How To Write A Literature Review In 3 Simple Steps (FREE Template With Examples)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 มิ.ย. 2024
- Learn how to write a literature review in 3 straightforward steps with this step-by-step tutorial, including a FREE literature review Excel template. Instead of getting lost in the details, we take a big-picture view and break the literature review process down into 3 straightforward steps. We kick off by looking at the WHY - the core purpose and function of the literature review, and then cover the following:
- 1: How to find highly relevant, high-quality journal articles for your literature review
- 2: How to organise and synthesise your literature sources into a highly searchable literature catalogue
- 3: How to approach the writing up stage of your literature review chapter
PS - We've updated this video with new tools and resources - view the latest version here: • How To Write A Literat...
NAVIGATION LINKS:
Overview & intro - 00:00
Understanding the "why" - 00:38
1. Sourcing the key literature - 05:26
1.1 Google Scholar scrubbing - 06:53
1.2 University library hunting - 09:35
1.3 Snowballing journal articles - 11:13
1.4 Reviewing other dissertations - 13:08
2. Log, catalog and synthesize the literature - 15:57
2.1 Logging the literature - 16:54
2.2 Cataloging your literature - 18:58
2.3 Synthesize the literature - 23:09
3. Outlining and writing up 27:47
3.1 Developing an outline 28:23
3.2 Structural options 29:35
3.3 Writing up your literature review - 31:35
Recap & tips - 37:54
If you have any questions about how to write a literature review, leave a comment below. If you're interested in private 1-on-1 coaching from one of our literature review specialists, visit gradcoach.com/ to learn more about our services. You can also find more free literature review-related content at the Grad Coach blog - gradcoach.com/blog/
Resources mentioned in this video:
Literature Review Catalogue Excel Template - gradcoach.com/literature-revi...
Literature Review Chapter Template - gradcoach.com/literature-revi...
Literature review example - • Literature Review Exam...
Literature Review 101 webinar - gradcoach.com/webinar-literat...
Literature review tutorials/ebooks/videos
- Free dissertation writing course: gradcoach.com/dissertation-co...
- What is a literature review - gradcoach.com/what-is-a-liter...
- How to structure a literature review - • How To Structure Your ...
- Common literature review mistakes to avoid - • Literature Review Basi...
- How to structure a literature review - gradcoach.com/literature-revi...
- How to use Mendeley - • How to use Mendeley De...
- How to use Zotero - • How to use Zotero to m...
- How to write a dissertation or thesis (overview) - • How To Write A Dissert...
Literature review software and tools:
- Google Scholar - scholar.google.com/
- Literature review catalogue Excel file - gradcoach.com/literature-revi...
- Mendeley - www.mendeley.com/
- Zotero - www.zotero.org/
Dissertation Databases:
- EBSCO Open Dissertations - www.ebsco.com/products/resear...
- Open Access Dissertations and Theses - oatd.org/
- Proquest - pqdtopen.proquest.com/search....
- Stanford SearchWorks - searchworks.stanford.edu/cata...
- OpenThesis - www.openthesis.org/
For more videos regarding how to write a literature review, check out the Grad Coach TV TH-cam channel at / gradcoach .
Our Socials
🟢 Facebook - / gradcoachintl
🟢 Twitter - / gradcoachdotcom
🟢 LinkedIn - / grad-coach-intl
📄 FREE LIT REVIEW TEMPLATE: gradcoach.com/literature-review-template/
🎓 FREE WEBINAR: gradcoach.com/webinar-literature-review/
🏋♂ LITERATURE REVIEW BOOTCAMP: gradcoach.com/literature-review-course/
🛠 MORE FREE RESOURCES: gradcoach.com/blog/
I’m returning to this video to proudly announce that my dissertation received a First Class Honours. Thank you so much Grad Coach, I couldn’t have done it without the help from your videos. Extremely informative and very thorough; I’d recommend to anyone because these truly helped me achieve what I did!
That’s fantastic news, well done! Thanks for letting us know.
@@GradCoach Thank you! 😃
Congratulations 🎉
How wonderful! Congratulations 🎊
🙋
I did my whole thesis on my own watching, TH-cam because my guide never replied me in this pandemic.
You are my wingman. 🙌🙌👌👌❤️
Great job! Glad to hear that it helped :)
My current predicament
Fucking same. My professor is no help
same my supervisor too do the same please guide how u complete your thesis without ur professor guide..
Can you help me?
Wow! I GOT MY GRADE.
Over the last few months I've followed all your videos and teachings. I'm happy to say that I got an A (98/100) on my Master's Thesis!!
