Guidelines
Some initial first steps towards a strong literature review are:
- Determining a clear structure for organizing your material.
- This could be by chronology, theme, method, or theory.
- Outlining the criteria used in the choice of material to be included in the review.
- This could be the time frame, type of source, or other defining criteria for inclusion or exclusion.
- Evaluate and synthesize the material you have found, pointing out common themes, gaps in the literature, contradictory research findings, and suggest areas for further research when possible
- Clearly relate the synthesis and evaluation of material to the topic or issue outlined as the purpose of the review
- Carefully cite all the research studies, quotations, and other material used in the review in the format designated for the assignment. If you are using the exact text from an author’s work, be sure to use quotation marks around the text. If paraphrasing points made in an article in your own words, be sure to provide a citation
Literature Review Question Checklist
We want our literature reviews to be focused, critical, and engaging. Sometimes, it is helpful to review the following questions:
Organization and Structure
- Have you organized your literature review? This could be by chronological order, theme, method, or theory.
- Does your literature review have organization and structure?
- Does it have focus, unity, and coherence?
Scope
- Is there a clear focus for your literature review?
- Are you citing key researchers, scholars, or thinkers related to this subject?
- Have you eliminated discussing sources that do not related to our research topic at all?
Writing
- Have you eliminated repetitive words and phrases?
- Have you changed verbose words when they are not needed?
Analysis
- Have you critically summarized and evaluated sources in your subject matter?
- Have you addressed the quality of the research of each resource (book, article, etc.)?
- Have you summarized the argument, conclusions, and research design of the resource?
- Have you critically evaluated the research? This can include engagement with population(s), research design, scope of research, successful argumentation, contributions to the field, authoritative evidence, and ethics of the research.
- Have you addressed the contributions of the resource to the field?
Citations
- Have you cited all your sources both within the literature review and at the end of the document?
