continue working with throughout your piece, you can organize your literature review into subsections that address different aspects of the topic. For example, if you are reviewing literature about women and religion, key themes can include the role of women in churches and the religious attitude towards women.
Qualitative versus quantitative research
Empirical versus theoretical scholarship
Divide the research by sociological, historical, or cultural sources
Theoretical : In many humanities articles, the literature review is the foundation for the theoretical framework. You can use it to discuss various theories, models, and definitions of key concepts. You can argue for the relevance of a specific theoretical approach or combine various theorical concepts to create a framework for your research.

What are some strategies or tips I can use while writing my lit review?

Any lit review is only as good as the research it discusses; make sure your sources are well-chosen and your research is thorough. Don’t be afraid to do more research if you discover a new thread as you’re writing. More info on the research process is available in our "Conducting Research" resources .

As you’re doing your research, create an annotated bibliography ( see our page on the this type of document ). Much of the information used in an annotated bibliography can be used also in a literature review, so you’ll be not only partially drafting your lit review as you research, but also developing your sense of the larger conversation going on among scholars, professionals, and any other stakeholders in your topic.

Usually you will need to synthesize research rather than just summarizing it. This means drawing connections between sources to create a picture of the scholarly conversation on a topic over time. Many student writers struggle to synthesize because they feel they don’t have anything to add to the scholars they are citing; here are some strategies to help you:

It often helps to remember that the point of these kinds of syntheses is to show your readers how you understand your research, to help them read the rest of your paper.
Writing teachers often say synthesis is like hosting a dinner party: imagine all your sources are together in a room, discussing your topic. What are they saying to each other?
Look at the in-text citations in each paragraph. Are you citing just one source for each paragraph? This usually indicates summary only. When you have multiple sources cited in a paragraph, you are more likely to be synthesizing them (not always, but often
Read more about synthesis here.

The most interesting literature reviews are often written as arguments (again, as mentioned at the beginning of the page, this is discipline-specific and doesn’t work for all situations). Often, the literature review is where you can establish your research as filling a particular gap or as relevant in a particular way. You have some chance to do this in your introduction in an article, but the literature review section gives a more extended opportunity to establish the conversation in the way you would like your readers to see it. You can choose the intellectual lineage you would like to be part of and whose definitions matter most to your thinking (mostly humanities-specific, but this goes for sciences as well). In addressing these points, you argue for your place in the conversation, which tends to make the lit review more compelling than a simple reporting of other sources.

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How to write a dissertation literature review

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Are you tired of hearing the phrase 'literature review' every five minutes at university and having no idea what it means, let alone where to start? Not to worry - we've got you covered with this step-by-step guide to creating a great dissertation literature review.

What is a literature review?

In short, a dissertation literature review provides a critical assessment of the sources (literature) you have gathered and read surrounding your subject area, and then identifies a “gap” in that literature that your research will attempt to address.

There are a lot of misunderstandings about what exactly a dissertation literature review entails, as it can vary. Whilst in some cases a dissertation literature review can be a simple summary of important sources, most often it requires you to critically engage with the text to convey your positive or negative opinions of it. What is your interpretation of a particular source? Does this interpretation differ considerably from other viewpoints in the literature? This is the sort of critical engagement expected from you in a literature review.

Whereas a summary will most likely provide a simple recap of the general arguments of the source(s), the expectations concerning a literature review extend beyond this. A literature review may provide a new perspective on a classic research paper or it may combine both new and old interpretations (this is the “gap” – more on this later). A literature review may also provide a thorough and critical outline of the intellectual developments in a field with a focus on major, and often polemical, debates. In other scenarios, a literature review may also provide an assessment of a source and inform a reader about its validity, pertinence and relevance to the research subject.

"In a literature review, you're aiming to summarise and provide a critical analysis of the research arguments you have found in your readings, without making new contributions to the literature. Hence the term: “literature review ”."

There tends to be confusion between literature reviews and academic papers in general, but they are not one and the same. Generally, academic papers aim to provide new research material about a particular subject, and a literature review features as part of this objective. In a research paper, the literature review forms the basis of the research – it helps to highlight any research gaps as support for a new argument or insights you intend to provide. In a literature review, you're aiming to summarise and provide a critical analysis of the research arguments you have found in your readings, without making new contributions to the literature. Hence the term: “literature review ”.

Is a literature review really necessary?

Now that we know what a literature review is, the next step is to understand the point of writing one in the first place. Like it or not, a literature review is an essential part of any academic piece of writing, as it demonstrates to your tutor or reader that you have a nuanced understanding of the sources concerning your research area or question.

Although it may seem arbitrary, the literature review helps to persuade the person reading and marking your assignment that what you have written about is relevant and your arguments are justified and worthwhile. So, in short, a literature review is essential, and you need to put the necessary time into getting it right.

How do you write a dissertation literature review?

As the next section of this blog is quite lengthy, we've broken it down into several key steps which should make it easier to follow when writing your own dissertation literature review. You start by identifying your sources, then you read and re-read them. Next, you think about any gaps in the research or literature you have used, and finally, you write your review using all the preparation and information gathered in the steps prior.

Identify sources

To write a good dissertation literature review, you need to have a fair idea of what sources you would like to review. If you haven’t been given a formal reference list by your tutor, refer back to the techniques we recommended earlier.

Make sure that your sources are balanced; include enough books and academic journals and any useful published work from reputable scholars. To help you choose your sources appropriately, you might want to think about the parameters and objectives of your research. What are you hoping to find out? In your literature review , what theoretical issues or perspectives do you aim to tackle? How about your methodology? Will you focus on mainly qualitative or quantitative studies, or a mixture of both? These general questions should help guide you in selecting your sources and again, remember that the abstract of a source is a very useful tool. Having a quick scan of the abstract and its ‘keywords’ will often give you an indication of the whether the source will be useful for your research or not.

As you’re identifying your sources, ensure you a keep a list as it’s very easy to lose focus given the wide scope of the Internet. Reference tools such as Mendeley allow you to store your sources online and via a desktop app, and are a great way to keep your bibliography organised. The citation tools attached to these programmes will also allow you to simply export citations in a format of your choice when required later. They will save you countless hours trying to figure out how to use Harvard or APA referencing correctly.

Read your sources

Now that you have organised your sources efficiently, it’s time to read through them. As unnatural as it may feel, it’s most effective to read in a few stages, as detailed below:

First, go through all the texts to get a sense of their general content and arguments. This will also help you judge which sources you mainly want to focus on in your review. During the second stage of your reading, you can then take a more critical, in-depth look at your sources. Make a lot of notes, be critical, ask questions. What is your academic opinion on the text? Do you have any comments on the methodological approach, the theoretical argument or the general hypothesis? Note these down. It will ensure that your literature review is not merely a summary of your readings, and will encourage a clear line of argument so that your work is logical and coherent.

Consider gaps in the research

When writing a dissertation literature review, an essential thing to consider is identifying the research gap. Identifying the gap is particularly important if your review forms part of a research proposal, as it will highlight the pertinence of your research – assuming that your research has been designed to fill this gap. In other instances, identifying the gap is an indication of good critical analysis and can score you extra points.

To identify the “gap” it is important that we know what this “gap” is. A research gap is essentially the existence of a research question, perspective or problem that has not been answered in the existing literature on any field of study. Identifying the research gap is important for highlighting the originality of your research; it proves you’re not simply recounting or regurgitating existing research. It also shows that you are very much aware of the status of the literature in your chosen field of study, which in turn, demonstrates the amount of research and effort you have put into your review.

Many students, especially at post-graduate level, find it extremely difficult to identify research gaps in their subject area. For post-graduate research papers, identifying research gaps and formulating research questions that can address these gaps form the very essence of a research paper. Identifying research gaps does not have to be a difficult endeavour and there are several ways to overcome this difficulty:

Start by reading A simple approach will be to read important parts of key articles in your research area. First, note that you’ll have to sift through many articles to identify the ones that are most suitable for your research. A quick search using keywords on Google Scholar will often give you a quick overview of the available literature. Other useful sources include databases such as JSTOR or Wiley Online Library . You can then snowball additional articles by clicking on ‘related articles’ or checking out which other papers have cited your source.

Abstracts and recommendations Whichever avenue you choose, reading the abstract is often a good starting point to get a sense of what the articles entails. You should also do a quick examination of the introductory and concluding paragraphs of the paper as these sections always provide some information on the aims and outcomes of the research, as well as ‘recommendations for future studies.’ These recommendations typically provide some insight on the research gaps in the literature. Another route would be to simply read as much as you can on your research subject while considering which research areas still need addressing in the literature – this is usually an indication of research gaps.

Write your review

Now you’re well prepared to start putting fingers to keyboard. Consider the following pointers:

1. Use sample literature reviews Have a look at sample dissertation literature reviews in your subject area and read them thoroughly to familiarise yourself with existing key debates and themes. This can be a good starting point for framing and structuring your own review. If you are not familiar with academic writing, going through samples will help you to get a sense of what is expected in this regard. Pay attention to the academic language and formal style used. Also, remember that the bibliography or reference section of your selected texts will help you to snowball further references if you need any.

2. Keep it simple Keep your topic as narrowed down as possible. Remember that there are hundreds – or in some instances, thousands – of sources or perspectives concerning any subject area or topic. Researchers investigate research problems in many divergent ways and the literature available on any given subject is extremely broad. In your literature review, you won’t be expected to address every argument or perspective concerning your topic – this might actually undermine your ability to write a coherent and focused piece. You’ll make your work easier if you limit the scope of your work. In your review, ensure that you clearly state what the focus of your work will be.

3. Make sure your sources are as current as possible If you are reviewing scientific work, it’s essential your sources are as current as possible given the advancements in the field over the years. In the medical field particularly, research is constantly evolving and a source that’s only three years old may be even out-dated. In the social sciences this rule may not apply, as many theoretical works are classics and you will be expected to be familiar with these perspectives. You might have to the review the work of Marx, or Hobbes, or any other classic scholar. You still need to balance theory with current approaches, as you will need to demonstrate the ways in which perspectives in the literature have changed over the years, or you may even want to demonstrate how scholars have used classic theories to inform their work.

4. Consider the organisation of your work In a dissertation literature review, organising your work goes beyond having an introduction, body and conclusion. You’ll be reviewing a number of texts, so you’ll also have to think clearly about how to organise themes, topics and your argument in general. Below is a detailed guide on how to do this:

Like any other academic paper, a dissertation literature review will comprise a basic introduction, body, and conclusion.

The introduction of a literature review should be clear, short and focused. It should outline the focus of the review – in other words, it should clearly state the main topics to be covered. A good literature review will also state the arguments to be made, as well as underlying rationale that underpins these arguments.

The body of your literature review will include an in-depth discussion of the academic sources you have chosen to review. You may choose to organise your sources according to themes, methodology or even based on a chronological order. In the body of your review, ensure that your arguments are presented clearly and that you link these arguments with the literature. Is there a scholar that agrees with your view? Say so, in a way that the reader will understand easily. This demonstrates that you are very familiar with the academic research in your field. Remember to also make note of any views that do not agree with your position; excluding these arguments will reduce the methodological robustness of your piece. You can use direct quotations in your literature review, however do so sparingly so you don’t appear lazy. Most tutors will not approach it kindly; the purpose of a literature review is to demonstrate your ability to critically engage with a piece of text, and littering your review with direct quotes isn’t a good indication of this. Instead, try to paraphrase quotations and only use direct quotes if it really helps to illustrate your argument.

In the summary of your dissertation literature review, it’s important to give a summary of the conclusions you’ve drawn from your readings. If your literature review forms part of a broader research proposal, reiterate the gaps in the literature here, and clearly state how your proposed research will fill these gaps. Make recommendations for future research in this section too, which demonstrates your analytical skills and will score you some extra points.

You now have the basic structure of your research in place, however it’s worth dedicating some time to what the body of your work should entail. The body is the main core of your work, so it’s important to consider how you will frame and organise it. You have options here – you can choose to organise the content of your work based on a chronological method, based on themes, trends or methodology, or based on arguments.

To structure the body of work chronologically, you will have to organise your sources based on when they were published. A limitation of this approach is that it inhibits continuity in your arguments and in some instances, can undermine the coherence of your work. Use with caution.

A more coherent way of organising your work is to group your sources based on the arguments they make in a ‘for versus against’ manner. This enables you to present your work in a more dynamic way and what’s more, makes the key debates in the literature more obvious. Say you were trying to convey the debates on European migration policy, you might want to start by writing something along these lines:

"While scholars such as X argue that migration policies must be made more stringent to counteract the increased flow of Syrian refugees to Europe, other scholars such as Y offer a divergent perspective. They specifically espouse a perspective based on a human rights approach…"

This approach also leaves room for you to insert your voice into the literature. Consider this statement:

"While X argues for the enactment of more stringent migration policies, this paper argues along the lines of Y that migration policies should be based on human rights considerations."

Using this technique also allows you to introduce additional literature that supports your position.

Another way of organising your content is according to theme; or sub-themes, if your review focuses on one overarching topic. This method of organisation still allows you to present an overview of any polemical debates within these sub-themes. A thematic review can easily shift between chronological periods within each sub-section too.

