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SHS Academic Reading and Writing Week 11

This document provides guidance on writing a literature review. It defines a literature review as a critical analysis and summary of published sources on a topic. The purpose is to determine what is already known, provide an overview of key concepts and identify relationships, strengths/weaknesses, and gaps. It outlines the process of writing a literature review, including determining the purpose and scope, doing an extensive search, analyzing sources, and structuring the review with an introduction, body, and conclusion. The body paragraphs should synthesize sources around relevant themes. Finally, it lists checkpoints to ensure a literature review is well-written and organized.

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51 views8 pages

SHS Academic Reading and Writing Week 11

This document provides guidance on writing a literature review. It defines a literature review as a critical analysis and summary of published sources on a topic. The purpose is to determine what is already known, provide an overview of key concepts and identify relationships, strengths/weaknesses, and gaps. It outlines the process of writing a literature review, including determining the purpose and scope, doing an extensive search, analyzing sources, and structuring the review with an introduction, body, and conclusion. The body paragraphs should synthesize sources around relevant themes. Finally, it lists checkpoints to ensure a literature review is well-written and organized.

Uploaded by

daisy bolasoc
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Unit 3:

Academic Writing in the


Discipline
Lesson
11: Literature
REVIEW
rt

INTRODUC
TION
Hi dear learner!
When preparing a major research paper, you will be exposed to a wealth of
PRELIMINARY
ACTIVITY

Share insights!

For 5 minutes, generate as many ideas as you can about “literature review. Use the
box provided below.

OBJECTIVE
S

DISCUSS
ION

What is a literature review?


A literature review is a critical analysis of published sources, or literature, on a particular topic. It
is an assessment of the literature and provides a summary, classification, comparison and
evaluation. At postgraduate level literature reviews can be incorporated into an article, a research
report or thesis. At undergraduate level literature reviews can be a separate stand-alone
assessment.
The literature review is generally in the format of a standard essay made up of three components:
an introduction, a body and a conclusion. It is not a list like an annotated bibliography in which a
summary of each source is listed one by one.
Why do we need Literature Review?
At university you may be asked to write a literature review in order to demonstrate your
understanding of the literature on a particular topic. You show your understanding by analyzing
and then synthesizing the information to:
 Determine what has already been written on a topic
 Provide an overview of key concepts
 Identify major relationships or patterns
 Identify strengths and weaknesses
 Identify any gaps in the research
 Identify any conflicting evidence
 Provide a solid background to a research paper’s investigation

How to write a literature review


Determine your purpose
Work out what you need to address in the literature review. What are you being asked to do in
your literature review? What are you searching the literature to discover? Check your assignment
question and your criteria sheet to know what to focus on.

Do an extensive search of the literature


Find out what has been written on the topic.

What kind of literature?


Select appropriate source material: Use a variety of academic or scholarly sources that are
relevant, current and authoritative. An extensive review of relevant material will include —
books, journal articles, reports, government documents, conference proceedings and web
resources. The Library would be the best place to search for your sources.\

How many resources?


The number of sources that you will be required to review will depend on what the literature
review is for and how advanced you are in your studies. It could be from five sources at first year
undergraduate level to more than fifty for a thesis. Your lecturer will advise you on these details.

Note the bibliographical details of your sources


Keep a note of the publication title, date, authors’ names, page numbers and publishers. These
details will save you time later.

Read the literature


 Critically read each source, look for the arguments presented rather than for facts.
 Take notes as you read and start to organize your review around themes and ideas.
 Consider using a table, matrix or concept map to identify how the different sources relate to
each other.

Analyze the literature you have found


In order for your writing to reflect strong critical analysis, you need to evaluate the sources. For
each source you are reviewing ask yourself these questions:
 What are the key terms and concepts?
 How relevant is this article to my specific topic?
 What are the major relationships, trends and patterns?
 How has the author structured the arguments?
 How authoritative and credible is this source?
 What are the differences and similarities between the sources?
 Are there any gaps in the literature that require further study?

Write the review


 Start by writing your thesis statement. This is an important introductory sentence that will tell
your reader what the topic is and the overall perspective or argument you will be presenting.
 Like essays, a literature review must have an introduction, a body and a conclusion.

Structure of a literature review


Introduction
Your introduction should give an outline of
 why you are writing a review, and why the topic is important
 the scope of the review — what aspects of the topic will be discussed
 the criteria used for your literature selection (e.g. type of sources used, date range)
 the organizational pattern of the review.

Body paragraphs
Each body paragraph should deal with a different theme that is relevant to your topic. You will
need to synthesize several of your reviewed readings into each paragraph, so that there is a clear
connection between the various sources. You will need to critically analyses each source for how
they contribute to the themes you are researching.

The body could include paragraphs on:


 historical background
 methodologies
 previous studies on the topic
 mainstream versus alternative viewpoints
 principal questions being asked
 general conclusions that are being drawn.

Conclusion
Your conclusion should give a summary of:
 the main agreements and disagreements in the literature
 any gaps or areas for further research
 your overall perspective on the topic.

Checklist for a literature review


Have I:
 outlined the purpose and scope?
 identified appropriate and credible (academic/scholarly) literature?
 recorded the bibliographical details of the sources?
 analyzed and critiqued your readings?
 identified gaps in the literature and research?
 explored methodologies / theories / hypotheses / models?
 discussed the varying viewpoints?
 written an introduction, body and conclusion?
 checked punctuation and spelling?
Difference among the sources;
Annotated Bibliography Book Review Literature Review
Summarizes and explains Evaluate a book Reviews a significant number
how important references are of work to identify know and
unknown about a topic.

Functions of Literature Review


 Justifies a research question
 Establishes the relevance of the topic
 Provides necessary information to better understand a topic
 Show reviewers familiarity and mastery of the topic
 Establishes niche of the study
 Resolves conflict among contradictory studies

ACTIVI
TY
I. Write a literature review by following the writing process outlined below. You may assume the
persona of a researcher writing a literature review for a paper to be submitted to a professional
scientific journal.

Complete the given information to come up with a writing situation for your literature review.

General Purpose: ___________________________________________________

Specific Purpose: ___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

Target Output: ___________________________________________________

Audience: ___________________________________________________

Writer’s Persona: ___________________________________________________

Tone/Formality: ___________________________________________________

II. Get one authentic literature review from a reputable academic journal. Analyze its good
features and organization. Submit your analysis in short bond paper using double spacing and
font size 12.

Congratulations for your first


literature review. Great work! Just
make sure to remember everything
and you will be fine. 😊

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