What Is the Most Important Type of Information That Should Be Included in a Literature Review

What this handout is about

This handout volition explicate what literature reviews are and offer insights into the class and construction of literature reviews in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences.

Introduction

OK. You've got to write a literature review. You dust off a novel and a volume of poetry, settle down in your chair, and get fix to issue a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" as you leaf through the pages. "Literature review" done. Correct?

Wrong! The "literature" of a literature review refers to any collection of materials on a topic, non necessarily the dandy literary texts of the world. "Literature" could exist anything from a set of authorities pamphlets on British colonial methods in Africa to scholarly manufactures on the treatment of a torn ACL. And a review does not necessarily hateful that your reader wants yous to give your personal opinion on whether or non you lot liked these sources.

What is a literature review, then?

A literature review discusses published information in a particular subject field, and sometimes information in a particular subject field inside a sure time period.

A literature review can exist just a uncomplicated summary of the sources, merely information technology usually has an organizational blueprint and combines both summary and synthesis. A summary is a recap of the important information of the source, merely a synthesis is a re-arrangement, or a reshuffling, of that information. It might give a new interpretation of onetime cloth or combine new with old interpretations. Or it might trace the intellectual progression of the field, including major debates. And depending on the situation, the literature review may evaluate the sources and advise the reader on the most pertinent or relevant.

But how is a literature review different from an academic research newspaper?

The chief focus of an bookish research paper is to develop a new argument, and a inquiry paper is likely to comprise a literature review equally one of its parts. In a enquiry newspaper, you utilize the literature as a foundation and as support for a new insight that y'all contribute. The focus of a literature review, nonetheless, is to summarize and synthesize the arguments and ideas of others without calculation new contributions.

Why practice we write literature reviews?

Literature reviews provide you lot with a handy guide to a particular topic. If you have limited time to carry research, literature reviews tin give you lot an overview or act as a stepping stone. For professionals, they are useful reports that keep them up to date with what is current in the field. For scholars, the depth and breadth of the literature review emphasizes the brownie of the writer in his or her field. Literature reviews also provide a solid background for a enquiry paper's investigation. Comprehensive knowledge of the literature of the field is essential to most research papers.

Who writes these things, anyway?

Literature reviews are written occasionally in the humanities, but mostly in the sciences and social sciences; in experiment and lab reports, they establish a section of the paper. Sometimes a literature review is written equally a paper in itself.

Let's get to it! What should I exercise before writing the literature review?

Analyze

If your consignment is not very specific, seek clarification from your teacher:

• Roughly how many sources should y'all include?
• What types of sources (books, journal articles, websites)?
• Should you summarize, synthesize, or critique your sources by discussing a common theme or issue?
• Should you lot evaluate your sources?
• Should y'all provide subheadings and other background information, such as definitions and/or a history?

Find models

Await for other literature reviews in your surface area of interest or in the discipline and read them to get a sense of the types of themes you might desire to expect for in your own inquiry or means to organize your final review. You lot can simply put the word "review" in your search engine along with your other topic terms to find articles of this type on the Internet or in an electronic database. The bibliography or reference department of sources you've already read are too excellent entry points into your ain enquiry.

Narrow your topic

There are hundreds or even thousands of articles and books on most areas of written report. The narrower your topic, the easier it volition be to limit the number of sources you lot demand to read in order to get a good survey of the fabric. Your teacher will probably non await you to read everything that's out there on the topic, but you'll make your job easier if you showtime limit your scope.

Keep in mind that UNC Libraries have inquiry guides and to databases relevant to many fields of study. You can reach out to the subject librarian for a consultation: https://library.unc.edu/back up/consultations/.

And don't forget to tap into your professor'due south (or other professors') knowledge in the field. Ask your professor questions such as: "If you had to read only one book from the 90'southward on topic X, what would it exist?" Questions such equally this help you to find and make up one's mind apace the almost seminal pieces in the field.

Consider whether your sources are current

Some disciplines require that y'all use information that is as current every bit possible. In the sciences, for instance, treatments for medical issues are constantly changing according to the latest studies. Information even two years old could be obsolete. However, if you lot are writing a review in the humanities, history, or social sciences, a survey of the history of the literature may exist what is needed, because what is important is how perspectives accept changed through the years or within a sure time period. Try sorting through another current bibliographies or literature reviews in the field to get a sense of what your discipline expects. You can likewise use this method to consider what is currently of interest to scholars in this field and what is not.

Strategies for writing the literature review

Notice a focus

A literature review, like a term newspaper, is usually organized around ideas, not the sources themselves every bit an annotated bibliography would exist organized. This means that you will non merely simply list your sources and go into detail almost each ane of them, 1 at a time. No. Equally you read widely simply selectively in your topic area, consider instead what themes or problems connect your sources together. Do they present i or unlike solutions? Is there an attribute of the field that is missing? How well exercise they nowadays the cloth and do they portray it co-ordinate to an appropriate theory? Do they reveal a trend in the field? A raging argue? Pick one of these themes to focus the organization of your review.

