How to Say When You Are Doing Literature Review

Learning Outcomes

 In this chapter, y'all'll learn the steps to creating a literature review including

• writing an introduction, body paragraphs, a discussion/decision, abstract, and other elements

• drafting and getting feedback

• revising your literature review

Annotation: Because this chapter involves the steps for writing your Literature Review, the discussion questions in each section will be more involved than in other chapters, and so give yourself actress time. Only never fear! They volition all lead to writing a ameliorate paper.

12.1 Draft and Synthesize

First, I desire you lot to sentinel this 10-minute video because information technology both reviews what we talked most in the last chapter and provides bang-up ways to get started on the actual writing of your paper. Here are some highlights to pay attending to:

• questions to ask as you have or review your notes that will guide your writing

• suggestions for how to organize your notes. (Or actually, I should spell it "organise" with an "s" since the video comes from Commonwealth of australia.)

• ways to add interpretation to what you say nearly your sources

• linguistic communication to use to comment on the studies yous're summarizing and synthesizing

• examples of literature review synthesis

Watch on YouTube https://open.byu.edu/-WFP

https://youtu.be/70n2-gAp7J0

Video Review

What 3 strategies or elements from the video practise y'all plan to comprise into your ain Literature Review?

Commencement Drafting

Now information technology's time to start drafting your paper. Follow the structure from your outline and kickoff filling in the missing parts. Get out your notes and remind yourself of the sources you program to talk nearly. You don't have to write your paper from showtime to end in order—you tin become to the parts that feel the easiest and start there. Here are some places you lot can commencement:

Bullet-Bespeak Draft

Writing your Bullet Points should be equally fast every bit this Bullet Railroad train. Photo by Fikri Rasyid on Unsplash

I frequently accept my students start with a Bullet-Point draft that takes the ideas they've been outlining and fills them in with more details merely only in bullet-point form. The beauty of bullet points is that they go on you from getting caught up in the language and style and permit y'all to focus just on your master points. You tin can shine out the sentences and transitions subsequently, but for now, but go your ideas on the page.

Write the Introduction

Another way to get started is to just write the Introduction. You already accept a thesis argument that tin go at the terminate, so at present yous can outset introducing your topic and its importance, setting up your Literature Review. See beneath for more specific assistance with Introductions.

Write a Body Paragraph

Or a third place to first is to jump into writing a torso paragraph that synthesizes your sources—the way y'all did in that synthesis activeness before. Have your notes and cull one set to talk about in paragraph grade.

Don't recollect likewise hard about getting things perfect when you're drafting—that'southward what revision is for. Merely focus on getting started and filling in some of the missing pieces. If y'all get stuck, exercise some brainstorming activities to get your creative juices flowing. In one case you accept something written, I advise seeking feedback to make sure you're going in the correct direction. In fact, I recommend getting every bit much feedback as possible along the way.

Start Writing

Now information technology'southward your plow to choose somewhere to start writing—choose either a bullet-bespeak draft, the introduction, a body paragraph or something else. Then write the equivalent of at least one paragraph.

How to Write Each Section

Now that you've jump-started the writing process, we'll go through each of the parts of your paper more than in depth to aid y'all fill up out a consummate draft.

Introduction

Once you know what your main points will be, you're ready to introduce your ideas. Every bit in whatsoever paper, you can't just spring correct into your thesis argument and points; you need to set up the stage first. Hither are the elements of a good introduction to a literature review:

A good introduction

• introduces the topic and indicates its importance (impact on individuals)

• gives a context for the research question

• defines key terms, concepts, and/or theories

• explains what search methods were used and how many and what types of sources were reviewed (this is sometimes optional)

• suggests the organization of the rest of the paper

Retrieve in some style guides like the APA Manual , y'all don't demand to title your Introduction "Introduction"—y'all simply center the title of your paper at the top of your page (bolded and in title capitalization format) and so spring right into your first paragraph.

Tip: You don't always know where you're going when you start a paper, then just get a good typhoon of an introduction down. So when you finish writing a first draft of your paper, read your conclusion and consider using some of information technology in your introduction instead. I ofttimes tell my students that conclusions brand good introductions because yous finally know exactly where you went in your newspaper. Either fashion, you'll want to revisit your introduction once your paper's done so you tin adapt it to better match where your paper went.

Introduction

Get a outset on your introduction by writing an opening judgement that introduces your topic and/or indicates its importance. And then you tin can apply that to jump beginning the rest of your introduction.

