Today you’ll learn exactly how to write a literature review for a dissertation project.
Whether you still have time for the project or you would like to get it done fast, you’ll find this guide to be extremely helpful.
Key Takeaways
To write a literature review for a dissertation project:
- Search for existing literature 100% relevant to your research area.
- Read, understand, and digest the information you find from your research source.
- Write your literature review
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What is a Literature Review in Dissertation?
The second chapter of your dissertation is going to be the longest part of the project.
The literature review can be 40 to 60 pages long, with every page focusing on already existing research on the topic you wish to investigate.
To be abundantly clear, the literature review for this project does more than set the foundation for your research.
It might as well establish the foundation for your entire career after graduation. So you should take the chapter seriously and give it the attention it deserves.
By synthesizing the work of other researchers and integrating them in your own, you lay an outstandingly strong foundation for your very own research.
By definition, a literature review in a dissertation is an analysis of already existing research based on the subject under investigation.
Written in past tense, literature review unpacks already established findings on the topic and demonstrates that you’ve taken time to conduct your research on the subject.
Conducting a literature review is important because:
- It helps you to understand the status of the research and the key arguments and conflicts that currently exist.
- You’ll need it to build a theoretical framework for your empirical testing
- It makes it easy for you to identify gaps in existing studies, which you can use as an opportunity to justify your research topic
How to Write a Literature Review for a Dissertation
Writing a literature review for a dissertation doesn’t have to be difficult. You just have to know the steps to follow and you’re good to get started.
More often than not, writing this part of the dissertation comes down to three things:
- Finding relevant sources to review
- Reading and understanding the literature
- Writing your literature
1. Find Existing Literature Relevant to Your Research Area
The first step in writing a literature review for a dissertation project is to find relevant literature in your field of study (or research area).
You already have a good chunk of information for this in your dissertation’s proposal, so expanding the information in your dissertation shouldn’t be difficult at all.
Looking for the right literature can take a lot of time if you don’t know what you’re looking for.
To get this right, look for existing literature that can help you answer your research question.
There’s no limit to where you can find relevant literature for your dissertation project. Examples of place to look include:
1. Google Scholar
It’s hard to tell if Google Scholar articles are peer-reviewed, but this academic search engine can be a great starting point for your research.
You can find journal articles on just about any topic on Google Scholar.
Also, Google Scholar shows you the number of times other researchers have cited the work, so you can know how credible the information is.
2. References in Academic Journals
Students hardly ever think about snowballing journal articles, but doing so can help you uncover highly relevant information for the literature review section of your dissertation.
Simply look at the bottom of the journal articles and check if the references would make a good source of information for your research topic.
3. Your Institution’s Online Database
Your university or college must have provided you with access to their online library the day you enrolled to study in the institution.
The digital library is an incredibly great source of information where you can find already existing literature on you research topic.
Regardless of where you look, you need to make sure that the information you search for and decide to use in your literature review section of the dissertation project is credible enough to fit in the project.
2. Read and Digest the Information
The information you’ve gathered in the first step is a treasure trove for dissertation review writing, but that isn’t going to help if you don’t read and digest the information.
We understand that it can take a while to read an array of journal papers and peer-reviewed journals on the topic under investigation, immersing yourself into already published research is the only way to learn more about existing studies.
So read widely and, while you’re at it, gather ideas that will fit into your writing.
There’s no limit to how much information you can collect from this process, but keep in mind that relevance plays a significant role.
The one thing that’s for sure about reading widely is that your thoughts develop along the way.
Even if directional adjustments may arise as new avenues crop, you’ll end up with great information to organize in a logical order in the end.
3. Write Your Dissertation’s Literature Review
We can’t stress enough just how important an outline is in research writing.
An outline will help you present information in a logical, clear, and concise way and make easy for your reader to follow the narrative.
Decide whether you want to write your review chronologically or thematically.
Look at the topic, research question, as well as research objectives to help you make the right decision. Then draw up an outline that you can use to guide your writing.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How Long Does It Take to Write a Literature Review for a Dissertation?
How long it takes to write a literature review for a dissertation depends on how much time you have left to complete the project.
If you started early and still have enough time, it can take you between one and three months to complete the literature review chapter.
If you have other commitments, such as many assignments to write or work to do, you can reach out to us for writing assistance.
Our writing help will help you balance college and work, and you never have to worry about delaying your project’s submission.