How to Build a Literature Review

Introduction

• Narrow the topic down; develop clear research questions.
• oYour topic should be specific. Do not overwhelm yourself.
• oThe questions you ask should be clear and relevant to the topic.
• Find your gap.
• oLook for a place in the topic that no one has really researched.
• Introduce existing research and where it is found.
• oSummarize overall trends in the research.
• oIs it found in articles? Websites? Special databases?
• Explain why it matters.
• oWhy should a reader care?
• Include key terms, common methods, and relevant debates and platforms.
• oDetail and summarize these general elements of the topic. The reader needs to know the history and state of the topic. Where are current researchers?
• Create a specific literature review thesis.
• oAre you extending, questioning, combining, updating, or challenging modern research? How so?

Body Paragraphs

• Do not summarize.
• oSynthesize (i.e., combine them to make something new).
• Focus on your own voice!
• oEven though you are using multiple sources, the literature review should focus on your thoughts.
• Answer the same questions with every source.
• oThis helps to keep every source easily relatable.
• Organize by theme, methods, time, argument, theory, etc.
• oYou can choose to organize it in any way that makes sense for your paper. Which is the most relevant to the topic, for example?
• Use quotes sparingly; paraphrase fairly and accurately.
• oThis will keep the focus on your thoughts and keep it visually tidier.
• oAlways represent the authors' thoughts how they intended them.
• Keep citations tidy.
• oLiterature reviews can get messy. Try to keep every source in an annotated bibliography and maintain proper formatting.