Body

The body of your newspaper is where you tin develop your points and use your newfound synthesis skills. Remember the synthesis activity with the videos you did in the terminal chapter? As you create a draft, you lot can start composing paragraphs using your awesome notes only like you practiced with those videos. Try to incorporate several sources into each paragraph to be sure that y'all're synthesizing and non merely summarizing or listing without making connections. Your color-coded notes can aid yous be sure that each paragraph contains multiple sources.

In the torso of your newspaper, you should

• synthesize previous studies to inform the reader of the state of research

• "identify relations, contradictions, gaps, and inconsistencies in the literature" (APA Manual, p. 8)

• grouping your points into major headings and subheadings (You choose the arrangement based on what you've found: similar concepts or theories, similar methods, chronological development, controversies, etc.)

• support all points with sound reasoning or show drawn from sources and in which all borrowed information is documented

• summarize sources most of the time, paraphrase sometimes, and use quotations very sparingly—only when specific diction is poignant or tin can't be said in any other style.

One style to talk about your sources is known every bit the CEC Method: Claim-Evidence-Commentary.

Claim + Evidence + Commentary

Only like any paragraph, you lot should start with a Topic sentence that acts as a mini-Thesis statement or a general claim near your topic. Then you lot need to requite bear witness to support that claim. In a literature review, your evidence comes in the form of studies that accept been done—all those brilliant notes you've been taking. This is where y'all can synthesize your sources and bear witness that they are related under the umbrella of a topic. However, just listing or summarizing sources does not make the connexion between them and your topic sentence articulate. This is where commentary comes in. Your job is also to comment on and interpret the significance of your "evidence" so your audience can sympathize the connections between them. In synthesis, your language is the key.

In the next affiliate, we'll talk more than most how to do this, peculiarly how to incorporate metacommentary into your paragraphs.

Add Metacommentary

Metacommentary is the key to synthesis. metacommentary (aka metadiscourse) is a type of commentary that guides your reader and helps them translate the sources and testify y'all're presenting. Retrieve of it as really powerful transitions. Commencement, let'south remind ourselves what transitions are. Transition words human action like signposts—they guide your reader through your points. They can likewise glue your ideas together and so they feel more cohesive. Beware that transitions can definitely exist overdone, but I'd say most students in full general could utilize more transitions in their papers rather than fewer.

Add signposts to your writing to guide your reader. Photo past Dallas on Flickr.

Here's an awesome listing of transition words (also linked in the frame below) that are grouped past category from the famous Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab—whorl down to encounter the list). You can also download a great handout from the University of Maryland here .

I e'er suggest that my students keep a categorized transition listing similar this handy equally they write so that when they know they want to connect ideas in a certain mode (e.thou. to show contrast), you can easily detect a good list of options (e.g. in contrast, conversely, etc.). Not only will transitions assist your ideas feel more connected, they will also smooth out your writing style similar butter.

Yous might think you tin just stop at transition words, only metacommentary is much more than only sprinkling some "therefores" and "howevers" throughout your paper—metacommentary actually takes your synthesis to the next level. Remember the Claim-Evidence-Commentary pattern I've mentioned? The commentary part of that sandwich is where you should focus right now. What do you annotate on? You can either highlight why a source is important or connect it with other sources. This is your gamble to bespeak out the answers to the 4 questions yous looked for in your note-taking:

1. What do researchers agree and disagree virtually?

2. How are researchers narrowing or changing their focus to create new information?

3. What are each study's limitations and strengths?

4. What'due south the adjacent step in enquiry—what should be studied in the future? (The inquiry gap)

Yous can call back of metacommentary every bit a sandwich with your name on it. If my pupil's proper name were Alisa, here's what an "Alisa sandwich" would expect like:

ALISA—SOURCE—ALISA

• First, Alisa starts with a claim about what'southward happening in the field or about a item subsection or focus of the field. This could serve as a topic judgement for a paragraph, for example.

• Second, she sets upwardly the source with guiding language similar transitions and references to her by points or sources.

• Tertiary, she talks about the source itself and summarizes pertinent information.

• Lastly, Alisa comments on the source and/or connects it to her main point or to next source.

This metacommentary is a lot similar the estimation mentioned in the video at the beginning of this chapter. This type of "sandwich" can occur several times in a paragraph as you synthesize your sources. Here'southward a sample paragraph from Chris, a Public Health student, (check this) who wrote a paper called "The Causes of a Behavioral Pandemic: Screen-time Addiction and Consequent Depression Amid Adolescents." I've bolded the metacommentary Chris had added to guide his readers and to connect his points together.

