Reviewing the literature
The literature review situates your work and demonstrates your expertise in the field through selecting, analysing, and synthesising relevant literature, leading to the identification of the gap, problem or issue your research will address.
As you review the literature:
- Keep your aim and scope in sight to help you decide on relevance and develop your own review criteria
- Take notes while you read at different stages to help you understand, evaluate and filter the literature
- Establish baselines (the current best) you can compare your own approach to
- Strike a balance between drawing on and deviating from others' ideas
- Put a limit on the time you spend on the literature review, as you will need to recalibrate it in light of your own research.
Structuring a literature review
In your initial draft, you may not be able to structure your literature review in a way that reflects how you’ll discuss your own research, as you may not have completed your research yet.
Keep that in mind for when you are revising the literature review, after your research has been conducted.
Watch this video for tips on how to structure and organise your literature review, whether you are starting to write, or revising your draft.
Use the side menu to go the next section: Writing conclusions, where we discuss writing a conclusion.