OmniDocHow to write a literature review: sorting out the literature and writing steps
The more literature you read, the more literature you read, but the review is written as a running account? This article talks about the general literature review method: first classify according to the problem, then compare the opinions, and finally organize it into a review. The article also explains the number of references and the basis for judging original quotes, and introduces how to use the UniDoc editor to build a draft.
Key points of this article
- First divide the literature into three to five main lines according to the research questions, and then compare the views, methods and conclusions one by one, which is more organized than repeating the articles one by one by the author.
- The purpose of the review is to summarize and compare. Each paragraph should focus on a point of view and cite literature that supports and opposes the point of view.
- The number of references shall be based on the assignment letter or the instructor's requirements. If there is no requirement, refer to the size of the review in the same field. There is no need to make up the number.
- Direct quotations should be quoted and the author, year and page number should be indicated. However, the summary should be mainly paraphrased and summarized. It is not advisable to copy the entire paragraph.
- After completing the draft, check the citation format, the year of the document, and the argument attribution of each paragraph item by item to avoid inconsistencies between the citation and the original text.
When writing a literature review, many people get stuck in the first step: they have downloaded dozens of papers but don’t know where to start. The more documents you pile up, the easier it is to write a running list of "A thinks..., B thinks..., C thinks...". The problem is usually not the number of documents, but the failure to first classify the documents according to problems and not see the relationship between them clearly.
This article is written for readers who are preparing course papers, proposal reports, or the literature review section of a dissertation. The content is about general literature sorting methods and writing steps, and does not involve a certain literature management software. After reading, you should be able to organize a bunch of papers into several main lines, know how much to write in each part, and know which ones can be quoted as they are and which ones must be paraphrased.
How to write a literature review? One sentence conclusion
First, classify the literature into several main lines according to research questions, then compare the views, methods and conclusions in each main line, and finally write a review with arguments, differences and gaps. Arranging only by author or year makes it difficult for readers to discern your judgment.
| your situation | Recommended practices | reason |
|---|---|---|
| Course paper, narrow topic range | Divide into two or three themes according to research questions | The space is limited, and the main line is clear and easier to wrap up. |
| Dissertation or proposal report | Sorted out according to three lines: theoretical context, research methods, and focus of controversy | Need to show the full picture of the field and point out your entry point |
| Literature comes from multiple disciplines | First unify the definitions of key concepts and then group them according to schools or methods. | The terminology is not uniform and the comparison results will be distorted. |
| Few classic documents | Write the development context in chronological order | Can clearly see how opinions evolve |
| The field is new and there are few documents | Expand the search scope and explain limitations in the review | When the sample size is small, conclusions should be written more cautiously |
Before you start: Confirm these points first
1. Mission statement or instructor’s requirements. The number of words, number of documents, time range, and whether Chinese and English documents are required may all be stated. These requirements take precedence over any general recommendations.
2. Summarize the questions to be answered. A review is not a list of literature, but a service to a certain problem. First write a sentence: This review wants to explain what is already known in the field, what are the differences, and what is still missing. This sentence will determine which documents should be kept and which should only be mentioned.
3. Quality and relevance of the literature. The same opinion may come from classic research or from non-peer-reviewed material. Prioritize the use of original research and authoritative reviews in the same field, and confirm that each document is indeed relevant to your question.
4. Reference to the number of documents. There is no unified answer to how many documents are generally required for a review. There is a big difference between a dissertation and a course paper. When there are no clear requirements, you can look at reviews published in the same field in recent years to see the scale of their citations. As a reference, there is no need to make up numbers.
5. Reference specifications. First determine the citation format adopted by the school or journal, such as author year system or sequential coding system, before starting to write. Changing the format in a unified manner later is time-consuming and error-prone.
Steps to build a review draft in UniDoc
The following steps use OmniDoc's UniDoc editor. You can operate in UniDoc web editor, or you can use the UniDoc document editor in the desktop client, with similar effects.
- Create a new document and set the title level. Create a new document in the editor, and set the overall title, first-level topic, and second-level subsections of the review to different title levels to facilitate viewing the overall structure later.