Structuring work using a methodological approach is quite a common approach, however it’s often used in tandem with other ways of organising sources. This method is particularly evident in introductory sections whereby researchers may simply want to state that a particular subject has been mostly studied from a qualitative or quantitative perspective (they will often then cite a number of scholars or studies to support this claim). In scientific reviews however, a methodological approach may form the basis of the discussions in the body. If this is the case for you, focus on the methods used by various researchers. How did they go about answering a particular research question? Were there any limitations to this method? If so, what method(s) would have been better?

You’ll soon realise that organising the body of your literature review is an iterative process and you’ll more often than not use all of these approaches in your write-up. The body of your research may also include additional sections that do not necessarily form a part of its organisational structure. For instance, you might want to include a ‘context section’ that provides some insight on any background detail required for understanding the focus of the literature review. It may also focus on historical considerations. You could include a short methodology section that details the approach you used in selecting and analysing your sources.

5. Write the paragraphs of the body Once you have settled on the approach to writing your body, you must now write each of its paragraphs in a way that is in keeping with academic conventions. Consider this paragraph from a literature review about stakeholder participation for environmental management, to clarify the discussion that follows:

As the example above suggests, a dissertation literature review must be written using a formal and academic style . Also, note how sources have been grouped according to both arguments and themes. Remember we noted that the process of grouping sources in the body of your literature review is never a linear one? You will often use a combination of the approaches that we have discussed. Ensure that your writing is concise, coherent and devoid of any personal or strong language. Avoid any phrases like, “I hate X’s work”; a more academic way of stating your disagreement would be to simply state: “I would argue against X’s position that…”, or “X’s argument is inconsistent with the evidence because...”, or “X’s arguments are based on false assumptions because...”.

In the sample paragraph above, notice the use of words like “argue” – this is a good academic alternative to more commonplace words such as “says”. Other good alternatives include “states”, “asserts”, “proposes” or “claims”. More academic options include “opine”, “posit”, “postulate”, or “promulgate”, however some tutors and readers find these words to be too ‘heavy’ and archaic, so ensure that you are familiar with the writing standards in your institution.

If your writing is tailored to a peer-reviewed journal, it’s worth having a look at articles within that journal to get a sense of the writing style. Most tutors will provide a guideline on writing styles, and it’s important you adhere to this brief. You will often be required to also use the third person when writing a literature review, thus phrases such as “this paper argues” or “this paper is of the view that…” are appropriate.

There are exceptions at post-graduate level or generally – like when you have conducted your own primary research or published your work widely – which give you the academic authority to boldly make claims. In cases like these, the use of first person is suitable and you may use phrases such as “I argue” or “I propose”.

Remember also to generally use present tense when referring to opinions and theories (although in the context of specific research experiments, the use of the past tense is better).

Beyond the use of the academic terms suggested above, ‘linking’ words are also particularly important when writing a literature review, since you’ll be grouping a lot of writers together with either similar or divergent opinions. Useful linking words and phrases include: similarly, there are parallels, in convergence with…

When there is disagreement, you may want to use any of the following: However, conversely, on the other hand, diverges from, antithetical to, differential from…

6. Write the conclusion The conclusion of a dissertation literature review should always include a summary of the implications of the literature, which you should then link to your argument or general research question.

Some final notes

The overall structure of your literature review will be largely based on your research area and the academic conventions that are in line with it. Nevertheless, there are some essential steps that apply across all disciplines and that you should ensure you follow:

Do not simply describe the opinions of writers Analyse, analyse, analyse, and ensure that your analysis is critical (what have the writers missed; where does your opinion sit with theirs, etc.).

Structure the body of your argument using various techniques Your structure should be organised based on thematic areas, key debates or controversial issues, and according to methodological approaches. Keep your review dynamic, but coherent. Remember to identify literature gaps and link this to your own research.

Use ample evidence This is extremely important and forms the very essence of a dissertation literature review. You must refer to various sources when making a point; see the sample paragraph above for an example of this. Your arguments and interpretation of a research topic must be backed by evidence. Do not make baseless claims, as a literature review is an academic piece of writing and not an opinion piece.

Be very selective Not every piece of research has to be reviewed. If you are determined to show that you aware of the available literature out there, try writing techniques such as: There is robust literature available concerning the migration patterns of Syrian refugees. Notable works include: X(2015), y (2013), Z (2014). Once you have acknowledged these works, you do not have to review them in detail. Be selective about the sources that you will discuss in detail in your review.

Do not rely too much on direct quotes Only use them to emphasise a point. Similarly, don’t rely too heavily on the work of a single author. Instead, highlight the importance of that author in your research and move on. If you need to keep going back to the work of that author, then you need to link those discussions with your work. Do not simply provide a summary of the author’s work. In what ways does your work agree or disagree with his/hers? Be critical.

Make your voice heard Yes, the whole point of the literature review is to provide a critical analysis and summary of the viewpoints out there, but a critical analysis does include the fact that you need to make your opinion known in the context of the literature. Note how skilfully, in the earlier sample paragraph by Reed (2008), he weaves his opinions with references. Read back over the sample and try to perfect this skill.

Ensure that you reference your work correctly And make sure you use the appropriate referencing style. For more help on this, click here .

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How to write a literature review in 6 steps

What is a literature review?

How to write a literature review, 1. determine the purpose of your literature review, 2. do an extensive search, 3. evaluate and select literature, 4. analyze the literature, 5. plan the structure of your literature review, 6. write your literature review, other resources to help you write a successful literature review, frequently asked questions about writing a literature review, related articles.

A literature review is an assessment of the sources in a chosen topic of research.

A good literature review does not just summarize sources. It analyzes the state of the field on a given topic and creates a scholarly foundation for you to make your own intervention. It demonstrates to your readers how your research fits within a larger field of study.

In a thesis, a literature review is part of the introduction, but it can also be a separate section. In research papers, a literature review may have its own section or it may be integrated into the introduction, depending on the field.

➡️ Our guide on what is a literature review covers additional basics about literature reviews.

Identify the main purpose of the literature review.
Do extensive research.
Evaluate and select relevant sources.
Analyze the sources.
Plan a structure.
Write the review.

In this section, we review each step of the process of creating a literature review.

In the first step, make sure you know specifically what the assignment is and what form your literature review should take. Read your assignment carefully and seek clarification from your professor or instructor if needed. You should be able to answer the following questions:

How many sources do I need to include?
What types of sources should I review?
Should I evaluate the sources?
Should I summarize, synthesize or critique sources?
Do I need to provide any definitions or background information?

In addition to that, be aware that the narrower your topic, the easier it will be to limit the number of sources you need to read in order to get a good overview of the topic.

Now you need to find out what has been written on the topic and search for literature related to your research topic. Make sure to select appropriate source material, which means using academic or scholarly sources , including books, reports, journal articles , government documents and web resources.

➡️ If you’re unsure about how to tell if a source is scholarly, take a look at our guide on how to identify a scholarly source .

Come up with a list of relevant keywords and then start your search with your institution's library catalog, and extend it to other useful databases and academic search engines like:

Google Scholar
Science.gov

➡️ Our guide on how to collect data for your thesis might be helpful at this stage of your research as well as the top list of academic search engines .

Once you find a useful article, check out the reference list. It should provide you with even more relevant sources. Also, keep a note of the:

authors' names
page numbers

Keeping track of the bibliographic information for each source will save you time when you’re ready to create citations. You could also use a reference manager like Paperpile to automatically save, manage, and cite your references.

Read the literature. You will most likely not be able to read absolutely everything that is out there on the topic. Therefore, read the abstract first to determine whether the rest of the source is worth your time. If the source is relevant for your topic:

Read it critically.
Look for the main arguments.
Take notes as you read.
Organize your notes using a table, mind map, or other technique.

Now you are ready to analyze the literature you have gathered. While your are working on your analysis, you should ask the following questions:

What are the key terms, concepts and problems addressed by the author?
How is this source relevant for my specific topic?
How is the article structured? What are the major trends and findings?
What are the conclusions of the study?
How are the results presented? Is the source credible?
When comparing different sources, how do they relate to each other? What are the similarities, what are the differences?
Does the study help me understand the topic better?
Are there any gaps in the research that need to be filled? How can I further my research as a result of the review?

Tip: Decide on the structure of your literature review before you start writing.

There are various ways to organize your literature review:

Chronological method : Writing in the chronological method means you are presenting the materials according to when they were published. Follow this approach only if a clear path of research can be identified.
Thematic review : A thematic review of literature is organized around a topic or issue, rather than the progression of time.
Publication-based : You can order your sources by publication, if the way you present the order of your sources demonstrates a more important trend. This is the case when a progression revealed from study to study and the practices of researchers have changed and adapted due to the new revelations.
Methodological approach : A methodological approach focuses on the methods used by the researcher. If you have used sources from different disciplines that use a variety of research methods, you might want to compare the results in light of the different methods and discuss how the topic has been approached from different sides.

Regardless of the structure you chose, a review should always include the following three sections:

An introduction, which should give the reader an outline of why you are writing the review and explain the relevance of the topic.
A body, which divides your literature review into different sections. Write in well-structured paragraphs, use transitions and topic sentences and critically analyze each source for how it contributes to the themes you are researching.
A conclusion , which summarizes the key findings, the main agreements and disagreements in the literature, your overall perspective, and any gaps or areas for further research.

➡️ If your literature review is part of a longer paper, visit our guide on what is a research paper for additional tips.

➡️ UNC writing center: Literature reviews

➡️ How to write a literature review in 3 steps

➡️ How to write a literature review in 30 minutes or less

The goal of a literature review is to asses the state of the field on a given topic in preparation for making an intervention.

A literature review should have its own independent section. You should indicate clearly in the table of contents where it can be found, and address this section as “Literature Review.”

There is no set amount of words for a literature review; the length depends on the research. If you are working with a large amount of sources, then it will be long. If your paper does not depend entirely on references, then it will be short.

Most research papers include a literature review. By assessing the available sources in your field of research, you will be able to make a more confident argument about the topic.

Literature reviews are most commonly found in theses and dissertations. However, you find them in research papers as well.

How it works

How to Write a Dissertation Literature Review – Steps & Tips

Published by Anastasia Lois at August 12th, 2021 , Revised On October 17, 2023

From an academic standpoint, a dissertation literature review can be defined as a survey of the thesis, journal articles, books, and other academic resources on any given research title . This article provides comprehensive guidelines on how to write a dissertation literature review.

A literature review in a dissertation is of critical importance primarily because it provides insight into the key concepts, advancements, theories, and results of your research questions or research problem .

However, it is essential to note that; a first-class dissertation literature review focuses on summarizing the academic sources used for research and analysing, interpreting, and assessing them to determine the gaps and differences in opinions, judgments, themes, and developments.

A good literature review will further elaborate on existing knowledge concerning the research hypothesis or questions.

View dissertation literature review examples here.

When do you Write a Dissertation Literature Review?

Depending on your university’s guidelines, you might be required to include a literature review in the theoretical framework or the introduction.

Or you could also be asked to develop a standalone literature review chapter that appears before the methodology and the findings chapters of the dissertation.

In either case, your primary aim will be to review the available literature and develop a link between your research and the existing literature on your chosen topic.

Sometimes, you might be designated a literature review as a separate assignment . Regardless of whether you need to write a literature review for your dissertation or as a standalone project, some general guidelines for conducting literature will remain unchanged.

Here are the steps you need to take to write the literature review for a dissertation if you cannot write the literature review.

Steps of Writing a Literature Review

1. gather, assess, and choose relevant literature.

The first seed to take when writing your dissertation or thesis is to choose a fascinating and manageable research topic . Once a topic has been selected, you can begin searching for relevant academic sources.

If you are writing a literature review for your dissertation, one way to do this is to find academic sources relevant to your research problem or questions.

Without fully understanding current knowledge in the chosen study area, giving the correct direction to your research aim and objectives will be hard.

On the other hand, you will be expected to guide your research by developing a central question if you are writing a literature review as an individual assignment.

A notable difference here compared to the dissertation literature review is that you must answer this central question without conducting primary research (questionnaires, surveys, interviews). You will be expected to address the question using only the existing literature.

Dissertation Literature Review Research Question

How can company “A” improve its brand value through social media marketing?

Literature Review Research Question

What is the connection between social media marketing and brand value?

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Use Keywords and References to Find Relevant Literature

Create a list of keywords that are relevant to the topic of research. Find journals, articles, and books using these keywords. Here are links to some recognised online academic libraries and databases;

Inspec, (Computer science, engineering, physics, chemistry)
EconLit, (Economics)
Google Scholar
Your university’s online research database

Finding relevant academic sources from “the reference list” of an article you have already found in a research database effectively discovers relevant studies.

Consider noting frequently appearing references as they are likely to be highly authentic and important publications even though they didn’t appear in the keyword search.

Journal articles or books that keep appearing with different keywords and phrases are the ones you should manually look out for.

The more times an article has been referenced, the more influential it is likely to be in any research field. Google Scholar lets users quickly determine how often a particular article has been referenced.

Also Read: How to Best Use References in a Dissertation

2. Weighing and Selecting Academic Sources

It won’t be possible for you to read every publication related to your topic. An excellent way to select academic sources for your dissertation literature review is to read the abstract , which will help you decide whether the source is supportive and relevant to your research hypothesis or research questions.

