Article Summary Alina Semyonova

The University of Wisconsin presents a guide (https://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/ReviewofLiterature.html) which gives instructions on how to write a literature review. First, the authors say that a literature review can be either a self-contained item or a preface to a research paper. Then  the main purposes of a literature review are given:  to analyze a piece of knowledge, to classify and to compare previous studies.

Further the structure of a literature review and some tips on its writing are presented.                                                   

  In introduction a student or a scholar should define the general area of concern, thus providing a context for a literature review. Then trends in recent publications on the topic, or conclusions, or gaps in studies should be pointed out.  After that a writer should define the reason for the review, to explain what criteria will be used when analyzing the literature. Also, the information about why particular literature is included or why it is not can be added.

When working on the body of a literature review, a writer should group the literature according to certain common points (quantitative or qualitative approach, particular purpose, conclusions, etc.). Further the individual articles or studies should be summarized with as much detail as it is necessary for the research. Also, a writer should provide a literature review with strong sentences at the beginnings of paragraphs and summary sentences to help a reader follow the structure and understand the analysis.

Writing a conclusion, a writer should summarize significant contributions of articles to the problem  in question maintaining the focus set up in the introduction. Then the current situation in the  field of the problem in question should be described and basic flaws in research or in theory should be pointed out. Finally, a writer should conclude by giving  an insight into how the topic of the literature review and a larger area of research are related.