WRITING

 A  LITERATURE  REVIEW  
Adapted  from  A.  Skene  

What  is  a  literature  review?    

 
A  literature  review  is  a  survey  of  everything  that  has  been  written  about  a  particular  topic,  theory,  or  
research  question.  It  may  provide  the  background  for  larger  work,  or  it  may  stand  on  its  own.  Much  
more  than  a  simple  list  of  sources,  an  effective  literature  review  analyzes  and  synthesizes  information  
about  key  themes  or  issues.  
 
Book  Review     Annotated  Bibliography     Literature  Review    
Analyzes  and  evaluates   Summarizes  relevant  sources  and   Surveys  all  relevant  literature  to  
a  particular  book.       explains  the  significance  of  that   determine  what  is  known  and  not  
  source  to  the  research  question.     known  about  a  particular  topic.    
   
 
Why  write  a  literature  review?    
 
1.  To  discover  what  has  been  written  about  a  topic  already    
2.  To  determine  what  each  source  contributes  to  the  topic    
3.  To  understand  the  relationship  between  the  various  contributions,  identify  and  (if  possible)  resolve  
contradictions,  and  determine  gaps  or  unanswered  questions    
 
What  is  involved  in  writing  a  literature  review?    
 
1.  Research  –  to  discover  what  has  been  written  about  the  topic      
 
2.  Critical  Appraisal  –  to  evaluate  the  literature,  determine  the  relationship  between  the  sources  and  
ascertain  what  has  been  done  already  and  what  still  needs  to  be  done    
 
3.  Writing  –  to  explain  what  you  have  found    
 
Steps  to  writing  an  effective  literature  review:    
Gathering  sources    
Focus  your  topic:    A  literature  review  aims  to  cover  all  of  the  research  on  a  given  topic.  If  the  topic  is  
too  large,  there  will  be  too  much  material  to  cover  it  adequately.    
 
Read  with  a  purpose:    Although  you  will  need  to  briefly  summarize  sources,  a  good  literature  review  
requires  that  you  isolate  key  themes  or  issues  related  to  your  own  research  interests.      
 
Evaluating  sources    
For  each  book  or  article  consider:    
Credentials:  Is  the  author  an  expert?        
Argument/Evidence:  Does  the  evidence  support  the  conclusion?  Is  the  argument  or  evidence  
complete?    
 
When  comparing  sources,  consider:    
Conclusions:  Does  all  research  arrive  at  the  same  conclusion  or  are  there  differing  opinions?    
What  evidence  or  reasoning  are  the  differences  based  on?        
 Gaps  or  omissions:  What  questions  are  raised  by  the  literature?  
How  to  Write  a  Literature  Review  (expanded)  
 
1. The  Literature  Search  
 
Find  out  what  has  been  written  on  your  subject.  Use  as  many  bibliographical  sources  as  you  can  to  find  
relevant  titles.  The  following  are  some  possible  sources:  
 
