How to Write a Literature Review: Lesson One

One of the more critical skills needed by all college and university students is the knowledge of how to write a literature review. Throughout the classes during higher education, students will likely be required to complete a literature review. This task is often part of the curriculum in upper level courses, and is mandatory for those students in Master’s Degree and Doctoral Programs. Since the format for a literature review is unique, many students purchase the services of academic writing company. They then work individually with a professional writer that is well versed in how to write a literature review.

Students who need to write a literature review will be expected to begin the process by defining the scope of the topic at hand. Unlike a book review or other standard English assignment, a literature review focuses on scholarly written works. Professional journals, books, published dissertations, and other academically based publications are the only appropriate types of literature to be reviewed with this type of assignment. When a student orders a literature review, the only sources studied and cited will be of this nature. For this reason, many different academic subjects require literature reviews as part of the curriculum, from Renaissance Studies to Architecture, Marketing to Biology.

In order to narrow the scope, students who order a literature review from an academic writing company will need to specifically define the topic, subtopic, and field of study. This includes formulating the problem to be addressed and the accompanying issues. For example, it would be much too broad to attempt a literature review of the ecological issues in the rainforests. Instead, the student who orders a literature review might instead focus on the impact to a certain species through the current practices of deforestation of the rainforest in a particular location. In this section, the student should explain the justifications for limiting the scope of the literature review in this particular way.

Once the scope has been pinpointed, the initial research for publications to be considered in the literature review begins. This involves a broad assessment of the publications at first, to be followed by a narrowing of the sources shortly thereafter. This process involves considering which literature is relevant to the scope and what contributions they make to the body of knowledge in the subject. For example, in the rainforest example, the writer might choose several sources from international publications and scientific journals. In this manner, they are relatively assured that the motivation for the findings is based on factual data and not political agendas. This part of writing a literature review should include a list of the types of sources found and included as well as where the information was gathered.

Once the scope and sources are narrowed, the student and the academic writing company will perform qualitative analyses on the publications. This involves analyzing and interpreting the data and conclusions of the various articles, books, and so forth with an objective eye. That is to say, the students and professional writers should be open to many viewpoints and findings in order to present a well-rounded literature review. In the end, the literature review should not simply be a recitation of the publications; it should include an analysis of themes, findings, data types, as well as contradictions and questions that may develop as the literature review takes shape. The use of subheadings will assist with flow of the piece while organizing the structure in a logical, academic fashion.