Thank you so much Grad Coach!!!
Great job! Well done, Valentina. Glad our content was helpful.
❤
Congratulations
Wow That is awesome.
Thank you for reminding me “done is better than perfect” . It was all I needed.
Timestamps:
What's the function of Literature Review? 0:55
Step 1: Find relevant research. 5:33
Step 2: Log, catalog, & synthesize. 15:58
Step 3: Outlining & Writing up. 27:47
Thanks for this, Norton! Very kind of you.
thq
@@GradCoach q
This is great. thanks
You are Just Simply Brilliant
I’m back - lol me again! I had to return to this video yet again to proudly announce that my Masters dissertation received a distinction grade (highest honours). Again, I cannot thank GradCoach enough for their (FREE!!!) videos which have massively supported my learning and have allowed me to achieve what I did. Everyone at GradCoach - the work you do is truly commendable! Thank you from the bottom of my heart; I genuinely never believed I could achieve what I have and, thanks to your help, I did exactly that! ❤️
I cried while watching this video because I felt stuck and overwhelmed. Thank you for this clear information.
Now I can write my thesis with ease.
You can do it!
@@GradCoach Thank you!
Glad I’m not the only one feeling overwhelmed
sameeee!!!!
This is by far the best concise and understandable framing of how to conduct a Literature Review. It always seem like a daunting task, but once you follow this guide it should be a breeze. Thank you so much for this video.
Got my thesis today 16/09/2022. Had no idea where to start but this video here has given me a big boost. Thank you for doing this.
I just want to express my sincere appreciation for the depth explanation. I have been struggling ever since I registered as a PhD student. now I can be able to proceed with my literature review. once again thanks
1. Sourcing the key literature - 05:26
1.1 Google Scholar scrubbing - 06:53
1.2 University library hunting - 09:35
1.3 Snowballing journal articles - 11:13
1.4 Reviewing other dissertations - 13:08
I found this video because I was confused how to do the next step after collecting my literature and that cataloging is just a savior. Thanks!
One of the best presentations on literature review I have ever seen
I totally agree!!
awesome
Exactly what GradCoach is about! 😃I subscribed and have not regretted ❤️
I'm planning to do my first literature review which is so important to me and you really made my day! This is all I need and you give it in only 40 minutes. Just can't thank you enough, Coach
Glad I could help!
Personally, I can't thank you enough. You really answered all the questions that were ringing in my mind. Thanks a million. I was completely lost. Great effort! Great job!
No kidding..I was lost as well but now I have a clearer idea of how to approach writing assignments
I wished I would have watched this video in my first quarter of my Ph.D. program. Extremely helpful and very well done. I now truly understand what to do for my dissertation.
You're very welcome, Anna! Good luck with your literature review.
You are a saviour, Sir. I was frustrated with finding relevant literature . I can't thank you enough for what you've done .
Mate your explanation is sensational: you’ve explained this so much better than my own professors.
Thank you for posting this, it was extremely helpful. I started my process two and a half months ago and have come to a complete standstill with the lit review. Now I feel like I have some direction and can manage the stress. Thank you.
This is great information. I was stuck writing my lit review and after listening to this I went and made my lit review catalog. It was very time consuming, but extremely helpful. I was able to organize my article information and my thoughts at the same time by going over the highlights of each article. I added an additional category for "Agrees" and "Disagrees" with my thesis so that I could easily take into account both sides of the research argument. Now, I just have to write (or rather re-write) my literature review from my catalog.
Love the links above too!
Thanks for this!
WOW I’m so glad I found this video! I’ve been struggling with my undergrad honors thesis for months now and I feel overwhelmed with the structuring of it all. This video explained it so much better than my research professor did during the fall semester.
THANK YOU!
Glad it was helpful, Emilia. I wish you all the best with your literature review, and your thesis.
Hi @GradCoach please how can I contact you privately
the way you explain it reminded me of what my lecturer said to me this morning after gave a feedback regarding my research paper...
After many hours of soul searching, days of uncertainty along with a feeling of being overwhelmed by the assignment I have got a lot more clarity as to how to go ahead with the task. Thanks for the concise and easy to follow three steps explained in the video on how to tackle the research project. Well done Derek!
Thank you for the kind words, Mark - they mean a lot.
All the best with your literature review :)
Thank you so much for the detailed and useful information about "WHY" and "HOW" of literature review. The video was very informative and one of the best videos I come across on youtube. This is really good piece of work. All the love and gratitude!!!
I learned more about how to write a literature review in one video than from one year of university courses I have taken. These videos are extremely informative and provide me explicit steps
Great!
