Title: The Challenges of Crafting a Dissertation: Navigating the Complexities of Literature Review

Embarking on the journey of writing a dissertation is a formidable task that demands unwavering
dedication, rigorous research, and a keen analytical mindset. Among the numerous hurdles that
graduate students encounter, the literature review stands out as a particularly challenging aspect.
This crucial section requires an in-depth exploration of existing academic works, demonstrating the
researcher's understanding of the chosen topic and contributing to the scholarly conversation.

The complexities of conducting a literature review for a dissertation are multifaceted. Firstly,
identifying relevant sources from a vast sea of academic literature demands a meticulous approach.
Sifting through an extensive array of articles, books, and research papers while ensuring their
relevance to the research question can be an arduous process.

Once relevant sources are identified, synthesizing the information becomes another Herculean task.
Crafting a literature review involves not merely summarizing existing literature but also critically
evaluating and connecting the dots between various studies. This synthesis must be cohesive,
presenting a clear narrative that supports the research objectives and highlights the gaps in current
knowledge.

Moreover, the literature review requires an extensive understanding of the theoretical frameworks
and methodologies employed in previous studies. Integrating these aspects into the dissertation
seamlessly requires a high level of scholarly competence.

In light of these challenges, many graduate students seek assistance to alleviate the burden of
crafting a comprehensive literature review. One platform that has gained acclaim for providing expert
support is ⇒ HelpWriting.net ⇔. This service offers specialized assistance in navigating the
intricacies of the literature review, ensuring that students receive a well-crafted, academically sound
section that aligns with the highest standards of research.

Helpwriting.net provides a team of experienced and qualified writers who specialize in various
academic fields. Their expertise extends to conducting thorough literature reviews, synthesizing
information coherently, and ensuring that the section aligns seamlessly with the overarching research
goals.

For those grappling with the complexities of a dissertation literature review, ⇒ HelpWriting.net ⇔
emerges as a valuable resource. By entrusting this task to professionals, students can focus on other
aspects of their research while ensuring that the literature review stands as a testament to their
scholarly rigor and academic prowess.
The selection of the appropriate one depends on factors like funding, publishing journal and time
allocated for research. Lit reviews can take many different organizational patterns depending on what
you are trying to accomplish with the review. Through the literature review process, one can learn
the tricks of conducting a good quality research paper and how to meaningfully make a lasting
contribution as a researcher. With the ease of using search engines it has fast becoming the most used
tool for getting information. To help you build a conceptual framework for empirical testing (if
applicable to your research topic). Sometimes new findings are published before a study is completed
and need to be incorporated into the current work. Provide critical analysis and synthesis of the
literature. Preview of the literature review’s structure: Offer a glimpse into the organization of the
literature review paper, acting as a guide for the reader. Thesis Statement: Conclude the introduction
with a concise thesis statement that outlines the main argument or perspective you will develop in the
body of the literature review. Finally, the conclusion should summarize the whole review in a
reasonably convincing manner. Literature reviews and academic research papers are essential
components of scholarly work but serve different purposes within the academic realm. 3 A literature
review aims to provide a foundation for understanding the current state of research on a particular
topic, identify gaps or controversies, and lay the groundwork for future research. You need to have
an idea of what you will be reviewing in order to effectively search for references and to write a
coherent summary of the research on it. A review of the literature gives you an opportunity to
showcase your critical analysis skills. Moreover, you can sort the results based on the publishing date,
citation count, and relevance. This consistency also makes it easy to compare multiple articles. Step
4: Describe and summarize each article—provide the essential information of the article that pertains
to your study. Are there specific types of studies or publications you will exclude. I am at a stage
where I need to start writing my one. Many of these repositories, however, may require you to log in
through your university account. In order to write a review of the literature for any sort of a
dissertation, you need to study a lot, and the study has to be in-depth, how to write a literature
review based dissertation. Again, click the Copilot icon to display the sidebar. It helps to situate the
study within the existing body of knowledge. Step 1: Choose a topic to write about—focus on and
explore this topic. But before you go, Six Online Tools for Easy Literature Review Evaluating
literature review: systematic vs. It is important to keep track of your sources with citations to avoid
plagiarism. That’s good. Now you must trade comprehensive note-taking for a different
technique—one that supports your skimming. But this intensive phase—where you daily review the
literature to achieve the five literature review objectives—ends now. However, it is also where you
get to learn about the topic in great detail. Consequently, this book veers in many different
trajectories. This includes the purpose of the study, who were the participants, how was the study
conducted, and then ultimately, what was found.
