The Basic Rules of Literature Review

Literature review may seem a mundane section of your assignment, where you need to write about the theories and concepts about the topic, on the contrary it is the backbone of your assignment. It lays down the objective of your research and framework of your dissertation. In order to write an effective literature review, you first need to understand what is a literature review and the basic rules of writing.

What Is a Literature Review?

The literature review is the critical analysis of the concepts, theories and views given by different authors on the subject. While writing the literature review, the goal should be to establish the relevance of these theories to the topic of your assignment. 

Basic Rules of Literature Review

• Introduce the research issue or question of your dissertation in the literature review.
• Write about the various views given by different authors and the trend observed.
• Compare and contrast between the various theories, bring out their advantages and disadvantages relevant to your topic.
• ​State the research gap in the previous studies, after a thorough study of the resources.
• State the criteria and assumption that you are making before critically analyzing the theories.
• Define the scope of your research.
• Present the facts in a uniform pattern. Either follow chronological, alphabetical or group theories which support the hypothesis and which oppose it.
• Remember to summarize and draw conclusions which is relevant to your topic.
• For easier understanding of the findings, illustrate the differences spotted during the detailed study of the concepts in a table.

There are many software available that will assist you in researching and organising your research findings. Literature Management tools like Mendele, Digolet and document management tools like Dropbox and Evernote will enable you to save your research and share it with your co-workers.