How To Write Literature Review For Dissertation?

How To Write Literature Review For Dissertation
Published on 22 February 2022 by Shona McCombes, Revised on 7 June 2022. What is a literature review? A literature review is a survey of scholarly sources on a specific topic. It provides an overview of current knowledge, allowing you to identify relevant theories, methods, and gaps in the existing research. There are five key steps to writing a literature review:

Search for relevant literature
Evaluate sources
Identify themes, debates and gaps
Outline the structure
Write your literature review

A good literature review doesn’t just summarise sources – it analyses, synthesises, and critically evaluates to give a clear picture of the state of knowledge on the subject. Tip We’ve also compiled a few examples, templates, and sample outlines for you below.

What should I include in my dissertation literature review?

Preparing a literature review involves: –

Searching for reliable, accurate and up-to-date material on a topic or subject
Reading and summarising the key points from this literature
Synthesising these key ideas, theories and concepts into a summary of what is known
Discussing and evaluating these ideas, theories and concepts
Identifying particular areas of debate or controversy
Preparing the ground for the application of these ideas to new research

How long does it take to write a dissertation literature review?

Gall, Borg, and Gall (1996) estimate that completion of an acceptable dissertation literature review will take between three and six months of effort. The purpose of this guide is to collect and summarize the most relevant information on how to write a dissertation literature review.

How long should a literature review be?

In the absence of specific instructions about the length of a literature review, a general rule of thumb is that it should be proportionate to the length of your entire paper. If your paper is 15 pages long 2-3 pages might suffice for the literature review.

Is the literature review the hardest part of a dissertation?

The literature review – Introduction These materials are a combination of web-based support and paper materials managed through the Guided Independent Learning (GIL) support programme, You need to become a registered GIL student in order to use them properly.

There are additional paper-based resources available through a GIL appointment. In a thesis or dissertation the Literature review is perhaps one of the hardest things to write. It is here that you show you fully understand how others think about your topic and that you are able to critically examine what has been written.

They are often a wide-ranging review of the available literature and the purpose is for you to position your own approach, research within the literature as a whole. For a thesis in particular they help to show how your thinking contributes to world knowledge.

Feak and Swales (2009) point to a third reason in that a well-written literature review shows you are a credible member of your particular academic community (the academy). In active research (research which measures the response of others -either qualitatively or quantitatively), there are two general ways to approach the literature review.

In qualitative research the review might be threaded throughout the thesis. Thus you might find reviews of relevant literature at any point as new ideas are revealed by the data. A second approach dedicates particular chapters to the literature review.

Typically chapters two (background) and three (theoretical concepts) and sometimes four (design of study).
However, even using this approach, literature may well be reviewed at other points as well (particularly chapter seven – discussion and implications).
In review research it must be pointed out that different genre (academic communities) have different ways of approaching the review.

Some genre – notably History – do not do active research (i.e research involving living participants) when working with the distant past. This research tends to be entirely dependent on a critical analysis of primary and secondary source documentation.

they contain a great many references to to the writings of others, and thus, must have a diligent and consistent referencing system in which all references to the work of others is clearly denoted.
they try to be ‘critical’.
they are clear and the progression of ideas being pursued is rational and clearly thought through.
they clearly show when previous ideas in the review are being referred to again.
they frequently, if not always, have staged heading and sub-headings which can be referred to elsewhere in the thesis/dissertation. Some of these can be quite long. I have seen one: 5.4.2.3.3 (chapter five, section 3, part 2 – part 2 has a further heading and then a third heading under that)

What makes a strong literature review?

A good literature review shows signs of synthesis and understanding of the topic. There should be strong evidence of analytical thinking shown through the connections you make between the literature being reviewed.

What are the 4 stages of literature review?

1. Introduction Not to be confused with a book review, a literature review surveys scholarly articles, books and other sources (e.g. dissertations, conference proceedings) relevant to a particular issue, area of research, or theory, providing a description, summary, and critical evaluation of each work.

Problem formulation—which topic or field is being examined and what are its component issues? Literature search—finding materials relevant to the subject being explored Data evaluation—determining which literature makes a significant contribution to the understanding of the topic Analysis and interpretation—discussing the findings and conclusions of pertinent literature

Literature reviews should comprise the following elements:

An overview of the subject, issue or theory under consideration, along with the objectives of the literature review Division of works under review into categories (e.g. those in support of a particular position, those against, and those offering alternative theses entirely) Explanation of how each work is similar to and how it varies from the others Conclusions as to which pieces are best considered in their argument, are most convincing of their opinions, and make the greatest contribution to the understanding and development of their area of research

In assessing each piece, consideration should be given to:

Provenance—What are the author’s credentials? Are the author’s arguments supported by evidence (e.g. primary historical material, case studies, narratives, statistics, recent scientific findings)? Objectivity—Is the author’s perspective even-handed or prejudicial? Is contrary data considered or is certain pertinent information ignored to prove the author’s point? Persuasiveness—Which of the author’s theses are most/least convincing? Value—Are the author’s arguments and conclusions convincing? Does the work ultimately contribute in any significant way to an understanding of the subject?

