• A literature review should be an integration of existing research. It should do more than simply summarize what other authors have done. It should also identify what information the previous studies have shown and what information is still unknown.
• Consider the articles you have read on your topic and decide how they best fit together to make the strongest argument. Rather than providing a “laundry list” summary of every study conducted, organize the literature review into sections that present themes or identify trends, including relevant theory. The goal is not to list all the material published, but to synthesize and evaluate it according to the guiding concept of your thesis or research question. For example, if there is a major controversy in this literature, you might present research supporting first one side, then the other. Or, if three methodologies have been used to address the question, you might compare the results obtained by the three methods.
• Your literature review should follow the following basic argument structure.
o State the guiding concept of your thesis or research question. This thesis should be your answer to the paper topic question that you turned in. The thesis will guide your entire paper and will be the “hook” that lets your reader decide whether or not to read your paper. Thus, it should be clear.
o Review the literature supporting your thesis by placing each work in the context of its contribution to the understanding of the subject. When reviewing the literature, you should provide a short summary of the subjects, method, results used in the studies and the author(s)’ interpretation, accompanied by your own analytic commentary on study strengths and/or weaknesses related to your argument. This should be a shorter version of the research critique that you did for this class.
o Describe the relationship of each work to the others under consideration. Are the studies consistent with each other? Do they come to different conclusions?
o Resolve conflicts amongst seemingly contradictory previous studies. For example, did the studies use different research designs? Did they include different subjects? Did they measure the same construct in different ways?
o Summarize the main findings and discrepancies across articles; how do they fit with your thesis? This is the main conclusion you want your reader to draw.
o Identify further research that should be conducted to address any gaps in the literature. For example, if previous work has focused exclusively on one age group, you might suggest expanding the focus to different developmental periods. You will likely have several suggestions since there are no conclusive studies.
• You should use separate subheadings to help your reader follow along, especially if you are integrating several different literatures (e.g., role of temperament in anxiety disorder, role of family factors in anxiety disorders).