Even though there take been far fewer studies on adolescents than adults, boyish studies take consistently shown that those who are more than physically agile experience less depressive and associated symptoms, also as a greater overall state of well-being (Kremer 2014). These studies have also shown that low levels of vigorous exercise in youth tin independently crusade depressive symptoms. One longitudinal study revealed that over 30% of children who participate in high levels of screen-time utilize feel moderate to high levels of depressive symptoms (Kremer 2014). Additionally, another study of children in the United States demonstrated that those who participated on a sports squad were less probable to exceed recommended screen-time limits established past the US Department of Health. This study also demonstrated that as the number of total physical activity sessions increased among youth, both during free time and at organized events, children were less likely to exceed recommended screen-fourth dimension limits (Carlson 2010). In this report, children who were more physically active consistently showed lower rates of depression and other emotional disorders. Therefore, evidence across multiple studies suggests that participating in screen-time action may not be the direct cause of depressive symptoms, but rather the sedentary lifestyle and lack concrete activeness information technology causes amidst youth. With this recent evidence, experts are starting time to search for means to supplant screen-time participation of adolescents with concrete activities.

Annotation how the last few sentences of this paragraph consist entirely of metacommentary—points that connect to the bigger picture of Chris's literature review. Also notice how Chris uses transition words and phrases to glue his points together so it doesn't come out of the bluish when he brings upward a new study. Chris likewise talks about more than one study in this paragraph, demonstrating his ability to synthesize and not but summarize. Without the metacommentary, it would be much harder to see the connections between the studies and how they fit into the bigger picture. Finally, Chris indicates the implications of these studies and points to what researchers are doing next. This has a dual purpose of reminding readers why this topic is important every bit well as indicating where he will go in his side by side paragraph (about physical activities). Metacommentary is powerful!

Metacommentary takes practice, just you can exercise it! And it will non but make your points stronger, it will make information technology easier for your audition to read and understand—which should always be your goal.

If You Become Stuck

Literature reviews can exist hard. If yous get stuck, I have a petty fob I tell my students. For your kickoff typhoon, endeavor starting every sentence with "Researchers . . ." I know this seems formulaic, but if y'all tin can keep your focus on what particular researchers did or what they agree or disagree on, yous'll avoid the most common pitfalls of literature reviews: sounding similar a typical argumentative research paper. If your focus is always on what researchers are doing or what they've plant, and so at the very least you lot'll stay in the realm of the literature review genre. Later on you tin can become dorsum through and modify up your judgement construction, only I've found that this is an easy style for students to become through a first typhoon.

A Quick Word on Verb Tense

Students ofttimes ask nigh verb tense in relation to literature reviews—do you say that someone "conducted a written report" in past tense? But then what if you're proverb that "researchers agree" about something? That'due south in nowadays tense. I utilize this rule of pollex: if you lot're talking about something specific that was completed in the past, use the past tense. If you're talking nearly a electric current attitude or something currently accepted in a field, then use nowadays tense. For example, if you say that y'all conducted a review of the literature, and then that's over and done with, and so you should use the past tense. Or if you want to talk most a particular written report that was done, and so utilise the by tense, too. But if y'all want to say that researchers in general currently agree about something, and so yous tin employ the present tense.

Things get a petty trickier when yous talk about what'due south happened by researchers in the field in full general rather than talking about a specific study. For example, if many people have studied hoverboard technology, then you should talk about it in that same tense—they "have studied." That'southward called the present perfect tense (the verb "to accept" + by participle). Y'all don't need to remember the name—just the fact that you can employ this tense when you want to say that researchers in the field "have done" something in full general or that a review of a topic "has been done." So hither'south a table based on the work of Feak and Swales (2009) to sum this up:

Tense	Reference	Example
By Tense	A Single Study or Event	McFly (1989) investigated the usefulness of hoverboards in a chase.
Present Tense	Generally Accustomed Cognition of the Field	Ane of the about promising areas of hoverboard technology is the use of electromagnets (Allain, 2015).
Present Perfect Tense	An Area of Enquiry	The usefulness of skateboards in a chase has been widely researched (McFly, 1985; McFly, 1989; McFly, 1990).

