The document outlines important aspects of writing a literature review, emphasizing its role in evaluating previous studies related to a research topic and providing a theoretical foundation for further investigation. It includes key considerations such as purpose, audience, and organizational patterns, as well as the significance of well-structured, relevant content to enhance credibility in research. Additionally, it lists various resources for finding literature reviews, including Google Scholar, PubMed, and JSTOR.

1. Reading and Writing a
Literature Review
Module 7

2. Learning Objectives:
At the end of the discussion, the students should be able
to:
a. explain how one’s purpose is a crucial consideration in
academic and professional writing;
b. identify the unique features of and requirements in
composing texts that are useful across disciplines;
c. perform writing tasks involved in the different stages of
the writing process; and
d. write a literature review.

3. ● A literature review is an evaluative report of
previous studies related to the subject matter of an
academic paper. It describes, summarizes, and
evaluates such studies in connection with the topic
of a paper.
● It also gives a theoretical basis for a research and
helps a writer determine the nature, scope, and
limitation of his or her own study.

4. ● It is important that you learn how to write a literature
review because it shows how much you have
researched about the topic of your paper.
● Furthermore, a literature review is an essential part
of a research paper because it provides credibility
to the research. A credible research contains factual
information from related studies done by several
experts in the field.

5. ● Your literature review should be well written
and organized like the rest of your paper.
It should also be relevant to the topic of
your paper;
● Otherwise, your review will not be able to
serve its purpose- to provide background
information about the topic of your study.

6. Considerations in Writing a Literature Review
The following are some of the factors to
consider in writing a literature review:
1. Unique features of the text
2. Purpose and audience
3. Pattern development

7. Unique Features of a Literature Review
● A literature review may be differentiated from other academic papers
in terms of its content and organization. The content of a literature
review is pieces of information about a particular topic that are
taken from various published papers. Its organization may depend
on the type of information to be presented.
● The information may be arranged either thematically or
chronologically. Thematical arrangement means organizing the
information according to topic or points made. On the other hand,
chronological arrangement means sequencing the pieces of
information based on the date they were published.

8. Purpose and Audience
● In writing a literature review, your intended
audiences are primarily readers (or reseachers)
who want to find out more information about the
topic of your study.
● In addition, a literature review may be written for
professionals who would like to become updated
with the latest trends in their field. Considering your
audience, your purpose must be to inform.

9. Pattern of Development
● You may use different patterns of development in writing your
literature review. For instance, you may use the
exemplification/classification pattern when organizing the
information that you have obtained from general to
specific.
● Begin with a general point or classification and supporting it
with specific examples. You may use description or
definition, whenever necessary, and even comparison and
contrast or cause and effect in some cases.

10. There are several websites and databases you can use to
find literature reviews:
● Google Scholar: This is a freely accessible web search engine that
indexes the full text or metadata of scholarly literature across an array
of publishing formats and disciplines.
● PubMed: A free search engine accessing primarily the MEDLINE
database of references and abstracts on life sciences and biomedical
topics.
● IEEE Xplore: A digital library for research articles in engineering and
technology.
● JSTOR: A digital library for academic journals, books, and primary
sources.

11. ● ScienceDirect: A full-text scientific database offering journal
articles and book chapters from more than 2,500 peer-
reviewed journals and more than 11,000 books.
● Web of Science: A research database that allows you to
search for scholarly articles across a range of disciplines.
● ProQuest: A collection of databases that provide access to
thousands of journals, dissertations, and other content.
● EBSCOhost: A collection of databases providing access to
academic journals, magazines, newspapers, and other
content.