How To Write A Literature Review From Start To Finish (Full Tutorial)
Summary
TLDRThis video tutorial guides viewers on crafting an effective literature review for research papers or theses, regardless of the academic field. It emphasizes identifying key topics and subtopics derived from research aims, maintaining a clear purpose, and avoiding excessive description. The presenter advises structuring the review from general to specific themes, using varied referencing patterns to enhance coherence. The video concludes with an offer for a free consultation to help researchers publish in top journals.
Takeaways
- 📚 The literature review is a challenging section of academic writing that requires a structured approach.
- 🎯 Identifying main topics or themes is crucial at the outset of a literature review to avoid being overwhelmed.
- 🔍 Derive topics and subtopics for the literature review from the research aim or questions to ensure relevance.
- 🧭 Having a clear destination or purpose for each section of the literature review helps maintain focus and direction.
- ❓ The 'so what' question is essential to guide the literature review, ensuring every point made has a clear purpose.
- 🚫 Avoid being overly descriptive; instead, be critical and focus on the significance of the studies being reviewed.
- 🔄 Vary the referencing pattern to create a coherent narrative and to avoid repetitiveness in the literature review.
- ⏳ Structuring the literature review from general to specific or chronologically can help in presenting a logical flow of information.
- 🔗 Use varied sentence structures to link studies and ideas, enhancing the narrative and argumentation in the review.
- 💡 Remembering the 'so what' question is key to writing an effective literature review that is more than just a description of previous work.
Q & A
What is the main challenge people face when writing a literature review?
-The main challenge people face when writing a literature review is identifying the main topics or themes to focus on due to the overwhelming amount of literature available in any broad area.
Why is it important to derive main topics or subtopics from the aim of your study or research questions?
-Deriving main topics or subtopics from the aim of your study or research questions helps to ensure that the literature review is relevant and focused, avoiding the pitfall of being too descriptive and going off on tangents.
What is the purpose of discussing main themes and subthemes in a literature review?
-Discussing main themes and subthemes in a literature review is essential for guiding the reader towards the research gap and the research aim, ensuring that the review is directed and contributes to the overall argument of the paper or thesis.
How does knowing the destination of the literature review help in writing it?
-Knowing the destination of the literature review helps in maintaining focus and ensuring that each section and paragraph contributes to the overall argument, avoiding aimless descriptions and ensuring a coherent narrative.
What is the 'so what' question and why is it important in a literature review?
-The 'so what' question is a critical self-assessment that asks why a particular point is being made and what it contributes to the overall argument of the literature review. It helps in being more critical and ensuring that the review is not just a descriptive list of previous studies.
Why should a literature review not just describe previous studies?
-A literature review should not just describe previous studies because it is meant to be an argument that supports the main thesis or point of the research. It should critically analyze and synthesize information to answer the 'so what' question.
What are some common mistakes to avoid when writing a literature review?
-Common mistakes to avoid in a literature review include trying to cover too much, being overly descriptive, failing to establish a clear purpose or destination, and not critically engaging with the literature to answer the 'so what' question.
How can the structure of a literature review be organized?
-A literature review can be structured from general to specific, chronologically, by fields or subfields, or by mixing and matching these approaches. The most common structure is general to specific, which helps in building a coherent narrative.
Why is it important to vary the referencing pattern in a literature review?
-Varying the referencing pattern in a literature review helps to avoid a repetitive and list-like narrative. It allows for clearer connections between studies and contributes to a more coherent and logical flow of information.
What is the significance of the inverted pyramid structure in organizing a literature review?
-The inverted pyramid structure, starting with more general information and moving towards specific details, helps in guiding the reader from a broad understanding of the field to the specific research gap and aim, which is the ultimate destination of the literature review.
Outlines
📚 Introduction to Writing a Literature Review
The paragraph introduces the topic of literature review writing, a section of research papers and theses that many find challenging. The speaker, Kovic, aims to guide viewers on how to write and structure a literature review effectively, regardless of the academic field. Kovic emphasizes that while the literature itself varies widely, the method of reviewing it remains consistent across disciplines. The paragraph also mentions Kovic's role in helping PhD students and researchers publish in top journals and invites viewers to book a free consultation for closer collaboration.
🎯 Identifying Main Topics and Subtopics
This section focuses on the initial step of literature review writing: identifying the main topics or themes to be reviewed. It highlights the importance of narrowing down the vast amount of literature to manageable and relevant themes derived from the research aim or questions. Kovic uses an example of a study on plenary speakers at English language teacher conferences to illustrate how to select topics such as conference importance, plenary speakers, and representation issues. The paragraph stresses the need to be selective and relevant to avoid overwhelming detail and maintain focus on the research gap and aim.