To help you select sources relevant to your study, here are some questions for you to consider before making the decision.

What research questions has the author answered with their research work?
What fundamental concepts have been defined by the author?
Did the researcher use an innovative methodology or existing frameworks to define fundamental methods, models, and theories?
What are the findings, conclusion, and recommendations in the source book or paper?
What is the relevance between the existing literature and the academic sources you are evaluating?
Does the source article challenge, confirm, or add to existing knowledge on the topic?
How does the publication contribute to your understanding of the topic? What are its key insights and arguments?
What are the strengths and weaknesses of the research?

Any breakthrough studies and key theories relevant to your research topic should be recorded as you search for highly credible and authentic academic sources.

The method of your review of literature depends on your academic subject. If your research topic is in the sciences, you must find and review up-to-date academic sources.

On the other hand, you might look into old and historical literature and recent literature if your research topic is in the humanities field.

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Recording Information and Referencing Sources

It is recommended that you start to write your literature review as you read articles, journals, and books. Take notes which can be later merged into the text of the literature review. Avoid plagiarism and record all sources used along with references.

A good way of recording information is to analyse each source, summarise the key concepts or theories and compile a complete list of references in the form of an annotated bibliography.

This is a beneficial practice as it helps to remember the key points in each academic source and saves you valuable time as you start the literature review write-up.

3. Identify Key Themes and Patterns

The next step is to look for themes and patterns in the chosen sources that would enable you to establish similarities and differences between their results and interpretations .

This exercise will help you to determine the structure and argument for your literature review. Here are some questions that you can think of when reading and recording information;

Are any gaps in the existing literature?
What are the weaknesses of the current literature that should be addressed?
Were you able to identify any landmark research work and theories that resulted in the topic’s change of direction?
What are the similarities and disagreements between these sources? Were you able to identify any contradictions and conflicts?
What trends and themes were you able to identify? Are there any results, methods, or theories that lost credibility over time?

Also Read: How to Write a Dissertation – Step-by-Step Guide

4. Structure of Literature Review

There is no acclaimed literature review structure , which means that you can choose from a range of approaches (thematic, chronological, methodological, and theoretical) when deciding on the structure of the literature review .

However, before you begin to write the literature review , it is important to figure out the strategy that would work best for you. For long literature reviews, you might decide to use a combination of these strategies. For example, you could discuss each of the themes chronologically.

1: Theoretical

You can discuss various significant concepts, models, and theories in your literature review to form the basis of a theoretical framework . You could also combine a range of theoretical approaches to develop your theoretical framework or debate the significance of a particular theoretical framework.

2: Methodological

The methodological approach will require you to relate the findings of studies conducted in different research areas and use different research methods .

You might discover that results from the quantitative research approach are not the same as qualitative research.
You might split the selected academic sources based on their discipline – engineering, and sciences.

3: Thematic

You may also deploy a thematic approach, especially if you identified repeating key themes and patterns. If that is the case, you will be expected to put each aspect of the topic into different subsections within your literature review.

For example, if your research topic is “employment issues in the UK for international students,” you can divide the key themes into subsections; legal status, poor language skills, immigration policy, and economic turmoil.

4: Chronological

The most straightforward approach is to trace the development of the topic over time. However, if you choose this strategy, avoid simply listing and summarizing sources in order.

Try to analyze patterns, turning points, and critical debates that have shaped the direction of the field. Give your interpretation of how and why certain developments occurred.

5. Writing your Literature Review

Whether it’s a dissertation literature review or a standalone literature review assignment you have been assigned, you will be expected to divide your literature review into three larger sections – introduction, main body, and a conclusion.

What you write under these three segments will depend on the aim of your study.

Section 1 – Introduction

Here you will be required to state the objectives of the literature review clearly;

Introduction to Dissertation Literature Review Recapitulate your research problem or questions with a summary of the sources you reviewed when the literature review is for your thesis or dissertation. Consider highlighting gaps in existing knowledge and stress the suitability of your topic.

For example:

Research problem A has been debated in many recent studies.

While the topic has been explored concerning A, the B aspect has not yet been explored.

Individual Literature Review Project When reviewing literature for an individual literature review assignment, make sure that you clearly state the purpose of the research and debate the scope of the literature (how recent or old are the academic sources you are reviewing).

Section 2 – Main Body

As previously mentioned, you can divide this section into further subsections depending on your literature review’s length. You can also have a separate heading for each research method, theme, or theory to help your readers better understand your research.

Here are some tips for you to write a flawless main body of literature review;

Summarize and Combine ; Highlight the main findings from each academic source and organise them into one whole piece without losing coherence.
Evaluate and interpret; Make sure you are giving opinions and arguments of your own where possible. Simply rephrasing what others have said will undermine your work. You will be expected to debate and discuss other studies’ results about your research questions or aim.
Analytical Evaluation; It is essential to unmistakably present the literature you have reviewed and the merits and weaknesses of the literature.
Make Use of Topic Sentences and Transitions; in organized subsections within the literature review to establish conflicts, differences, similarities, and relationships.

Example of How to Write a Dissertation Literature Review

The below example belongs to the body of a literature review on the effectiveness of e-recruitment in small and medium-sized enterprises in the United Kingdom’s IT sector.

E-recruitment means explicitly using digital technologies to recruit, select, and orient employees. The benefits of e-recruitment in the literature have been studied: increased access to a pool of candidates, time and cost savings, and greater flexibility for the organisation.

In contrast, the literature states that e-recruitment might not properly achieve the goal of retaining the workforce with the required skills to participate in the work environment (Lad & Das, 2016). Also, e-recruitment might be based on a flawed website design or poor application process, which might deter potential employees (Anand & Devi, 2016) .

This section of the study will focus on the existing studies linked to the effectiveness of e-recruitment. Human resource management is an essential function of business organisations because it manages the workforce.

The goal of HR should be to develop a strategic approach in which the organisation’s strategic goals can be attained efficiently and effectively. The advent of digital technologies has helped transform human resource management’s nature concerning recruiting and selecting employees for organisations.

The Internet’s benefits have reduced search time for candidates and significant cost savings for organisations. Finally, it offers a transparent method for obtaining information about specific candidates. E-recruitment helps organisations hire people from any part of the world as it promotes opportunities and benefits the organisation efficiently.

Sharma (2014) argues that 75% of human resource professionals in developed countries are now using e-recruitment to hire employees for their organisations. Additionally, some 2 out of 4 job seekers will use the Internet to source job opportunities.

Another evidence to support the rise of e-recruitment is a study by Holm (2014), which found that all Fortune 100 companies will be using some form of e-recruitment to advertise vacant positions.

The implications are that e-recruitment is a popular strategy for various positions, from blue-collar roles to white-collar and professional positions. The benefits of e-recruitment have been identified in the literature. Girard & Fallery (2009) argues that e-recruitment helps to save time for organisations and employees.

Employers can use several methods to post jobs in as little as 20 minutes. There are no limits to ad size, and they can receive resumes immediately. In contrast, the traditional methods require some time to appear, for example, in a newspaper, and might be there for a limited period.

Section 3 – Conclusion

When writing the dissertation literature review conclusion, you should always include a summary of the key findings which emerged from the literature and their relevance and significance to your research objectives.

Literature Review for Dissertation

If you are writing a dissertation literature review, you will be required to demonstrate how your research helped to fill an evident gap in research and contributed to the current knowledge in the field. Similarly, you can explain how you used the existing patterns, themes, and theories to develop your research framework.

Literature Review as an Individual Assignment

You can summarize your review of your literature’s significance and implications and provide recommendations for future work based on the gaps in existing knowledge you acknowledged.

6. Proofread

Finally, thoroughly proofread your literature review for grammatical, structural, spelling, and factual errors before submitting it to your university.

If you are unable to proofread and edit your paper, then you could take advantage of our editing and proofreading service , which is designed to ensure that your completed literature review satisfies each of your module or project’s requirements. We have Masters and PhD qualified writers in all academic subjects, so you can be confident that they will edit and improve the quality of your to 2:1 or First Class standard, as required.

Valuable Tips for Writing Dissertation Literature Review

Your literature review must systematically comply with your research area. Underneath, we are stating some essential guidelines for a compact literature review.

Contribute to the Literature

After carefully reviewing the literature, search for the gaps in knowledge and state how you have analysed the literature with a different perspective and contributed to your research area.

Keep your Argument Systematic & Consistent

Your arguments must be consistent and systematic while discussing theories and controversial and debatable content. Be logical in your review and avoid vague statements, not to make it complex for the readers.

Provide Adequate References

Don’t forget to provide references, as they are the soul of the dissertation. While discussing different aspects of the research, provide a reasonable number of references, as your discussion and interpretations must be backed up by relevant evidence. You can see an example provided in the sample paragraph above.

Be Precise While Writing a Review

You aren’t required to write every inch of information you have studied while reviewing the literature. You will be able to find tons of information that will correlate with your research area.

Be precise while writing the review, as writing unnecessary, irrelevant information won’t give a good impression. State the most reliable sources in your review without jumping into every possible source.

Don’t go Excessively for Direct Quotes

Direct quoting is required to make a point more impactful, but you should opt for it to a specific limit. Making excessive use of it won’t be a good idea.

The direct quote is mainly used when you think that the words being used by the actual author are so authentic in their meaning that you can’t replace or rephrase them. Try to avoid relying too much on a single author/s work.

Discussing their contributions and keeping the review going briefly would be better. While mentioning the points discussed by the prior researchers – link your arguments with their discussion. Don’t write the crux of their discussion, yet tell if your argument goes along with them.

Express your Analysis

The literature review is written to summarize your perspective, which should be backed up in light of the literature. Critically analyze literature with a rational approach and express your opinion on it.

Use the Correct Referencing Style

While referencing, one must use proper referencing styles, i.e., Harvard reference style, etc. Different referencing styles are used for in-text citations, while different for end-text citations.

Feeling overwhelmed by your literature review? Still unsure about how to write a dissertation literature review? There is no need to panic. Whether you are an undergraduate, postgraduate, or PhD student, our literature review writing service can help you have your literature review to the highest academic quality.

All papers completed by our writers are delivered along with a free anti-plagiarism report. We will amend your paper for free as many times as needed until you are delighted with the contents and the works’ quality as long as your original instructions and requirements remain unchanged.

FAQs About Dissertation Literature Review

How to find relevant literature for reference in a dissertation.

You must note down keywords related to the title of your dissertation and search journals, articles, and books using them.

How to select academic sources?

If you have found plenty of academic resources, you can select a few of them by reading the abstract of all the papers and separating the most relevant ones.

How to quote academic references?

It is recommended that you start to write your literature review as you read articles, journals and books. Take notes which can be later merged into the text of the literature review.

How should a literature review dissertation be written?

You should divide your literature review into three sections:

Introduction, main body, and conclusion.

How to Write a Literature Review for a Dissertation

Last Updated: August 4, 2021

This article was co-authored by Christopher Taylor, PhD . Christopher Taylor is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of English at Austin Community College in Texas. He received his PhD in English Literature and Medieval Studies from the University of Texas at Austin in 2014. This article has been viewed 22,511 times.

If you're writing a doctoral-level dissertation in the sciences or humanities, you'll most likely be required to include a literature review. A well-written review brings together the previous work done in your field and places an emphasis upon established points relevant to your topic. This shows your dissertation committee that you're well-read in your specialty area and can contextualize your work within larger conversations in your field. Within the review itself, you’ll need to analyze other scholars’ works, assess their strengths and weaknesses, and synthesize their perspectives with your own work.

Reviewing the Literature

Step 1 Understand the formatting and content guidelines.

If you're not sure which formatting guidelines you should be following, ask your committee chair or major professor.

Step 2 Collect at least 50 relevant literature sources within your field.

The number of sources you'll need will vary depending on your field and major professor. While not all fields will require 50 sources (and some may require more), it's a good ballpark figure to start with.
Make sure that you identify the major and minor fields that your dissertation fits into. Discuss this with your committee and make a list of key terms and concepts to help you as you start collecting sources.

Step 3 Read and analyze all of your sources before you begin writing.

What research methods do the scholars whose work you're reading use?
What conflicts have cropped up between different schools of thought?
How have theories in the field changed over time?
What names and ideas come up most frequently?
Write your citations 1 at a time as you read through your sources. Do not try to write several annotations at once.

Structuring the Body of Your Lit Review

Step 1 Include 4–6 subheadings in your lit review to increase readability.

For example, say you’re writing about teaching trends in higher education. You could have 1 subheading about online-based teaching, another about uses of technology in the classroom, and another about experience-based teaching.

Step 2 Organize sources around the most influential article in each subsection.

Organizing sources will allow you to enumerate the ways in which other sources agree with, disagree with, or otherwise modify the sources of highest importance.

Step 3 Present the sources chronologically within each section.

For example, you’d summarize a source about technology in the classroom written in 1967 before one written in 1976.

Writing the Lit Review

Step 1 Tie the lit review to the body of your dissertation in the introduction.

For example, maybe the work you’re doing in your dissertation expands on what’s been done in one subsection of the works you’re reviewing.

