This document provides tips for conducting an effective literature review. It outlines that a literature review must: 1) be organized around the thesis question, 2) synthesize results into a summary of what is known and unknown, 3) identify areas of controversy, and 4) formulate questions for further research. It also provides questions to consider for each source, such as how it relates to the thesis, and for the overall review, like its scope and information seeking process. The document stresses that a literature review should not simply list and describe sources, but synthesize and critique them.

1. The Literature Review:
A Few Tips On Conducting It
s1150033 Ryo Ueno

2. Outline
Four things must be done in a literature
review
Some questions for writing a review of the
literature
Some questions about each book or
article you include
An important note

3. Four things must be done in a
literature review
1. The review must be organized
around and related directly to the
thesis or research question that you
are developing.
2. The review must synthesize results
into a summary of what is and is not
known.

4. Four things must be done in a
literature review
3. The review must identify areas of
controversy in the literature.
4. The review must formulate questions
that need further research.

5. Some questions for writing a review
of the literature
What is the problem, or research
question that your literature review
helps to define?
Will the readers find your literature
review relevant, appropriate, and
useful?
What is the scope of your literature
review?

6. Some questions for writing a review
of the literature
What types of publications are you
using?
How good was your information
seeking?
Have you critically analysed the
literature that you use?

7. Some questions about each book or
article you include
Did the author formulate a problem or
issue?
What is the relationship between the
research and theoretical perspectives?
How does this article or book relate to the
specific thesis or question that you are
developing?

8. An important note
The literature review is not a list
summarizing or describing one piece of
literature after another literature.