Verb Tenses to Use in Literature Reviews

Discussion/Determination

Your terminal section will either be called discussion or decision (or will possibly not have a heading depending on your teacher'due south preferences or the style guide you lot're following). In an effective Discussion (aka Conclusion) section you should

• practise more than sum upwardly what you have said (though you lot should do that also)

• explicate where at that place are gaps and limitations in the previous research done

• signal recommendations for future research based on those gaps

At the cease of this section,

• restate your position (thesis statement)

• show the implications of your findings

References

You must too include a list of your References (also known every bit a Bibliography or Works Cited page depending on the documentation way) showing all the sources you referred to in your paper. Your references page must exist in alphabetical order and formatted according to your called style guide (come across Affiliate 9: Talking Well-nigh Sources ).

Other Elements

Your instructor might crave you to include these other elements in your Literature Review paper. Be sure to follow the format from your fashion guide .

Title Page

I've waited until now to talk nearly titles because it's wise to wait until y'all have a good typhoon earlier you lot choose a title. Why? Because you often don't know exactly where your paper will become until you've written information technology out. Your championship is your readers' first entry into your paper, so you want information technology to be interesting and likewise reverberate what'southward inside. Your title should also include equally much information as possible while remaining appropriately short and sweet. For instance, the APA Manual recommends not using inapplicable words but sticking to the main point of your paper. My student Justin's championship follows this model:

Implications of Chinese Involvement on Africa's Economy

He basically summarizes his main point in one succinct statement—the ultimate summary. APA would exist proud.

The Mullet. Business organisation in the front, party in the back. Image on Wikimedia

However, depending on your sub-field in the Social Sciences, many scholars like to do what I telephone call a "opposite mullet." Every bit you lot might know, the rad '80s mullet haircut that's curt on summit and long in the back has been described as

The Mullet: Business in the front, party in the back

A mullet starts with the serious and ends with the fun. Merely bookish titles often exercise the contrary: they have an interesting introductory phrase, then a colon, and and then the standard, more serious title. That'due south why I telephone call them the

Opposite Mullet: Party in the forepart, business in the back. Photo by Weidmaier

The Reverse Mullet: Political party in the front, Business in back

A reverse mullet title gets the reader'due south attention before calculation the serious explanation. For example, ane of my students named Katelyn wrote her Literature Review on how much high school students' perception of their teachers was influenced by their teachers' wearing apparel. Her title included a Reverse Mullet structure:

Keeping it Class-y: How Formality of Teacher Wearing apparel Affects

Educatee Perceptions of the Teacher in the Classroom

Because her field is educational activity (Social Scientific discipline Instruction), this second blazon of title structure is appropriate and adds interest. You lot can talk to your writing teacher or the professors in your major to discover out which type of title would be well-nigh appropriate for y'all to use in your field. If y'all want to just play it safe, stick with a obviously title, merely know you might be missing a take a chance to draw your readers in.

What else should go on your title page likewise your title?

• Your Name (centered)

• Your Instructor'southward Name (centered on the side by side line)

• A Folio Number (in the summit right corner that's connected throughout the paper)

• Optional: the Name of the School or Department

• Optional: the Name/Number of Your Class (e.thou., English 315)

• Optional: the Date

Your title and these additions should become in the middle of the page. Of course, your teacher is the all-time person to ask near formatting requirements and will unremarkably give yous articulate instructions. If you have questions, ask.

Abstract

You lot should relieve writing your abstract until subsequently you've completed your paper because it's a summary of the chief points of your paper. You can try writing a preliminary abstruse at present as a type of outline, but you lot run the hazard of finding out that once you're washed with your paper, you actually went in some unlike directions. My advice is to hold off and await to write the abstract until the cease. Y'all tin create a page after the title page where your abstruse will go, only to emphasize that yous should write this concluding, we'll wait to cover the details of writing an an abstruse until the adjacent department.

Appendix

If you accept tables or figures ( or formulas or other data) that are too big to be added inside the text of your newspaper, you can put them at the end. If you only have oneAppendix , yous can call it only that. But if you have more than one, call them Appendix A, Appendix B, etc. and refer to them as such in the text of your newspaper.

Tables and Figures

One more than element that could be helpful to your paper is to include tables and/or figures. Yous're probably familiar with Tables  (you lot know, the boxes with lots of horizontal and vertical cells). A Figure is any type of image, graph, or chart as well a table. You tin can utilize tables or figures from your sources as long every bit you cite them properly. You tin also create your own table or figure either from existing information or to explain a concept. Come across Chapter 6: Design for the details of how to create, use, or format tables and figures. Just call up to bank check your fashion guide; for example, in APA Format, you need to title and number your tables and figures separately.