Convey information technology to your reader

A literature review may not take a traditional thesis argument (one that makes an statement), but y'all do demand to tell readers what to expect. Attempt writing a simple statement that lets the reader know what is your principal organizing principle. Here are a couple of examples:

The current trend in handling for congestive heart failure combines surgery and medicine.
More and more cultural studies scholars are accepting pop media as a subject worthy of academic consideration.

Consider arrangement

Yous've got a focus, and you've stated it conspicuously and directly. At present what is the most effective way of presenting the information? What are the most important topics, subtopics, etc., that your review needs to include? And in what order should you present them? Develop an organization for your review at both a global and local level:

First, cover the basic categories

Just like most academic papers, literature reviews also must contain at to the lowest degree 3 basic elements: an introduction or background data department; the body of the review containing the discussion of sources; and, finally, a conclusion and/or recommendations section to cease the paper. The following provides a brief description of the content of each:

• Introduction: Gives a quick idea of the topic of the literature review, such as the primal theme or organizational pattern.
• Body: Contains your discussion of sources and is organized either chronologically, thematically, or methodologically (see beneath for more information on each).
• Conclusions/Recommendations: Hash out what you lot accept fatigued from reviewing literature and so far. Where might the discussion go on?

Organizing the trunk

Once you lot accept the basic categories in place, then you must consider how y'all will nowadays the sources themselves inside the trunk of your newspaper. Create an organizational method to focus this department even farther.

To aid yous come up with an overall organizational framework for your review, consider the post-obit scenario:

You've decided to focus your literature review on materials dealing with sperm whales. This is considering yous've only finished reading Moby Dick, and you wonder if that whale's portrayal is really real. You outset with some manufactures almost the physiology of sperm whales in biology journals written in the 1980's. Only these manufactures refer to some British biological studies performed on whales in the early 18th century. Then you check those out. Then you look upwards a book written in 1968 with information on how sperm whales accept been portrayed in other forms of art, such as in Alaskan poetry, in French painting, or on whale bone, as the whale hunters in the late 19th century used to exercise. This makes you wonder nigh American whaling methods during the time portrayed in Moby Dick, so you discover some bookish articles published in the last v years on how accurately Herman Melville portrayed the whaling scene in his novel.

Now consider some typical ways of organizing the sources into a review:

• Chronological: If your review follows the chronological method, you lot could write about the materials in a higher place co-ordinate to when they were published. For instance, beginning you would talk nearly the British biological studies of the 18th century, and then about Moby Dick, published in 1851, then the book on sperm whales in other art (1968), and finally the biology articles (1980s) and the recent articles on American whaling of the 19th century. But there is relatively no continuity among subjects here. And find that even though the sources on sperm whales in other art and on American whaling are written recently, they are about other subjects/objects that were created much earlier. Thus, the review loses its chronological focus.

• By publication: Lodge your sources by publication chronology, so, only if the order demonstrates a more of import trend. For case, you could gild a review of literature on biological studies of sperm whales if the progression revealed a change in dissection practices of the researchers who wrote and/or conducted the studies.

• By tendency: A better way to organize the to a higher place sources chronologically is to examine the sources under some other tendency, such as the history of whaling. Then your review would have subsections according to eras within this catamenia. For example, the review might examine whaling from pre-1600-1699, 1700-1799, and 1800-1899. Nether this method, you would combine the contempo studies on American whaling in the 19th century with Moby Dick itself in the 1800-1899 category, fifty-fifty though the authors wrote a century apart.

• Thematic: Thematic reviews of literature are organized around a topic or event, rather than the progression of time. Withal, progression of fourth dimension may all the same be an of import factor in a thematic review. For instance, the sperm whale review could focus on the development of the harpoon for whale hunting. While the report focuses on one topic, harpoon technology, it will still be organized chronologically. The only difference here between a "chronological" and a "thematic" approach is what is emphasized the near: the development of the harpoon or the harpoon technology.But more accurate thematic reviews tend to pause away from chronological order. For case, a thematic review of cloth on sperm whales might examine how they are portrayed as "evil" in cultural documents. The subsections might include how they are personified, how their proportions are exaggerated, and their behaviors misunderstood. A review organized in this style would shift betwixt time periods inside each section according to the point made.

• Methodological: A methodological approach differs from the two above in that the focusing factor commonly does not have to do with the content of the textile. Instead, it focuses on the "methods" of the researcher or writer. For the sperm whale project, ane methodological arroyo would be to look at cultural differences between the portrayal of whales in American, British, and French art piece of work. Or the review might focus on the economic touch of whaling on a community. A methodological scope will influence either the types of documents in the review or the style in which these documents are discussed.
  Once you've decided on the organizational method for the body of the review, the sections you lot need to include in the paper should be like shooting fish in a barrel to figure out. They should arise out of your organizational strategy. In other words, a chronological review would accept subsections for each vital fourth dimension period. A thematic review would have subtopics based upon factors that chronicle to the theme or issue.