Bibliographies  and  references  in  key  textbooks  and  recent  journal  articles  
Abstracting/Peer  reviewed  journals  
• Teachers  College  Record  http://www.tcrecord.org/  :  The  Teachers  College  Record  
is  a  journal  of  research,  analysis,  and  commentary  in  the  field  of  education.  It  has  been  
published  continuously  since  1900  by  Teachers  College,Columbia  University.  
Subscription  is  $15US/year)  
• ASCD  -­  http://ascd.org/  :  online  membership  $29/year  
Electronic  databases  
• Knowledge  Ontario  -­‐  www.knowledgontario.ca  (free  for  public  schools)  
• ERIC:  The  major  index  for  education.  ERIC  provides  access  to  a  broad  collection  of  
resources  on  education  research  and  information.  The  database  is  of  interest  to  
education  researchers,  teachers,  instructors  and  students  in  teacher  preparation  
programmes,  administrators,  policymakers  and  parents  (requires  subscription:  
Crescent  School  has  one)  
• CBCA  Education:  A  major  index  for  Canadian  information  in  the  field  of  education.  
CBCA  Education  provides  information  for  researchers  interested  in  teaching,  
educational  research  and  educational  administration  in  Canada.  Articles  are  indexed  
from  over  250  Canadian  education  journals,  magazines,  newsletters  and  newspapers  
(requires  subscription)  
• SAGE  -­‐  http://online.sagepub.com/  :  SAGE  Publications,  a  leading  international  
publisher  of  books,  journals,  and  electronic  media,  is  a  privately  owned  publishing  
company  dedicated  to  the  global  dissemination  of  information  (free  online  resource)  
• Proquest  Education  Journals  (requires  subscription:  Crescent  School  has  one)  
Free  online  resources  
• Google  Scholar  –  http://scholar.google.ca/  :  Google  Scholar  provides  a  simple  way  to  
broadly  search  for  scholarly  literature.  From  one  place,  you  can  search  across  many  
disciplines  and  sources:  articles,  theses,  books,  abstracts  and  court  opinions,  from  
academic  publishers,  professional  societies,  online  repositories,  universities  and  other  
web  sites.  Google  Scholar  helps  you  find  relevant  work  across  the  world  of  scholarly  
research  (free  electronic  resource)  
• Google  Books  –  http://books.google.ca/    
• Google  Advanced  Scholar  Search  -­‐  http://scholar.google.com/advanced_scholar_search    
• Beaucoup  –  www.beaucoup.com    
• Questia  -­‐  http://www.questia.com/    
• Internet  Public  Library  -­‐  http://www.ipl.org/    
• Noodle  Tools  -­‐  http://www.noodletools.com/  :  free  bibliography  software  
Others??  
 
 
 
 
  
2. Noting  the  bibliographical  details  
 
Write  down  the  full  bibliographical  details  of  each  book/article  as  soon  as  you  find  a  reference  to  
it.  This  will  save  you  an  enormous  amount  of  time  later  on.  A  program  like  Noodle  Tools  can  help  
with  this  and  it  is  in  the  cloud  so  it  doesn’t  matter  where  or  what  computer  you  are  working  on.  It  
can  be  used  to  collaborate  with  other  researchers  as  well.  
 
3. Reading  the  Literature  
 
Take  notes  as  you  read  the  literature.  You  are  reading  to  find  out  how  each  reference  approaches  
the  subject  of  your  research,  what  it  has  to  say  about  it,  and  how  it  relates  to  your  own  
thesis/question.  
 
Ask  yourself  questions  like:  
• Has  the  author  formulated  a  problem/issue?    
• Is  it  clearly  defined?  Is  its  significance  (scope,  severity,  relevance)  clearly  established?    
• Could  the  problem  have  been  approached  more  effectively  from  another  perspective?    
• What  is  the  author’s  research  orientation  (e.g.,  interpretive,  critical  science,  combination)?    
• What  is  the  author’s  theoretical  framework  (e.g.,  psychological,  developmental,  feminist)?    
• What  is  the  relationship  between  the  theoretical  and  research  perspectives?    
• Has  the  author  evaluated  the  literature  relevant  to  the  problem/issue?  Does  the  author  include  
literature  taking  positions  she  or  he  does  not  agree  with?    
• In  a  research  study,  how  good  are  the  basic  components  of  the  study  design  (e.g.,  population,  
intervention,  outcome)?  How  accurate  and  valid  are  the  measurements?  Is  the  analysis  of  the  
data  accurate  and  relevant  to  the  research  question?  Are  the  conclusions  validly  based  upon  
the  data  and  analysis?    
• In  material  written  for  a  popular  readership,  does  the  author  use  appeals  to  emotion,  one-­‐
sided  examples,  or  rhetorically-­‐charged  language  and  tone?  Is  there  an  objective  basis  to  the  
reasoning,  or  it  the  author  merely  “proving”  what  he  or  she  already  believes?    
• How  does  the  author  structure  the  argument?  Can  you  “deconstruct”  the  flow  of  the  argument  
to  see  whether  or  where  it  breaks  down  logically  (e.g.,  in  establishing  cause-­‐effect  
relationships)?    
• In  what  ways  does  this  book  or  article  contribute  to  our  understanding  of  the  problem  under  
study,  and  in  what  ways  is  it  useful  for  practice?  What  are  the  strengths  and  limitations?    
• How  does  this  book  or  article  relate  to  the  specific  thesis  or  question  I  am  developing?    
 
