A literature review is a very common piece of writing which is present in every research paper. It is basically the scholarly articles that are already present on the internet for you to read and evaluate as per your need. Reading the literature review is beneficial as it helps you in gaining knowledge about the topic you are working on. A literature review must be written with all the techniques which are necessary to be used while writing it. There should be no mistake while a literature review or else it will affect your entire research paper. There are various steps for writing an excellent literature review. These are as follows:
The first step while writing a literature review demands that your research topic should be very specific. Writing about a general topic is not always supported as it can serve with many gaps. It is always suggested to write about a specific topic so you need to narrow down your topic according to your field and interest. Once you have narrowed down your topic, you need to read the literature review over it. You can easily find many articles related to your work. You just need to brainstorm through it and read the articles which are related to your topic and find out the relevant points.
Searching for a literature review regarding your topic is not an easy task. You will need to use various tricks to search for it. After narrowing down your research topic and selecting the criteria you need to work on, go for finding the keywords that are related to your topic. Search those keywords over the internet and you will be introduced to the relevant literature review. Next, there are related references at the end of each article. You can go for reading that literature review as well to gain as much knowledge as you could. Another important technique is to search for the topics which are against your topic. This will also help you in having in-depth knowledge about your work.
The next step for writing a literature review is the evaluation of the read articles. The evaluation should be done very thoroughly considering each detail mentioned in the literature. This consists of looking at the method used for completing the research and what impact they make over the work. Looking for the procedures used and how they can be used in your work. Also, see the theories which are used in the literature review and how it has affected the entire work and how well you can use it in your own work. Go for a search of the conflicting theories and how they criticize your topic and look for the details about those points. Also, see for any change that has come in the used methods and theories and how it would have changed the work done.
The next requires you to organize all of your searchings. Keep making points while reading each literature review. When you are done with reading and evaluating, see for the common points that each literature review had. Write them separately. Then look for the important trends that were used for writing the literature. Also, look for the theories which have influenced the work most. These theories are likely to help you out in your research work as well.
Then, it is required that you write a thesis statement. Writing a thesis statement is one of the trickiest things. You need to be very specific about it. It is always better to write more than one thesis statement according to the understanding of the concepts. Then read your written thesis statement and look for which suits your work the best and finalize that statement.
The sixth step for writing a literature review is to write the entire paper. Once you have done with all the above-mentioned points, you are now ready to write your paper. For writing the paper, there is a proper organizational structure that needs to be followed. If you will miss any of the parts of the structure, it will affect your entire work and will serve as a gap in itself. Also, while writing the full-length paper it is important that each section should be logically related to each other. If there would be unnecessary information present, it will make your literature review look baseless and weak.
The last and important step while writing a literature review is to review the whole work. It is always considered important to read what you have written. Because while writing sometimes you miss the important points. And when you review your work, it helps you to point out any mistake you made while writing and gives you the chance to correct it. These steps, if followed properly can present you with a well-written literature review