How to Write a Literature Review for a Research Paper: Step-by-Step Guide

A literature review is the analysis and synthesis of published scholarly resources on a particular topic. The sources are usually an overview of the recent knowledge leading to the identification of gaps and the relevant theories in research. If you are in need of help writing a literature review, worry no more. Our company is committed to helping our clients achieve their academic success by crafting well-structured and comprehensive literature reviews with all the citations referenced for research excellence.

The purpose of conducting a literature review is to collect information on a specific field of study and then put it in the context of existing research. This enables the researcher to make their argument on the topic or conduct original research. The benefits of a literature review are that it makes the researcher familiar with the available knowledge, prevents recurrent research and helps them identify knowledge gaps in the field.

The length of a literature review for a research paper varies according to factors such as the complexity of the research, the topic, and the university guidelines. The research paper's literature review makes conclusions entirely on previous work done by researchers so high-quality original research is crucial for accurate results. In this article, we provide the basic process of conducting a literature review, types of literature reviews, tools that help to get the relevant sources to use, and the structure of a literature review.

How to Write a Literature Review for a Research Paper

A literature review in a research paper is a section analyzing previous knowledge on the research topic.

Step 1: State your research question

A research question is a precise question that states the aim of the review. It acts as a roadmap to the research. A research question addresses an issue that the thesis statement aims to answer.

Step 2: Select data sources

The data sources can either be bibliographic and article databases, E-books, or other sources. Bibliographic databases are online collections of books and articles that provide data used to answer research questions. While selecting sources of data, ensure to include articles or books that are fully available, related to your topic, and consider the most recently published sources.

Step 3: Pick search terms

Search terms are phrases that are used to acquire books, articles, and reports relevant to your research question. The researcher chooses them based on the concepts of the research question. The search terms are the keywords to help access the books based on the topic of study.

Step 4: Do practical screening

Practical screening of literature helps to choose relevant results from the massive pool of content yielded from the internet. Literature searches usually produce many articles, with only a few being relevant. Practical screening includes factors such as the language of the article, publication dates, and types of articles, for example, journal articles.

Step 5: Apply methodological screening

Methodological screening involves evaluating the literature search results to assess scientific quality. Screening helps to choose the right articles for the literature review by eliminating the sources that do not meet the inclusion criteria.

Step 6: Doing the review

For reliable reviews, researchers use a standardized method of acquiring information from articles. The relevant information can be reviewed using a template for the extraction of data and recording of information; this can be done through a literature evidence table. The researcher then monitors the quality, ensuring only relevant information is recorded. Some institutions request you to prepare an annotated bibliography  to help you learn more about the topic and critically analyze the available sources. 

Step 7: Combining the results

There are a variety of ways of synthesizing literature review results. An example is descriptive syntheses and meta-synthesis. There is a special type of synthesis called meta-synthesis, which uses statistical methods to merge the results of multiple studies.

Tools for Finding Relevant Information Sources

Most information sources are available online, such as journals and books. This section discusses the tools you can use to search for this information. These tools can be divided into five main categories which are:

• Bibliographic databases
• Catalogues
• Internet search engines
• Professional organizations' websites
• Open access databases

Below is a comprehensive explanation of each and their examples.

(1). Catalogs

A catalog is a list of items arranged descriptively. There are a variety of types of catalogs that can be used to research information for a literature review. Library catalogs provide all bibliographic details of publications held in a public library. They allow the researcher to do searches by topic, author, or book titles. Other types of catalogs are national, publishers, and booksellers.

(2). Bibliographical databases

A bibliographical database is a systematic list of publications in a specific field of study. They are usually mostly conference papers and journal articles. Some examples of bibliographical databases are such as Dissertation Abstracts [contains worldwide dissertations and thesis] and MEDLINE, containing literature books in the field of Biomed.

(3). Search engines

Search engines are extremely large databases that survey multiple web pages and add them to one database using the keywords in the documents. This allows one database to contain multiple sources of information on a specific topic that can be used for research. An example of this is Google Scholar.