4. Writing  the  Literature  Review  
 
Introduction  
The  introduction  should  identify  your  topic,  some  discussion  of  the  significance  of  that  topic  and  a  
thesis  statement  that  outlines  what  conclusion  you  will  draw  from  your  analysis  and  synthesis  of  the  
literature.  If  your  literature  review  is  part  of  a  larger  work,  explain  the  importance  of  the  review  to  
your  research  question.  
 
Body    
In  the  body,  discuss  and  assess  the  research  according  to  specific  organizational  principles  (see  
examples  below),  rather  than  addressing  each  source  separately.  Most,  if  not  all,  paragraphs  should  
discuss  more  than  one  source.  Avoid  addressing  your  sources  alphabetically  as  this  does  not  assist  in  
developing  the  themes  or  key  issues  central  to  your  review.    
  
Organizing  Principles  
Principle   When  to  Use  
Theme   • When  explaining  key  themes/issues  relevant  to  the  topic  
• This  is  the  most  common  way  to  organize  literature  reviews  
Methodology   When  discussing  interdisciplinary  approaches  to  a  topic  or  when  discussing  
a  number  of  studies  with  a  different  approach  
Chronology   When  historical  changes  are  central  to  explaining  the  topic  
 
Conclusion    
The  conclusion  should  provide  a  summary  of  YOUR  findings  from  the  literature  review.  Explain  what  
your  analysis  of  the  material  leads  you  to  conclude  about  the  overall  state  of  the  literature,  what  it  
provides  and  where  it  is  lacking.    You  can  also  provide  suggestions  for  future  research  or  explain  how  
your  future  research  will  fill  the  gaps  in  the  existing  body  of  work  on  that  topic.  
 
5. Reflection:    
 
1.  What  is  the  specific  thesis,  problem,  or  research  question  that  my  literature  review  helps  to  define?    
2.  What  type  of  literature  review  am  I  conducting?  Am  I  looking  at  issues  of  theory?  methodology?  
policy?  quantitative  research  (e.g.  on  the  effectiveness  of  a  new  procedure)?  qualitative  research  (e.g.,  
studies)?    
3.  What  is  the  scope  of  my  literature  review?  What  types  of  publications  am  I  using  (e.g.,  journals,  
books,  government  documents,  popular  media)?  What  discipline  am  I  working  in  (e.g.,  nursing  
psychology,  sociology,  medicine)?    
4.  How  good  was  my  information  seeking?  Has  my  search  been  wide  enough  to  ensure  I’ve  found  all  
the  relevant  material?  Has  it  been  narrow  enough  to  exclude  irrelevant  material?  Is  the  number  of  
sources  I’ve  used  appropriate  for  the  length  of  my  paper?  5.  Have  I  critically  analysed  the  literature  I  
use?  Do  I  follow  through  a  set  of  concepts  and  questions,  comparing  items  to  each  other  in  the  ways  
they  deal  with  them?  Instead  of  just  listing  and  summarizing  items,  do  I  assess  them,  discussing  
strengths  and  weaknesses?    
6.  Have  I  cited  and  discussed  studies  contrary  to  my  perspective?    
7.  Will  the  reader  find  my  literature  review  relevant,  appropriate,  and  useful?  
 
 
 
 
 
 
Works  Cited:  
Allyson, Skene. "Writing a Literature Review." University of Toronto - The Writing Centre. University of Toronto at
Scarborough, n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2010. <http://ctl.utsc.utoronto.ca/twc/sites/default/files/LitReview.pdf>.
 
Dena, Taylor. "The Literature Review: A Few Tips on Conducting It." Health Sciences Writing Centre, and Margaret
Proctor. University of Toronto, Writing Support, n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2010. <http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/specific-
types-of-writing/literature-review>.
 
"Finding Information on the Internet: A Tutorial." UC Berkeley - Teaching Library Internet Workshops. UC Berkeley, 23
July 2009. Web. 12 Jan. 2011. <http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/FindInfo.html>.
 
"Writing a Literature Review." University of Canberra - Academic Skills Centre. University of Canberra, 14 Sept. 2006.
Web. 12 Jan. 2011. <http://www.canberra.edu.au/studyskills/writing/literature>.