🧭 Structuring the Literature Review
The paragraph discusses the structure of a literature review, suggesting a journey metaphor where the writer guides the reader towards the research gap and aim. It advises on clarifying the purpose of each section and using the 'so what' question to maintain criticality and relevance. The speaker warns against purely descriptive reviews and emphasizes the need for an argumentative approach that connects to the main thesis. Kovic also suggests structuring the review from general to specific topics or using chronological order, and organizing by fields or subfields. The paragraph concludes with advice on varying the referencing pattern to enhance coherence and storytelling in the literature review.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Literature Review
💡Themes
💡Subtopics
💡Research Aim
💡Research Gap
💡Critical Analysis
💡Structure
💡Chronological Order
💡Disciplinary Perspectives
💡Referencing Patterns
Highlights
People often struggle with writing literature reviews in research papers or theses.
The video provides a guide on how to write and structure a literature review effectively.
The literature review process is universal across different fields of study.
Identify the main topics or themes for the literature review from the research aim or questions.
Avoid trying to cover everything in the literature review to prevent being overly descriptive.
Derive key topics and subtopics for the literature review from the study's aim.
The literature review should lead towards the research gap and aim.
Clarify the purpose and destination of the literature review journey for the reader.
Use the 'so what' question to ensure each section of the literature review has a clear point.
A literature review is an argument, not just a description of previous studies.
Focus on the results of studies and their relevance to your research.
Avoid waffling and be critical in presenting information that supports your main point.
Structure the literature review from general to specific or use a chronological order.
Vary the referencing pattern to create a coherent story in the literature review.
Use different strategies to link studies and show the logic in your literature review.
Remember the 'so what' question to maintain focus and relevance in your literature review.
Book a free one-to-one consultation for personalized guidance on writing research papers.
Transcripts
one of the sections in a research paper
or a thesis that people tend to struggle
most is the literature review that's why
in this video I want to show you exactly
how to write a literature review and how
to structure it so that after watching
it you can go off and write an excellent
literature review either for a paper or
for a thesis and this is going to work
regardless of the field that you're in
so I know a lot of people think oh you
know I'm doing theology and I'm doing
quantum physics I'm doing teaching
English and it's all completely
different
right the literature you will be
reviewing is completely different but
the way you write it is actually the
same so let's dive in and let's see how
this is done
now if you're new here my name iskovic
and I run academic English now where I
help PhD students and researchers
regularly publish papers in top journals
in the field and if you want to work
with me more closely then book a free
one-to-one consultation call the link is
right below this video and we'll see how
we can help you
so when it comes to the literature
review the first key thing that you need
to do at the very beginning is to
identify the main topics or the main
themes that you're going to be reviewing
the literature because in any broad area
right there are so many things to review
and so many topics that it can be
overwhelming and you don't have time no
space to do that either in a research
paper or in a literature review chapter
and the biggest mistake that you can
make is just to try to do everything and
try to do too much because that's going
to result in you being very descriptive
and lengthy and just like going off on a
tangent and not really getting to the
point that's why you want to identify
the key topics for your literature
review and subtopics how do you do that
well the easiest way is to derive them
from the aim of your study right or from
the research questions that you've got
so to give you an example a recent study
that we've done in investigates you know
who is a plenary speaker who is invited
to be a plenary speaker at conferences
for English language teachers right so
we've got a couple of topics in and
we're specifically looking at you know
ethnical representation and also in
terms of native and non-native speakers
right so what we've got here is a couple
of topics like for example we need to
review research on conferences more
specifically plenary speakers at
conferences we also then want to look at
you know another topic would be to look
at overall you know any any sort of
ethnic or discrimination in terms of
native non-native speakers overall in
English language teaching right because
that's another topic that that we're
doing here and also conferences in
general
um is a topic right why are scientific
conferences
um important and why why should we study
them why should anybody care right so
you take your research aim and then from
this you derive you know typically you
know three four main themes that you
want to discuss right that you need to
discuss in fact because the whole point
of the literature review is that you're
going towards the research Gap and
towards the research aim right so you
should only be discussing stuff that is
relevant
now when you've got these main themes
like let's say
um you know plenary speakers at
conferences or conferences more General
then you know we can talk about
subtopics within them right we need to
look at plenary speakers or maybe all
the speakers invited you know and we can
look at research in my field teaching
English but if there is no research in
that field and we want to look at other
fields like I don't know biology quantum
physics whatever other research we can
find right if there's no research on
specifically on ethnicity what we are
interested in what we could look at
gender representation of plenary
speakers at Major conferences right
these are all subtopics that we're going
to be discussing within this broader
topic of let's say conferences and
plenary speakers right so that's another
thing first identify the main themes and
then identify the sub themes
now once you've done that well you need
to clarify to yourself is where you're
actually going with it think about it
like this you know think about the
literature review as a journey on which
you're going and you're taking the
reader along with you if you have no
idea what the destination of that