Chronological The simplest approach is to trace the development of the topic over time. 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. They can range from selective (a very narrow area of research or only a single work)
to comprehensive (a larger amount or range of works). Tell your inner-overachiever that you’re
making strong headway. This includes providing an introduction to your literature review. This can
lead directly into your methodology section. Very comprehensive and eye opener for me as beginner
in postgraduate study. Identifying Gaps: Aims to pinpoint areas where there is a lack of research or
unresolved questions, highlighting opportunities for further investigation. Look at this great
dissertation literature review sample. In the absence of a comprehensive summary of the material,
you have no way to justify the position of your proposed research. This is the case when a
progression revealed from study to study and the practices of researchers have changed and adapted
due to the new revelations. Thank you for a very useful literature review session. The exact
keywords can be extended to widen your research over other databases and academic search engines
like: Google Scholar Microsoft Academic Science.gov Besides, it is not advisable to go through
every resource word by word. Unless there is need to repeat some research, ones credibility might be
in question if such a scenario occurred. Identifying what is required of you and how to deliver will
be the next step in the process (Pautasso, 2013). Thank you so much for your guide of video and
other instructions for the dissertation writing. Anytime I review a new article, I start with this
template and refer to it as I skim. The format of a literature review varies and depends upon the
length of the research. A course assignment is an example of a selective, stand-alone work. In this
introduction, the authors accomplish the following: In the first paragraph, the authors introduce the
broader topic of the literature review, which focuses on innovation and its significance in the context
of economic competition. If so, you can find a more novel research gap by combining multiple
weaknesses. This preview can help the reader anticipate the structure and organization of your
literature review. These templates also make good reference material if you intend to make an outline
from scratch. 5. Write the Contents of Your Literature Review Now that the resources you need are
ready, you should be able to write the contents of the main part of your literature review. This is a
great example of profound research work. How to write a literature review in 30 minutes or less The
goal of a literature review is to asses the state of the field on a given topic in preparation for making
an intervention. Be sure that you start with your General Field first before referring to your
dissertation study. My early notes wander around as they attempt to summarize each article’s every
little takeaway. It should be a fair representation of the perspectives and voices of a range of scholars
across the field. Once you’re satisfied that you have digested and distilled all the relevant literature
in your mind, it’s time to put pen to paper (or rather, fingers to keyboard). A mini-review is not
necessarily a minor review: it may well attract more attention from busy readers, although it will
inevitably simplify some issues and leave out some relevant material due to space limitations.
