Can a literature review be an end in itself?

A literature can be an end in itself (an analysis of what is known about a topic) or a prologue to and rationale for engaging in primary research. The following are guidelines on how to write a literature review:

What makes a literature review an exemplary review?

Have an exemplary literature review? Have you written a stellar literature review you care to share for teaching purposes? Are you an instructor who has received an exemplary literature review and have permission from the student to post?

What should be the tone of a literature review?

1 Your tone should be objective as you summarize the research. Don’t allow your objectivity to turn your literature review to an annotated bibliography. 2 Try to be analytical. Composing a review is an exercise in comparative thinking. 3 Connect paragraphs to one another, and link studies within paragraphs.

Do you have to do a literature review when writing a thesis?

If you write a thesis or dissertation, you will have to conduct a literature review to situate your research within existing knowledge. You might include it in the introduction or theoretical framework, or it might be a separate chapter that comes before the methodology and results sections.

What do you mean by sample literature review?

A literature review is a survey of scholarly sources that provides an overview of statement or the study’s goals or purpose. *This sample paper was adapted by the Writing Center from Key, K.L., Rich, C., DeCristofaro, C., Collins, S. (2010).

Why do we need a systematic review of the literature?

SLR provides a way to assess the quality level and magnitude of existing evidence on a question or topic of interest. It offers a broader and more accurate level of understanding than a traditional literature review.

Do you quote or paraphrase in a literature review?

When you reference another writer’s ideas in your literature review, you need to either quote or paraphrase and correctly cite the source. The format of the source reference depends on which citation style you are using – you can find lots of examples in our guides to APA , MLA and Chicago style .