Step 2 Write each entry in a way that blends summary and analysis.

For example, if a frequently-cited article within the literature relies on faulty research or poor research, point this out when addressing the article.

Step 3 Synthesize different sources that take a similar approach to a topic.

Synthesizing sources by method by comparing different academic works that follow a similar operating method (this is especially prevalent in the hard sciences)
Synthesizing sources by topic, since your lit review should be broad enough to cover at least 4–5 different subfields within your area of study

Step 4 Maintain your own writing voice when composing the lit review.

So, don’t switch between imitating the sentence structures and vocabularies of each of the sources you’re summarizing.

Step 5 Proofread your lit review before moving on with your dissertation.

A thoroughly checked review has a better chance of being accepted by your dissertation committee.

Expert Q&A

Give yourself at least 4-6 months to write the literature review. Although you won’t be coming up with new, original ideas for the lit review, it still takes a substantial chunk of time to write. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
If you're seriously struggling to write your literature review, you can consult a professional editorial company to help you write your review. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

↑ https://guides.library.cornell.edu/annotatedbibliography
↑ https://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/ld/resources/writing/writing-resources/literature-review
↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/literature-reviews/

About this article

To write a literature review for a dissertation, start with an introduction that gives an overview of the topic. In this overview, emphasize the topic's importance, identify recent research, and clarify how that research applies to the body of your dissertation. For example, the work in your dissertation might expand on what’s been done in one subsection of the works you’re reviewing. In your review, summarize 40 to 50 different sources in a way that provides an analysis of their strengths. It’s not realistic to write an entire paragraph for each source, so look for ways to group sources together and show your committee that you’re able to make high-level connections between them. As you write, be sure to maintain your own writing voice by trying to think of it as a conversation between yourself and the sources. For more advice from our academic co-author, including how to research formatting guidelines, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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How to write a literature review for a dissertation, published by steve tippins on july 5, 2019 july 5, 2019.

Last Updated on: 22nd May 2024, 04:06 am

Chapter 2 of your dissertation, your literature review, may be the longest chapter. It is not uncommon to see lit reviews in the 40- to 60-page range. That may seem daunting, but I contend that the literature review could be the easiest part of your dissertation.

It is also foundational. To be able to select an appropriate research topic and craft expert research questions, you’ll need to know what has already been discovered and what mysteries remain.

Remember, your degree is meant to indicate your achieving the highest level of expertise in your area of study. The lit review for your dissertation could very well form the foundation for your entire career.

In this article, I’ll give you detailed instructions for how to write the literature review of your dissertation without stress. I’ll also provide a sample outline.

When to Write the Literature Review for your Dissertation

Though technically Chapter 2 of your dissertation, many students write their literature review first. Why? Because having a solid foundation in the research informs the way you write Chapter 1.

Also, when writing Chapter 1, you’ll need to become familiar with the literature anyway. It only makes sense to write down what you learn to form the start of your lit review.

Some institutions even encourage students to write Chapter 2 first. But it’s important to talk with your Chair to see what he or she recommends.

How Long Should a Literature Review Be?

There is no set length for a literature review. The length largely depends on your area of study. However, I have found that most literature reviews are between 40-60 pages.

If your literature review is significantly shorter than that, ask yourself (a) if there is other relevant research that you have not explored, or (b) if you have provided enough of a discussion about the information you did explore.

Preparing to Write the Literature Review for your Dissertation

barefoot woman sitting on a large stack of books

Step 1. Search Using Key Terms

Most people start their lit review searching appropriate databases using key terms. For example, if you’re researching the impact of social media on adult learning, some key terms you would use at the start of your search would be adult learning, androgogy, social media, and “learning and social media” together.

If your topic was the impact of natural disasters on stock prices, then you would need to explore all types of natural disasters, other market factors that impact stock prices, and the methodologies used.

You can save time by skimming the abstracts first; if the article is not what you thought it might be you can move on quickly.

Once you start finding articles using key terms, two different things will usually happen: you will find new key terms to search, and the articles will lead you directly to other articles related to what you are studying. It becomes like a snowball rolling downhill.

Note that the vast majority of your sources should be articles from peer-reviewed journals.

Step 2. Immerse Yourself in the Literature

woman asleep on the couch next to a giant pile of books

When people ask what they should do first for their dissertation the most common answer is “immerse yourself in the literature.” What exactly does this mean?

Think of this stage as a trip into the quiet heart of the forest. Your questions are at the center of this journey, and you’ll need to help your reader understand which trees — which particular theories, studies, and lines of reasoning — got you there.

There are lots of trees in this particular forest, but there are particular trees that mark your path. What makes them unique? What about J’s methodology made you choose that study over Y’s? How did B’s argument triumph over A’s, thus leading you to C’s theory?

You are showing your reader that you’ve fully explored the forest of your topic and chosen this particular path, leading to these particular questions (your research questions), for these particular reasons.

Step 3. Consider Gaps in the Research

The gaps in the research are where current knowledge ends and your study begins. In order to build a case for doing your study, you must demonstrate that it:

Is worthy of doctoral-level research, and
Has not already been studied

Defining the gaps in the literature should help accomplish both aims. Identifying studies on related topics helps make the case that your study is relevant, since other researchers have conducted related studies.

And showing where they fall short will help make the case that your study is the appropriate next step. Pay special attention to the recommendations for further research that the authors of studies make.

Step 4. Organize What You Find

As you find articles, you will have to come up with methods to organize what you find.

Whether you find a computer-based system (three popular systems are Zotero, endNote, and Mendeley) or some sort of manual system such as index cards, you need to devise a method where you can easily group your references by subject and methodology and find what you are looking for when you need it. It is very frustrating to know you have found an article that supports a point that you are trying to make, but you can’t find the article!

focused woman studying inside a bright library

One way to save time and keep things organized is to cut and paste relevant quotations (and their references) under topic headings. You’ll be able to rearrange and do some paraphrasing later, but if you’ve got the quotations and the citations that are important to you already embedded in your text, you’ll have an easier time of it.

If you choose this method, be sure to list the whole reference on the reference/bibliography page so you don’t have to do this page separately later. Some students use Scrivener for this purpose, as it offers a clear way to view and easily navigate to all sections of a written document.

Need help with your literature review? Take a look at my dissertation coaching and dissertation editing services.

How to Write the Literature Review for your Dissertation

Once you have gathered a sufficient number of pertinent references, you’ll need to string them together in a way that tells your story. Explain what previous researchers have done by telling the story of how knowledge on this topic has evolved. Here, you are laying the support for your topic and showing that your research questions need to be answered. Let’s dive into how to actually write your dissertation’s literature review.

Step 1. Create an Outline

If you’ve created a system for keeping track of the sources you’ve found, you likely already have the bones of an outline. Even if not, it may be relatively easy to see how to organize it all. The main thing to remember is, keep it simple and don’t overthink it. There are several ways to organize your dissertation’s literature review, and I’ll discuss some of the most common below:

By topic. This is by far the most common approach, and it’s the one I recommend unless there’s a clear reason to do otherwise. Topics are things like servant leadership, transformational leadership, employee retention, organizational knowledge, etc. Organizing by topic is fairly simple and it makes sense to the reader.
Chronologically. In some cases, it makes sense to tell the story of how knowledge and thought on a given subject have evolved. In this case, sub-sections may indicate important advances or contributions.
By methodology. Some students organize their literature review by the methodology of the studies. This makes sense when conducting a mixed-methods study, and in cases where methodology is at the forefront.

Step 2. Write the Paragraphs

I said earlier that I thought the lit review was the easiest part to write, and here is why. When you write about the findings of others, you can do it in small, discrete time periods. You go down the path awhile, then you rest.

Once you have many small pieces written, you can then piece them together. You can write each piece without worrying about the flow of the chapter; that can all be done at the end when you put the jigsaw puzzle of references together.

Step 3. Analyze

woman with curly hair studying in her home office

The literature review is a demonstration of your ability to think critically about existing research and build meaningfully on it in your study. Avoid simply stating what other researchers said. Find the relationships between studies, note where researchers agree and disagree, and– especiallyy–relate it to your own study.

Pay special attention to controversial issues, and don’t be afraid to give space to researchers who you disagree with. Including differing opinions will only strengthen the credibility of your study, as it demonstrates that you’re willing to consider all sides.

Step 4. Justify the Methodology

In addition to discussing studies related to your topic, include some background on the methodology you will be using. This is especially important if you are using a new or little-used methodology, as it may help get committee members onboard.

I have seen several students get slowed down in the process trying to get committees to buy into the planned methodology. Providing references and samples of where the planned methodology has been used makes the job of the committee easier, and it will also help your reader trust the outcomes.

Advice for Writing Your Dissertation’s Literature Review

Remember to relate each section back to your study (your Problem and Purpose statements).
Discuss conflicting findings or theoretical positions. Avoid the temptation to only include research that you agree with.
Sections should flow together, the way sections of a chapter in a nonfiction book do. They should relate to each other and relate back to the purpose of your study. Avoid making each section an island.
Discuss how each study or theory relates to the others in that section.
Avoid relying on direct quotes–you should demonstrate that you understand the study and can describe it accurately.

Sample Outline of a Literature Review (Dissertation Chapter 2)

close-up shot of an open notebook and a laptop

Here is a sample outline, with some brief instructions. Note that your institution probably has specific requirements for the structure of your dissertation’s literature review. But to give you a general idea, I’ve provided a sample outline of a dissertation ’s literature review here.

Introduction
State the problem and the purpose of the study
Give a brief synopsis of literature that establishes the relevance of the problem
Very briefly summarize the major sections of your chapter

Documentation of Literature Search Strategy

Include the library databases and search engines you used
List the key terms you used
Describe the scope (qualitative) or iterative process (quantitative). Explain why and based on what criteria you selected the articles you did.

Literature Review (this is the meat of the chapter)

Sub-topic a
Sub-topic b
Sub-topic c

See below for an example of what this outline might look like.

How to Write a Literature Review for a Dissertation: An Example

Let’s take an example that will make the organization, and the outline, a little bit more clear. Below, I’ll fill out the example outline based on the topics discussed.

If your questions have to do with the impact of the servant leadership style of management on employee retention, you may want to saunter down the path of servant leadership first, learning of its origins , its principles , its values , and its methods .

You’ll note the different ways the style is employed based on different practitioners’ perspectives or circumstances and how studies have evaluated these differences. Researchers will draw conclusions that you’ll want to note, and these conclusions will lead you to your next questions.

Next, you’ll want to wander into the territory of management styles to discover their impact on employee retention in general. Does management style really make a difference in employee retention, and if so, what factors, exactly, make this impact?

Employee retention is its own path, and you’ll discover factors, internal and external, that encourage people to stick with their jobs.

You’ll likely find paradoxes and contradictions in here that just bring up more questions. How do internal and external factors mix and match? How can employers influence both psychology and context ? Is it of benefit to try and do so?

At first, these three paths seem somewhat remote from one another, but your interest is where the three converge. Taking the lit review section by section like this before tying it all together will not only make it more manageable to write but will help you lead your reader down the same path you traveled, thereby increasing clarity.

Example Outline

So the main sections of your literature review might look something like this:

Literature Search Strategy
Conceptual Framework or Theoretical Foundation
Literature that supports your methodology
Origins, principles, values
Seminal research
Current research
Management Styles’ Impact on employee retention
Internal Factors
External Factors
Influencing psychology and context
Summary and Conclusion

Final Thoughts on Writing Your Dissertation’s Chapter 2

The lit review provides the foundation for your study and perhaps for your career. Spend time reading and getting lost in the literature. The “aha” moments will come where you see how everything fits together.

At that point, it will just be a matter of clearly recording and tracing your path, keeping your references organized, and conveying clearly how your research questions are a natural evolution of previous work that has been done.

PS. If you’re struggling with your literature review, I can help. I offer dissertation coaching and editing services.

Steve Tippins

Steve Tippins, PhD, has thrived in academia for over thirty years. He continues to love teaching in addition to coaching recent PhD graduates as well as students writing their dissertations. Learn more about his dissertation coaching and career coaching services. Book a Free Consultation with Steve Tippins

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Literature reviews

Writing a literature review.

The following guide has been created for you by the Student Learning Advisory Service . For more detailed guidance and to speak to one of our advisers, please book an appointment or join one of our workshops . Alternatively, have a look at our SkillBuilder skills videos.

Preparing a literature review involves:

Searching for reliable, accurate and up-to-date material on a topic or subject
Reading and summarising the key points from this literature
Synthesising these key ideas, theories and concepts into a summary of what is known
Discussing and evaluating these ideas, theories and concepts
Identifying particular areas of debate or controversy
Preparing the ground for the application of these ideas to new research

Finding and choosing material

Ensure you are clear on what you are looking for. ask yourself:.

What is the specific question, topic or focus of my assignment?
What kind of material do I need (e.g. theory, policy, empirical data)?
What type of literature is available (e.g. journals, books, government documents)?

What kind of literature is particularly authoritative in this academic discipline (e.g. psychology, sociology, pharmacy)?

How much do you need?

