Literature Review Writing Tips

Writing a literature review can be crucial with strict deadlines, a lot of research engines, the vast collection of reference papers and most frustratingly the extra-advice from all over that you don't want to listen to at all.

Individuals give advice based on their experience of writing a thesis, research paper, dissertation or college essay that can be entirely different to what you need! Thus, what fits your friend, probably won't suit you at all! No doubt.

Tips that can lower the adrenaline rush into your brain that is frustrating you with the sense of failure, missing the deadline or scarcity of not getting anywhere are precisely stepped here and save much of Your time:

TIP # 1: Funnel down the Topic

I hope you have already identified your topic so far, if you are writing a thesis, now you need to funnel it down, considering in your mind the research objectives and questions of your dissertation or thesis writing.

Considering your main topic is "Succession Planning Process" in the Management Science. You may funnel it down simply asking What, Where, How, and When?

What the topic is all about (definition, understanding the topic from authors point of view)
Where is it being practised (Place, company, location, small to medium size company)
How the concept has been used and practised (Factors affecting the topic, benefits, drawbacks, course of action, suggested theories)

Download this Template to Funnel Down your Thesis Topic: And Make your Thesis Writing Simple

Tip #2: Create a Systematic Mind Map

Putting your Thoughts in a clear fashion is the key to writing a meaningful literature review. I remember while writing my PhD thesis, the weirdest thoughts and ideas pops up while I am not in front of my computer or having nothing to note it down. The problem is they stay somewhere in the back of the mind. This packets of thoughts keep occupying the space in brain and results in stress and anxiety as Students are not clear what to write and what to skip. Controlling the mind and remain focused can dramatically improve the productivity of your writing. The easiest method I practically witnessed is to create a mind map.

Mind Map is an idea structure method to facilitate and organise the concepts in a more meaningful manner and is definitely a great tool for writing a thesis.

Start with the thoughts you already have in mind for any topic put them on paper, concept map or software.

Divide the Themes into Sub-sections or further factors depending on how deep you may reach to the topic

Answer these simple questions to organize your thoughts as a primary concept.

Subject of Study
Pros and Cons of the Subject
Factors Affecting the problem under investigation
Implications in different countries
Change over a period of time

See an example of creating a MindMap in detail here or let me help you in creating one

Tip # 3: Overcome the Fear of Missing Information

Since you have already organized your thoughts, the next step is to stay focused for searching the relevant material. The most important thing I have learnt with my 9 years of teaching consultancy for thesis writing and coaching students, is thesis writers are scared of skipping the material or have a fear of losing important information. However, it can be harmful in limited situations but with the tons of literatures, books and publications searchable through google or scholar libraries makes it problematic to look for relevant materials and filtered the irrelevant.

Target The number of literatures you are expecting to each in each section for the first draft
Stay focused on the themes you have created in your mind map
Learn how to search on google and skip whats not needed
Make a library of Literatures and articles based on the themes

Remember, your supervisor is not looking forward to see how much information you have added in your thesis, he is expecting to find how relevant the information is and how you critically analyzed it.

Tip # 4: How to Be critical

Being critical is a mindset, Have you have one You are lucky!, NOT you definitely can structure your mind to do that. The notion of being critical is hidden in the one term “WHY” ?

The Sky is blue! Why?
People Like iPhone more than Samsung! Why?
I like Susuhi the most! Why?

However, it does not end here, thinking about the answers and countering them with argument will make you more critical. No doubt, the more knowledge you have about a particular issue, the more critical you become.

Let’s take the simplest example of the first liner: The Sky is blue!

Tip # 5: Reference With a Click

Do not waste much time in understanding different reference styles and formatting them, rather use referencing Sites that can easily arrange all your links with a simple Click. Some of the websites you may use to reference your work are:

My favorite is Google Scholar: