Literature Review Outline

How to Write a Literature Review Outline

You should start writing a literature review outline sequentially. It is better to choose a research area that truly interests you. No one wants to struggle with boring material and spend hours thinking about how to present it properly. After choosing a topic, focus on structuring the information and move on to writing.

To simplify the creation process of your work, try to ask yourself a few questions that you will address as you write the article. Provide readers with methods you use for solving problems in your writing and the results you expect.

Split text into several sections. This will not only make it easier to read but also help you find materials you need for your work faster and easier. Properly organizing your preparatory work as well as drawing up a clear outline of an article will help you move smoothly to indicate the sources used in each part of the work.

Use Literature Review Template

The literature selected for your study should be compared. You will need a literature review matrix template. With its help, you will find highlights of your topic that have been mentioned in many articles. You will see how various materials differ and what aspect is causing more discussion, what is missing. 

Using an Excel review matrix is essential for every scientific work. This method is especially popular when preparing information on medical or scientific topics. You will be able to compare proposed problem solutions and track how trends have changed over a selected period.

Outline of Literature Review

Before creating an outline you should have a clear understanding of your strategy. A literature review structure includes several points you should always keep in mind:

1. Introduction In this part, you determine the topic of your work, emphasize your focus and purpose, indicate your personal opinions about the selected issue, use statistics (how many materials on the topic have already been published).
2. Main body It is necessary to arrange materials in accordance with the given topics. Step back from a general presentation of information and delve into your main theme. Summarize and combine essential points of sources into an organic whole.
3. Conclusion Generalization is the key when it comes to writing a conclusion. You can indicate what literature exists on a given topic. Determine the pros and cons of various sources, choose a topic for further study.

General systematization of sources will help you highlight essential aspects of your work as well as simplify a solution of complex issues.

Literature Review Introduction

The introduction of your paper should attract readers to your topic. It should cover a fundamental principle that will be included in your work. Readers should understand what they will find further in your text. Bring interest to your topic. Discuss literature you will review and give hints about your concept. 

An introduction to a literature review should include these aspects:

1. Presentation of the selected topic. In this part, you can add reference data, principles, and work mechanisms (if you consider technical aspects of an operation of any equipment).
2. Research question. How will your research help people, or what benefit will it bring to science?
3. Methodology. What is this work based on, what principles are used to substantiate the relevance of this project?
4. Trends. You can study background topics and gradually move on to current global trends.

The literature review thesis is the best contribution to the development of science and other spheres.

Body of Literature Review

To write a body of a literature review, focus on issues that you want to consider. Each article has its own value, so you need to structure the information consistently. Synthesize and summarize all main points. Evaluate all strengths and weaknesses of your sources. Structure paragraphs by using transition words for essays and make comparisons and connections.

In your studies, use these sorting methods:

1. By publication date. This will keep the events chronology. You will consider all the questions in their development order.
2. By this topic. You can gradually associate a topic of your work with the literature you used. This approach is popular when an overview indirectly mentions a selected topic.
3. By methods. Each author uses different methods to interpret their solutions. So you should focus on the chosen concepts.

Divide your article with subheadings for readability and complete elimination of any gaps in knowledge. Your findings are important for summarizing your work. So don’t neglect the information from this section.

Literature Review Conclusion

Basic information on your work is presented in the introduction and body parts. In this part, we have to collect everything we have taken from our literature. Unite our key findings and essential points into a short paragraph. To summarize all data, you should answer the main question and offer your own conclusions. Also,  mention solutions proposed by famous researchers. You will also need:

• indicate any significance of this work to society;
• highlight strengths and weaknesses of a chosen research subject;
• determine the scope of activities that will be studied in the future;
• match the topic with existing dissertations and other materials.

Your work should be helpful for readers. Indicate how it can be applied in scientific or other activities. And who may benefit from it primarily. Now it is clear how to write a conclusion for a literature review.

Literature Review Outline: Bottom Line

Literature review is not something extremely hard if prepared with an outline. Keep in mind that your outline should be well structured. It should be written sequentially, with total understanding of an idea. Follow this quick guide for your outline writing process, but we know that every student is usually loaded with additional tasks. Sometimes there isn’t enough time to create reviews. In this case, we will help students write high-quality, clearly structured literature review outline. We will study existing works and compare a research topic with published materials.

Each part of a review will be divided into paragraphs. We will select only promising articles. You can study them further to broaden your horizons as well as immerse yourself in your topic. Preparing and organizing the writing process will take minimum time. Contact our professional writing service. We will assist you immediately.