Strategies for Writing Effective Literature Reviews

Strategies for Writing
Effective Literature Reviews
Copyright © 2021 Talent & Skills HuB

Objectives
To help you understand the purpose and basic
requirements of an effective literature review.
To help you critically assess research materials.
To develop strategies for inventing, organizing,
and drafting a literature review.

Purpose of a Literature Review
The literature review is a critical look at the existing research
that is significant to the work that you are carrying out.
The Purpose includes:
To provide background information of the subject
To establish importance of the subject
To demonstrate familiarity with the subject
To “carve out a space” for further research

Characteristics of
Effective Literature Reviews
Literature review
outlines important
research trends
It assesses the strengths
and weaknesses of the
existing research
It identifies potential
gaps in knowledge
It establishes a need for
current and/or future
research projects

Steps for Writing a Literature
Review
Planning
Reading and Research
Analyzing
Drafting
Revising

Planning
UNDER YOUR PLANNING YOUR CAN ASK YOURSELF
“WHAT TYPE OF LITERATURE REVIEW AM I WRITING”?

Planning
Consider the Focus Area
•What is the specific thesis, problem, or research question that my literature review
helps to define?
•Identifying a focus that allows you to:
•Sort and categorize information
•Eliminate irrelevant information
Consider the Type of Literature
•What type of literature review am I conducting?
•Theory; Methodology; Policy; Quantitative; Qualitative

Planning Continues
Consider the Scope of the Literature
•What is the scope of my literature review?
•What types of sources am I using?
Consider the Academic Discipline
•What field(s) am I working in?

Reading and Researching
HERE YOU NEED TO ASK:
‘WHAT MATERIALS AM I GOING TO USE?’

Reading and Researching
Start to collect and read materials.
Summarize sources by asking.
Who is the author?
What is the author's main purpose?
What is the author’s theoretical perspective? Research methodology?
Who is the intended audience?
What is the principal point, conclusion, thesis, contention, or question?
How is the author’s position supported?
How does this study relate to other studies of the problem or topic?
What does this study add to your project?
Select only relevant books and articles.

Analyzing
‘HOW DO I ASSESS EXISTING RESEARCH?’

Analysing Sources
A literature review is never just a list of studies; it always
offers an argument about a body of research
Analysis occurs on two levels:
1. Analysing the individual sources
2. Analysing the body of research

Four Analysis Tasks of the Literature Review
TASKS OF
LITERATURE
REVIEW
SUMMARIZE
SYNTHESIZE CRITIQUE COMPARE

Summary and Synthesis
In your own words, summarize and/or synthesize the key
findings relevant to your study.
What do we know about the immediate area?
What are the key arguments, key characteristics, key
concepts or key figures?
What are the existing debates/theories?
What common methodologies are used?

Sample Language for
Summary and Synthesis
Normadin (2015) has demonstrated…
Early work by Hausman et al. (2014) was concerned with…
Elsayed and Stern (2017) compared algorithms for handling…
Additional work by Karasawa et. Al (2015), and Parry et al. (2019) deals
with…

Example: Summary and Synthesis
Poor behaviour in classrooms can have a negative impact on the quality
of learning and teaching that takes place. Clarke and Davis (2007)
demonstrated the relationship between types of learning and student
behaviour. These authors found that behavioural issues were more
evident around student centred activities. This is supported by Wilkins
(2009) who suggests the organisation of tasks at certain times to avoid
instances of poor behaviour. Collectively, the evidence suggests that
teachers need to strategically plan and time the type of activity and
learning that takes place in the classroom.

Comparison and Critique
Evaluates the strength and weaknesses of the work:
How do the different studies relate? What is new, different, or controversial?
What views need further testing?
What evidence is lacking, inconclusive, contradicting, or too limited?
What research designs or methods seem unsatisfactory?

Sample Language for
Comparison and Critique
In this ambitious but flawed study, Jones and Wang (2017)…
These general results, reflecting the stochastic nature of the flow of
goods, are similar to those reported by Rosenblatt and Roll (2015)…

Example: Comparison and Critique
The critical response to the poetry of Phillis Wheatley often registers
disappointment or surprise. Some critics have complained that the verse
of this African American slave is insecure (Collins 1975), imitative
(Richmond 1974), and incapacitated (Burke 1991)—at worst, the product
of a “White mind” (Jameson 1974). Others, in contrast, have applauded
Wheatley’s critique of Anglo-American discourse(Kendrick 1993), the
revision of literary models…

Example: Comparison and Critique Cont.
The situationist model has also received its share of criticism. One of the
most frequently cited shortcomings of this approach centers around the
assumption that individuals enter into the work context.

