writing literature reviews 7th edition

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Writing a Literature Review

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A literature review is a document or section of a document that collects key sources on a topic and discusses those sources in conversation with each other (also called synthesis ). The lit review is an important genre in many disciplines, not just literature (i.e., the study of works of literature such as novels and plays). When we say “literature review” or refer to “the literature,” we are talking about the research ( scholarship ) in a given field. You will often see the terms “the research,” “the scholarship,” and “the literature” used mostly interchangeably.

Where, when, and why would I write a lit review?

There are a number of different situations where you might write a literature review, each with slightly different expectations; different disciplines, too, have field-specific expectations for what a literature review is and does. For instance, in the humanities, authors might include more overt argumentation and interpretation of source material in their literature reviews, whereas in the sciences, authors are more likely to report study designs and results in their literature reviews; these differences reflect these disciplines’ purposes and conventions in scholarship. You should always look at examples from your own discipline and talk to professors or mentors in your field to be sure you understand your discipline’s conventions, for literature reviews as well as for any other genre.

A literature review can be a part of a research paper or scholarly article, usually falling after the introduction and before the research methods sections. In these cases, the lit review just needs to cover scholarship that is important to the issue you are writing about; sometimes it will also cover key sources that informed your research methodology.

Lit reviews can also be standalone pieces, either as assignments in a class or as publications. In a class, a lit review may be assigned to help students familiarize themselves with a topic and with scholarship in their field, get an idea of the other researchers working on the topic they’re interested in, find gaps in existing research in order to propose new projects, and/or develop a theoretical framework and methodology for later research. As a publication, a lit review usually is meant to help make other scholars’ lives easier by collecting and summarizing, synthesizing, and analyzing existing research on a topic. This can be especially helpful for students or scholars getting into a new research area, or for directing an entire community of scholars toward questions that have not yet been answered.

What are the parts of a lit review?

Most lit reviews use a basic introduction-body-conclusion structure; if your lit review is part of a larger paper, the introduction and conclusion pieces may be just a few sentences while you focus most of your attention on the body. If your lit review is a standalone piece, the introduction and conclusion take up more space and give you a place to discuss your goals, research methods, and conclusions separately from where you discuss the literature itself.

Introduction:

• An introductory paragraph that explains what your working topic and thesis is
• A forecast of key topics or texts that will appear in the review
• Potentially, a description of how you found sources and how you analyzed them for inclusion and discussion in the review (more often found in published, standalone literature reviews than in lit review sections in an article or research paper)
• Summarize and synthesize: Give an overview of the main points of each source and combine them into a coherent whole
• Analyze and interpret: Don’t just paraphrase other researchers – add your own interpretations where possible, discussing the significance of findings in relation to the literature as a whole
• Critically Evaluate: Mention the strengths and weaknesses of your sources
• Write in well-structured paragraphs: Use transition words and topic sentence to draw connections, comparisons, and contrasts.

Conclusion:

• Summarize the key findings you have taken from the literature and emphasize their significance
• Connect it back to your primary research question

How should I organize my lit review?

Lit reviews can take many different organizational patterns depending on what you are trying to accomplish with the review. Here are some examples:

• Chronological : The simplest approach is to trace the development of the topic over time, which helps familiarize the audience with the topic (for instance if you are introducing something that is not commonly known in your field). If you choose this strategy, be careful to avoid simply listing and summarizing sources in order. Try to analyze the patterns, turning points, and key debates that have shaped the direction of the field. Give your interpretation of how and why certain developments occurred (as mentioned previously, this may not be appropriate in your discipline — check with a teacher or mentor if you’re unsure).
• Thematic : If you have found some recurring central themes that you will continue working with throughout your piece, you can organize your literature review into subsections that address different aspects of the topic. For example, if you are reviewing literature about women and religion, key themes can include the role of women in churches and the religious attitude towards women.
• Qualitative versus quantitative research
• Empirical versus theoretical scholarship
• Divide the research by sociological, historical, or cultural sources
• Theoretical : In many humanities articles, the literature review is the foundation for the theoretical framework. You can use it to discuss various theories, models, and definitions of key concepts. You can argue for the relevance of a specific theoretical approach or combine various theorical concepts to create a framework for your research.