- Create an outline by topic. Write the several main lines identified in the first step as first-level headings, and list the sub-issues to be discussed under each line. Do not write the main text first, only determine the framework.
- Put the literature abstract into the corresponding topic. Use one or two sentences for each document to write down the author, year, core ideas and research methods, and place it under the topic to which it belongs. This step is organizing, not writing into paragraphs.
- Write a conclusion for each topic. Write a conclusion on this topic at the beginning of each section, such as "Most studies support A, but sample limitations make the conclusion controversial." Readers will read this sentence first, which is also the basis for the following paragraphs.
- Compare ideas paragraph by paragraph. Each paragraph revolves around a point of view, and also writes supporting and opposing literature to explain their differences in methods or conclusions.
- Mark research gaps. In the last part of the review, point out questions that have not been answered by existing research. This is usually the entry point for your subsequent research.
- Unify citations and references. Mark the text citations in a certain format and organize the reference list. After completion, you can export it as a Word file and continue typesetting in desktop software.
Check each item after completion
| Check items | How to see | What to do if there is a problem |
|---|---|---|
| Is the structure organized by questions? | Just look at the titles at each level, can you see a few main lines? | If the title is still the author's name, go back to step 2 and reclassify it. |
| Does each paragraph have a clear argument? | Read the first sentence of each paragraph and can you summarize the paragraph’s point of view? | Write a conclusion sentence or delete paragraphs that are irrelevant to the topic |
| Is the quote consistent with the original text? | Randomly check three to five citations and go back to the original text to check. | Revise the wording or change it to an accurate paraphrase |
| Do the references correspond to the text? | Whether each author's year appearing in the text is included in the references | Fill in the gaps and delete unquoted items |
| Is the citation format uniform? | Are the punctuation, year position, and English author’s name written consistently? | Modify uniformly according to school or journal requirements |
| Whether to write research gaps | Does the ending explain the unresolved issues in existing research? | Add a paragraph identifying the gap and how your research responds to it |
📊 Core comparison: three common organizational methods
| Organization | Suitable situation | Main risks |
|---|---|---|
| in chronological order | The research and development context is clear and I want to show the evolution of ideas | It is easy to ignore the different schools of the same period |
| by topic or question | Default selection for most reviews for easy comparison | When the topic is not clearly divided, paragraphs will repeat each other. |
| by method or theory | Differences in research methods are a major source of controversy | If there is not much difference between the methods, the classification will appear far-fetched. |
Most reviews use a mixture of themes: the broad framework is organized by topic, and each topic is organized by time or method.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
1. How many documents are generally required for a review?
There is no uniform number. The requirements of the task statement, instructor and school shall prevail; if there are no requirements, refer to the citation scale of reviews in the same field in recent years. The key is that each piece of literature must serve your argument.
2. Can the literature citations in the review be quoted in their original words?
Yes, but it should be mainly paraphrasing and summarizing. Direct quotations should be quoted, indicate the author, year and page number, and only quote key statements that must remain original. Copying the entire paragraph is not standardized and may also be regarded as academic misconduct.
3. How should the document be written so that it does not look like a running account?
Write the opinion first in each paragraph, and then list the literature. For example, first write "There are two explanations for the cause of a certain phenomenon", and then explain the basis and limitations of the two explanations. This will reflect your summary better than repeating it piece by piece.
4. What is the difference between a review and reading notes?
Reading notes record the content of a single document, while reviews compare multiple documents and give summary and judgment. Reading notes can be used as material for a review, but they cannot directly replace the analysis part of the review.
5. After writing the draft, what else needs to be checked?
In addition to citations and references, check whether each argument is actually supported by the cited references. If you have used machine translation or OCR to process foreign documents, you should check the key contents one by one to avoid errors in terminology or numbers.
📝 Summary
The key to writing a good literature review is to first classify, then compare, and finally point out research gaps. How to write a literature review depends on your research question, not the number of documents. Follow the steps in this article to build a framework and use the checklist to check references and structure, and your draft will be much clearer.