3. Definition and Use/Purpose A literature review may constitute an essential chapter of a thesis or dissertation, or may be a self-contained review of writings on a subject. In either case, its purpose is to:

Place each work in the context of its contribution to the understanding of the subject under review Describe the relationship of each work to the others under consideration Identify new ways to interpret, and shed light on any gaps in, previous research Resolve conflicts amongst seemingly contradictory previous studies Identify areas of prior scholarship to prevent duplication of effort Point the way forward for further research Place one’s original work (in the case of theses or dissertations) in the context of existing literature

The literature review itself, however, does not present new primary scholarship.

How many pages is a 10000 word dissertation?

How Many Pages is 10000 Words? — Word Counter How many pages is 10000 words? Single spaced 10000 words is 20 pages; double spaced 10000 words is 40 pages. This of course will depend on your word processor settings and how you format your work, however, with standard margins and Arial or Times New Roman 12 point font your results should be about the same.

Can I finish my dissertation in a week?

Although you may find friends or websites claiming you can write a dissertation in a few days, it is nearly impossible to fit all this work into a single week. The main reason dissertations take so long is that there is much more work to do than just writing a long essay.

How many pages is 80,000 words dissertation?

Music – The thesis is not to exceed 80,000 words for the PhD degree and 60,000 words for the MLitt degree, both excluding notes, appendices, and bibliographies, musical transcriptions and examples, unless a candidate make a special case for greater length to the satisfaction of the Degree Committee.

What percentage of a dissertation should the literature review be?

How long should a literature review be? – As a general guide, the dissertation literature review should be around 25% of the complete dissertation, although this will also depend on the wider structure of your dissertation and the scope of literature available to you. How To Write Literature Review For Dissertation The next section of this blog offers 10 top tips on how to ensure you write a great dissertation literature review.

Is the literature review the hardest part of a dissertation?

There are additional paper-based resources available through a GIL appointment.
In a thesis or dissertation the Literature review is perhaps one of the hardest things to write.
It is here that you show you fully understand how others think about your topic and that you are able to critically examine what has been written.

Feak and Swales (2009) point to a third reason in that a well-written literature review shows you are a credible member of your particular academic community (the academy).
In active research (research which measures the response of others -either qualitatively or quantitatively), there are two general ways to approach the literature review.

Typically chapters two (background) and three (theoretical concepts) and sometimes four (design of study).
However, even using this approach, literature may well be reviewed at other points as well (particularly chapter seven – discussion and implications).
In review research it must be pointed out that different genre (academic communities) have different ways of approaching the review.

they contain a great many references to to the writings of others, and thus, must have a diligent and consistent referencing system in which all references to the work of others is clearly denoted.
they try to be ‘critical’.
they are clear and the progression of ideas being pursued is rational and clearly thought through.
they clearly show when previous ideas in the review are being referred to again.
they frequently, if not always, have staged heading and sub-headings which can be referred to elsewhere in the thesis/dissertation. Some of these can be quite long. I have seen one: 5.4.2.3.3 (chapter five, section 3, part 2 – part 2 has a further heading and then a third heading under that)

If we now go on to look at the next paragraph we can see how the same author links the ideas of one thinker (Dewey) to the ideas of another (Bakhtin) ( “.as I will explain,), thus developing her critical stance on the main topic of her chapter three and introducing the next section of her literature review.

References: Rich, S.
2011) Learning to Live interculturally: an exploration of experience and learning among a group of international students at a university in the UK,
Ph.D Thesis Exeter University.
Available at: https://eric.exeter.ac.uk/repository/handle/10036/3351.
Feak, C & Swales, J, (2009) Telling a Research Story.

University of Michigan Press next page – Types and Characteristics of the Literature Review

How many references should a dissertation literature review have?

My ‘rule of thumb’ has always been to use a maximum of three references to support a particular statement. The role of a literature review is to provide a targeted review of the literature. In my view, there are several reasons why it is wise not to use too many references: It really disturbs the flow of the paper.