Literature Review Task

For each publication you cite in your literature review you should describe the key attributes of that paper – why they wrote it, what analyses they performed, and their major conclusions. It can be helpful to highlight or take note of these components of each paper as you read them because it is far easier to keep track as you go rather than try to remember after you have read a big batch of papers. Make sure that your reader knows the impact of each publication you cite and how it relates to the work you are doing.

Your summary should integrate into the narrative flow of your literature review, possibly either bolstering an argument that you are making or identifying a gap in the literature that you wish to address. It is important to only include works that are directly related to your work or the point you are making in the review as unrelated citations can distract the reader from your purpose or lead them down a fruitless path if they are interested in exploring that subject further. You need to identify the purpose of your literature review and then structure the references you are including in a way to address that purpose. If your literature review is broken up into several sections, each section should tell its own story but connect to the larger narrative in a clear and comprehensive way. It can be helpful to cite older, influential papers in the field to back up your central arguments, but it is important you demonstrate that you are keeping up with the latest developments, methods, and ideas in your field by citing more recent work, especially with how quickly the field is moving.