I hope you feel like you take a better sense of the structure for your own Literature Review paper. In the next chapter, nosotros'll talk about how to draft and revise your paper.

12.2 Write an Abstract

We're not talking near this kind of abstract! ( Public Domain )

Not that kind of abstract! Equally swell as abstruse art is, what you demand at present is the abstract of your newspaper. (Note: some teacher's won't require an abstract, so you can skip this section in that case.) Why exercise you think nosotros've saved the abstract for terminal even though it's the first thing your audience will read (after your title)? You guessed it: it's considering the abstruse is a summary of everything you lot've talked about in your paper, and so if you haven't written your paper nevertheless, information technology'southward pretty hard to summarize it.

A lot of students think that the abstract is a preview of your paper that only invites the reader to larn more. But that'due south not the purpose of the abstract, that's the purpose of the Introduction. If your paper were a moving picture, your abstract would not be the picture trailer. A movie trailer is an invitation to run across more without giving away as well much; that's the indicate of your Introduction. Instead, your abstract would be the movie plot synopsis. It would have a big SPOILER ALERT sign in front end of it because in it you lot want to give abroad all the punchlines from your paper. In fact, the more y'all include your most of import points or findings, the better. Considering readers might just ever read your abstract, you lot want the virtually of import information there. Then but like you did in your own database searching, they will make up one's mind based on the abstruse whether they should open up your paper and read more than details. Your chore is to make certain they have the best data to exercise that.

An abstruse has a few chief parts that mirror the parts of your newspaper but in miniature. Outset, in 1-2 sentences, yous should introduce the topic, its importance, and the trouble or question you tried to reply. Then you should succinctly explain your methods (database searching) and the scope of your project. The last and largest part should consist of your main findings such equally the main areas of inquiry where researchers are congregating. You should include the major strengths and limitations (gaps) yous constitute in your review. Finally, you lot should explain whatsoever implications of your report and propose where future research should go. See? A miniature newspaper. It should be so miniature, that the APA Manual says an abstract should not exceed 250 words. At the end, you can as well listing a few Keywords to make it easy to search for your newspaper on databases.

To solidify your understanding of how to write an abstract, watch this three-minute video from the University of Melbourne that takes you through a good example. Try not to get distracted by their awesome Australian accents.

Watch on YouTube https://open.byu.edu/-dITC

At present if y'all would similar more details, you can refer to this explanation.

12.iii The Real Last Footstep: Revise (and Revise and Revise)

Revision ways re-vision. Photo by pine watt on Unsplash

The all-time writers revise (and revise and revise). Think back to Affiliate 3: Writing Processes and the section on Revision. You need to think similar your audition, which means you have to go out of your own head and think mindfully. One way to practise this is to revise with purpose or in other words, with specific goals in heed.

You lot tin can't revise without a decent draft, so don't blow off the first draft deadline. The better your first draft, the amend your paper will be in the terminate because you'll take enough time to really expect at your paper. Actually re-wait at your newspaper, or in other words, re-vise. Get it? Re-vision?

So how can you go out of your own head? Two ways: people and levels. The offset fashion to get a fresh perspective is audience-oriented revision: peer review, teacher conferences, writing center appointments, and other outside feedback from real, live people.

Get Feedback!

Seek feedback! Photo past Jon Tyson on Unsplash

When you find out how other people react to your paper, it volition give you invaluable perspective into what'due south working and what'due south not. This is feedback and is extremely valuable. Your teacher should help you do these kinds of peer reviews and revisions in form.

Feedback can as well come from anyone—friends, teachers, relatives, Writing Middle tutors, roommates—just be sure to cull someone you trust who also knows about good writing and won't hesitate to tell yous where you tin better. I don't know your grandma, but if she's the blazon of grandma who will tell yous your paper is great no affair what's in it because you lot're just and then nice, then run abroad! Okay, don't actually run away from your grandma—she's probably very loving and supportive. Requite her a hug instead. Yet, don't give your paper to your grandma to critique in that case. My grandma is actually a fantastic writer and wouldn't be afraid to tell me where I can meliorate. Do give your paper to someone like my grandma.