This will depend on the length of the dissertation, the nature of the subject, and the level of study (undergraduate, Masters, PhD). As a very rough rule of thumb – you may choose 8-10 significant pieces (books and/or articles) for an 8,000 word dissertation, up to 20 major pieces of work for 12-15,000 words, and so on. Bear in mind that if your dissertation is based mainly around an interaction with existing scholarship you will need a longer literature review than if it is there as a prelude to new empirical research. Use your judgement or ask your supervisor for guidance.

Where to find suitable material

Your literature review should include a balance between substantial academic books, journal articles and other scholarly publications. All these sources should be as up-to-date as possible, with the exception of ‘classic texts’ such as major works written by leading scholars setting out formative ideas and theories central to your subject. There are several ways to locate suitable material:

Module bibliography: for undergraduate dissertations, look first at the bibliography provided with the module documentation. Choose one or two likely looking books or articles and then scan through the bibliographies provided by these authors. Skim read some of this material looking for clues: can you use these leads to identify key theories and authors or track down other appropriate material?

Library catalogue search engine: enter a few key words to capture a range of items, but avoid over-generalisations; if you type in something as broad as ‘social theory’ you are likely to get several thousand results. Be more specific: for example, ‘Heidegger, existentialism’. Ideally, you should narrow the field to obtain just a few dozen results. Skim through these quickly to identity texts which are most likely to contribute to your study.

Library bookshelves: browse the library shelves in the relevant subject area and examine the books that catch your eye. Check the contents and index pages, or skim through the introductions (or abstracts, in the case of journal articles) to see if they contain relevant material, and replace them if not. Don’t be afraid to ask one of the subject librarians for further help. Your supervisor may also be able to point you in the direction of some of the important literature , but remember this is your literature search, not theirs.

Online: for recent journal articles you will almost certainly need to use one of the online search engines. These can be found on the ‘Indexing Services’ button on the Templeman Library website. Kent students based at Medway still need to use the Templeman pages to access online journals, although you can get to these pages through the Drill Hall Library catalogue. Take a look as well at the Subject Guides on both the Templeman and DHL websites.

Check that you have made the right selection by asking:

Has my search been wide enough to ensure that I have identified all the relevant material, but narrow enough to exclude irrelevant material?
Is there a good enough sample of literature for the level (PhD, Masters, undergraduate) of my dissertation or thesis?
Have I considered as many alternative points of view as possible?
Will the reader find my literature review relevant and useful?

Assessing the literature

Read the material you have chosen carefully, considering the following:

The key point discussed by the author: is this clearly defined
What evidence has the author produced to support this central idea?
How convincing are the reasons given for the author’s point of view?
Could the evidence be interpreted in other ways?
What is the author's research method (e.g. qualitative, quantitative, experimental, etc.)?
What is the author's theoretical framework (e.g. psychological, developmental, feminist)?
What is the relationship assumed by the author between theory and practice?
Has the author critically evaluated the other literature in the field?
Does the author include literature opposing their point of view?
Is the research data based on a reliable method and accurate information?
Can you ‘deconstruct’ the argument – identify the gaps or jumps in the logic?
What are the strengths and limitations of this study?
What does this book or article contribute to the field or topic?
What does this book or article contribute to my own topic or thesis?

As you note down the key content of each book or journal article (together with the reference details of each source) record your responses to these questions. You will then be able to summarise each piece of material from two perspectives:

Content: a brief description of the content of the book or article. Remember, an author will often make just one key point; so, what is the point they are making, and how does it relate to your own research project or assignment?

Critical analysis: an assessment of the relative strengths and weaknesses of the evidence used, and the arguments presented. Has anything conveniently been left out or skated over? Is there a counter-argument, and has the author dealt with this adequately? Can the evidence presented be interpreted another way? Does the author demonstrate any obvious bias which could affect their reliability? Overall, based on the above analysis of the author’s work, how do you evaluate its contribution to the scholarly understanding and knowledge surrounding the topic?

Structuring the literature review

In a PhD thesis, the literature review typically comprises one chapter (perhaps 8-10,000 words), for a Masters dissertation it may be around 2-3,000 words, and for an undergraduate dissertation it may be no more than 2,000 words. In each case the word count can vary depending on a range of factors and it is always best, if in doubt, to ask your supervisor.

The overall structure of the section or chapter should be like any other: it should have a beginning, middle and end. You will need to guide the reader through the literature review, outlining the strategy you have adopted for selecting the books or articles, presenting the topic theme for the review, then using most of the word limit to analyse the chosen books or articles thoroughly before pulling everything together briefly in the conclusion.

Some people prefer a less linear approach. Instead of simply working through a list of 8-20 items on your book review list, you might want to try a thematic approach, grouping key ideas, facts, concepts or approaches together and then bouncing the ideas off each other. This is a slightly more creative (and interesting) way of producing the review, but a little more risky as it is harder to establish coherence and logical sequencing.

Whichever approach you adopt, make sure everything flows smoothly – that one idea or book leads neatly to the next. Take your reader effortlessly through a sequence of thought that is clear, accurate, precise and interesting.

Writing up your literature review

As with essays generally, only attempt to write up the literature review when you have completed all the reading and note-taking, and carefully planned its content and structure. Find an appropriate way of introducing the review, then guide the reader through the material clearly and directly, bearing in mind the following:

Be selective in the number of points you draw out from each piece of literature; remember that one of your objectives is to demonstrate that you can use your judgement to identify what is central and what is secondary.
Summarise and synthesise – use your own words to sum up what you think is important or controversial about the book or article.
Never claim more than the evidence will support. Too many dissertations and theses are let down by sweeping generalisations. Be tentative and careful in the way you interpret the evidence.
Keep your own voice – you are entitled to your own point of view provided it is based on evidence and clear argument.
At the same time, aim to project an objective and tentative tone by using the 3rd person, (for example, ‘this tends to suggest’, ‘it could be argued’ and so on).
Even with a literature review you should avoid using too many, or overlong, quotes. Summarise material in your own words as much as possible. Save the quotes for ‘punch-lines’ to drive a particular point home.
Revise, revise, revise: refine and edit the draft as much as you can. Check for fluency, structure, evidence, criticality and referencing, and don’t forget the basics of good grammar, punctuation and spelling.

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A Guide to Writing the Dissertation Literature Review

Justus Randolph

Writing a faulty literature review is one of many ways to derail a dissertation. This article summarizes some pivotal information on how to write a high-quality dissertation literature review. It begins with a discussion of the purposes of a review, presents taxonomy of literature reviews, and then discusses the steps in conducting a quantitative or qualitative literature review. The article concludes with a discussion of common mistakes and a framework for the self-evaluation of a literature review. Accessed 202,565 times on https://pareonline.net from June 04, 2009 to December 31, 2019. For downloads from January 1, 2020 forward, please click on the PlumX Metrics link to the right.

Keywords: Research Methodology

Randolph, J., (2009) “A Guide to Writing the Dissertation Literature Review”, Practical Assessment, Research, and Evaluation 14(1): 13. doi: https://doi.org/10.7275/b0az-8t74

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2458 downloads, published on 01 jan 2009, creative commons attribution-noncommercial-noderivatives 4.0, harvard-style citation.

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Thesis/Dissertation Writing Series: How to Write a Literature Review

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Researching and creating a dissertation literature review

Choosing a general thesis topic is relatively easy, but deciding on specific and realistic research questions requires considerable thought and enquiry. Appropriate and relevant research questions and the methods employed to answer them must be framed in the context of existing research.

The dissertation literature review is one of the most demanding tasks in the thesis writing process. Remember that a thorough, refined literature review is the foundation of solid research.

The goals of a literature review

Let's go over what a dissertation literature review should accomplish. It helps in:

refining the research problem
seeking new lines of inquiry
avoiding fruitless approaches
gaining methodological insights
identifying recommendations for further research
distinguishing what has been done from what needs to be done
discovering important relevant variables
gaining a new perspective
rationalizing the significance of the problem
relating ideas and theory to applications
placing the research in a historical context to show familiarity with state-of-the-art developments

Preparing to write a literature review

A useful first step when starting your dissertation literature review is to identify relevant "key words" to help navigate your way through the existing literature. When searching for information, remember to give preference to primary research.

Determining which literature is relevant to your research is challenging. The goal of a literature review is to gather a representative collection of the most pertinent material. It is important to accurately document how the material is collected so that others using the same procedure will be able to find the same information.

The dissertation literature review is somewhat similar to a major term paper . In order to construct an effective review, you must maintain a coherent and logical progression of ideas. To that end, you might write the title, author(s), and date of each study you wish to include on small index cards. Then summarize the main results of the study in a single sentence. Use these cards to create "reference piles" corresponding to specific sections of the dissertation literature review.

The next stages of the dissertation literature review are: 1) data evaluation, during which you assess the information in the chosen articles; 2) data analysis and interpretation, during which you try to make sense of the extracted data; 3) presentation, during which you determine the most important information to include; and 4) formulating and justifying empirical research questions, during which you explain how your dissertation will make a meaningful contribution to knowledge in your field.

Organizing a literature review

There are a number of ways you can organize your dissertation literature review. The three most common are: 1) the historical format, in which the review is organized chronologically; 2) the conceptual format, in which the review is built around research propositions or theories; and 3) the methodological format, which is often used for meta-analyses.

Literature reviews can be quantitative or qualitative. A quantitative review documents the importance of the research problem at the beginning of the study, supports the theory or explanation used in the study, foreshadows the research questions, and explains the results of other studies.

Two common types of quantitative literature reviews are narrative reviews and meta-analyses. A qualitative literature review documents the importance of the research problem at the beginning of the study, does not foreshadow the research questions, and is used to compare and contrast with other studies.

Avoid common mistakes when writing your literature review

No matter what type and format of dissertation literature review you choose, you must avoid some common mistakes researchers often make, such as:

not employing the best key words and not identifying the best sources
not relating your study findings to the findings of the literature review
relying on secondary rather than primary sources
blindly accepting other researchers' findings rather than critically examining them

Editing your literature review

Writing a literature review is one of the most complicated and time-consuming components of the thesis writing process. You must start early and leave yourself ample time for revision. There is nothing worse than submitting a thesis literature review that is riddled with spelling and grammatical errors. If you need a second pair of eyes, send your literature review to our dissertation and thesis editors for their critical revisions. Good luck!

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Literature Review Example/Sample

Detailed Walkthrough + Free Literature Review Template

If you’re working on a dissertation or thesis and are looking for an example of a strong literature review chapter , you’ve come to the right place.

In this video, we walk you through an A-grade literature review from a dissertation that earned full distinction . We start off by discussing the five core sections of a literature review chapter by unpacking our free literature review template . This includes:

The literature review opening/ introduction section
The theoretical framework (or foundation of theory)
The empirical research
The research gap
The closing section

We then progress to the sample literature review (from an A-grade Master’s-level dissertation) to show how these concepts are applied in the literature review chapter. You can access the free resources mentioned in this video below.

PS – If you’re working on a dissertation, be sure to also check out our collection of dissertation and thesis examples here .

FAQ: Literature Review Example

Literature review example: frequently asked questions, is the sample literature review real.

Yes. The literature review example is an extract from a Master’s-level dissertation for an MBA program. It has not been edited in any way.

Can I replicate this literature review for my dissertation?

As we discuss in the video, every literature review will be slightly different, depending on the university’s unique requirements, as well as the nature of the research itself. Therefore, you’ll need to tailor your literature review to suit your specific context.

You can learn more about the basics of writing a literature review here .

Where can I find more examples of literature reviews?

The best place to find more examples of literature review chapters would be within dissertation/thesis databases. These databases include dissertations, theses and research projects that have successfully passed the assessment criteria for the respective university, meaning that you have at least some sort of quality assurance.

The Open Access Thesis Database (OATD) is a good starting point.

How do I get the literature review template?

You can access our free literature review chapter template here .

Is the template really free?

Yes. There is no cost for the template and you are free to use it as you wish.

Psst… there’s more!

This post is an extract from our bestselling short course, Literature Review Bootcamp . If you want to work smart, you don't want to miss this .

What will it take for you to guide me in my Ph.D research work?

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University Libraries University of Nevada, Reno

Skill Guides
Subject Guides

Literature Reviews

Searching for Literature
Organizing Literature and Taking Notes
Writing and Editing the Paper
Help and Resources

Organizing Your Paper

Before you begin writing your paper, you will need to decide upon a way to organize your information. You can organize your paper using a number of different strategies, such as the following:

Topics and subtopics : Discussing your sources in relation to different topics and subtopics; probably the most common approach
Chronologically : Discussing your sources from oldest to newest in order to show trends or changes in the approach to a topic over time
Methods : Discussing your sources by different methods that are used to approach the topic

When literature reviews are incorporated into a research paper, they are often structured using the funnel method , which begins with a broad overview of a topic and then narrows down to more specific themes before focusing in on the specific research question that the paper will address.

A literature review paper often follows this basic organization:

Introduction

Describes the importance of the topic
Defines key terms
Describes the goals of the review
Provides an overview of the literature to be discussed (e.g., methods, trends, etc.) (optional)
Describes parameters of the review and particular search methods used (optional)
Discusses findings of sources, as well as strengths, weaknesses, similarities, differences, contradictions, and gaps
Divides content into sections (for longer reviews), uses headings and subheadings to indicate section divisions, and provides brief summaries at the end of each section
Summarizes what is known about the topic
Discusses implications for practice
Discusses areas for further research

Synthesizing Sources

A literature review paper not only describes and evaluates the scholarly research literature related to a particular topic, but it also synthesizes that information. Synthesis is the process of weaving together information from sources to arrive at new analyses and insights.