journey is then clearly you're not going
to be able to get that or you're just
going to go like it is and just get lost
right whenever we sit in a car or we go
somewhere usually like we kind of go we
kind of know where we're going and then
we get directions from ways or Google
Maps how to actually get to that place
but the first point is to actually know
the destination and to understand how to
do that is to is to kind of answer the
question why why am I doing it so what
right so imagine like you've presented
something on you know on plenary
speakers at conferences and you've
described previous studies and what you
know
representation and balance tons of
plenary speakers they found at
conferences but so what like I mean what
is your point what are you trying to
show us right if you're for example
trying to show us that you know there is
a lot of gender discrimination at
scientific conferences in terms of who
gets invited as a plenary speaker then
say that that's your why that's your
main point that's where you're going
right and on a more General level where
you're going with all of it is towards
the research Gap and towards the
research aim but the purpose in every
section paragraph should be clear to the
reader so a good trick is to just ask
yourself so what once you've written a
paragraph So what and tell the reader so
what why what is the destination what
should they know from it right
now
this will really help you to be more
critical in the literature review which
is a very important element what happens
in the one of the biggest mistakes that
I see when I start working with my
clients is that it's very descriptive
right they just kind of describe and
describe and describe the previous
studies but it's not going anywhere the
you know people give a lot of details
about how the study was conducted where
it was conducted what happened in the
study and a ton of details about the
results but it's just a description of
the study but a literature review is not
a description of previous studies a
literature review is an argument right
that goes to our main thesis our main
point answers the so what question right
so in order to do that you need to avoid
waffling avoid describing studies and
get to the point you know most of the
time what we're interested in is the
result of the study don't tell us what
the topic of this study was how it was
conducted all that stuff tell us what
they found what they observed and how
this relates to the to other studies and
how this relates to your study that's
the key in the literature review of
course
sometimes it might be relevant to tell
us what the methodology of a particular
study was be
you want to make a specific point about
the methodology you want to point out
that the methodology that previous
Studies have been using is faulty and
that everybody uses this faulty
methodology and of course it makes sense
right so it all comes down to kind of
knowing the purpose the destination
where you're going right and then rather
than describing stuff just being
critical and only presenting relevant
things that are connected to your main
point that you're trying to prove or
show us in the literature review now
another really important thing is of
course how to structure the whole thing
right a very easy way to do that is to
structure it from General to specific
you can think of it as an inverted
pyramid right where your destination is
the pyramid Apex at the very bottom
which is your research aim the research
Gap and then you start with more General
stuff and you go like this to more
specific stuff right that's a really
easy way of structuring things another
way that might make sense when it comes
to structuring is chronological order
right so if you're trying to present the
development of something of let's say a
particular research area in your field
then structuring it from the oldest to
the newest might make sense as well
right sometimes it also might make sense
to organize your literature by fields or
subfields so let's say if you have a
more multi-disciplinary take on
something well you can show us how
psychologists have investigated this
issue neuroscientists sociologists
economists right and then bring all
those perspectives together right but
you would be organizing it by those
different fields but by far the most
common way is just kind of General to
specific and of course you can mix and
match them in different paragraphs or in
different sections of your literature
review now in order to be able to show
the reader the logic and tell a coherent
story we also need to do is to is to
vary the pattern in which you're
referring to studies in the literature
review so what I see very often is that
people just start each sentence with the
name of the author and say what they did
so they will say stuff like you know
Gonzalez studied X Y and Z in addition
you investigated X Y and Z and finally
kitchkovic also studied X Y and Z right
now what this does is that a it makes
your text very repetitive B it's much
more difficult to draw connections
between those studies because it's just
that it is going to end up being a
descriptive list of things so what you
want to do is you want to vary the
referencing pattern of course sometimes
you can start with the research and say
like you studied x y and z but then in
the following sentence probably makes
more sense like to for example say
um this issue has also been investigated
by several other researchers right
right and you see with this issue we
provide a clear connection right or you
can simply expand on that issue and and
say like you know one of the effects of
this problem is blah blah blah and then
at the end just put a reference to a
study right so the way you start your
sentence allows you to link to the
preceding centers and to have a more
coherent story in your literature review
so this is how you write and you
structure a really good literature
review and if you're going to remember
just one thing from this video is this
why the so what question this is crucial
right when you're writing the literature
review don't please don't just waffle
and describe what other people have done
ask yourself why what is my point what
am I trying to tell the reader here and
tell the reader that and only use
relevant information to do that right if
you're interested in learning how to
regularly write such papers and you want
to work with me more personally then
book are completely free one-to-one
consultation we're going to jump on a
zoom call and see what challenges you're
facing when it comes to writing research
papers and then show you how we might be
able to help you resolve these
challenges so you get to publish your
research in much better journals and the
link is right below this video
[Music]
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