1 Literature reviews
Occasionally, the whole focus of an essay may be a lengthy literature review, but in most student
writing it will only form a relatively short section of the paper. Only a minority have a separate
section headed ‘The Literature’ or ‘Literature Review’. But in all cases, it is necessary to show
that you are familiar with the main sources, so that your writing can build on these.
A literature review is not simply a list of sources that you have studied. It can be used to show
that there is a gap in the research that your work attempts to fill:
This article has a different standpoint from other studies, because it believes that the influence
of the state on the market has structurally increased since the neo-liberal era.
This article focuses on information production, not information accessibility. That is the
difference between this research and previous studies...It is also common to use the literature section to clarify the varying positions held by other
researchers:
The political competition literature comprises two main strands – voter monitoring and political
survival.See Unit 1.8 Combining Sources
Literature
Reviews
UNIT
4.3
Literature reviews are sections of a paper in which the writer summarises recently
published work on the topic. They are standard in dissertations, but in many essays
a summary of relevant and recent authorities is included in the introduction.