Dissertation Literature Review

When To Write a Literature Review

Depending on your university’s guidelines, you might be required to include a literature review in the theoretical framework or the introduction. Otherwise, you could also be asked to develop a stand-alone literature review chapter that appears before the methodology and the findings chapters of the dissertation.

In either case, your primary aim will be to review the available literature and develop a link between your research and the existing literature on your chosen topic.

Dissertation Literature Review Examples

Here is a brief example of a literature review.

These are three examples of dissertation literature reviews that you can explore and download: 

Literature Review 1: Police Integrity and Corruption

Literature Review 2: Online Event Management System

Literature Review 3: The Open Studio Approach to Art Therapy
 

6 Steps

Here are the steps you need to take to write the literature review for a dissertation if you cannot write the literature review: 
 

Step 1: Gather, Assess, and Choose Relevant Literature

The first step to writing a literature review is to find academic sources relevant to your research problem or questions. Without fully understanding current knowledge in the chosen study area, giving the correct direction to your research aim and objectives will be hard.

Create a list of keywords that are relevant to the topic of research. Find journals, articles, and books using these keywords. Here are some recognised online academic libraries and databases: 

• Inspec (Computer science, engineering, physics, chemistry)
• EconLit (Economics)
• Medline
• Google Scholar
• Questia
• ProQuest
• GCPS
• EBSCO
• Your university’s online research database

Journal articles or books that keep appearing with different keywords and phrases are the ones you should manually look for. The more times an article has been referenced, the more influential it is likely to be in any research field. 
 

Step 2: Weigh and Select Suitable Academic Sources

It won’t be possible for you to read every publication related to your topic. An excellent way to select academic sources for your dissertation literature review is to read the abstract, which will help you decide whether the source is supportive and relevant to your research hypothesis or research questions.

To help you select sources relevant to your study, here are some questions for you to consider before making the decision: 

• What research questions has the author answered with their research work?
• What fundamental concepts have been defined by the author?
• Did the researcher use an innovative methodology or existing frameworks to define fundamental methods, models, and theories?
• What are the findings, conclusion, and recommendations in the source book or paper?
• What is the relevance of the existing literature and the academic sources you are evaluating?
• Does the source article challenge, confirm, or add to existing knowledge on the topic?
• How does the publication contribute to your understanding of the topic? What are its key insights and arguments?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of the research?

Step 3: Identify Key Themes and Patterns

The next step is to look for themes and patterns in the chosen sources that would enable you to establish similarities and differences between their results and interpretations.

This exercise will help you determine the structure and argument for your literature review. Here are some questions that you can think of when reading and recording information: 

• Are there any gaps in the existing literature?
• What are the weaknesses of the current literature that should be addressed?
• Were you able to identify any landmark research work and theories that resulted in the topic’s change of direction?
• What are the similarities and disagreements between these sources? Were you able to identify any contradictions and conflicts?
• What trends and themes were you able to identify? Are there any results, methods, or theories that have lost credibility over time?

Step 4: Structure Your Literature Review

There is no acclaimed literature review structure, which means that you can choose from a range of approaches (theoretical, methodological, thematic, and chronological) when deciding on the structure of the literature review. Here are the different literature review structures:

1. Theoretical

In a theoretical framework, you can discuss various significant concepts, models, and theories in your literature review. You could also combine a range of theoretical approaches to develop your theoretical framework or debate the significance of a particular theoretical framework.

2. Methodological

The methodological approach will require you to relate the findings of studies conducted in different research areas and use different research methods. You might discover that the results from the quantitative research approach are not the same as those from qualitative research.

3. Thematic

You may also deploy a thematic approach, especially if you identified repeating key themes and patterns. If that is the case, you will be expected to put each aspect of the topic into different subsections within your literature review.

4. Chronological

The most straightforward approach is to trace the development of the topic over time. However, if you choose this strategy, avoid simply listing and summarising sources in order. Try to analyse patterns, turning points, and critical debates that have shaped the direction of the field. 
 

Step 5: Start Writing Your Literature Review 

Divide your literature review into three larger sections: introduction, main body, and conclusion. What you write under these three segments will depend on the aim of your study.

• Introduction

Here, you will be required to state the objectives of the literature review clearly.
 

For example:

Research problem A has been debated in many recent studies.
 

• Main Body

Divide the main body into further subsections depending on the length of your literature review. You can also have a separate heading for each research method, theme, or theory to help your readers better understand your research.

Here are some tips for you to write a flawless main body of the literature review:

Tip 1: Summarise and Combine

Highlight the main dissertation findings from each academic source and organise them into one whole piece without losing coherence. You can ensure that by using a free text summariser. 

Tip 2: Evaluate and interpret

Make sure you are giving opinions and arguments of your own where possible. Simply rephrasing what others have said will undermine your work. You will be expected to debate and discuss other studies’ results about your research questions or aim.

Tip 3: Analytical Evaluation

It is essential to unmistakably present the literature you have reviewed and the merits and weaknesses of the literature.
 

• Conclusion

Conclude your dissertation literature review by including a summary of the key findings which emerged from the literature and their relevance and significance to your research objectives.

Demonstrate how your research study helped to fill an evident gap in research and contributed to the current knowledge in the field. Similarly, you can explain how you used the existing patterns, themes, and theories to develop your research framework.

Step 6: Proofread Your Literature Review

Finally, thoroughly proofread your literature review for grammatical, structural, spelling, and factual errors before submitting it to your university.

Take advantage of proofreading and editing service to boost your process. Whether undergraduate, master’s, PhD literature review, they will edit and improve the quality of your overall dissertation or thesis.
 

Tips for Writing Literature Review

Your literature review must systematically comply with your research area. Below, we have mentioned some valuable tips for writing a dissertation literature review:

Tip 1: Contribution to the Research 

After carefully reviewing the literature, search for the gaps in knowledge and state how you have analysed the literature with a different perspective and contributed to your research area.

Tip 2: Keep your Argument Systematic & Consistent

Your arguments must be consistent and systematic while discussing theories and controversial and debatable content. Be logical in your review and avoid vague statements, so as not to make it complex for the readers.

Tip 3: Provide Adequate References

Don’t forget to provide references, as they are the soul of the dissertation. While discussing different aspects of the research, provide a reasonable number of references. Use a free APA citation generator to boost your process. 

Tip 4: Be Precise While Writing a Review

You aren’t required to write every inch of information you have studied while reviewing the literature. Be precise while writing the review, as writing unnecessary, irrelevant information won’t give a good impression. 

Tip 5: Avoid Excessive Direct Quoting

Direct quoting is required to make a point more impactful, but you should opt for it to a specific limit. Making excessive use of it won’t be a good idea. Discussing the author’s contributions and keeping the review going briefly would be better. 

Tip 6: Express your Analysis

The literature review is written to summarise your perspective, which should be backed up in light of the literature. Critically analyse literature with a rational approach and express your opinion on it.

Tip 7: Use the Correct Referencing Style

When referencing, one must use a proper referencing style, such as MLA, APA, Chicago, or Harvard. Different referencing styles are used for in-text citations, while different ones are used for end-text citations.
 

Facing Issues?

Feeling overwhelmed by your literature review? There is no need to panic. Whether you are an undergraduate, postgraduate, or PhD student, you can avail yourself of a professional literature review writing service that can help you have your literature review of the highest academic quality.
 

Frequently Asked Questions