Written by Bess Chan

A literature review is a critical analysis of existing published research on a specific topic. It demonstrates to your readers that you have a firm grasp of the relevant literature in your field. In order to do this, you need to have critically read a multitude of sources related to the topic. If you’re unsure how to do so, please read this blog post on critical reading.

Remember, a good literature review does not merely report what is said in the sources. Here are a few strategies to help you produce a strong one in your dissertation:

Ensure the conceptual grounding is clear

When you’re writing the literature review in your dissertation, it must always be conceptually grounded, meaning you should state the assumptions and constructs that underpin your study. To show your conceptual grounding, you should:

• Clearly define core concepts, because words in academia can mean different things to different people. With clear definitions, this can prevent ambiguity and signal analytical precision.
• Show how your variables or concepts affect one another.
• Clarify any underlying assumptions so your readers know the limits of your logic.

Sometimes, you may want to make your literature review conceptually grounded by incorporating a theoretical framework. If you do this, make sure that all concepts and theories are linked to your study and referred to in later chapters, such as the discussion and conclusion.

Move from description to synthesis

Many students want to show the amount of reading they’ve done and thus describe the sources in detail, but this is a very common mistake. You shouldn’t simply show what the sources discuss; you should instead group studies by themes, theories, or methodologies. If you’re unsure how to group studies or connect the sources, try creating a research matrix before writing your literature review. Research matrices are particularly useful here because they allow you to compare studies across shared categories, which makes patterns and tensions in the literature easier to see. Find out more about research matrices in this interactive presentation or in this blog post.

In addition to grouping studies, you should also illustrate the relationships between sources and evaluate the evidence. For example, instead of saying:

Smith (2020) argues that social media reduces academic performance. Jones (2021) finds a negative correlation between usage and grades. Brown (2019) challenges this by showing no significant relationship.

You should put it as:

Smith (2020) and Jones (2021) both identify a negative relationship between social media use and academic performance, while Brown (2019) reports no significant effect. This divergence suggests that the impact of social media may depend less on usage itself and more on how it is integrated into students’ study practices.

Find out more about synthesis in this interactive presentation.

Build towards the research gap

One of the main purposes of conducting research is to advance knowledge, so when you carry out any study, you’d probably want to find out something that’s currently not well understood. This missing or underdeveloped area is commonly referred to as a research gap.

So how can you find such a gap? Remember that these gaps don’t appear abruptly; they have to emerge logically from the literature. Therefore, before your research starts, it’s very important for you to read a wide range of sources to ensure your gap hasn’t already been addressed by previous studies. These gaps may take several forms, such as under-researched populations or contexts, inconsistent or contradictory findings, or limitations in how previous studies have been conducted. In addition, you should state explicitly in your literature review what the gap is, why it matters, and how your dissertation is going to address it.

Find out more about presenting the research gap in this interactive presentation.

Use a coherent structure

Some students may think that they should present ideas in the literature review chronologically, but this isn’t always necessary, as you may not have to trace the evolution of a concept over time. Instead of using a chronological approach, you can, for example, organise your ideas by themes, meaning that you group sources by various sub-topics. You can also follow a methodological structure if you’re comparing how different research methods have impacted findings.

Find out more about structuring your literature review in this interactive presentation.

Relate the literature review to the research questions

A literature review shouldn’t feel like a separate entity; it needs to link back to the research question(s). Therefore, in your literature review, after presenting the research gap and its significance, you should explain how your dissertation is going to address the gap, typically through clearly defined research questions and an appropriate research approach. For example, you may present your gap in this way:

While existing research has primarily focused on the quantity of social media use, there is limited understanding of how different patterns of engagement affect academic outcomes.

You can then relate the gap to the research question by saying:

This study therefore addresses this gap by examining patterns of social media engagement through a mixed-methods approach, focussing on both frequency and type of use among university students.

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If you’d like to learn more about the structure of a literature review and gain insights from analysing exemplary examples, you’re welcome to sign up for the Literature Review Mastery course. Also, if you have any questions about the literature review, I encourage you to book 1-2-1 meetings with me, Bess Chan, your London-based EAP Tutor, via email or the booking form.