A Template of Literature Review Page of a Dissertation

Last Updated on: 15th February 2022, 06:08 am

Chapter two of your dissertation, your literature review, may be the longest chapter. It is not uncommon to come across lit reviews in the 40- to 60-page range. That may seem daunting, but I argue that the literature review could be the easiest role of your dissertation.

It is also foundational. To be able to select an appropriate enquiry topic and craft expert research questions, you'll demand to know what has already been discovered and what mysteries remain.

Recollect, your degree is meant to indicate your achieving the highest level of expertise in your surface area of study. The lit review for your dissertation could very well form the foundation for your entire career.

In this article, I'll requite y'all detailed instructions for how to write the literature review of your dissertation without stress. I'll besides provide a sample outline.

When to Write the Literature Review for your Dissertation

Though technically Chapter 2 of your dissertation, many students write their literature review first. Why? Because having a solid foundation in the research informs the way you lot write Chapter one.

Also, when writing Chapter 1, you'll demand to become familiar with the literature anyway. It only makes sense to write downwards what yous learn to course the start of your lit review.

Some institutions fifty-fifty encourage students to write Chapter two kickoff. Only information technology's important to talk with your Chair to see what he or she recommends.

How Long Should a Literature Review Be?

There is no fix length for a literature review. The length largely depends on your area of study. Nevertheless, I take institute that about literature reviews are between 40-60 pages.

If your literature review is significantly shorter than that, inquire yourself (a) if there is other relevant research that you have not explored, or (b) if you have provided enough of a discussion nigh the data you did explore.

Preparing to Write the Literature Review for your Dissertation

ane. Search Using Central Terms

Most people starting time their lit review searching appropriate databases using cardinal terms. For example, if you're researching the impact of social media on developed learning, some primal terms you would use at the start of your search would be adult learning, androgogy, social media, and "learning and social media" together.

If your topic was the bear on of natural disasters on stock prices, then you would demand to explore all types of natural disasters, other market factors that impact stock prices, and the methodologies used.

You can save time by skimming the abstracts first; if the article is not what you lot thought it might be you can motion on apace.

One time you first finding articles using cardinal terms, ii different things volition normally happen: you will find new key terms to search, and the articles volition lead you straight to other manufactures related to what y'all are studying. It becomes like a snowball rolling downhill.

Note that the vast majority of your sources should be manufactures from peer-reviewed journals.

two. Immerse Yourself in the Literature

When people inquire what they should do start for their dissertation the most mutual reply is "immerse yourself in the literature." What exactly does this mean?

Think of this stage as a trip into the quiet eye of the forest. Your questions are at the center of this journeying, and you'll demand to help your reader understand which trees — which particular theories, studies, and lines of reasoning — got yous at that place.

There are lots of trees in this particular forest, but in that location are detail trees that mark your path.  What makes them unique? What about J'due south methodology made you choose that study over Y's? How did B'south argument triumph over A's, thus leading you to C's theory?

Y'all are showing your reader that y'all've fully explored the forest of your topic and called this particular path, leading to these particular questions (your research questions), for these particular reasons.

3. Consider Gaps in the Research

The gaps in the research are where current knowledge ends and your study begins. In lodge to build a case for doing your report, y'all must demonstrate that it:

1. Is worthy of doctoral-level research, and
2. Has not already been studied

Defining the gaps in the literature should assistance accomplish both aims. Identifying studies on related topics helps make the case that your report is relevant, since other researchers have conducted related studies.

And showing where they fall short will help make the case that your written report is the appropriate next step. Pay special attention to the recommendations for farther inquiry that the authors of studies make.

4. Organize What Y'all Observe

As you notice articles, you will accept to come up up with methods to organize what you lot find.

Whether you find a computer-based system (iii pop systems are Zotero, endNote, and Mendeley) or some sort of manual system such as index cards, you lot demand to devise a method where you can hands group your references by subject and methodology and observe what you are looking for when you lot need it. It is very frustrating to know yous have found an commodity that supports a point that y'all are trying to make, merely you tin can't find the article!

One way to salvage time and keep things organized is to cut and paste relevant quotations (and their references) under topic headings. You'll be able to rearrange and practise some paraphrasing later, but if you've got the quotations and the citations that are important to you already embedded in your text, you'll have an easier fourth dimension of information technology.

If you cull this method, exist sure to list the whole reference on the reference/bibliography page so yous don't accept to exercise this page separately subsequently. Some students employ Scrivener for this purpose, every bit information technology offers a clear way to view and easily navigate to all sections of a written certificate.

Need help with your literature review? Take a look at my dissertation coaching and dissertation editing services.

How to Write the Literature Review for your Dissertation

One time you lot take gathered a sufficient number of pertinent references, you'll need to string them together in a way that tells your story. Explain what previous researchers take done by telling the story of how knowledge on this topic has evolved. Here, you are laying the support for your topic and showing that your research questions demand to be answered. Let'south swoop into how to really write your dissertation'due south literature review.

1. Create an Outline

If you've created a system for keeping track of the sources you lot've found, you likely already have the basic of an outline. Even if non, information technology may be relatively easy to meet how to organize it all. The main matter to remember is, proceed it simple and don't overthink it. In that location are several ways to organize your dissertation'south literature review, and I'll discuss some of the about common beneath:

• By topic. This is past far the virtually common approach, and it'due south the ane I recommend unless at that place's a clear reason to do otherwise. Topics are things like servant leadership, transformational leadership, employee retention, organizational knowledge, etc. Organizing by topic is fairly simple and it makes sense to the reader.
• Chronologically. In some cases, information technology makes sense to tell the story of how noesis and thought on a given subject have evolved. In this case, sub-sections may indicate important advances or contributions.
• By methodology. Some students organize their literature review by the methodology of the studies. This makes sense when conducting a mixed-methods study, and in cases where methodology is at the forefront.