What are some strategies or tips I can use while writing my lit review?

Any lit review is only as good as the research it discusses; make sure your sources are well-chosen and your research is thorough. Don’t be afraid to do more research if you discover a new thread as you’re writing. More info on the research process is available in our "Conducting Research" resources .

As you’re doing your research, create an annotated bibliography ( see our page on the this type of document ). Much of the information used in an annotated bibliography can be used also in a literature review, so you’ll be not only partially drafting your lit review as you research, but also developing your sense of the larger conversation going on among scholars, professionals, and any other stakeholders in your topic.

Usually you will need to synthesize research rather than just summarizing it. This means drawing connections between sources to create a picture of the scholarly conversation on a topic over time. Many student writers struggle to synthesize because they feel they don’t have anything to add to the scholars they are citing; here are some strategies to help you:

• It often helps to remember that the point of these kinds of syntheses is to show your readers how you understand your research, to help them read the rest of your paper.
• Writing teachers often say synthesis is like hosting a dinner party: imagine all your sources are together in a room, discussing your topic. What are they saying to each other?
• Look at the in-text citations in each paragraph. Are you citing just one source for each paragraph? This usually indicates summary only. When you have multiple sources cited in a paragraph, you are more likely to be synthesizing them (not always, but often
• Read more about synthesis here.

The most interesting literature reviews are often written as arguments (again, as mentioned at the beginning of the page, this is discipline-specific and doesn’t work for all situations). Often, the literature review is where you can establish your research as filling a particular gap or as relevant in a particular way. You have some chance to do this in your introduction in an article, but the literature review section gives a more extended opportunity to establish the conversation in the way you would like your readers to see it. You can choose the intellectual lineage you would like to be part of and whose definitions matter most to your thinking (mostly humanities-specific, but this goes for sciences as well). In addressing these points, you argue for your place in the conversation, which tends to make the lit review more compelling than a simple reporting of other sources.

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Writing Literature Reviews, 7th Edition: A Guide for Students of the Social and Behavioral Sciences

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This useful guide educates students in the preparation of literature reviews for term projects, theses, and dissertations. The authors provide numerous examples from published reviews that illustrate the guidelines discussed throughout the book. New to the seventh edition: Each chapter breaks down the larger holistic review of literature exercise into a series of smaller, manageable stepsPractical instructions for navigating today’s digital librariesComprehensive discussions about digital tools, including bibliographic and plagiarism detection softwareChapter activities that reflect the book’s updated contentNew model literature reviewsOnline resources designed to help instructors plan and teach their courses (www.routledge.com/9780415315746).

The file for this resource is currently an EPUB. When it ships, it will be a Logos edition .

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Top Highlights

“You should establish two main goals for your literature review. First, attempt to provide a comprehensive and up-to-date review of the topic. Second, try to demonstrate that you have a thorough command of the field you are studying.” ( Page 12 )

“Instead, they usually provide discussions of previous research on their topic, definitions of basic concepts, descriptions of relevant theories, their reasons for approaching their research in the way they did, and interpretations of the results that are moderated by acknowledgments of the limitations of their methodology.” ( Pages 5–6 )

“An anecdote is a description of an experience that happened to be noticed (as opposed to an observation based on research, in which there was considerable planning regarding whom and what to observe as well as when to observe a particular phenomenon in order to gather the best information).” ( Page 8 )

“It is essential that you carefully and thoroughly read all the research articles that you cite in your literature review.” ( Page 6 )

“ it is your ethical responsibility to read each cited reference in its entirety.” ( Page 6 )

Product Details

• Title : Writing Literature Reviews: A Guide for Students of the Social and Behavioral Sciences (Seventh Edition)
• Authors : Jose L. Galvan , Melisa C. Galvan
• Edition: Seventh Edition
• Publisher : Routledge
• Print Publication Date: 2017
• Logos Release Date: 2020
• Language : English
• Resources: 1
• Format : Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• Subjects : Academic writing; Book reviewing; Psychology › Research; Scholarly periodicals; Social sciences › Authorship; Social sciences › Research
• ISBNs : 9780415315746 , 9781138294219 , 9781315229386 , 9781315266091 , 9781351858915 , 9781351858922 , 9781884585180 , 9781884585500 , 9781884585661 , 0415315743 , 1138294217 , 1315229382 , 1315266091 , 1351858912 , 1351858920 , 1884585183 , 1884585507 , 1884585663
• Resource ID: LLS:WS_16B5C8C59023427082C08793D76662D6
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T04:02:30Z

