How To Write A Literature Review In 9 Simple Steps

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Crafting a literature review can be a daunting task, especially for those new to academic writing. Knowing how to write a literature review is crucial for any scholar, as this is a key aspect of writing for academic journals, research proposals, and theses. Understanding how to write a literature review and effectively synthesize different sources takes time, practice, and lots of writing.

By using literature review tools and adopting a structured approach, you can quickly get a grasp of what the literature review is and how to write it. In this blog post, we will share essential tips on writing a literature review to help you master this important aspect of academic writing.

What Are The Parts Of A Literature Review

In the introduction, you are setting the stage for your literature review. You explain what your thesis is, and give a forecast of key topics or texts that will appear in the review. You may also include a description of how you found sources and analyzed them for inclusion. You're not just summarizing sources, you're combining them into a coherent whole.

It's not enough just to paraphrase other researchers – add your own interpretations where possible. And don't forget to give your sources a critical evaluation. A well-structured paragraph is your friend. Use transition words and topic sentences to draw connections, comparisons, and contrasts.

The Body: Summarizing, Synthesizing, Analyzing, and Evaluating

Summarize and synthesize by giving an overview of the main points of each source and combining them into a coherent whole. Analyze and interpret by adding your own interpretations where possible and discussing the significance of findings in relation to the literature as a whole.

Critically evaluate by mentioning the strengths and weaknesses of your sources. Write in well-structured paragraphs, using transition words and topic sentences to draw connections, comparisons, and contrasts.

The Conclusion: Summarizing and Connecting

In the conclusion, summarize the key findings you have taken from the literature and emphasize their significance. Connect it back to your primary research question.

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Different Styles of Literature Reviews

Summarization of Prior Work vs. Critical Evaluation

When writing a literature review, you can take different approaches to how you present prior research. One option is to merely summarize the research findings without delving into critical evaluation. In contrast, you may choose to critically evaluate the studies, discussing the strengths and weaknesses of each.

Chronological vs. Categorical and Other Types of Organization

Another stylistic variation in literature reviews involves how you organize the content. A chronological approach entails starting with the earliest studies and progressing towards recent research. In comparison, a categorical format groups related studies together without considering the order in which they were conducted. Conversely, you might organize the literature review by presenting opposing views or conflicting research findings.

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How To Write A Literature Review In 9 Simple Steps

Defining the Research Scope

When writing a literature review, the first step is to define the research scope. This involves identifying the specific research question that your literature review aims to answer and set the boundaries within which you will conduct your research. It is crucial to have a clear focus to guide your literature review effectively.

Identifying the Literature

Once you have defined your research scope, the next step is to identify relevant literature. Start by searching broadly across scholarly books, journal articles, and dissertations. Use citation management tools to keep track of your sources. Develop an understanding of what is available, the accurate terms, and notable experts in the field.

Reading and Evaluating Articles

After identifying the literature, it's time to read the selected articles thoroughly and evaluate them critically. Take note of the assumptions made by researchers, methodologies used, experts referenced in the field, conflicting theories, and any changes in theory popularity over time.

Analyzing the Literature

The next step involves analyzing the literature you have collected. Look for patterns, important trends, common or contested findings, and influential theories. This will help you synthesize the information and identify the major themes in the research.

Organizing Selected Papers

Organize the selected papers by developing subtopics based on your analysis of the literature. Look for common findings, contested results, and important trends in the research. Establish a logical structure for your literature review that links each section to the next.

Critically Analyzing the Literature

A key part of writing a literature review is critically analyzing the literature collected. This involves exploring relationships, major themes, and identifying any critical gaps in the research. Summarize each source and analyze authority, currency, coverage, methodology, and how they relate to other works.

Developing a Thesis or Purpose Statement

Write a one or two-sentence thesis statement summarizing the conclusion you have reached about the major trends and developments in the research on your subject. This statement will guide the organization and structure of your literature review.

Writing the Paper

Follow the organizational structure developed earlier, including headings and subheadings. Ensure that each section links logically to the one before and after, organizing them by themes or subtopics rather than individual theorists or researchers.

Reviewing Your Work

Review your work, focusing on the topic sentences of each paragraph. Make sure your paper presents a clear position developed logically from start to finish. Make any necessary revisions to add information, delete irrelevant details, or restructure sections for coherence.

Complete Step-by-Step Guide On How To Use Unriddle's AI Research Tool

Here is a step-by-step guide on how to use Unriddle. I’ve also copied it below :)

From here, it's pretty simple.

Unriddle helps you read, write and learn faster.

Interact with documents via AI so you can quickly find and understand info.

Then start writing in a new Note and Unriddle will show you relevant content from your library as you type.

Get started by uploading a document.