2. Write the Paragraphs

I said before that I idea the lit review was the easiest role to write, and here is why. When you write about the findings of others, you can do it in modest, discrete time periods. You go downwards the path awhile, and then yous remainder.

One time y'all take many small pieces written, you can and so piece them together. Yous can write each piece without worrying about the flow of the chapter; that can all be done at the end when you put the jigsaw puzzle of references together.

3. Analyze

The literature review is a demonstration of your ability to think critically near existing research and build meaningfully on it in your report. Avoid only stating what other researchers said. Find the relationships betwixt studies, note where researchers agree and disagree, and– especiallyy–chronicle it to your ain written report.

Pay special attention to controversial issues, and don't be afraid to give space to researchers who y'all disagree with. Including differing opinions will merely strengthen the credibility of your study, as it demonstrates that y'all're willing to consider all sides.

4. Justify the Methodology

In addition to discussing studies related to your topic, include some groundwork on the methodology you volition be using. This is peculiarly of import if yous are using a new or little-used methodology, every bit it may help become committee members onboard.

I have seen several students become slowed downwards in the process trying to get committees to buy into the planned methodology. Providing references and samples of where the planned methodology has been used makes the chore of the committee easier, and it will besides assist your reader trust the outcomes.

Advice for Writing Your Dissertation's Literature Review

• Remember to chronicle each department back to your study (your Problem and Purpose statements).
• Discuss conflicting findings or theoretical positions. Avoid the temptation to but include inquiry that y'all hold with.
• Sections should flow together, the manner sections of a affiliate in a nonfiction volume do. They should relate to each other and chronicle back to the purpose of your study. Avert making each section an island.
• Talk over how each study or theory relates to the others in that section.
• Avoid relying on directly quotes–yous should demonstrate that you sympathise the study and can describe it accurately.

Sample Outline of a Literature Review (Dissertation Chapter 2)

Here is a sample outline, with some brief instructions. Annotation that your institution probably has specific requirements for the structure of your dissertation'due south literature review. But to give you a general idea, I've provided a sample outline of a dissertation's literature review here.

Introduction

• State the trouble and the purpose of the study
• Give a brief synopsis of literature that establishes the relevance of the problem
• Very briefly summarize the major sections of your chapter

Documentation of Literature Search Strategy

• Include the library databases and search engines you used
• List the fundamental terms you used
• Draw the scope (qualitative) or iterative process (quantitative). Explicate why and based on what criteria you selected the manufactures you did.

Literature Review (this is the meat of the chapter)

• Topic 1
  • Sub-topic a
  • Sub-topic b
• Topic two
• Topic 3
  • Sub-topic a
  • Sub-topic b
  • Sub-topic c
• Topic 4
  • Sub-topic a
  • Sub-topic b
  • Topic 5
• Summary

See below for an example of what this outline might look like.

How to Write a Literature Review for a Dissertation: An Example

Let's take an example that will make the arrangement, and the outline, a niggling bit more clear. Below, I'll make full out the example outline based on the topics discussed.

If your questions have to do with the impact of the servant leadership style of management on employee retention, yous may want to saunter down the path of servant leadership first, learning of its origins, its principles, its values, and its methods.

You'll note the different ways the mode is employed based on different practitioners' perspectives or circumstances and how studies accept evaluated these differences. Researchers will draw conclusions that you'll want to notation, and these conclusions will atomic number 82 yous to your next questions.

Next, you'll want to wander into the territory of management styles to observe their affect on employee retentiveness in full general. Does management style actually make a divergence in employee memory, and if and then, what factors, exactly, make this impact?

Employee retention is its own path, and you lot'll discover factors, internal and external, that encourage people to stick with their jobs.

You'll likely find paradoxes and contradictions in here that just bring up more questions. How do internal and external factors mix and friction match? How tin employers influence both psychology and context? Is it of benefit to try and practise so?

At starting time, these iii paths seem somewhat remote from one another, but your involvement is where the three converge. Taking the lit review section by section like this before tying it all together will not merely get in more manageable to write but will help you pb your reader down the same path you lot traveled, thereby increasing clarity.

Example Outline

So the main sections of your literature review might look something similar this:

• Introduction
• Literature Search Strategy
• Conceptual Framework or Theoretical Foundation
• Literature that supports your methodology
• Servant Leadership
  • Origins, principles, values
  • Methods
  • Seminal research
  • Current research
• Management Styles
  • Theory one
  • Theory ii
  • Theory iii
• Management Styles' Impact on employee retentivity
• Employee Retention
  • Internal Factors
  • External Factors
  • Influencing psychology and context
• Summary and Determination

Final Thoughts on Writing Your Dissertation's Chapter 2

The lit review provides the foundation for your study and mayhap for your career. Spend time reading and getting lost in the literature. The "aha" moments will come up where you see how everything fits together.

At that point, information technology will just be a matter of clearly recording and tracing your path, keeping your references organized, and carrying clearly how your inquiry questions are a natural evolution of previous work that has been done.

Skilful luck!

PS. If you lot're struggling with your literature review, I tin can aid. I offer dissertation coaching and editing services.

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Source: https://www.beyondphdcoaching.com/dissertation/how-to-write-a-literature-review-for-a-dissertation/

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