(4). Open access databases

Open-access databases contain information that is readily available for everyone to access. They are independent of subscription and can be accessed freely. Examples of these open-access databases are PubMed and the Directory of Open-Access Journals [DOAJ].

(5). Professional organizations' websites

There are multiple professional organizations with sites containing information and links that can provide you with relevant sources for your literature review. Examples of these websites are such as the Law Society and the Institution of Engineering and Technology [IET].

To identify professional organizations in your field of research, type' professional organizations your field of research' in your browser.

Literature Review Structure

The structure of the literature review contains four main sections which are the introduction, body, conclusion, and references. The aim of structuring the review of your literature is to allow for an easy understanding of the reader. Below is a comprehensive guide to the sections of a literature review:

(1). Introduction

The introduction should consist of a brief overview of the topic of discussion and the aim of conducting the literature review. Research sources and key terms should be listed in the introduction. This section is important because it shows the reader whether the researcher has a full understanding of the research topic. Here are the key areas to prioritize when writing the introduction:

• The purpose of doing the literature review.
• Mention the main area of concern to put the research in context.
• Identify trends and differences in different fields of study to come up with a research problem.

(2). Body

The body section presents and discusses the findings of the literature review. The literature review should contain a summary and critique of related studies and show how their findings link to the topic being investigated. The literature review is usually subdivided into topics and subtopics, or themes for clarity. Regardless of the systematic arrangement of this section, there are main areas that should be prioritized. Firstly, literature with common features, such as the use of qualitative or quantitative approaches, should be grouped for easy understanding. Secondly, tables or figures are used to present original or collected data, and lastly, individual studies should be summarized and placed in the context of your research.

(3). Conclusion

The conclusion section gives a summary of the literature review results. It explains what the analysis concludes about the state of the literature and what it provides. Any knowledge gaps that contributed to the carrying out of the research should also be stated.

(4). References

The literature review consists of the list of all the books, articles, and sources used to acquire information in the literature review. All sources should be acknowledged to avoid plagiarism cases.

Types of Literature Reviews

Literature reviews are important as they guide research, from providing information on previous knowledge in the field to identifying research gaps. However, they vary according to different factors, such as methodology and the aim of writing them. Let's take a look into the different types of these reviews:

(1). Systematic literature review

Systematic reviews are a detailed type of literature review that involves the review of evidence on a clearly formulated objective that uses systematic methods to access, identify, and critically appraise the relevant sources. Additionally, systematic reviews include extracting and analyzing data from the selected studies. Through a thorough investigation of available research, researchers identify knowledge gaps and do research on them for evidence-based decision-making.

(2). Narrative literature reviews

Narrative literature reviews are evaluations of theories or findings in a literature base, such as qualitative and quantitative research. They capture trends in the literature on a specific topic without engaging in systematic methodologies.

(3). Integrative literature reviews

Integrative literature review analyzes existing literature on a specific research topic to get a detailed understanding and discover gaps in an area of research. This type of literature review summarizes literature on a healthcare problem and utilizes broad data sources to research on a particular nursing practice.

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• Literature review writers work within your desired time frame to ensure that your paper is delivered on time. Even if you are running on tight deadlines, they work within the set time given without compromising on quality.
• Literature review experts adhere to every single instruction given when you request to write your research papers.
• The professional literature review writers have experience in using various formatting styles, such as MLA, APA, AMA, Chicago, Harvard, among others.
• Our expert literature review writers normally give unlimited revisions until your supervisor approves the final draft.

Summary

A literature review analyzes existing knowledge on a specific research topic to identify knowledge gaps in order to get original research areas. Writing a literature review requires a lot of time and commitment, especially in research. You can choose to hire a literature review writer to write your paper as you concentrate on other important things. Our expert writers are readily available to take up your request, and we have an excellent customer service team that ensures that your research paper literature review is assigned to a writer who is an expert in your field of study. We are available 24/7 to respond to any inquiries or help you place an order. Contact us today to get started.

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