To help you prepare to synthesize sources in your paper, you can take the topic matrix that you prepared as you were organizing your sources, and flesh it out into a synthesis matrix that contains detailed notes from each source as they relate to different topics and subtopics of your literature review. Once you've completed your synthesis matrix, you can more easily identify ways that sources relate to each other in terms of their similarities and differences, methodological strengths and weakness, and contradictions and gaps. The video below shows how to create a synthesis matrix.

Video: Synthesis Matrix Tutorial by Andrew Davis .

Writing Your Paper

A literature review paper should flow logically from one topic to the next. As you write your paper, consider these tips:

Write in a formal voice and with an impartial tone.
Define critical terms and describe key theories.
Use topic sentences to clearly indicate what each paragraph is about.
Use transitions to make links between sections.
Introduce acronyms upon first using them.
Call attention to seminal (i.e., highly influential; groundbreaking) studies.
Clearly distinguish between your ideas and those of the authors you cite.
Cite multiple sources for a single idea, if appropriate.
Create a list of references that follows appropriate style guidelines.
Give your paper a title that conveys what the literature review is about.
Once you have written your paper, carefully proofread it for errors.
<< Previous: Organizing Literature and Taking Notes
Next: Help and Resources >>

Thesis Statement for Review

Ai generator.

In the realm of reviews, whether they concern books, films, products, or services, a compelling thesis statement is pivotal. It serves as the anchor, succinctly conveying your evaluative stance and guiding readers through your perspective. As reviews often sway opinions and decisions, mastering the art of crafting a potent thesis statement is essential. Dive into stellar examples, learn the crafting process, and grasp pro tips to perfect your review narratives.

What is a Review Thesis Statement? – Definition

A concise thesis statement summary of the reviewer’s main evaluation or judgment about the subject under consideration. Unlike research or argumentative thesis statements, a review thesis primarily focuses on the reviewer’s stance, be it positive, negative, or mixed, providing readers with a clear indication of the overall tone and direction the review will take.

What is a good thesis statement Example for a Review?

Book Review : “In J.K. Rowling’s ‘Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban’, the intricacies of the plot, combined with the depth of character development, create not only the strongest book in the series but also a testament to her evolving writing prowess.”

Movie Review : “Christopher Nolan’s ‘Inception’ masterfully combines complex storytelling with breathtaking visuals, making it an audacious and mesmerizing cinematic experience.”

Product Review : “Apple’s iPhone 12 Pro offers a harmonious blend of cutting-edge technology and sleek design, setting a new benchmark in the smartphone industry despite its steep price.”

Each of these good thesis statements offers a clear evaluative stance, providing a snapshot of the reviewer’s perspective on the subject in question.

100 Thesis Statement Examples for Review

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In crafting a review, your specific thesis statement sets the tone, offering readers a glimpse into your assessment. Whether it’s a book, film, product, or service, a well-penned thesis encapsulates your viewpoint, guiding readers through your evaluative journey. Below are diverse examples to inspire and guide your review writing endeavors.

“Margaret Atwood’s ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ presents a haunting dystopian world, prompting readers to reflect on societal structures.”
“Martin Scorsese’s ‘The Irishman’ delves deep into the psyche of its characters, showcasing his directorial genius.”
“Samsung’s Galaxy S21 fuses functionality with design, though its battery life leaves room for improvement.”
“The newly opened ‘Cafe Delight’ boasts an eclectic menu but struggles with service consistency.”
“Netflix’s ‘The Crown’ brilliantly captures the nuances of the British monarchy, making it a binge-worthy series.”
“Nike’s latest running shoes offer unparalleled comfort but come with a hefty price tag.”
“Trevor Noah’s ‘Born a Crime’ is an enlightening memoir that seamlessly blends humor and poignant moments.”
“Taylor Swift’s ‘Folklore’ is a melodious departure from her usual genre, proving her versatile artistry.”
“The MacBook Air M1 is Apple’s crowning achievement in balancing performance and portability.”
“Spielberg’s ‘Schindler’s List’ remains a cinematic masterpiece, shedding light on humanity’s darkest hours.”
“The PlayStation 5, while boasting groundbreaking graphics, suffers from limited availability.”
“The vegan dishes at ‘Green Haven’ are a delight, offering both flavor and nutritional value.”
“Disney’s ‘Mulan’ remake, although visually stunning, lacks the charm of the original animation.”
“Fender’s latest guitar series is a boon for professionals, though beginners might find them overwhelming.”
“Erin Morgenstern’s ‘The Starless Sea’ is a lyrical journey through whimsical worlds, though it occasionally loses its narrative thread.”
“The ‘Zen Retreat Spa’ offers a holistic wellness experience but could benefit from a wider range of services.”
“Billie Eilish’s ‘When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?’ pushes musical boundaries, heralding a new era of pop.”
“The Pixel 6, with its AI capabilities, sets a new standard, though it falls short in the aesthetics department.”
“Amazon’s ‘The Boys’ offers a gritty take on superheroes, breaking away from conventional portrayals.”
“The latest Adidas workout gear combines style with functionality but demands a premium.”
“The new Honda Accord impresses with its fuel efficiency, though the interior design feels dated.”
“BBC’s adaptation of ‘Pride and Prejudice’ remains unparalleled in capturing the essence of Austen’s classic.”
“While GoPro’s latest model offers groundbreaking stabilization, its battery life remains a sore point.”
“Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty line is revolutionary in its inclusivity, setting new standards for the cosmetic industry.”
“Ubisoft’s ‘Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’ offers a rich historical setting, but glitches occasionally disrupt gameplay.”
“While the ‘Eco Bistro’ boasts an organic menu, its dishes often lack seasoning and flavor.”
“Jordan Peele’s ‘Get Out’ is a masterclass in blending horror with societal commentary.”
“The Dyson V11 stands out in performance among vacuum cleaners, but its price is discouraging for many.”
“Spotify’s user interface makes it the top choice for music streaming, though its podcast section could be improved.”
“Stephen King’s ‘The Institute’ reiterates his prowess in writing gripping narratives but treads familiar themes.”
“The newly launched Microsoft Surface Pro excels in versatility but struggles with battery longevity.”
“‘Circe’ by Madeline Miller is a spellbinding retelling of mythology, highlighting the nuances of its titular character.”
“While the Xbox Series X boasts impressive specs, its game library needs expansion.”
“Leonardo DiCaprio’s performance in ‘The Revenant’ is raw and captivating, making it a cinematic gem.”
“Nikon’s latest DSLR camera offers stunning photo quality but falls short in video capabilities.”
“The ‘Mountain View Resort’ provides a serene escape, though its dining options are limited.”
“Beyonce’s ‘Lemonade’ is a powerful blend of music and activism, showcasing her evolution as an artist.”
“Adobe’s Photoshop remains the top choice for professionals, though its steep learning curve is daunting for newbies.”
“Joaquin Phoenix’s portrayal in ‘Joker’ provides a harrowing look into mental health issues, making it a standout film.”
“The Tesla Model X, with its innovative features, is reshaping the automobile industry.”
“George Orwell’s ‘1984’ is eerily relevant today, underlining the dangers of unchecked power.”
“While the iPhone SE offers value for money, it lacks the flair of its high-end counterparts.”
“Netflix’s ‘Stranger Things’ blends nostalgia with suspense, creating an irresistible binge-watch.”
“While Bose’s new headphones provide exceptional sound, they are not the most comfortable for extended use.”
“Barack Obama’s ‘A Promised Land’ is an introspective memoir providing invaluable insights into his presidency.”
“Sony’s Bravia range offers unmatched picture quality, but its sound system could use an upgrade.”
“The ‘Desert Oasis Retreat’ stands out for its rejuvenating experiences, though it’s far removed from urban amenities.”
“Ariana Grande’s ‘Sweetener’ album showcases her vocal prowess, though some tracks feel repetitive.”
“The Nikon Z5, while great for photography enthusiasts, might be an overkill for casual users.”
“HBO’s ‘Game of Thrones’, despite its controversial ending, has set a benchmark for fantasy television.”
“The Google Home smart speaker, with its intuitive features, stands out in the crowded smart home market.”
“Ernest Hemingway’s ‘The Old Man and the Sea’ is a testament to human resilience and determination.”
“Canon’s EOS series offers versatility for both amateurs and professionals, though its price range is vast.”
“Marvel’s ‘Avengers: Endgame’ serves as a fitting conclusion to an epic saga, balancing emotion with action.”
“Fitbit’s latest model excels in tracking accuracy but lacks in battery longevity.”
“Starbucks, while offering a wide coffee range, often compromises on the personal touch of local cafes.”
“Christopher Nolan’s ‘Dunkirk’ is a technical marvel, but its narrative feels disjointed at times.”
“The Galaxy Tab series is a strong contender to the iPad, offering versatility at a competitive price.”
“Paulo Coelho’s ‘The Alchemist’ remains a timeless tale of dreams and destiny.”
“‘The Mediterranean Breeze’ restaurant offers authentic flavors but could work on ambiance.”
“Apple Watch, with its health features, is more than just a smart accessory.”
“Lana Del Rey’s ‘Norman F***ing Rockwell’ is a musical journey of melancholy and romance.”
“While Canon’s mirrorless cameras offer innovation, they come with a steep learning curve.”
“Amazon Prime’s ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ is a refreshing take on comedy, set against a vibrant period backdrop.”
“Samsung’s QLED TVs, while providing stunning visuals, are on the pricier side.”
“Agatha Christie’s ‘And Then There Were None’ is a masterful suspense that keeps readers on edge.”
“Bose’s SoundTouch 300 offers cinematic sound but falls short in bass depth.”
“The French bakery ‘La Delice’ offers authentic pastries but is often crowded due to limited seating.”
“Hulu’s ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ is a chilling adaptation, shedding light on societal regression.”
“The Tesla Model 3, while revolutionary in design, often faces software glitches.”
“Tom Hanks’ performance in ‘Saving Private Ryan’ delivers a raw portrayal of the horrors of war, making it an iconic film.”
“The latest update of the Android OS impresses with its user-friendly features but is not without minor bugs.”
“The Broadway musical ‘Hamilton’ revolutionizes theater by blending history with contemporary music genres.”
“Sony’s WH-1000XM4 headphones provide noise-cancellation at its best, but their hefty price tag is a deterrent for some.”
“J.K. Rowling’s ‘Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban’ brilliantly blends mystery and magic, setting the tone for the series’ darker undertones.”
“The ‘Seaside Resort’ is perfect for a tranquil getaway, but its remote location might not appeal to those seeking more lively surroundings.”
“Lady Gaga’s ‘Chromatica’ is a powerful return to her dance-pop roots, resonating with many of her longtime fans.”
“Adobe Premiere Pro stands tall in video editing software but demands a high-performance machine for smooth functioning.”
“Scorsese’s ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ is a gritty dive into corporate greed, bolstered by DiCaprio’s stellar performance.”
“Fitbit’s Versa 3 excels in sleep tracking, but its design is somewhat generic.”
“The novel ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee remains a poignant exploration of racial and moral complexities in the American South.”
“LG’s OLED TV lineup boasts unrivaled picture quality, but concerns over screen burn-in persist.”
“The restaurant ‘Urban Eats’ offers innovative fusion cuisine, though sometimes it tries too hard to impress.”
“The movie ‘Parasite’ by Bong Joon-ho is a masterclass in genre-blending, tackling social issues with dark humor.”
“Apple’s iPad Pro is a formidable contender in the tablet market but is often seen as overpriced.”
“BTS’s album ‘Map of the Soul: 7’ showcases their evolution as artists, touching upon themes of self-reflection and growth.”
“The video game ‘The Last of Us Part II’ is a narrative powerhouse, though it polarized fans with its bold storytelling choices.”
“The ‘Alpine Lodge’ offers a cozy winter retreat with stunning mountain views, but its in-house dining options are limited.”
“Dua Lipa’s ‘Future Nostalgia’ is a refreshing blend of pop genres, echoing past eras while sounding unmistakably modern.”
“The novel ‘The Night Circus’ by Erin Morgenstern paints a mesmerizing picture, though its plot occasionally meanders.”
“Samsung’s Fold series pushes the boundaries of smartphone design but raises durability concerns.”
“The documentary ‘Our Planet’ is a visual spectacle that underscores the urgent need for environmental conservation.”
“The ‘Zenbook’ series by Asus strikes a balance between portability and performance, appealing to both students and professionals.”
“Ari Aster’s ‘Midsommar’ is a haunting exploration of grief, set against the eerie backdrop of a Swedish midsummer festival.”
“Nike’s React series offers unmatched cushioning for runners, but some find its design too flashy.”
“The film ‘La La Land’ is a heartfelt homage to classic Hollywood musicals, blending romance with stunning cinematography.”
“OnePlus, with its latest smartphone, offers flagship features at a competitive price but compromises on camera quality.”
“The musical ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ touches upon pressing issues of mental health, resonating deeply with contemporary audiences.”
“Canon’s RF lens lineup provides stunning clarity, setting new benchmarks in photography.”
“The TV show ‘Breaking Bad’ remains a testament to character development, chronicling Walter White’s descent into the criminal underworld.”