Here's a tip: Almost universities have a Writing Heart where you tin accept your paper to a Writing Tutor for help and feedback for free. Do it! It's free! And they can fifty-fifty come across with you online.

We're lucky at BYU that we even have our very own Social Science-specific Writing Centre: the FHSS Writing Lab. They know Literature Reviews well and tin assist you with whatsoever phase of the writing procedure from selecting a topic to citing sources to synthesis. If you have more general writing questions (or if you demand an appointment after 5pm), you can likewise go to the main BYU Research & Writing Heart. They also offer online appointments. If yous're not on our campus, look up your school's writing center.

Equally an undergrad, my husband didn't starting time out with the best writing skills, so he used to take his papers to the BYU Writing Center over and over and over. I think they made the rule that you lot can simply go in one case a day because of him. And guess what? Information technology helped! His grades went up! That was his hugger-mugger to success that I'm passing on to you. Your teacher doesn't have fourth dimension to personally meet with each student over and over and over, simply the Writing Tutors are literally paid to do just that. Well, maybe keep your visits to merely i per day, simply y'all get what I mean. Take advantage! Make an appointment right now! Did I mention that it's free?

If you need more motivation to just do it, spotter this "motivational" video by Shia Le Boeuf.

Revise by Levels

The 2nd mode to amend your paper is to go through a layered revision procedure focusing on global so local bug. As you re-see your paper, accept my advice and tackle Global Revision before you focus on Local Revision.  What do I mean by that? Let me tell you a quick story.

A Revision Story Involving Cats

When my family and I were moving to our boondocks, we looked at a lot of houses online. We fell in love with a beautiful old house that had been totally renovated simply was selling at a shockingly low toll. When we finally visited the house with our realtor, we discovered why it had been on the market place for so long: it smelled like cat pee. Like actually, actually smelled. It turns out the firm had been occupied by what many people would call a "crazy cat lady"—an older woman who lived with at least l cats. Then tragically, a fire completely destroyed the house (I'm pretty sure the adult female and her cats survived).

To protect the innocent, this is not the infamous cat house but is close to what it looked like. Photo past Jessica Furtney on Unsplash

The home owner used $400,000 of insurance coin to beautifully restore the house. They rebuilt the intricate wooden staircase, restored the stately crown molding, installed lush carpet, and added upgrades to a gorgeous kitchen. The only trouble was that they did their restoration in the incorrect club—they took care of the local issues of pigment colour and carpeting thickness while ignoring the more than global issue of the smell. Eventually, they had to rip upwardly all their work in the basement in club to treat the flooring with a special enzyme that combated true cat urine. If they'd just treated the true cat smell start, then they could have saved themselves thousands of dollars, hours of work, and could have sold their firm for a much higher toll.

The Moral of the Story

Always get rid of the cat pee (global issues) first! Photo by Andrew Umansky on Unsplash

What does all this have to exercise with revision? Y'all've got it—care for the grand lobal issues outset! Become rid of the cat pee! Don't worry about local bug similar flowery language or sentences that connect perfectly to each other if you're just going to have to completely renovate that section later on. Work on the global issues similar ideas, logical order, and evidence first and look until those are intact before focusing on the details. Put another way, whole-newspaper and paragraph-level revisions should come before sentence-level and give-and-take-level changes.

As a last gift, fantastic BYU Family Science professor Julie Haupt offers the following path for doing four purposeful revisions—two global revisions and 2 local revisions. If you lot really want to ameliorate your literature review, follow these steps.

GLOBAL REVISION—The Forest

Showtime, look at the woods, not the trees. Photograph by Frederico Bottos on Unsplash

Level 1: Structural Review (Global)

Purpose: The structural review examines the certificate as a whole to meet if all requirements are met and the certificate's arrangement is sound.

Run across Assignment Requirements. Ask yourself if your newspaper meets all the requirements of the assignment? Wait at your structure and make certain you lot take all necessary sections such as the following:

• Title Page

• Abstract

• Introduction (with Thesis Argument and/or Organizing Statement)

• Body with Headings

• Decision/Discussion

• References

Include a Thesis and an Organizing Statement. Does the current version of the thesis statement lucifer the tone, scope, and organisation of the body text? Does an organizing argument after the thesis introduce the major topics and the social club they volition appear in the body (east.g., "In this review, I volition first discuss . . . then . . . and finally . . .)