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Writing Literature Reviews: A Guide for Students of the Social and Behavioral Sciences 7th Edition, Kindle Edition

This useful guide educates students in the preparation of literature reviews for term projects, theses, and dissertations. The authors provide numerous examples from published reviews that illustrate the guidelines discussed throughout the book.

New to the seventh edition:

• Each chapter breaks down the larger holistic review of literature exercise into a series of smaller, manageable steps
• Practical instructions for navigating today’s digital libraries
• Comprehensive discussions about digital tools, including bibliographic and plagiarism detection software
• Chapter activities that reflect the book’s updated content
• New model literature reviews
• Online resources designed to help instructors plan and teach their courses (www.routledge.com/9780415315746).
• ISBN-13 978-1138294219
• Edition 7th
• Publisher Routledge
• Publication date April 5, 2017
• Language English
• File size 3795 KB
• See all details

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Editorial Reviews

Excellent. A concise, ‘task analytic’ presentation of the complex steps necessary in writing literature reviews.

Tom Cooke, Sonoma State University

This is an excellent text for teaching both reading research literature and writing literature reviews.

Marilyn Meisenheimer, Bemidji State University

A wonderful step-by-step guide to the writing process. This book has an invaluable checklist for students who are writing literature reviews.

Peter J. Burke, Edgewood College

Literature reviews are high stressors for even the most accomplished students. This text greatly alleviates their anxiety with clarity, organization, examples, and easy-to-understand ‘How to’ tips. I won’t teach research without it!

John O’Kane, Roberts Wesleyan College

Exceptional book―the only one in the field that actually helps students do the review and succeed at it.

Debra Mosek, University of Kentucky

This text is a masterpiece, carefully and thoughtfully crafted for both undergraduate and graduate students.

Ephraim Okoro, Howard University

About the Author

Jose L. Galvan (Ph.D., 1980, UT Austin) is Professor Emeritus at California State University, Los Angeles. His academic career spans 39 years, including appointments at UCLA; Teachers College, Columbia University; California State University, Los Angeles; and San Francisco State University.

Melisa C. Galvan (Ph.D., 2013, UC Berkeley) is Assistant Professor at California State University, Northridge.

Product details

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B06Y457CX2
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Routledge; 7th edition (April 5, 2017)
• Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 5, 2017
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• File size ‏ : ‎ 3795 KB
• Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Up to 4 simultaneous devices, per publisher limits
• Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
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• Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 293 pages
• #84 in Psychology Research
• #91 in Sociology Research & Measurement
• #139 in Social Science Research

About the author

Jose l. galvan.

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Writing Literature Reviews 7th edition

A guide for students of the social and behavioral sciences.

Jose L Galvan , Melisa C Galvan

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This useful guide educates students in the preparation of literature reviews for term projects, theses, and dissertations. The authors provide numerous examples from published reviews that illustrate the guidelines discussed throughout the book. 　New to the seventh edition:　Each chapter breaks down the larger holistic review of literature exercise into a series of smaller, manageable stepsPractical instructions for navigating today’s digital librariesComprehensive discussions about digital tools, including bibliographic and plagiarism detection softwareChapter activities that reflect the book’s updated contentNew model literature reviews Online resources designed to help instructors plan and teach their courses (www.routledge.com/9780415315746).

Originally attainable on 4/5/2017 by Routledge, this copy of Writing Literature Reviews by Jose L. Galvan and Melisa C. Galvan provides 308 pages of high-caliber lessons, which is 122 pages over its previous print: Writing Literature Reviews 6th Edition from 1/1/2014. Spanning copious Research & Methodology themes, the creator of Writing Literature Reviews 7th Edition (978-0415315746) worked hard to construct a defining publication on the course of Psychology / Research & Methodology and linked matters.

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