Thus, all the materials that do not pass the evaluation should be eliminated and excluded from your
research. Very comprehensive and eye opener for me as beginner in postgraduate study. Different
Types of Literature Reviews Literature reviews come in many forms. They can be part of a research
paper, for example as part of the Introduction section. Also, you get a guide on literature review
strategies through sample examples. Final Thoughts: Conclude with a final reflection on the
importance of your literature review and its relevance to the broader academic community. Again,
you can use this to make an argument about gaps in the research. Establishing Credibility: A well-
conducted literature review demonstrates the researcher’s familiarity with existing scholarship,
establishing their credibility and expertise in the field. Make a list of keywords Start by creating a
list of keywords related to your research topic. 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. However, bias could also occur in
the other direction: some scientists may be unduly dismissive of their own achievements, so that they
will tend to downplay their contribution (if any) to a field when reviewing it. These may differ in
the way prior research is reviewed as well as the way in which the literature review is organized. By
addressing these elements, your introduction will empower your literature review to play a pivotal
role in your thesis or dissertation research. Connections should be made linking those sources to one
another. THANK YOU FOR COMING OUT HANDY Rate this article Cancel Reply Your email
address will not be published. Social media, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, TikTok Body
image, self-perception, self-esteem, mental health Generation Z, teenagers, adolescents, youth
Search for relevant sources Use your keywords to begin searching for sources. Write in well-
structured paragraphs, use transitions and topic sentences and critically analyze each source for how
it contributes to the themes you are researching. Usually you will need to synthesize research rather
than just summarizing it. Outline and identify the purpose of a literature review As a first step on
how to write a literature review, you must know what the research question or topic is and what
shape you want your literature review to take. How to Make a Literature Review in Research (RRL
Example) A course assignment is an example of a selective, stand-alone work.It focuses on a small
segment of the literature on a topic and makes up an entire work on its own. I had 5 days to
complete my paper and not even a single chance to do it by myself. When you are working on a
topic, you can cover a single aspect of that topic efficiently, how to write a literature review based
dissertation. Academiaedu is a platform for academics to share research papers. Literature review is
a crucial component of research writing, providing a solid background for a research paper’s
investigation. Make sure the sources you use are credible, and make sure you read any landmark
studies and major theories in your field of research. It is practiced in almost all fields including arts,
computer science, science, history, and social science etc. Make sure you thoroughly go through
appropriate reference sources like books, reports, journal articles, government docs, and web-based
resources. It describes what is currently known, understood, or agreed upon regarding the research
topic and highlights where there are still disagreements. Post-graduate student needs to read the
entire paper with the utmost care. In reviews written by multiple authors, this may be achieved by
assigning the review of the results of a coauthor to different coauthors. These new ideas revolutionize
our scope of thinking and understanding prompting new research and approaches.
I know it’s very tempting, but don’t try to kill two birds with one stone and write as you read.
Writing literature reviews is a particularly important skill if you want to apply for graduate school or
pursue a career in research. My early notes wander around as they attempt to summarize each
article’s every little takeaway. Literature review is a mandatory part of any research project. It is
often assigned as part of the research process for a paper. When doing and writing a literature
review, it is good practice to: summarise and analyse previous research and theories; identify areas of
controversy and contested claims; highlight any gaps that may exist in research to date. Literature
reviews introducing research articles The literature review found at the beginning of a journal article
is used to introduce research related to the specific study and is found in the Introduction section,
usually near the end. A literature review is an assessment of the sources in a chosen topic of research.
Preview of the literature review’s structure: Offer a glimpse into the organization of the literature
review paper, acting as a guide for the reader. There are downloadable literature review templates
that you can modify and make your own. Building Your Literature Review Bookshelf One way to
conceive of a literature review is to think about writing it as you would build a bookshelf. Read
through titles and abstracts, select and obtain articles (that is, download, copy, or print them out),
and save your searches as needed. You need to collect those scientific publications to get an idea of
what sort of work has been done on the topic in the past. Although having articles with tips and
recommendations is good, the presence of an accurate sample is much better. After reading your
literature review, it should be clear to the reader that you have up-to-date awareness of the relevant
work of others, and that the research question you are asking is relevant. Benefits of Literature
Reviews By summarizing prior research on a topic, literature reviews have multiple benefits. The
introduction to the literature review chapter in a thesis or dissertation again adheres to different
standards. When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or service, we may
earn affiliate commissions. Get the complete picture in no time SciSpace Discover’s personalized
suggestion engine helps you stay on course and get the complete picture of the topic from one place.
Knowledge gaps: What exactly does it fail to address, and how to bridge them with further research.
Ten Simple Rules for Writing a Literature Review Rule 1: Define a Topic and Audience How to
choose which topic to review. Provide critical analysis and synthesis of the literature. Interpretation
You need to be actively involved in interpreting the literature that you are reviewing, and in
explaining that interpretation to the reader, rather than just listing what others have written.
