If you are a student pursuing a bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree program, then while preparing your thesis, dissertation, or research paper, you must add a literature review section to present an overview of already published works on the topic of your discussion. In case, you wish to know in detail about what it means and how to write an ideal literature review, then continue reading this blog. For your convenience, here, we have shared everything about the literature review and its presentation steps.
What is a Literature Review?
A literature review is one of the essential sections in a thesis, dissertation, or research paper. It is a piece of academic writing through which students can demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of the literature on the topic they have chosen for discussion. It can also include the critical evaluation of the source materials. Especially, with a literature review, existing knowledge of sources can be established.
Purpose of Writing a Literature Review
Perhaps, if you have enrolled in a post-graduation degree, it’s most vital to write a thesis depicting your perspective. Also, consider depicting the past researcher’s work on the subject, as it may add more credibility to your work.
Important Requirements
- Firstly, demonstrate your expertise and enthusiasm for the topic, because writing a Ph.D. thesis might be challenging. Moreover, you will have to think about writing a literature review to show how passionate you are about your subject.
- Secondly, think about teaching other people through your literature review because the supervisors might not be familiar with all of the ideas that were discussed. Even though the professor may be an expert in the subject, not all students will be aware of everything.
- Finally, create contexts because a thesis typically adds another perspective to an ongoing discussion. Also, you might have to give your readers a point of view, so you should be extra careful.
Learn How to Write a Literature Review
If you want to write an ideal literature review, possibly we have designed an outstanding structure for you.
- Choose your papers as per your topic selection. You might also think about the interests of your own and other researchers in the field.
- To come up with ideas, read lecture notes and the most recently published papers related to your field of study or consult with your professors.
- In the meantime, think about conducting a literature search and establishing the criteria for selecting sources. You can also find relevant information and write the literature review by using keywords or a library database. Alternatively, by removing out-of-date sources and including a reference list of recent articles, you can give your work more credibility.
- After that, make sure to read the selected articles quickly and evaluate them carefully.
- Next, organize the selected papers by establishing subtopics and common patterns.
- Furthermore, write a thesis statement that includes one or two sentences that summarize the conclusion.
Additionally, to write it, perhaps, you may have to adhere to the organizational structure. Also, analyze the headings and sub-headings used and if each section connects to the other section.
Also Read: Learn How to Write a Leave Application for Fever
Understand How to Review Your Work
Certainly, you need to evaluate the topic sentences for each paragraph, to check if it takes a clear position and is logical. Also, ensure to create an outline for each section and check if you want to add or delete any content. Moreover, consider reading your work aloud, so that you know where you need punctuation, pause, or a division. Furthermore, you may want to ensure that you have used the latest sources and covered all relevant points. Additionally, ensure that you have used the correct referencing style and format, as this might add credibility to your work. However, if you have missed a citation somewhere, be sure to rectify it as this might accuse you of plagiarism. Finally, check for a smooth and logical flow of sentences as well as ensure correct grammar to score well in your dissertations.
Conclusion
We hope you are now clear with the literature review preparation steps. Especially, by following the steps suggested above, you can come up with a detailed literature review. In case, you are not confident enough to critically analyze and compose a literature review, call us immediately.