Beautifully explained, very informative and helpful. I am about to start my Literature Review and this helped!!
I have attended several pieces of training and watched many videos related to how to do a literature review. I can say non of them was even comparable your one. You made my research journey easy, that is why I am really thankful to you. God bless you.
Glad to hear that :)
Finally! A video that goes into detail from beginning to end for a literature review. Thank You!
Glad you enjoyed it! Good luck with your lit review :)
Am grateful for the information you shared. This is the best I gotten so far.
I am a undergrad student and this summer I was able to complete a Research Fellowship. THANK YOU for this! I am currently completing a literature review and have not had much experience. This was such a great resource!
You are so welcome! Good luck with writing your literature review.
after doing a lot of research on this topic I have to say that your video is the best and most comprehensive. thankyou for your help.
RRL or the Literature Review is one of the mind boggling part of writing a research. This is truly a great help for us who is struggling to start writing RRL. Thank you!
This was honestly the best explanation and guidance ever. Thank you! I should have come here instead of struggling for years.
Thanks for the kind words, Dudu - great to hear that!
Wonderful video: I earned a Doctorate from UCLA., 1980. My lit review was built from an intense interest in my problem. Concurrent with my lit Rev was lots of field work among all kinds of people who had an interest in my problem. Point I am making that your personal expertise comes first.... The lit Rev falls in place when you get dirty grounded in the problem. It is like discovering a ore vein of gold. Hard work? You bet! But out of this field work combined with reading books, journal papers, and talking with experts... you will become broadly informed as well deep,in a well of focused knowledge... both are great.
Your guiding light is to know your topic well as any top professional might,.... not to produce great lit rev and impressive journal writer.
I feels great when your advisors feel you know the topic well. BTW, when you do your oral defense, piece of cake.
Great video!
Thank you. Such genuine service to students at large. This
is real service, totally amazing. Such genuine and talented coaches!
Amazing! I am a budding researcher and this video has given me a very compact idea of how things are supposed to be handled. Keep it up!
Starting my doctoral dissertation. Great tips, and great reminders to synthesize/step back and outline/plan. I always want to dive right in, and these tips will ensure I'm more effective and cohesive.
Same here.
This is very good stuff, Grad Coach. You have added to my knowledge of LR and provided the motivation I need to dig into my thesis!
Great to hear! Good luck with your lit review
This seems like the best guidance video I’ve found I now have less than 2 months to write my review and feel like I’ve got no where really struggling feel like I’m writing aimlessly, thank you for this I hope it helps me through the next few weeks 😓
Glad it was helpful!
Highly recommended for all and every graduate student on the one hand and for older researchers who want a certain ease of doing things in the world of research. Thanks a lot, graduate coach.
All I can say is "WOW". My 1st draft just came back from my supervisor. Her advice is to find more relevant research to answer my questions. I was about to give up. I hated research in my junior degree and now busy with my Masters.Thank you so much🤘🤘🤘🤘. This video is simple and straightforward 👏👏👏
Glad it was helpful, Refilwe. I wish you all the best with your Master's research.
Am impressed!! I have been struggling to begin with my masters thesis, i feel overwhelmed by the task ahead of me. After i came across one of your videos i was impressed by how you clarify and simplify the process. I have now watched about three videos and planning to watch the rest. I can say that i have learnt much from them. I appreciate your effort to make the videos and your genius way of explaining things. Thanks a lot.
Thanks for the kind words, Simon. I appreciate your feedback. All the best with your literature review, and for your research!
Sir, your efforts are highly commendable. Thank you 😊.
I would be really thankful if you could more guidance on how many research papers one needs to analyse ? I have read almost 150+ papers for my dissertation...
Thanks again
I know how you feel Simon.....that's definitely me and just found this page and videos.....TOTALLY GENIUS 💯💯💯🥺🤯🤯
totally agree wish i found this sooner!!!
Thanks a lot Gradcouch
Arguably one of the best, if not the best channel for any university student working on their dissertation. Many Thanks!
As I get into my MSc. Psychology studies this video has given me a good kick start for my Dissertation. Great staff !
I was so lost already. Thank you so much, GradCoach! This presentation gave me the tools I need to succeed!
You're so welcome, Angela! All the best for your literature review and your dissertation/thesis research.
The organization tips! Thank you, I needed this!
This is the best way I have spent 40 min on youtube since the pandemic disrupted our studies in Kenya. Very informative video.I am writing my thesis proposal and I have seen a lot that needs to be changed. Thanks to Grad Coach.
Glad it was helpful! Good luck writing your literature review :)
You are a real expert in this area Derek.