Sometimes, though, you might need to add additional sections that are necessary for your written report, but do not fit in the organizational strategy of the torso. What other sections you include in the body is upward to you. Put in simply what is necessary. Here are a few other sections yous might desire to consider:

• Current Situation: Information necessary to empathise the topic or focus of the literature review.
• History: The chronological progression of the field, the literature, or an idea that is necessary to empathize the literature review, if the body of the literature review is not already a chronology.
• Methods and/or Standards: The criteria you used to select the sources in your literature review or the way in which y'all nowadays your information. For instance, you might explain that your review includes only peer-reviewed articles and journals.

Questions for Further Inquiry: What questions most the field has the review sparked? How will you farther your research as a consequence of the review?

Begin composing

Once you've settled on a general pattern of organization, you lot're fix to write each section. There are a few guidelines you should follow during the writing stage besides. Here is a sample paragraph from a literature review about sexism and linguistic communication to illuminate the post-obit discussion:

However, other studies have shown that even gender-neutral antecedents are more likely to produce masculine images than feminine ones (Gastil, 1990). Hamilton (1988) asked students to complete sentences that required them to make full in pronouns that agreed with gender-neutral antecedents such every bit "writer," "pedestrian," and "persons." The students were asked to describe any image they had when writing the sentence. Hamilton constitute that people imagined 3.3 men to each woman in the masculine "generic" condition and 1.5 men per adult female in the unbiased condition. Thus, while ambient sexism deemed for some of the masculine bias, sexist language amplified the result. (Source: Erika Falk and Jordan Mills, "Why Sexist Linguistic communication Affects Persuasion: The Role of Homophily, Intended Audience, and Offense," Women and Language19:2).

Utilize evidence

In the example above, the writers refer to several other sources when making their point. A literature review in this sense is just like any other academic enquiry paper. Your interpretation of the available sources must be backed upwardly with bear witness to prove that what you lot are proverb is valid.

Exist selective

Select just the nigh important points in each source to highlight in the review. The type of information you choose to mention should chronicle straight to the review's focus, whether it is thematic, methodological, or chronological.

Use quotes sparingly

Falk and Mills do not apply any direct quotes. That is because the survey nature of the literature review does not allow for in-depth discussion or detailed quotes from the text. Some short quotes here and there are okay, though, if y'all want to emphasize a point, or if what the author said just cannot be rewritten in your own words. Notice that Falk and Mills practise quote certain terms that were coined by the author, not common cognition, or taken straight from the study. But if you find yourself wanting to put in more than quotes, check with your instructor.

Summarize and synthesize

Retrieve to summarize and synthesize your sources inside each paragraph as well as throughout the review. The authors here recapitulate important features of Hamilton's written report, merely then synthesize it past rephrasing the study's significance and relating it to their own piece of work.

Go on your own voice

While the literature review presents others' ideas, your voice (the writer's) should remain front end and center. Notice that Falk and Mills weave references to other sources into their own text, but they even so maintain their own vocalisation by starting and catastrophe the paragraph with their own ideas and their own words. The sources support what Falk and Mills are maxim.

Use circumspection when paraphrasing

When paraphrasing a source that is not your own, be sure to represent the author'south information or opinions accurately and in your ain words. In the preceding example, Falk and Mills either directly refer in the text to the author of their source, such as Hamilton, or they provide ample note in the text when the ideas they are mentioning are not their ain, for example, Gastil'southward. For more than information, please run into our handout on plagiarism.

Revise, revise, revise

Draft in hand? Now y'all're ready to revise. Spending a lot of time revising is a wise idea, because your chief objective is to nowadays the material, not the argument. So check over your review again to make sure it follows the consignment and/or your outline. And then, just as you would for most other bookish forms of writing, rewrite or rework the language of your review so that you've presented your information in the most concise style possible. Be sure to use terminology familiar to your audience; get rid of unnecessary jargon or slang. Finally, double bank check that you've documented your sources and formatted the review appropriately for your subject. For tips on the revising and editing process, meet our handout on revising drafts.

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout'southward topic, and nosotros encourage you to do your ain research to detect additional publications. Please do not apply this list every bit a model for the format of your own reference listing, every bit it may not match the citation way you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial. We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Anson, Chris One thousand., and Robert A. Schwegler. 2010. The Longman Handbook for Writers and Readers, 6th ed. New York: Longman.

Jones, Robert, Patrick Bizzaro, and Cynthia Selfe. 1997. The Harcourt Caryatid Guide to Writing in the Disciplines. New York: Harcourt Brace.

Lamb, Sandra E. 1998. How to Write It: A Consummate Guide to Everything You'll Ever Write. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press.

Rosen, Leonard J., and Laurence Behrens. 2003. The Allyn & Bacon Handbook, 5th ed. New York: Longman.

Troyka, Lynn Quittman, and Doug Hesse. 2016. Simon and Schuster Handbook for Writers, 11th ed. London: Pearson.

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Source: https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/literature-reviews/

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