Psychology How to Write a Short Literature Review
Writing a Literature Review
When writing a research paper on a specific topic, you will oftentimes need to include an overview of whatever prior research that has been conducted on that topic. For instance, if your research paper is describing an experiment on fright workout, and so you volition probably need to provide an overview of prior research on fear conditioning. That overview is typically known every bit a literature review.
Delight annotation that a total-length literature review article may be suitable for fulfilling the requirements for the Psychology B.S. Degree Research Paper . For farther details, please check with your faculty advisor.
Different Types of Literature Reviews
Literature reviews come in many forms. They can be office of a inquiry paper, for case as part of the Introduction section. They can be one chapter of a doctoral dissertation. Literature reviews can likewise "stand up alone" as separate manufactures by themselves. For case, some journals such every bit Annual Review of Psychology, Psychological Message, and others typically publish full-length review articles. Similarly, in courses at UCSD, you may be asked to write a enquiry paper that is itself a literature review (such every bit, with an teacher's permission, in fulfillment of the B.S. Caste Research Paper requirement). Alternatively, you may be expected to include a literature review as part of a larger research paper (such as part of an Honors Thesis).
Literature reviews can be written using a diverseness of different styles. These may differ in the style prior inquiry is reviewed equally well as the manner in which the literature review is organized. Examples of stylistic variations in literature reviews include:
- Summarization of prior work vs. disquisitional evaluation. In some cases, prior research is simply described and summarized; in other cases, the writer compares, contrasts, and may fifty-fifty critique prior enquiry (for example, discusses their strengths and weaknesses).
- Chronological vs. categorical and other types of organization. In some cases, the literature review begins with the oldest research and advances until it concludes with the latest research. In other cases, research is discussed by category (such as in groupings of closely related studies) without regard for chronological social club. In yet other cases, research is discussed in terms of opposing views (such equally when different inquiry studies or researchers disagree with one another).
Overall, all literature reviews, whether they are written as a part of a larger work or as separate articles unto themselves, take a common characteristic: they exercise not nowadays new research; rather, they provide an overview of prior research on a specific topic.
How to Write a Literature Review
When writing a literature review, information technology can be helpful to rely on the following steps. Delight notation that these procedures are not necessarily only for writing a literature review that becomes function of a larger commodity; they can also be used for writing a total-length article that is itself a literature review (although such reviews are typically more than detailed and exhaustive; for more information please refer to the Further Resource section of this page).
Steps for Writing a Literature Review
1. Identify and define the topic that you volition be reviewing.
The topic, which is commonly a research question (or trouble) of some kind, needs to be identified and defined as clearly as possible. You need to have an idea of what you will exist reviewing in social club to finer search for references and to write a coherent summary of the research on information technology. At this
two. Conduct a literature search.
Use a range of keywords to search databases such as PsycINFO and any others that may contain relevant articles. You should focus on peer-reviewed, scholarly articles. Published books may besides be helpful, but go on in mind that peer-reviewed manufactures are widely considered to be the "gilded standard" of scientific enquiry. Read through titles and abstracts, select and obtain articles (that is, download, copy, or impress them out), and save your searches equally needed. For more than information about this step, please see the Using Databases and Finding Scholarly References section of this website.
3. Read through the enquiry that you lot have found and have notes.
Absorb equally much information as you can. Read through the articles and books that you have found, and as you practise, take notes. The notes should include annihilation that will exist helpful in advancing your own thinking almost the topic and in helping you write the literature review (such equally central points, ideas, or fifty-fifty page numbers that index key data). Some references may turn out to be more than helpful than others; you lot may notice patterns or striking contrasts betwixt different sources
4. Organize your notes and thoughts; create an outline.
At this stage, yous are shut to writing the review itself. However, information technology is often helpful to offset reflect on all the reading that you lot have washed. What patterns stand out? Practise the different sources converge on a consensus? Or not? What unresolved questions still remain? Y'all should look over your notes (it may besides be helpful to reorganize them), and equally you do, to think about how yous volition present this research in your literature review. Are y'all going to summarize or critically evaluate? Are you going to employ a chronological or
5. Write the literature review itself and edit and revise as needed.
The terminal stage involves writing. When writing, proceed in listen that literature reviews are mostly characterized by a summary style in which prior research is described sufficiently to explicate critical findings but does not include a high level of detail (if readers want to learn well-nigh all the specific details of a study, then they can await upwardly the references that you lot cite and read the original articles themselves). However, the degree of accent that is given to individual studies may vary (more or less detail may be warranted depending on how critical or unique a given study was). After you accept written
6. Incorporate the literature review into your research paper draft.
After the literature review is complete, you should incorporate it into your inquiry newspaper (if you are writing the review as one component of a larger paper). Depending on the stage at which your newspaper is at, this may involve merging your literature review into a partially complete Introduction department, writing the residual of the newspaper around the literature review, or other processes.
Further Tips for Writing a Literature Review
Full-length literature reviews
- Many full-length literature review articles apply a 3-part structure: Introduction (where the topic is identified and whatever trends or major problems in the literature are introduced), Body (where the studies that comprise the literature on that topic are discussed), and Word or Determination (where major patterns and points are discussed and the general state of what is known near the topic is summarized)
Literature reviews every bit part of a larger newspaper
- An "limited method" of writing a literature review for a research paper is every bit follows: first, write a
one paragraph clarification of each article that you read. Second, choose how you volition order all the paragraphs and combine them in one document. Third, add transitions between the paragraphs, besides as an introductory and concluding paragraph.1
- A literature review that is part of a larger research paper typically does not have to be exhaustive. Rather, it should contain most or all of the meaning studies about a research topic but non tangential or loosely related ones.2 Generally, literature reviews should be sufficient for the reader to understand the major issues and key findings virtually a research topic. Y'all may nevertheless need to confer with your instructor or editor to determine how comprehensive you lot need to be.
Benefits of Literature Reviews
By summarizing prior inquiry on a topic, literature reviews take multiple benefits. These include:
- Literature reviews assistance readers understand what is known about a topic without having to find and read through multiple sources.
- Literature reviews help "set the stage" for afterward reading about new enquiry on a given topic (such as if they are placed in the Introduction of a larger inquiry paper). In other words, they provide helpful background and context.
- Literature reviews can also help the writer learn most a given topic while in the process of preparing the review itself. In the act of enquiry and writing the literature review, the writer gains expertise on the topic
.
Downloadable Resource
- How to Write APA Style Research Papers (a comprehensive guide) [PDF]
- Tips for Writing APA Mode Research Papers (a brief summary) [PDF]
- Example APA Style Research Paper (for B.S. Degree – literature review) [PDF]
Farther Resource
How-To Videos
- Writing Enquiry Newspaper Videos
UCSD
- UCSD Library Psychology Research Guide: Literature Reviews
External Resources
- Developing and Writing a Literature Review from N Carolina A&T State University
- Instance of a Brusk Literature Review from York Higher CUNY
- How to Write a Review of Literature from UW-Madison
- Writing a Literature Review from UC Santa Cruz
Encounter Also
- Pautasso, G. (2013). Ten Simple Rules for Writing a Literature Review. PLoS Computational Biology, 9(7), e1003149.
doi : 1371/journal.pcbi.1003149
References
1Ashton, W. Writing a curt literature review . [PDF]
twoCarver, L. (2014). Writing the research paper [Workshop].
Prepared by South. C. Pan for UCSD Psychology
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Source: https://psychology.ucsd.edu/undergraduate-program/undergraduate-resources/academic-writing-resources/writing-research-papers/writing-lit-review.html
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