Writing a review article is a wonderful way to develop and exercise your scientist skill set. If you dread the thought of writing a review, or if you’re currently stuck trying to write one, hopefully this post will help you get things moving - remember you're becoming an expert in your field and are the perfect person to be writing the review! If your literature review is part of your thesis or dissertation, restate the research question. Similarly, briefly summarize the whole context by highlighting literature gaps. If you are writing a standalone literature review, provide background information on the topic. Also, discuss the scope of the literature and your research objectives · When you write a thesis, dissertation, or research paper, you will have to conduct a literature review to situate your research within existing knowledge. The literature review gives you a chance to: Demonstrate your familiarity with the topic and scholarly context Develop a theoretical framework and methodology for your research
How to Write a Scientific Review Article
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Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use. A literature review is a document or section of a document that collects key sources on a topic and discusses those sources in conversation with each other also called synthesis. The lit review is an important genre in many disciplines, not just literature i. There are a number of different situations where you might write a literature review, each with slightly different expectations; different disciplines, too, have field-specific expectations for what a literature review is and does.
A literature review can be a part of a research paper or scholarly article, how to write a good scientific literature review, usually falling after the introduction and before the research methods sections. In these cases, how to write a good scientific literature review, the lit review just needs to cover scholarship that is important to the issue you are writing about; sometimes it will also cover key sources that informed your research methodology.
Lit reviews can also be standalone pieces, either as assignments in a class or as publications. This can be especially helpful for students or scholars getting into a new research area, or for directing an entire community of scholars toward questions that have not yet been answered.
Most lit reviews use a basic introduction-body-conclusion structure; if your lit review is part of how to write a good scientific literature review larger paper, the introduction and conclusion pieces may be just a few sentences while you focus most of your attention on the body.
If your lit review is a standalone piece, the introduction and conclusion take up more space and give you a place to discuss your goals, research methods, and conclusions separately from where how to write a good scientific literature review discuss the literature itself.
Lit reviews can take many different organizational patterns depending on what you are trying to accomplish with the review. Here are some examples:. Any lit review is only as good as the research it discusses; make sure your sources are well-chosen and your research is thorough. More info on the research process is available in our "Conducting Research" resources. Usually you will need to synthesize research rather than just summarizing it. This means drawing connections between sources how to write a good scientific literature review create a picture of the scholarly conversation on a topic over time.
Often, the literature review is where you can establish your research as filling a particular gap or as relevant in a particular way. You have some chance to do this in your introduction in an article, but the literature review section gives a more extended opportunity to establish the conversation in the way you would like your readers to see it.
You can choose the intellectual lineage you would like to be part of and whose definitions matter most to your thinking mostly humanities-specific, but this goes for sciences as well. In addressing these points, you argue for your place in the conversation, which tends to make the lit review more compelling than a simple reporting of other sources. Find Info For Find Info For Academics Admissions Current Students Athletics About Careers Prospective Students Research and Partnerships Quick Links Apply News President Shop Visit Give Emergency.
Purdue Online Writing Lab College of Liberal Arts. Writing Lab Purdue OWL Research Contact Site Map. Research and Citation Conducting Research. Welcome to the Purdue OWL This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. Writing a Literature Review A literature review is a document or section of a document that collects key sources on a topic and discusses those sources in conversation with each other also called synthesis, how to write a good scientific literature review.
Where, when, and why would I write a lit review? What are the parts of a lit review? Conclusion: Summarize the key findings you have taken from the literature and emphasize their significance Connect it back to your primary research question How should I organize my lit review? Here are some examples: Chronological : The simplest approach is to trace the development of the topic over time, how to write a good scientific literature review, which helps familiarize the audience with the topic for instance if you are introducing something that is not commonly known in your field.
If you choose this strategy, be careful to avoid simply listing and summarizing sources in order. Try to analyze the patterns, turning points, and key debates that have shaped the direction of the field. Thematic : If you have found some recurring central themes that you will continue working with throughout your piece, you can organize your literature review into subsections that address different aspects of the topic.
For example, if you are reviewing literature about women and religion, key themes can include the role of women in churches and the religious attitude towards women. Methodological : If you draw your sources from different disciplines or fields that use a variety of research methods, you can compare the results and conclusions that emerge from different approaches. For example: Qualitative versus quantitative research Empirical versus theoretical scholarship Divide the research by sociological, historical, or cultural sources Theoretical : In many humanities articles, the literature review is the foundation for the theoretical framework.
You can use it to discuss various theories, models, and definitions of key concepts. You can argue for the relevance of a specific theoretical approach or combine various theorical concepts to create a framework for your research.
What are some strategies or tips I can use while writing my lit review? Writing teachers often say synthesis is like hosting a dinner party: imagine all your sources are together in a room, discussing your topic. What are they saying to each other? Look at the in-text citations in each paragraph. Are you citing just one source for each paragraph? This usually indicates summary only. When you have multiple sources cited in a paragraph, you are more likely to be synthesizing them not always, but often Read more about synthesis here.
How to write a literature review
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Writing a Literature Review. A literature review is a document or section of a document that collects key sources on a topic and discusses those sources in conversation with each other (also called synthesis).The lit review is an important genre in many disciplines, not just literature (i.e., the study of works of literature such as novels and plays) If your literature review is part of your thesis or dissertation, restate the research question. Similarly, briefly summarize the whole context by highlighting literature gaps. If you are writing a standalone literature review, provide background information on the topic. Also, discuss the scope of the literature and your research objectives Writing a review article is a wonderful way to develop and exercise your scientist skill set. If you dread the thought of writing a review, or if you’re currently stuck trying to write one, hopefully this post will help you get things moving - remember you're becoming an expert in your field and are the perfect person to be writing the review!
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