How to Write a 10 Page Literature Review

How to Write a Literature Review: Six Steps to Go You from Start to Finish

Writing a literature review is ofttimes the near daunting role of writing an article, book, thesis, or dissertation. "The literature" seems (and often is) massive. I have found information technology helpful to be as systematic every bit possible when completing this gargantuan task.

Sonja Foss and William Walters* describe an efficient and effective way of writing a literature review. Their system provides an excellent guide for getting through the massive amounts of literature for whatever purpose: in a dissertation, an M.A. thesis, or preparing a research article for publication in whatever discipline. Beneath is a  summary of the steps they outline every bit well as a step-by-stride method for writing a literature review.

How to Write a Literature Review

Footstep One: Make up one's mind on your areas of inquiry:

Earlier yous begin to search for articles or books, decide beforehand what areas yous are going to research. Make certain that y'all only get articles and books in those areas, fifty-fifty if you come across fascinating books in other areas. A literature review I am currently working on, for example, explores barriers to higher educational activity for undocumented students.

Footstep Two: Search for the literature:

Acquit a comprehensive bibliographic search of books and manufactures in your surface area. Read the abstracts online and download and/or print those articles that pertain to your surface area of research. Find books in the library that are relevant and check them out. Set a specific time frame for how long you will search. It should not take more than two or three dedicated sessions.

Step Three: Notice relevant excerpts in your books and articles:

Skim the contents of each volume and article and look specifically for these five things:

1. Claims, conclusions, and findings well-nigh the constructs yous are investigating

two. Definitions of terms

3. Calls for follow-up studies relevant to your projection

iv. Gaps yous notice in the literature

5. Disagreement about the constructs you are investigating

When you lot notice any of these five things, blazon the relevant excerpt directly into a Discussion certificate. Don't summarize, as summarizing takes longer than simply typing the extract. Make certain to note the proper noun of the writer and the page number following each excerpt. Do this for each article and book that you lot accept in your stack of literature. When y'all are washed, impress out your excerpts.

Step Iv: Code the literature:

Get out a pair of scissors and cutting each excerpt out. Now, sort the pieces of paper into similar topics. Figure out what the main themes are. Place each excerpt into a themed pile. Make sure each annotation goes into a pile. If there are excerpts that you tin't figure out where they belong, divide those and go over them once again at the finish to see if you demand new categories. When y'all cease, place each stack of notes into an envelope labeled with the proper noun of the theme.

Stride Five: Create Your Conceptual Schema:

Type, in large font, the name of each of your coded themes. Print this out, and cut the titles into individual slips of paper. Take the slips of newspaper to a table or large workspace and figure out the best manner to organize them. Are there ideas that go together or that are in dialogue with each other? Are there ideas that contradict each other? Move around the slips of paper until you come up with a way of organizing the codes that makes sense. Write the conceptual schema downward before you forget or someone cleans up your slips of newspaper.

Pace Six: Begin to Write Your Literature Review:

Cull any section of your conceptual schema to brainstorm with. You lot can begin anywhere, because you already know the guild. Observe the envelope with the excerpts in them and lay them on the table in front of y'all. Figure out a mini-conceptual schema based on that theme by grouping together those excerpts that say the same thing. Utilize that mini-conceptual schema to write upwards your literature review based on the excerpts that you take in front end of you lot. Don't forget to include the citations every bit you lot write, so as non to lose rail of who said what. Repeat this for each section of your literature review.

One time you complete these six steps, you will accept a complete draft of your literature review. The dandy thing nearly this process is that it breaks down into manageable steps something that seems enormous: writing a literature review.

I think that Foss and Walter'south arrangement for writing the literature review is ideal for a dissertation, because a Ph.D. candidate has already read widely in his or her field through graduate seminars and comprehensive exams.

It may be more than challenging for G.A. students, unless you lot are already familiar with the literature. Information technology is always hard to figure out how much you need to read for deep meaning, and how much y'all just need to know what others have said. That residual will depend on how much you already know.

For people writing literature reviews for articles or books, this system also could piece of work, especially when y'all are writing in a field with which you are already familiar. The mere fact of having a organization can brand the literature review seem much less daunting, so I recommend this system for anyone who feels overwhelmed by the prospect of writing a literature review.

*Destination Dissertation: A Traveler'southward Guide to a Done Dissertation

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Source: https://www.wiley.com/network/researchers/preparing-your-article/writing-a-literature-review-six-steps-to-get-you-from-start-to-finish