Writing a Literature Review

A literature review, which provides an overview of the scholarship on a topic, is typically part of a larger research project. In standard research articles, the literature review is usually found after the introduction and before the methodology. In some disciplines, a literature review is the introduction. Although literature reviews are most often part of a larger research project, they can be standalone documents.

The Purpose of a Literature Review

Generally, there are two overarching purposes of a literature review:

• To provide a critical overview of the relevant published research on a topic.
• To justify the need for a research project by indicating a research gap(s).

Literature reviews do not merely summarize the scholarship; instead, they help the researcher enrich and analyze a set of themes related to the topic.

Planning the Literature Review

A helpful way to think of a literature review is as a narrative. The themes and sub-themes are different story lines, and the research gap(s), which often comes at the end, is the finale or outcome of the research story.

As an intermediary step between researching and writing a literature review, it can be helpful to write an annotated bibliography of your sources. You can then develop themes and sub-themes of your research topic into categories, which will help organize the scholarship you have gathered

To illustrate this notion of themes, consider the following example: Imagine you are undertaking a research project on how green spaces in a school environment affect the mental health of adolescents. Mental health could be the overarching topic of this research with “adolescents” and “green environments” as the two main themes. Under the theme of adolescents, the sub-theme of “school environment” could be discussed. You can lead the reader through research on the mental health of adolescents in a school environment before transitioning to research on the effects of green spaces on mental health. This would set up the research gap, namely that there is a lack of research on how green space in school environments affects the mental health of adolescents.

The Structure of a Literature Review

1. Set the context by introducing your topic

• What is your research topic?
• Why is this research topic important?
• What are your main themes?

2. Develop each theme of your research

• What are the relevant sub-themes?
  What key studies/sources will you discuss under each theme and sub-theme?

3. Reveal a research gap or gaps

• What knowledge are we currently lacking that is relevant to your research study?
• What previous studies/sources can help you frame this research gap?

Some Writing Considerations

Topic sentences

As with other academic writing genres, clear topic sentences are important for literature reviews. This is especially the case when transitioning between themes and sub-themes. For example, consider the following topic sentence:

In addition to data gathered from GPS collars, surveys can provide additional data on the impacts of ecological corridors on wildlife movement.

The transition phrase “In addition to data gathered from GPS collars” signals to the reader that we are moving away from GPS collars to another sub-theme that impacts ecological corridors.

Using sources

Literature reviews use sources in different ways.

It is common, when discussing broad research trends, to have general statements supported with multiple sources. For example:

Numerous researchers have recognized that critical thinking includes both abilities and dispositions (Ennis, 1996; Facione et al., 1994; Perkins et al., 1993).

It is also common to focus on a single source. For example:

Alexander et al. (2000) conducted a series of road surveys along the TransCanada Highway in BC to determine the impact of transportation corridors on wildlife habitat use. The study found that wildlife movement in natural areas was continuous and species movement was complex. However, these findings were not consistent along the TransCanada Highway as movement was restricted for all species.

Finally, to help your reader process information, be intentional when including author names in the text. If the reader does not need to know the author’s name, then it is better to focus on the idea. For example:

Previous research has found that social anxiety disorder and alcohol abuse tend to co-occur (Ross, 1995).

There is no standard in terms of how many sources are required for a literature review. It depends on the research topic and the length of the literature review.

Writing Services, Wilfrid Laurier University, CC By-NC 2023