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Getting a Flawless Literature Review Sample for Research Paper

Writing literature review for research paper is one of the tasks that should be easy and interesting, but may be difficult and frustrating, depending on how you are informed and prepared. It will be easy and interesting of you get examples online and take note of what it is, how it should be formatted and the nature of information that should be included.

  • What is literature review?
    The literature review contains summary of what you have read, but a professionally written literature review is not just a summary of the professional literature as there is focus on the specific topics of interest to the reader and also includes critical analysis of how the different works relate, and how they relate to your research work. It can be written as stand-alone paper, or may provide rationale and theoretical framework of the research study, such as for example a dissertation or thesis.
  • How to write it:
    There are some important guidelines which should be adhered when writing research paper about literature. These include the following –
    • Reviewing the writing guidelines:
      The first step in writing good literature review is by adhering to the writing guidelines of some particular style. The popular styles are APA, MLA and the Chicago style. Ensure you pay special attention to the general guidelines on format and layout, such as spacing, margins and font, and also on the quotations, in text citations, abstract, and title page.
    • Decide on the topic:
      Choose topic which is relevant and of interest to you, the supervisor and to the readers. Although it should be the easiest part of writing, many students find it challenging. Avoid choosing obvious topic, one which has been written and researched many times. Also avoid very complex topic with little or no information.
    • Identify literature to be reviewed:
      Familiarize yourself with the sources of information and literature. Identify databases that contain relevant information to your study. By use of the relevant databases, find the sources of literature.
    TIP: begin with general search on the topic or subject and then redefine the top as needed. Ensure the topic or title of search has the relevant keywords.
  • Writing the actual literature review:
    • Identify the wider problem area but avoid making global statements.
    • Indicate why the topic you are reviewing is relevant and important.
    • Distinguish between your research source and the other information sources.
    • Indicate the importance of the previous studies to your project.
    • When commenting on the topic’s timelines, you must be specific in the description of the time frame.
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