Evaluative Adjectives
Unusual
Small
Simple
Exploratory
Limited
Restricted
Flawed
Complex
Competent
Important
Innovative
Impressive
Useful
Careful

Analyzing: Putting It All Together
Once you have summarized, synthesized, compared, and
critiqued your chosen material, you may consider whether
the literature:
Demonstrate the topic’s chronological development.
Show different approaches to the problem.
Show an ongoing debate.
Center on a “seminal” study or studies.
Demonstrate a “paradigm shift.”

Analyzing: Putting It All Together
Once you have summarized, synthesized, compared, and
critiqued your chosen material, you would be able to identify:
What researchers KNOW about the field/subject
What researchers do NOT KNOW about the field/subject
Why further study is required in the topic/subject
What your own study will contribute to the field (body of
knowledge)

Drafting
‘WHAT AM I GOING TO WRITE?’

Drafting: An Overview
To help you approach your draft in a manageable fashion, this section
addresses the following topics:
Organization
Introduction
Conclusion

Organizing Your Literature Review
You can organise your literature in any of these formats:
Topical Order—organize by main topics or issues; emphasize the relationship of
the issues to the main “problem”
Chronological Order—organize the literature by the dates the research was
published
Problem-Cause-Solution Order—Organize the review so that it moves from the
problem to the solution

Introductions
Indicate scope of the literature review.
Provide some background to the topic.
Demonstrate the importance or need for research.
Make a claim.
Offer an overview/map of the ensuing discussion.

Example: Introduction
Strategy is a multi-complex practice with theories of how organisation would excel in
achieving high level of performance in the markets and the industry the organisation is
operating in (Barney, 2011). However, strategy is a tenuous subject to grasp due to
different meaning it holds to different people (Mintzberg et al, 1998). However, as a
management and a dynamic process that needs to take into account time lags,
intervening variables and casualty (Choo & Bontis, 2002), strategy is made up of a
sequential set of analyses and choices for the purpose of increasing the likelihood of a
firm to perform well (Barney, 2011), and thus should not be a surprise if it attracts the
attention of researchers and scholars in the demand for increased and suitable way to
combat the economic and market battlefield, which is the essence of the new streams of
research. This study will critically evaluate through the various literature the recent
developments in the study of strategy in the nature of new streams of research and with
relevant business examples to reconcile them with the ten schools of thought promoted
by Mintzberg et al (1998) in the context of recent organisational reality.

Conclusions
Summarize the main findings of your review.
Provide closure.
Explain “so what?”
Implications for future research.
OR
Connections to the current study.

Example: Conclusion
This study critically evaluated the new streams of re-search with the view of reconciling
it with the ten schools of thought promoted by Mintzberg et al (1998) for coping with
organisational reality. Through the review of various literature, it is found that though
the ten schools of thought are trying to provide the true picture of strategic formation as
for setting direction, achieving focus and defining organisation, but find favour in a
well-defined, stable and perfect industry. However, the result of changing and complex
business environment makes the ten schools of thought less significant in the context of
organisational reality.
Based on the above fact and the evidences found in this research in the favour of the
new streams of research with relevant business examples, this research uphold that the
news streams of research are more suitable to cope with organisational reality. This is
because strategy is a dynamic process that takes into account various variables in
solving management/business problems. Also, the influence of the complex
environment causes new problems to emerge thus requires new way of strategic
formation which triggered the emergence of the new streams of research.

Revising
‘HOW CAN I FINE-TUNE MY DRAFT?’

Some Tips on Revising
Title: Is my title consistent with the content of my paper?
Introduction: Do I appropriately introduce my review?
Thesis: Does my review have a clear claim?
Body: Is the organization clear? Have I provided headings?
Topic sentences: Have I clearly indicated the major idea(s) of each paragraph?
Transitions: Does my writing flow?
Conclusion: Do I provide sufficient closure?
Spelling and Grammar: Are there any major spelling or grammatical mistakes?

Common Errors Made in Literature
Reviews
Review isn’t logically organized
Review isn’t focused on most important facets of the study
Review doesn’t relate literature to the study
Too few references or outdated references cited
Review isn’t written in author’s own words
Review reads like a series of disjointed summaries
Review doesn’t argue a point
Recent references are omitted

Writing a Literature Review:
In Summary
As you read, try to see the “big picture”—your literature review should provide
an overview of the state of research.
Include only those source materials that help you shape your argument. Resist
the temptation to include everything you’ve read!
Balance summary and analysis as you write.
Keep in mind your purpose for writing:
How will this review benefit readers?
How does this review contribute to your study?
Be meticulous about citations.

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Strategies for Writing Effective Literature Reviews

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