Thesis Statement Examples for Literature Review

In literature reviews, the goal is often to identify trends, gaps, or controversies in the body of literature on a specific topic. The statements should reflect a comprehensive understanding of various works under review.

“An examination of 20th-century Russian literature reveals a recurring theme of resistance against political oppression.”
“Post-colonial African literature predominantly focuses on the struggle for identity amidst external influences.”
“Modern American poets have shown a distinct shift towards exploring the nuances of urban life.”
“Romantic-era literature frequently romanticizes nature as an antidote to the perils of industrialization.”
“The rise of feminist literature in the 1960s challenged conventional gender norms and roles.”
“A review of dystopian literature exposes society’s fears and anxieties about technological advancement.”
“Contemporary Asian literature reveals the tensions between tradition and modernity.”
“Magic realism in Latin American literature serves as a tool to critique political and social realities.”
“Victorian literature’s portrayal of women reflects the era’s restrictive gender expectations.”
“Middle Eastern literature post-9/11 frequently grapples with themes of identity, migration, and conflict.”

Thesis Statement Examples for Book Review

Book reviews encapsulate the essence, themes, and overall impact of a specific book.

“In ‘1984’, George Orwell presents a harrowing vision of a totalitarian future that challenges the essence of individuality.”
“J.D. Salinger’s ‘Catcher in the Rye’ offers an introspective look at teenage angst and the quest for purpose.”
“Through ‘Beloved’, Toni Morrison confronts the haunting legacies of slavery on personal and collective memory.”
“J.R.R. Tolkien’s ‘The Hobbit’ is a captivating adventure tale that also delves into themes of bravery and friendship.”
“In ‘The Road’, Cormac McCarthy paints a bleak post-apocalyptic world, highlighting the enduring spirit of human survival.”
“Jane Austen’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’ masterfully weaves a tale of societal norms and true love.”
“‘The Great Gatsby’ by F. Scott Fitzgerald critiques the American Dream’s elusive nature amidst the Roaring Twenties’ excess.”
“Harper Lee’s ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ is a profound exploration of racial prejudice and moral growth in the American South.”
“Paulo Coelho’s ‘The Alchemist’ is a spiritual journey emphasizing the importance of following one’s dreams.”
“Gabriel García Márquez’s ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’ chronicles the Buendía family’s generational saga, infused with magic realism.”

Thesis Statement Examples for Restaurant Review

Restaurant reviews offer insights into the dining experience, emphasizing ambiance, service, and cuisine.

“The Bistro delights with its fusion of Asian and Mediterranean flavors, though it falls short in ambiance.”
“OceanView offers fresh seafood dishes with a panoramic view that justifies its premium pricing.”
“At Bella Italia, authentic Italian cuisine meets a rustic and cozy environment.”
“Despite its urban setting, Green Haven surprises with its farm-to-table approach, prioritizing organic and locally-sourced ingredients.”
“Midtown Diner offers classic American dishes but needs to improve its service times during rush hours.”
“Le Petite Café stands out for its delicate pastries and a delightful Parisian atmosphere.”
“Tex-Mex Hub is a must-visit for spicy food lovers, offering a genuine taste of Southern American cuisine.”
“While the sushi at DragonRoll is top-notch, the limited vegetarian options can be off-putting for some.”
“UrbanGrill impresses with its innovative dishes but sometimes tries too hard to stand out.”
“Moonlit offers a unique rooftop dining experience, though its menu is somewhat predictable.”

Thesis Statement Examples for Product Review

Product reviews evaluate the efficiency, design, and value of a specific product.

“Apple’s iPhone 13 boasts improved battery life and camera enhancements but still struggles with iOS restrictions.”
“Sony’s A7IV camera sets new standards in mirrorless technology, though it’s not budget-friendly.”
“The Dyson V11 vacuum impresses with its suction power, but its weight can be cumbersome for extended use.”
“Adidas’ Ultraboost 21 shoes provide exceptional comfort for runners but might feel too soft for some.”
“Samsung’s QLED TV series offers vibrant colors and sharp contrasts, but the smart interface needs refining.”
“Bose’s QuietComfort earbuds lead in noise cancellation, yet some users report connectivity issues.”
“The Kindle Paperwhite’s latest version offers a warmer light feature, enhancing the reading experience at night.”
“GoPro’s Hero 9 is a significant improvement in stabilization and resolution, but its bulkiness can be a drawback for some.”
“Nespresso’s Vertuo machine delivers on taste and convenience but is limited by its pod variety.”
“Fitbit’s Charge 4 excels in fitness tracking but falls short in smart features compared to competitors.”

Thesis Statement Examples for Movie Review

Movie reviews provide an analysis of a film’s storyline, cinematography, performances, and overall impact.

“Christopher Nolan’s ‘Inception’ challenges viewers with its intricate plot but rewards with stunning visuals and performances.”
“‘Parasite’ is a masterclass in genre-blending, tackling social issues with dark humor and suspense.”
“Disney’s ‘Mulan’ offers a fresh take on a beloved story, but some purists might miss the original’s songs and humor.”
“Martin Scorsese’s ‘The Irishman’ is a lengthy yet riveting exploration of crime, loyalty, and aging.”
“Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of ‘Little Women’ brings a contemporary feel while honoring the classic’s spirit.”
“‘Joker’, led by Joaquin Phoenix’s haunting portrayal, delves deep into the psyche of Batman’s iconic nemesis.”
“Despite its blockbuster action sequences, ‘Avengers: Endgame’ shines brightest in its quieter, character-driven moments.”
“Pixar’s ‘Soul’ is a heartwarming exploration of life’s purposes and passions, appealing to both kids and adults.”
“Tarantino’s ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ is a nostalgic trip back to a bygone era, sprinkled with his signature style.”
“‘Frozen II’ expands the magical world of Arendelle but struggles to capture the original’s charm.”

Thesis Statement Examples for Evaluation

Evaluation thesis statements provide a balanced assessment, considering various criteria.

“While the government’s new policy promises economic growth, it lacks clear provisions for environmental protection.”
“The museum’s latest exhibit excels in interactivity, though some historical inaccuracies weaken its credibility.”
“The new school curriculum offers a broader range of subjects, but its heavy workload might stress students.”
“The city’s public transportation overhaul is commendable for its coverage but needs to prioritize punctuality.”
“The company’s rebranding strategy succeeded in attracting a younger demographic, though it alienated its long-term customers.”
“The festival, while boasting international artists, lacked adequate facilities and organization.”
“The new app update enhances user experience with its design but raises privacy concerns with data collection.”
“While the online course offers flexibility, it lacks the community engagement of traditional classroom settings.”
“The company’s sustainability initiative is praiseworthy, but its implementation in overseas factories remains questionable.”
“The software’s latest version promises enhanced features, but its steep learning curve can deter novice users.”

Thesis Statement Examples for Analysis

Analysis thesis statements delve deep into subjects, dissecting their intricacies.

“Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’ intricately explores the human psyche through its complex protagonist.”
“The architectural design of the new library emphasizes accessibility, reflecting a democratic approach to knowledge.”
“Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 represents a triumphant battle against fate, evident in its progression from minor to major tonalities.”
“Picasso’s ‘Guernica’ is a profound commentary on the horrors of war, using distorted imagery to convey pain and chaos.”
“The marketing campaign’s success lies in its appeal to emotions, creating a strong brand-community connection.”
“The poem’s use of iambic pentameter mirrors the rhythmic quality of natural speech, drawing readers into its narrative.”
“The software’s code reveals an emphasis on user privacy, using encryption techniques that prioritize data protection.”
“The character’s development throughout the novel is a reflection of society’s evolving views on gender roles.”
“The film’s use of light and shadow not only establishes mood but also accentuates character dynamics.”
“The policy’s language subtly promotes corporate interests, evident in its emphasis on deregulation and market freedoms.

Does a review need a thesis statement?

Absolutely! A review, whether of a book, film, product, or any other subject, should possess a clear thesis statement. This statement helps set the tone for the review and provides readers or listeners with an understanding of the reviewer’s main stance or perspective. The thesis establishes the foundational argument or point the reviewer is trying to convey. This clarity not only aids in structuring the review but also offers readers a lens through which they can understand the subsequent analysis and critique. In addition, you should review our college essay thesis statement .

How do you write a thesis statement for a review? – Step by Step Guide

Identify the Main Element : Begin by pinpointing what the core element or aspect of the item you’re reviewing is. For a book, this could be the plot or a character; for a product, perhaps its primary function.
Evaluate Your Response : Reflect on your reactions to this core element. Did it resonate with you? Was there something lacking?
Draft a Preliminary Statement : Start with a general statement that captures your initial thoughts about the review subject.
Be Specific : Avoid vague phrases. For instance, rather than saying a book was “good” or “bad,” specify what made it so – was the character development rich, or was the plot predictable?
Consider Counterarguments : Think about potential counterarguments to your stance. This doesn’t mean you should necessarily include them in the thesis, but being aware of them can help you craft a more robust statement.
Revise and Refine : Like all thesis statements, your initial draft might not be perfect. Revisit and refine it to ensure it’s concise, clear, and compelling.
Ensure It’s Arguable : A good thesis statement for a review should present a point that someone could reasonably disagree with.
Avoid Subjectivity : While reviews are inherently subjective, try to ground your thesis in objective observations. Instead of “I didn’t like the book,” you might say, “The book lacked depth in character development, leading to a less immersive experience.”
Test It : Before finalizing your thesis statement, present it to someone unfamiliar with the review subject. If they get a clear sense of your stance and the direction of your review, you’re on the right track.
Position Appropriately : Place your thesis statement at the beginning of your review to give readers a clear sense of direction from the outset.

Tips for Writing a Review Thesis Statement

Stay Concise : Brevity is key. Ensure your thesis is one to two sentences long and clearly encapsulates your main argument or perspective.
Use Active Voice : Active voice makes your statement sound more decisive. For instance, “The film delivers a powerful message about resilience” is preferable to “A powerful message about resilience is delivered by the film.”
Be Open to Change : As you delve deeper into your review, you might find your perspective shifting slightly. Be ready to adjust your thesis accordingly.
Avoid Spoilers : Especially for book and movie reviews, make sure your thesis doesn’t give away key plot points.
Stay Objective : While personal opinions in reviews are inevitable, aim for a balanced view that’s grounded in observable facts or features.
Remember the Audience : Consider who you’re writing for. If your audience is more specialized, like in a scholarly review, your thesis might be more detailed and nuanced. If it’s for a broader audience, clarity and accessibility are paramount.
Seek Feedback : Sometimes, having another set of eyes on your thesis can be invaluable. They might catch ambiguities or vaguenesses that you missed.

Writing a specific thesis statement for a review is as much an art as it is a science. It requires introspection, a clear understanding of the review subject, and the ability to articulate one’s thoughts concisely and compellingly. By following the above steps and tips, you can craft a thesis that anchors your review effectively.

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Learn how to write an annotated bibliography to achieve the best grades!

Updated 25 Jul 2024

Writing an annotated bibliography is one of academic work's most challenging yet essential parts. This helpful EduBirdie guide will tell you all about the important parts, provide structure, and list useful examples. We shall also focus on formatting aspects and learn more about the differences.

Learning how to write an annotated bibliography may seem like a lot of work, yet our guide will make things much easier for you! With all the steps you must take, you can handle this part of your essay or research paper without worrying.

Learn what is an annotated bibliography in academic writing

Before you further discover how to write an annotated bibliography in the best way possible, let us define its main purpose. An annotated bibliography is a piece of academic writing that accompanies almost every research project. In layman’s terms, an annotated bibliography should give readers an account of your research work on a specified topic/subject. This means that you should provide a typical alphabetical list in an annotated bib format with relevant research sources you have used. If you have tried to learn how to write a literature review or tried to work with several sources, you will understand the main purpose of such work.

Here, you should provide more than bibliographic data. It must offer a concise summary based on each source used. You should also show an evaluation and analysis of why some resource or a book is valuable, important, and relevant to your work. Quite a lot will depend on what you wish to do. For example, you may have to provide an annotated bibliography template that belongs to a large research project. Likewise, it may be a separate project you may be asked to do as a college student.

The types of annotated bibliography

As you may already know, annotated bibliographies are often of different types. You must double-check your grading rubric instructions before you start with the formatting. While you may already have an example of annotated bibliography, take a quick look at these variations:

Depending on what you must do in your research paper and/or assignment, the task is to provide a summary and avoid any evaluation.
Another type of assignment may involve noticing and commenting on certain patterns that show similarities and dissimilarities between two or more sources.
An assignment may ask you to treat each given or found source independently.
If working with a lengthy piece of writing, your bibliography may be separate research.
Finally, an annotated bibliography layout may even include a preface that discusses your investigation type and justifies your sources.

Do not let it frighten you because each type of writing is not too challenging! If you are stuck with overcoming writer’s block and you need someone to push you through, it is only necessary to ask for help!

