How to write a 3000 word literature review in 3 daysMark Reed

What is a literature review?

• A literature review is a type of essay• Summarises the key literature written on

a subject (rarely exhaustive)• A story that summarises material in a

logical order, composed of critical arguments, concluding with your own reflections on the most important insights that emerge

• Mainly based on peer-reviewed material (>50%)

Literature reviews are easy

• Learn how to speed read – you don’t need to read every word of every paper you cite

• Stay focused on your question(s) so you can extract the key points

• Organise what you’ve read efficiently• Find a system to link key points together

into critical arguments as part of an overall story

Day 1

Day 1, 9.00-10.00: Scoping

• Google to expand list of search terms• Search via Scopus/Web of

Science/ScienceDirect• Sort by relevance

Day 1, 10.00-17.00: Reading

• Screen your reading:• Read titles only, skipping less relevant ones• Scan read relevant abstracts• Download relevant papers, speed read intro,

results, discussion and conclusion, read slowly around key points

• Only read methods in detail for papers that are key to your argument or controversial (e.g. contradict mainstream view)

Day 1, 10.00-17.00: Reading

• Create a database in Excel• Column A: topic/theme• Column B: author/year

• Copy and paste relevant sentences/paragraphs to cells in Column A• Use speech marks to ensure you don’t

confuse quotes with material you paraphrase

Day 1, 10.00-17.00: Reading

• Create themes and sub-themes as you read• Sub-divide and combine themes as

necessary• Sort themes/sub-themes into a coherent

structure• Visual learners: mind-map• Kinesthetic learners: post-it note spider

diagram• Read-write/auditory: copy and paste themes

onto a single page in Word and sort (reading

them aloud for auditory learners)

Day 2

Day 2, 9.00-11.00: Create a map• Take a step back from your mindmap

branches, spider legs or list of themes:• Group into as few as possible major themes

(3-6), think what story you could tell to link these themes coherently (these become sub-headings in review)

• Think about what sub-themes fit under each of these major themes, and their order

• Number themes and sub-themes 1, 1a, 1b etc.

Day 2, 11.00-13.00: Walk & lunch• Go for a walk, forget about work and let

your review gradually structure settle in your mind

• Try and get some distance from your work, so you can come back and see a bird’s eye view of your whole story in your mind, to check if it really holds together coherently

Day 2, 13.00-14.00: Revisit structure• Revisit your structure (mindmap, post-its,

Word file) and make any changes based on insights from your morning’s reflections

Day 2, 14.00-17.00: Plug gaps

• Identify gaps in your story and arguments and target additional reading to fill gaps

Day 3

Day 3: Write your review

• You now have a map you can follow to write your literature review

• Create sub-headings, go to relevant section of Excel file, re-read the material under that section and put into your own words, citing the literature it came from

• Add your own reflections to each section

Day 3: Write your review

• Conclude: • Summarise your story, including key

arguments• Draw out your main personal reflections re:

what it all means and why it is important

More information

Contact me:

www.markreed.webeden.ac.uk