However, this does not mean that research work published a long time back should be completely
sidelined. A literature review serves to familiarize one with most knowledge that has been
disseminated and questions raised from a particular research problem. Excellent information, Clear
explanation, and Easy to follow, Many thanks Derek. There are a variety of possible approaches that
you can take. You can find both long and short APA simple report content on health, science, history,
and so much more. Books are said to be an advantage in literature review because they are of
superior quality and information is comprehensive and integrated into one. The first step is to hunt
down the relevant literature.
Does the research use established frameworks or take an innovative approach. Other disciplines
might require a researcher to look into studies from other countries in other languages because
researchers from non-English speaking countries have also made tremendous contribution in the field
of research. Read through the articles and books that you have found, and as you do, take notes.
Whether or not that is necessary or appropriate can also depend on the specific author instructions of
the target journal. The main findings or insights of the literature review: Summarize the key
discoveries, insights, or trends that have emerged from your comprehensive review of the literature.
Take notes that you can later incorporate into the text of your literature review. It will change the
way you perceive the literature. Focus on the questions you want to raise and analyze whether the
part of a review is too general or insufficiently wide. Having an average of 15 books is a good
starting point as well as checking the references to each book. Helps in exhibit proficiency over the
research area. Regular literature review section in an academic article or essay Most academic articles
or essays incorporate regular literature review sections, often placed after the introduction. That is, it
represents a synthesis of the evidence that provides background information on your topic and
shows a association between the evidence and your research question. The “experiential” part of the
rubric does not mean that you must bring in your experience and voice throughout the work, but
rather provide context to the topic, mainly in the introduction. This is probably a good time to decide
whether to go for a mini- or a full review. A solution can be to involve a set of complementary
coauthors: some people are excellent at mapping what has been achieved, some others are very good
at identifying dark clouds on the horizon, and some have instead a knack at predicting where
solutions are going to come from. SciSpace Discover is a one-stop solution to do an effective
literature search and get barrier-free access to scientific knowledge. There are also several extra
points that may be clarified with the literature review examples. Have you written a stellar literature
review you care to share for teaching purposes. At this stage, you are close to writing the review
itself. By reading the content of your sources, you will be able to understand the arguments of your
selected source. Thank you, GetEssay, for delivering my paper in record of 72 hours. In a way, it
streamlines your research focus and makes clear the problem being addressed. The first approach
would be to look level you are at as a researcher. You can emphasise the timeliness of the topic
(“many recent studies have focused on the problem of x”) or highlight a gap in the literature (“while
there has been much research on x, few researchers have taken y into consideration”). Once you’re
satisfied that you have digested and distilled all the relevant literature in your mind, it’s time to put
pen to paper (or rather, fingers to keyboard). You adjusted your reading and note-taking strategy to
match. A literature review is a comprehensive summary of previous research on a topic. When you are
sure about your abstract and the keywords, you will be able to pick sources that are related to you.
When I critique a study, I like to pretend that I’m a consultant. In a narrative or traditional literature
review, the body of literature is examined or summarized.
Have you written a stellar literature review you care to share for teaching purposes. Examples of
Literature Reviews Research - Getting Started Ask the Libraries Welcome to the Literature Reviews
LibGuide. Make a list of keywords Start by creating a list of keywords related to your research
topic. When you are sure about your abstract and the keywords, you will be able to pick sources that
are related to you. You can spend endless hours sifting through it all. You don’t need to cut each
piece by yourself from scratch. Constant scrutiny: Concepts or theories that repeatedly went under
examination. Yes, the literature review should ideally be written in the past tense. To help you
develop a big-picture view and synthesise all the information, you might find mind mapping
software such as Freemind useful. Consider highlighting gaps in existing knowledge and stress the
suitability of your topic. To put it bluntly, if you don’t understand the function and purpose of the
literature review process, there’s no way you can pull it off well. You tend to overachieve: You’re
ready to conquer the literature review process. Like any other research paper, the literature review
format must contain three sections: introduction, body, and conclusion. Publication-based: You can
order your sources by publication, if the way you present the order of your sources demonstrates a
more important trend. It is a process of reviewing the literature, as well as a form of writing. There
are three main scenarios in which you need an introduction for a literature review: Academic
literature review papers: When your literature review constitutes the entirety of an academic review
paper, a more substantial introduction is necessary. See, the academic literature has a few defects—a
few flaws that make it a challenge to read. This is, after all, one of the main purposes of the
literature review process (i.e. to familiarise yourself with the current state of research in your field).