Use Headings. Is the torso text subdivided in a logical fashion with evidence-based information located in appropriate sections? Are the major sections roughly symmetrical (in terms of length)? Are the headings brief, yet descriptive? If subheadings are used, does the major department comprise at least two? Are all levels of headings separated past text?

Level two (Global): Paragraph/Logic Review

Purpose: The Paragraph/Logic Review is designed to review each paragraph for cohesion and compliance to the CEC (Claim-Prove-Commentary) format.

Sequence Paragraphs Finer. When reading only the first sentence of each paragraph, does the logical pattern of the paper emerge? Exercise the claims made in these topic sentences coordinate well with the thesis of the paper?

Check Topic Sentences and Cohesion. Does the topic judgement or claim provide an effective overview of the information that is located in the paragraph? Is the claim supported by several points of synthesized evidence, rather than a single written report? Does each paragraph seem well directed and cohesive?  Do the sentences build one upon another inside the paragraph in a logical way?

Evaluate Paragraph Length.  Are whatsoever paragraphs likewise long (longer than approximately ½ page)? Are any paragraphs besides short (approximately three sentences or less)? Do paragraphs transition well from one to the side by side and use transitional words to connect ideas?

LOCAL REVISION—The Tree

In Local Revision, y'all'll pay more than attention to the details of the "tree." Photo by Petr Kratochvil on Pixabay

Level iii (Local): APA Formatting Review

Purpose: The APA Formatting Review is designed to brand sure all APA conventions are explicitly followed to aid the newspaper reflect a loftier level of professionalism.

Check Document Formatting. Practice the title page, abstruse, body text, and reference page appear in the correct page formatting equally required? (Utilise the APA Manual if yous have questions.)

Examine the Reference List Closely. Are all references in the reference list ordered alphabetically? Is the reference listing double spaced entirely (with no extra gaps between paragraphs)? Are all references (e.g., journal manufactures, internet resources, or books) listed in the right format? Is every reference on the reference listing cited at least in one case in the trunk and does each in-text citation have a corresponding reference in the reference listing?

Make a Final Bank check of the In-Text Citations. Is all information properly cited with an in-text citation when needed? Exercise all in-text citations include the year next to the author(southward)? When more than i citation is listed within parentheses are they separated by semi-colons and ordered alphabetically past commencement author'due south last name? If included in parentheses, exercise studies with multiple authors employ ampersands ("&" rather than the discussion "and") before listing the last writer?

Utilize "et al." Correctly. If a study has three or more authors, do you lot include simply the first author'southward last name + et al. + publication year in in-text citations? Do you include all authors up to 20 in the References page? For whatsoever publications with 21 or more authors, do you include the first 19 authors' name, then insert an ellipsis ( . . . ), then the concluding author'southward name?

Level iv (Local): Finishing Review

Purpose: The Finishing Review is an opportunity to await closely at sentence construction, language, hedging (qualifying statements), and grammer/punctuation.

Review Phrasing with a Read-Aloud Session. Read your paper aloud. Since having to read a sentence twice to get its meaning or "tripping over" phrasing can be an indication of awkward construction, are all sentences easily read aloud? Are any sentences so long that they have get hard to comprehend, but could exist split without changing the meaning?

Use Non-Biased, Non-Absolute Language. Do all references to people comply with the "people first" designation and avert inappropriate uses of terms for various groups? Are the findings and summary statements in the review properly "hedged"?

Check Punctuation and Grammer. Are all commas, semicolons, colons, hyphens, and other punctuation used correctly throughout the document (including the reference page)? Are common grammar mistakes, such equally parallelism, subject-verb agreement, incorrect misuse of pronouns, and other grammatical issues corrected?

Determination

I know Literature Reviews tin can be daunting, but I hope that later on reading this chapter you feel better prepared to tackle this assured writing assignment. As you do writing, you'll discover that it'll become easier and easier until it'southward as intuitive equally riding a hoverboard.

Writing a Literature Review can exist equally easy every bit riding a hoverboard.

*Bonus Video

If yous're still dislocated or would like more guidance on writing a literature review, here is an optional 25-infinitesimal video that thoroughly goes through the entire process of writing a literature review. Every bit an extra bonus, it'southward made by Michael Paye from the Academy of Dublin who has an awesome Irish accent. Enjoy!

Watch on YouTube https://open.byu.edu/-wDdC

https://youtu.be/ouY2FH0BKkQ

andersontheshe.blogspot.com

Source: https://edtechbooks.org/writing/literature_review_2

Share this post