14 How to write a literature review

There are three parts to the literature review: the introduction, the body, and the conclusion.

Introduction

• The introduction must identify the topic by briefly discussing the significance of the topic including a statement that outlines the conclusion to be drawn from the literature review.
• If your literature review is part of a larger work, explain the importance of the review to your research question.
• Defend the importance of the topic by giving a broad overview of the scope of the work you are reviewing. For example, if you are interested in post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in paramedics, you might provide some stats to prove how much work time is lost by those suffering from PTSD.
• Clarify whether you are looking at the entire history of the field, or just a particular period of time.

Body

• Discuss and assess the research according to specific organisational principles (see examples below), rather than addressing each source separately. Most, if not all, paragraphs should discuss more than one source. Avoid addressing your sources alphabetically as this does not assist in developing the themes or key issues central to your review.
• Compare, contrast, and connect the various pieces of research. Much of the research you are reading should be connected.  Or you may notice various themes within the research (i.e. effects of PTSD on sick time, effects of PTSD on families of paramedics, effects of PTSD on overall paramedic wellness, etc.).  If you have undertaken a thorough review of the literature, you should start to see the bigger picture of how the research on this topic has evolved over time, who the main researchers are on this topic, how the methods and theories related to this topic have changed (if at all), over time.
• Summarise the works you are reviewing. Just as in any written assignment, use logical organisation and clear transitions. Spend more time on the researchers and bodies of research that are considered most important in the field and/or that are most relevant.

Conclusion

Based upon your research, suggest where the research in the field will or should go next. If you are proposing your own research study, show how you will contribute to the field and fill in any gaps. The conclusion would also be a good place to defend the importance of the topic, now that you have demonstrated the current state of thinking in the field.

Other resources to help you write a literature review

In conclusion, there is a plethora of resources, both here and online, that provide information on how to write a literature review. For example, check out these three, very helpful YouTube videos prepared by a professor at the University of Maryland, in the U.S.A:

• Writing the literature review (Part one) (YouTube, 5m21s)
• Writing the literature review (Part two) (YouTube, 7m40s)
• Writing the literature review (Part three) (YouTube, 6m5s)

The table below provides some suggested organisational techniques, as well as instances when you might use these various techniques.  The table also includes a writing sample to demonstrate the writing technique.

Note: Adapted from Research methods, by Adjei, J.K., n.d., https://oer.avu.org/handle/123456789/490. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

And remember, most university and college libraries also have valuable information on literature reviews e.g. JIBC literature review information (PDF, 132KB)

Acceptable sources for literature reviews

There are a few acceptable sources for literature reviews and are listed in order from what will be considered most acceptable to less acceptable sources for your literature review assignments:

1. Peer reviewed journal articles;
2. Edited academic books;
3. Articles in professional journals;
4. Statistical data from government websites;
5. Website material from professional associations (use sparingly and carefully).

Peer reviewed journal articles (papers)

A peer reviewed journal article is a paper that has been submitted to a scholarly journal, accepted, and published.  Peer review journal papers go through a rigorous, blind review process of peer review. What this means is that two to three experts in the area of research featured in the paper have reviewed and accepted the paper for publication. The names of the author(s) who are seeking to publish the research have been removed (blind review), so as to minimise any bias towards the authors of the research. Albeit, sometimes a savvy reviewer can discern who has done the research based upon previous publications, etc.  This blind review process can be long (often 12 to 18 months) that may involve many back and forth edits on the behalf of the researchers, as they work to address the edits and concerns of the peers who reviewed their paper. Often, reviewers will reject the paper for a variety of reasons, such as unclear or questionable methods, lack of contribution to the field, etc. Because peer reviewed journal articles have gone through a rigorous process of review, they are considered to be the premier source for research. Peer reviewed journal articles should serve as the foundation for your literature review.

Evaluating information sources: What is a peer-reviewed article? provides more information on peer-reviewed journal articles. Make sure you watch the little video on the upper left-hand side of your screen, in addition to reading the material.

Edited academic books

An edited academic book is a collection of scholarly scientific papers written by different authors. The works are original papers, not published elsewhere (Wikipedia, 2018).  The papers within the text also go through a process of review; however, the review is often not a blind review because the authors have been invited to contribute to the book. Consequently, edited academic books are fine to use for your literature review, but you also want to ensure that your literature review contains mostly peer reviewed journal papers.

Articles in professional journals.

Articles from professional journals should be used with caution, as far as it relates to a source for your literature review.  This is because articles in trade journals are not usually peer reviewed, even though they may appear as such. A good way to find out is to read the “About us” section of the professional journal.  They should state there if the papers are peer reviewed. You can also google the name of the journal and add peer reviewed to the search and you should be able to find out that way.

Statistical data from governmental websites.

Governmental websites can be excellent sources for statistical data.  For example, the Australian Bureau of Statistics collects and publishes data related to the economy, society, and the environment.

Website material from professional associations

Material from other websites can also serve as a source for statistics that you may need for your literature review.  As you want to justify the value of the research you are interested in, you might make use of a professional association´s website to learn how many members they have, for example.  As a hypothetical example, you might want to demonstrate, as part of the introduction to your literature review, why more research on the topic of PTSD in police officers is important.  You could use peer reviewed journal articles to determine the prevalence of PTSD in police officers in Australia in the last ten years and then use the Queensland Police Service website to determine the approximate number of police officers employed in Queensland over the last ten years. This might help you create an approximation of how many police officers could be suffering with PTSD in Queensland.  That number could potentially help to justify a research grand down the road. But again, this type of website-based material should be used with caution and sparingly.

References

Adjei, J.K. (n.d.). Research methods. https://oer.avu.org/handle/123456789/490. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License.