Comparing an annotated bibliography with a literature review and an abstract

It is no wonder that many students often feel confused when it comes to working with a literature review and working with an abstract. Here is what we need to know to see the difference when writing an annotated bibliography:

An annotated bibliography : Each source is based on how exactly it relates to the topic.
A literature review: This one combines multiple sources to show and evaluate where they agree or disagree.
An abstract: Here, you show a brief summary based on a particular resource. Unlike a bibliography annotation, it must provide a summary and evaluate the quality relevant to the chosen source.

In case you do not know how to work with any of these types of writing, you must consider paper writers for hire who will help you to determine what tasks you have to do. At the same time, you may also find an expert who can assist you with properly formatting the sources. Here is what we shall review next to let you see what it means when you have to work on an APA annotated bibliography format as one of the examples. If you already know some writing styles, the changes you must make to the annotated bibliography will not be too much work.

The differences in writing an annotated bibliography in different styles (APA, MLA, Chicago)

If you have been given an assignment in MLA or the document is in annotated bibliography Chicago style format, the annotated bibliography must be in the same format. Let’s see the peculiarities of the most popular formatting:

The APA style asks you to provide the purpose of your work, a brief summary of the content included, information about the authors(s), the type of the audience, and the relevance of your writing to the resource. It must have a running head and a page number. The "Annotated Bibliography" title must be centered. The font must be Times New Roman 12 with 1' margins. Here is an APA annotated bibliography sample to help you know what it looks like in practice:

Danielsen, VE. (1999). Roles of Academic Writing in South Africa . London: Routledge.

Danielsen's book provides complete documentation on the role of academic writing filled by various scientists in South Africa, the United Kingdom, and beyond. The book provides the challenges of the daily life of English students... The author discusses... The book includes a hypothesis that helped...

You must title your reference page "Annotated Bibliography" with annotations included in full. They should not go beyond a single paragraph. Here is what an MLA annotated bibliography looks like:

Fleiss, Noah. The Big Blue Sky: Aviation and Simulation . MIT Press, 2022.

The author, Noah Fleiss, examines various differences between aviation implemented in simulation and real field conditions. He provides various patterns based on his interest in the automotive industry... The author also explores various reviews that speak in favor of...

Remember adding the running MLA head on the page with the indents after the first line!

Chicago style:

Ford, Lita. "Thirty Years in Metal: Women in Rock", Penguin Books, 2009

Lita Ford is a famous musician and the head woman behind the famous 70s metal all-female-fronted band called "The Runaways". She describes her life in the music industry and tells an honest review about all the hard work. Ford is as honest as a person can be with various examples and interviews.

The hanging indent must be present, while the text must be double-spaced and aligned to the left. All the rest goes according to the rest of your paper, formatted in CMOS (Chicago Manual of Style).

Speaking of interviews, if you need to create an excellent Chicago style interview citation or something related to a specific task, feel free to give us a shout! We are always available for you!

What an annotated bibliography looks in practice: helpful examples

Nothing compares to having an annotated bibliography example you can look at. Of course, a lot will depend on what tasks you have. If you need to evaluate something, it will have a different tone and information you need to source. Sure enough, an annotated bibliography writer will be an excellent assistant, so feel free to ask if you are stuck somewhere. As for now, see this example:

Smith, Patricia, 2014. Roles of Women in Political Rebellions. Manchester University Press.

Patricia Smith is an anthropologist who has provided a detailed examination of the role of women in political rebellions. Interestingly, Smith starts with the Middle Ages and ends with the 2000s. As an author, she focuses on the sources, instruments, and the outcome.

Here is what another example of an APA annotated bibliography looks like:

Geraghty, D. (1997). Automotive Industry in Brighton Auto Services . Brighton: Cambridge Press.

This book has helped me see the British perspective on a particular case scenario. Geraghty has provided various business schemes that helped me add more examples… The examples on pages 32 and 34 have helped me clarify my thesis.

Since we have already learned the most about what an annotated bib format looks like, let’s move on to the steps you must take to create your personal annotated page.

5 steps to write an annotated bibliography

Before you start with any type of writing, you must take the following obligatory steps:

Step 1: Choosing relevant sources.

Locate those resources (books, journals, websites, etc) that may be useful to support your thesis and/or the main argument.

Step 2: Review the list of items.

To learn how to make an annotated bibliography, you must look at all you have found and take specific notes. They must contain useful information and the background of the author if necessary.

Step 3: Sort your sources according to a style format.

Since most sources must be sorted alphabetically, you may also sort them by order of importance. It is not always necessary, yet we have seen such cases. In either case, do every annotated bibliography citation based on the specified writing style.

Step 4: Start with your annotation.

Write down all your notes and thoughts. As a rule, keep one source to one paragraph. It is a required format for annotated bibliography. If you go beyond one paragraph, use an additional indent.

Step 5: Provide a thesis when and if necessary.

Some cases may require adding a thesis at the end or providing an additional analysis. It should be like precis writing , when you have to provide content in limited words based on an idea or a paragraph.

How to make your annotated bibliography stand out?

Here are some tips that will help you to achieve success. Regardless of what annotated bibliography structure, you have to follow this checklist:

Identify the author’s thesis to find out the central claim or purpose.
See if there are any specific repetitions or omissions.
Take notes of what makes the author exceptional.
Notice how the text has been organized.
Notice what the theory is used for (an interpretation, analysis, overview, etc)
Identify the methods to structure an annotated bibliography introduction example. It means that setting things clear right from the start is important!
Look for those final paragraphs that provide a summary.

At the same time, remember to paraphrase what you see in the book. If you are unsure what it means, see the plagiarism vs paraphrasing guide to learn all the specifics.

Some final tips to remember!

Remember that taking notes is essential as it will help you save time. As you learn how to structure an annotated bibliography, you will already know what to write and how to tell your audience about the author. It will always pay off if you take time to prepare things first. If things still sound rough, let us know how we can assist 24/7. Our experts will guide you through!

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Content Lead. Writing and plagiarism detection expert with a deep understanding of academic integrity and plagiarism cases.

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How to Write a Literature Review
Step 1 - Search for relevant literature. Step 2 - Evaluate and select sources. Step 3 - Identify themes, debates, and gaps. Step 4 - Outline your literature review's structure. Step 5 - Write your literature review. Free lecture slides.
PDF A Guide to Writing the Dissertation Literature Review
Gall, Borg, and Gall (1996) estimate that completion of an acceptable dissertation literature review will take between three and six months of effort. The purpose of this guide is to collect and summarize the most relevant information on how to write a dissertation literature review.
What is a Literature Review?
A literature review is a survey of scholarly sources on a specific topic. It provides an overview of current knowledge, allowing you to identify relevant theories, methods, and gaps in the existing research. There are five key steps to writing a literature review: Search for relevant literature. Evaluate sources. Identify themes, debates and gaps.
Writing a Literature Review
Writing a Literature Review. A literature review is a document or section of a document that collects key sources on a topic and discusses those sources in conversation with each other (also called synthesis ). The lit review is an important genre in many disciplines, not just literature (i.e., the study of works of literature such as novels ...
How To Write A Literature Review (+ Free Template)
Step 1: Find the relevant literature. Naturally, the first step in the literature review journey is to hunt down the existing research that's relevant to your topic. While you probably already have a decent base of this from your research proposal, you need to expand on this substantially in the dissertation or thesis itself.. Essentially, you need to be looking for any existing literature ...
How to write a dissertation literature review
4. Consider the organisation of your work. In a dissertation literature review, organising your work goes beyond having an introduction, body and conclusion. You'll be reviewing a number of texts, so you'll also have to think clearly about how to organise themes, topics and your argument in general.
How to write a literature review in 6 steps
3. Evaluate and select literature. 4. Analyze the literature. 5. Plan the structure of your literature review. 6. Write your literature review. Other resources to help you write a successful literature review.
How To Structure A Literature Review (Free Template)
Writing the literature review chapter can seem pretty daunting when you're piecing together your dissertation or thesis. As we've discussed before, a good literature review needs to achieve a few very important objectives - it should: Demonstrate your knowledge of the research topic; Identify the gaps in the literature and show how your research links to these
PDF Writing an Effective Literature Review
he simplest thing of all—structure. Everything you write has three components: a beginning, a middle and an e. d and each serves a different purpose. In practice, this means your review will have an introduction, a main body where you review the literature an. a conclusion where you tie things up.
How to Write the Dissertation Literature Review
Steps of Writing a Literature Review. 1. Gather, Assess, and Choose Relevant Literature. The first seed to take when writing your dissertation or thesis is to choose a fascinating and manageable research topic. Once a topic has been selected, you can begin searching for relevant academic sources. If you are writing a literature review for your ...
A Guide to Writing the Dissertation Literature Review
guide writers of literature reviews, the labor intensive. process of writing one compounds the problem. Gall, Borg, and Gall (1996) estima te that completion of an. acceptable dissertation ...
Dissertation Literature Review: Key Steps and Best Practices
Writing a dissertation is a significant milestone in your academic journey, and the literature review is one of its most crucial components. A well-crafted literature review sets the foundation for your research, providing a comprehensive overview of existing knowledge and highlighting gaps that your study aims to fill.
What Is A Literature Review (In A Dissertation Or Thesis)
The word "literature review" can refer to two related things that are part of the broader literature review process. The first is the task of reviewing the literature - i.e. sourcing and reading through the existing research relating to your research topic. The second is the actual chapter that you write up in your dissertation, thesis or ...
PDF The Thesis Writing Process and Literature Review
The key here is to focus first on the literature relevant to the puzzle. In this example, the tokenism literature sets up a puzzle derived from a theory and contradictory empirical evidence. Let's consider what each of these means... The literature(s) from which you develop the theoretical/empirical puzzle that drives your research question.
PDF LITERATURE REVIEWS
WRITING A TARGETED LITERATURE REVIEW a targeted literature review is NOT: ¡ a sophisticated evaluation of the entire literature or literatures related to your topic ¡ a set of thinly connected summaries of important related works haphazardly selected from many subfields a targeted literature review IS: ¡ a carefully curated set of sources from a small number of subfield literatures
How to Write a Literature Review for a Dissertation: 12 Steps
Tie the lit review to the body of your dissertation in the introduction. The introduction of your review needs to do 3 things. It must (1) provide an overview of the topic you're studying and clarify its importance. The intro should also (2) identify important recent research and any recent controversies in the field.
How to Write a Literature Review for a Dissertation
Preparing to Write the Literature Review for your Dissertation. Step 1. Search Using Key Terms. Most people start their lit review searching appropriate databases using key terms. For example, if you're researching the impact of social media on adult learning, some key terms you would use at the start of your search would be adult learning ...
How To Write A Literature Review For A Dissertation Or Thesis: 5 Time
Learn how to write a dissertation or thesis literature review the smart way! David Phair (PhD) and Amy Murdock (PhD) unpack 5 practical tips to help you fast...
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In a PhD thesis, the literature review typically comprises one chapter (perhaps 8-10,000 words), for a Masters dissertation it may be around 2-3,000 words, and for an undergraduate dissertation it may be no more than 2,000 words. In each case the word count can vary depending on a range of factors and it is always best, if in doubt, to ask your ...
A Guide to Writing the Dissertation Literature Review
Writing a faulty literature review is one of many ways to derail a dissertation. This article summarizes some pivotal information on how to write a high-quality dissertation literature review. It begins with a discussion of the purposes of a review, presents taxonomy of literature reviews, and then discusses the steps in conducting a quantitative or qualitative literature review.
Randolph
Writing a faulty literature review is one of many ways to derail a dissertation. This article summarizes some pivotal information on how to write a high-quality dissertation literature review. It begins with a discussion of the purposes of a review, presents taxonomy of literature reviews, and then discusses the steps in conducting a quantitative or qualitative literature review.
Thesis/Dissertation Writing Series: How to Write a Literature Review
To that end, you might write the title, author (s), and date of each study you wish to include on small index cards. Then summarize the main results of the study in a single sentence. Use these cards to create "reference piles" corresponding to specific sections of the dissertation literature review. The next stages of the dissertation ...
Literature Review Example (PDF + Template)
If you're working on a dissertation or thesis and are looking for an example of a strong literature review chapter, you've come to the right place.. In this video, we walk you through an A-grade literature review from a dissertation that earned full distinction.We start off by discussing the five core sections of a literature review chapter by unpacking our free literature review template.
Library Guides: Literature Reviews: Writing and Editing the Paper
A literature review paper should flow logically from one topic to the next. As you write your paper, consider these tips: Write in a formal voice and with an impartial tone. Define critical terms and describe key theories. Use topic sentences to clearly indicate what each paragraph is about. Use transitions to make links between sections.
Thesis Statement for Review
Thesis Statement Examples for Literature Review. In literature reviews, the goal is often to identify trends, gaps, or controversies in the body of literature on a specific topic. The statements should reflect a comprehensive understanding of various works under review. ... Tips for Writing a Review Thesis Statement. Stay Concise: Brevity is ...
Find out how to write an annotated bibliography with excellence
A literature review: This one combines multiple sources to show and evaluate where they agree or disagree. An abstract: Here, you show a brief summary based on a particular resource. Unlike a bibliography annotation, it must provide a summary and evaluate the quality relevant to the chosen source.

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