Literature review belongs to academic writing, but it is quite different from general essay or report writing. If a general essay requires the presentation of the author's personal opinion, and a report requires the presentation of data and facts to draw results and make recommendations, then the focus of a literature review is different from that of the above two types of writing. If you focus on giving your own point of view like a general essay, you will not be able to write a good literature review.
The purpose of writing a literature review is to collate and refine different perspectives on a particular topic. That is, to sort out what views there are before a certain issue, whether a consensus has been formed, whether there is a current controversy, what is the controversy, what is the current research focus, what are the mainstream research methods, etc. Of course, one of the difficulties in writing a literature review is that on the one hand, it needs to give some ideas, and on the other hand, it cannot be processed into a simple list. One way to avoid writing a literature review into a list of ideas is to draw up a specific thesis for each part of the writing, focusing on specific points of view, and giving the results of different scholars and different research stages.
On the one hand, a research review can exist as part of a larger research project, and on the other hand, it can also become a separate writing task. Whether on its own or as an integral part, the way and steps in which a literature review is written remain largely unchanged.
The first step is to decide on a topic. The determination of the topic needs to be based on the research problem. If the literature review is a separate writing task, then a specific question will also need to be selected to determine the literature to be collected.
The second step is to do research, collect literature, and read literature. You can first identify several relevant keywords to collect literature, which will make the process of collecting and searching more effective. Identifying keywords can make the search more professional and avoid the unsearchable literature due to the use of unprofessional words, or the low relevance of the retrieved literature. You can first read the abstracts, introductions and conclusions in the retrieved literature, and on this basis, you can form a preliminary **. Whether the number of literature is sufficient, the depth or breadth of the literature, and whether the literature is related to the topic and research question. The role of reading the first few articles is to stop the loss in time, and if it is determined that there is not enough literature, or it is not easy to find, you can change the topic in time.
The third step is to evaluate the literature and determine the reference priority of the literature. For example, there are 30 related essays for a topic. At this point, the wrong thing to do is to treat each essay equally. This is not possible in practice. The scope of each essay, author, and research is different, and the contribution of the essay to the literature review and research question is inevitably different due to the different relevance of the topic. Generally speaking, the author is the first to look at, and the work of authoritative figures in the academic world naturally needs to be read repeatedly. Secondly, looking at the publishing journal publisher, the higher the reputation of the publishing house, the higher the readability of its published works. After that, you can also look at the title, summary, conclusion, and so on. In short, the work that comes first will inevitably have more time and effort to read than the essay that comes later. It is not advisable to spend too much time on junk publications.
The fourth step is to draw up a writing outline. Develop an outline based on the topics and arguments covered in the literature.
Finally, formal writing. In formal writing, it is recommended to write the text while doing a good job of citation. Avoid the pain of going back and adding citations after you've finished writing. International Student Graduation**