One can decide on the topic of interest through posing questions that they want the research to
answer (Pautasso, 2013). In addition, this type of literature review is usually much longer than the
literature review introducing a study. Unleashing the Power of AI Tools for Enhancing Research,
International FDP on. Avoid wasting precious hours and days by having direct aims and specific
questions to raise. A literature review is a collation of survey, research, critical evaluation, and
assessment of the existing literature in a preferred domain. The content will look slightly different in
each case, but the process of conducting a literature review follows the same steps. Check a list of
sample literature review documents below and learn writing custom literature reviews. Based on
your reading and notes, you can look for: Trends and patterns (in theory, method or results): do
certain approaches become more or less popular over time. So, if you have a 10,000-word research
paper, the minimum word count could be 1500. The three main components you’ll need to complete
before beginning your outline are the Theme, Thesis, and Source Material. The length of a review of
the literature depends on its purpose and target readership and can vary significantly in scope and
depth.
Literature Review on Climate Change Impacts on Biodiversity: Climate change is a global
phenomenon with far-reaching consequences, including significant impacts on biodiversity. This is,
after all, one of the main purposes of the literature review process (i.e. to familiarise yourself with the
current state of research in your field). In stand-alone reviews, there may be significantly more texts
and more concepts. When addressing contrasting arguments in different research papers on a
particular topic, a researcher has to either form an opinion from their own wealth of knowledge or
embark on further reading to draw conclusions; consequently one continues to build their knowledge
in the area (Torracro, 2005). That’s good. Now you must trade comprehensive note-taking for a
different technique—one that supports your skimming. An organized and compiled list of source
material makes notations easier in the writing process. Sometimes, the literature review is the most
challenging part of writing a dissertation or thesis. Thank you so much for your guide of video and
other instructions for the dissertation writing. Literature reviews are set up similarly to other
academic texts, with an introduction, a main body, and a conclusion. If this is not for an academic
paper, then decide on what topic to write about and be specific on what and where you want to
focus. 2. Look Up Relevant Literature After clearly defining your topic, the next step is to search for
relevant information from different publications. However, it is also where you get to learn about the
topic in great detail. A good literature review does not just summarize sources. This helps support
our work, but does not affect what we cover or how, and it does not affect the price you pay. If you
are not familiar with academic writing, the best thing you can do is to have a look at some of the
samples of your field and plan your review of literature accordingly. When I critique a study, I like
to pretend that I’m a consultant. They are also able to evaluate so many sources and identify
solutions to the problem at hand. A Complete Guide on How to Write Good a Literature Review Jul
25, 2022 Table of Contents A literature review is much more than just another section in your
research paper. Published books may also be helpful, but keep in mind that peer-reviewed articles are
widely considered to be the “gold standard” of scientific research. Make notes of your sources and
ask yourself questions related to your literature. How to write a superb literature review Learn from
the tips of editors and working scientists who share their insights on how to write a review that is
focused, clear, and engaging. For example, you could tell Copilot to make the summary longer,
shorter, more formal, or less formal. In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying
the site without styles and JavaScript. Feedback is vital to writing a good review, and should be
sought from a variety of colleagues, so as to obtain a diversity of views on the draft. Third, add
transitions between the paragraphs, as well as an introductory and concluding paragraph. 1 A
literature review that is part of a larger research paper typically does not have to be exhaustive. You
do proper evaluation of the discovered sources and your readers should know for sure that academic
sources are valid. Postgraduate services Requesting and downloading library material Guidelines for
submission of electronic versions of theses and dissertations Click here for more information on the
UnisaIR. A literature review is a critical summary of all the published works on a particular topic.
Mention concisely, how your selected research will lead to the actual dissertation question. They
motivate your research, guide your methods, affirm your conclusions—and sometimes they’re even
well-written. Often, the literature review is where you can establish your research as filling a
particular gap or as relevant in a particular way.