6 Steps to Write a Good Literature Review Outline

Posted on October 17, 2020 Updated on October 17, 2020

Literature review is an important part of dissertation writing process. In this chapter, the researcher has to conduct an inclusive analysis on his particular area of research. In the academic field, every student has to face some kind of academic assignment writing problems which should be solved at the early stage to get the degree with distinction. This part of dissertation writing requires study material from large number of previously available studies. This study may enable the researcher to get an in-depth approach about the selected topic by using noteworthy and professional sources and qualified authors. In writing a perfect literature review, a writer must follow the following 6 steps to collect the required information and data from reliable sources.

Set Your Research Objectives

The very first and foremost step to write a good literature review is to set the research objectives. You must be fully aware of your subject and topic and the ways and means to collect data and information for your research. While searching on the internet, you may find a number of sources related to your topic. For example, if your topic is HRM, you only have to enter the term, ‘HRM’ in Google, and thousands of research results will be shown to you in a matter of seconds. By reading and analyzing these documents, you may have better idea about how to compile resources and references in your literature review.

Start the Research Process

After setting your research objectives, you should start the process of research and information gathering about your topic. At first, you have to search and then short list the most relevant sources. From these short listed documents, you may get the required information and ideas about your selected topic. You also have to check the authenticity of the authors whose articles you have collected to study. Help can also be taken from your tutors and the university’s library in this regard. While collecting data, you must keep in mind that only genuine and authentic sources should be consulted to have ideas about your topic.

Make the Summary of Literature Review

For making a summary of the literature review, you have to analyze the collected study material thoroughly. Your observation and analysis should be very keen and deep so that not only a single relevant point should be missed. You should use the sources from the most relevant to the least relevant and also the latest resources should be used in your literature review. After collecting sufficient sources to be used, you should try to summarize the whole data in your own words. A central idea or hypotheses should be the focus of your literature review. At the end, you must be assured that your literature review chapter is systematic, logical and there is a flow of ideas and information in the written document.

Develop your Literature Review Logically

The development of literature review on logical grounds is very important. If there is no sequence or logic in your written document, your readers or tutors are not impressed and their interest is ended up. At the same time, such type of flaws may impact the overall influence of your review. So, the best way to write down this chapter is to make a number of drafts of literature review before the final work. Your ideas and information must be presented in a logical way so that it may leave a lasting impact on the reader’s mind. Compare and contrast the positive and negative aspects of your main idea and then draw a logical conclusion from the whole discussion. You should also keep in mind that only original and unique data and information should be used to write your literature review so that there may not be any problems of plagiarism.

Prepare Bibliography

Everything which is not referenced properly is considered unreliable. In today’s age of information technology, a growing concern by the internet users is that each and every source used in any written work should be referenced properly. In this way, its authenticity can be checked easily. If you want to make your work more authentic and reliable, you should put references within your text. The use of references is the proof that you have studied and quoted the most authentic writers. Along with in-text references, a detailed reference list should be included at the end of your document.

Conclusion

If you follow the above mentioned steps to write your literature review, you could easily be able to write a well-organized and an impressive academic paper. In case of any problems faced in literature review writing, help can also be taken from some reliable personnel of online dissertation writing service so that you could come up with this important task of your academic career with distinction