Or read on for the full rundown.

Interact with documents

When you upload a document, Unriddle generates an AI assistant on top of this data.

Click 'New' in the right sidebar and then select 'Upload' to get started.

Use this assistant to answer specific questions about the text, summarize content and simplify jargon.

The trick is to be super clear about what you want.

If you're summarizing a research paper, for example, instead of saying “Summarize” or “Summarize this research paper”, say something like “Explain this research paper to me in simple terms. What method did the researchers use? What did they find? Why does it matter?”.

The second prompt will produce a much better overview of the paper because we're giving the AI more hints about what we want.

Automatic relations

Unriddle grasps the context behind each Note and Document in your library and automatically links them based on meaning.

Let's say you have a collection of nuclear physics papers in your library.

When you start writing a note about The Manhattan Project, simply mentioning "The Manhattan Project" will prompt Unriddle to find the connection between this note and the nuclear physics papers.

Even if you didn't explicitly mention the research papers, Unriddle's knowledge of Oppenheimer, his work, and the significant relevance of these papers means it understands the connection and automatically links them together.

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Citing your sources

Writing is hard when you have a ton of sources to track.

So we made it easy.

Highlight some text, click ‘Cite’ and you’ll see items from your library that contain information related to the selection of text you just highlighted as determined by our AI.

When you select an item Unriddle inserts a link into highlighted text that, when clicked, takes you to the referenced item.

Writing with AI

Click ‘New’ in the sidebar and hit ‘Note’ to open up a new note.

Here you’ll find all the text formatting options you’re used to and more.

Type ‘++’ to generate text based on the context of what’s already written.

Highlight text and click ‘Ask AI’ to open up the AI menu where you’ll find options to improve, expand, summarize and explain.

You can type custom prompts too!

Finally, you can open any note in a pane on the right side of the screen while interacting with documents. Just click the orange pencil icon at the top of the chat window.

Chat Settings

Adjust the model, temperature and response length in the Setting sidebar.

Click the cog icon in the top right corner of the screen and look for "Chat Settings".

These apply across all documents but you can easily flip between them regardless of settings at the time of upload.

Model: the machine learning model used to generate responses.

Temperature: the amount of creative license you give to the AI.

Max length: the maximum number of words generated in a response.

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Literature Review Strategies

Summary

I always start by summarizing the argument and main points of the research I am reviewing. This helps me get a broad picture of what the researchers are trying to achieve and the evidence they use to achieve it. It's important to keep this part brief and to the point: only focus on the most important points of the research. An in-depth summary can take up too much space and detract from the overall argument of your literature review.

Analysis

I then move on to analyzing the structure of the research. This step helps me to better understand the elements of the research, including its strengths and weaknesses. This is particularly useful when I am looking at a theory that is not well-understood or an area of research where there are conflicting opinions. By closely examining the research, I can draw my own conclusions about its value and applicability to my own work.

Synthesis

The next step is to synthesize ideas from different sources to form an integrated theory or system. Synthesis helps me to identify patterns and connections across different studies, which is essential for developing a cohesive argument in my literature review. It also helps me to see the bigger picture and understand how different studies fit together.

Evaluation

I evaluate the research based on specific criteria that I have chosen. This helps me to determine the quality of the research and whether or not it is relevant to my own work. It's important to clearly explain the criteria you are using to evaluate the research and to support your evaluation with evidence. This step helps me to provide a critical assessment of the literature and to draw my own conclusions about its value.

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Efficient Literature Review

Unriddle's AI capabilities can be particularly useful when conducting literature reviews. By understanding the meaning behind your writing, Unriddle can automatically link you to relevant sources that you have read and written about in the past. This feature can save you valuable time that would otherwise be spent searching for sources and citations.

Seamless Citation Management

Unriddle allows you to highlight text within documents, prompting the platform to display the most relevant sources from your library using AI. This functionality ensures that you never lose a citation or reference again, streamlining the literature review process.

Enhanced Writing with Unriddle's AI Autocomplete Suggestions

Unriddle can assist with text generation through AI autocomplete suggestions that are contextually based on the content you are working on. By offering intelligent suggestions for improving and expanding your writing, Unriddle can help elevate the quality of your literature review.

Collaborative Workspace: Unriddle's Platform for Teamwork

In terms of collaboration, Unriddle provides a shared workspace where multiple users can contribute and engage with the same documents in real-time. This feature fosters collaboration among researchers and students, making it easier to work together on literature reviews and other projects.

Streamlining Literature Reviews

Unriddle is a powerful tool for anyone looking to streamline the literature review writing process. By leveraging AI capabilities, document highlighting, text generation, and collaboration features, Unriddle can help you read faster, write better, and produce more impactful literature reviews.

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