August 11, 2023
Doing the literature review: Writing & structuring
Writing & structuring Making a plan early in the process of designing the literature review helps to keep your writing focussed and on schedule. Researching the deadlines, resources, and constraints at university, graduate school and faculty levels will provide you with the outline of your plan. Often, scholarship providers or research funders set deadlines for the delivery of intermediate products. Structure A literature review has a more or less predictable structure. For journal articles, the opening page usually contains information about the author(s): your association with a university or research organization, contact details, a brief description of your role or function, etc. In Ph.D. theses, chapters of roughly equal size, are preceded by front matter (title page, declaration, abstract acknowledgment, contents pages) and also followed by end matter (references and appendices). Organization of the chapter(s) Once you have ordered the basic topics, consider how you will present the sources themselves. Choose an organizational method to focus the literature review section. Finding your voice! The task of shaping a logical and effective report of a literature review is challenging. Some useful guidance on how to approach the writing up is given by Wellington et al. (2005:87)[1]: Rewriting your draft Since you spend a substantial part of your time writing and rewriting your manuscript, often within set deadlines, time management is of the essence. In the initial stage, you have to deal with getting the structure, balance and focus right and finding your voice. Related. Suggested.