Thanks for adding value to our life.
wow this is amazing!! thank you for this, this is the most useful litreview video on youtube!!!
Thanks for the kind words :)
Excellent! Thank you! You answered all my quandaries about what and how am I going to do my literature review! Thank you for sharing your knowledge. You presented and explained it in a very organizing way, your tone/pitch is very nice and convincing.
Glad it was helpful! Good luck writing your literature review
Weava is also a great chrome extension for simply highlighting and automatically cataloging online. The Excel system is very useful. Thank you so much for taking the time and putting out free content like this, it really helps millions.
Thank you so much. I was doing my literature review by writing everything down and my supervisor wants me to write it all over again. Then when I doing my result, I find out that it need a really good literature basic, and now I'm going through this literature again. And finally i can stop panic now. Thank you life saver!
Glad it was helpful! Good luck finalising your literature review.
how come this simple thing was not taught by the professors? this was indeed insightful and helpful. thank you so much for sharing.
I have read all the comments below, I am so glad to see that I am not alone....without any assistance since lockdown, I received a reply in September with a paragraph saying NOTHING.... and when you submit to ensure it is ready for examination.....I had anxiety, felt totally stupid, need to hand it in by the end Feb, thank you for having the patience to explain....this is more than I have received from my Professor......
You definitely not alone (hhh)
What an amazing explanation about LR. I have just started to work on PhD thesis and I am pretty glad to find grad coach.
Absolutely incredible. What hit me the hardest was the existing processes and thought patterns that I always knew of but ignored for some inexplicable reason. Every single sentence in this video hits hard and comes from experience - my head was nodding up and down like a bobblehead on a dashboard after realizing that I've run into all these issues that are warned against. I certainly would have run into them again with the treatise. Thank you Grad Coach!
Great to hear that, JP! Best of luck with your literature review.
So so helpful, thank you for your simplification of what is a daunting task for an elderly student with very basic education. I am trying to achieve something that would have seemed impossible in my upbringing and schooling, but you have helped me, even after watching just this one video, I now believe that maybe I can do it. I am still full of trepidation, but here goes! let's hope I can get it right. Many Thanks, Paul.
This is an excellent video with some easily understood, sensible, practical advice. Thank you!
Thanks Martyn - glad you enjoyed it :)
Hi. I’m also South African completing my Masters dissertation in the UK. Your videos are extremely clear and understandable. Thanks very much 😊
I have found a great way to utilize my free Corona time. I have postponed writing my Masters Thesis for 3 years but thanks to you, I have the courage to start. I will follow your tutorials to the letter, I will do it. 💪🏾
You're very welcome, Brenda. I wish you all the best writing your thesis!
I have 2 weeks to complete my PhD literature review. This has been tremendously useful !! Thank you
how was it ?
How did it go?
Thank you so much for this tutorial! Now I feel more confident to start writing my literature review.
You can do it!
I have learned a lot after watching this video. Knowing the basics of a literature review is important and having a mentor is a great help to give us feedback.
I'm a beginner in the middle of writing a lit. review.. and I made that mistake of writing before synthesizing.. Then thought something doesn't add up.. this video helped me to point out my mistake and correct it. Many Thanks! Subed!
FREE LITERATURE REVIEW WEBINAR - gradcoach.com/webinar-literature-review/
FREE LITERATURE REVIEW TEMPLATES: gradcoach.com/templates/
FREE DISSERTATION COURSE: gradcoach.com/course
PRIVATE COACHING: gradcoach.com/dissertation-coaching/
Thanks a lot coach! You’re pretty amazing!
Thanks for the kind words. Good luck with your literature review.
Am glad i found your channel before I got burnout on my topic. I am still at an early stage for my research.
Great to hear that, Rara. Good luck with your research!
Thank you for your simple explanations really did help! Ive been struggling a lot and my advisor tbh has not made it as clear as you have and now I’ve already started the first step. Thank you!
After wondering around youtube for almost 9 months I finally found that best account that is so worth my time. Thanks a lot this is so helpful to me , I'll tell my grad school friends. Cheers to you and your team.
Happy to help! Good luck writing your literature review.
I've learned much more about research methods and writing in your 40 mins video than I've from my research methods class at my university. My literature review is due on 2nd May and I'm so lost. I'm going to follow your methodology and hopefully won't fail in my literature review. Thank you so much. I might send you an email as well If I feel stuck.
Glad it was helpful, Amber! I wish you all the best with your literature review. Feel free to reach out if you need any further help.
Worth my 40 min! Thank you. You clear up my fogging mind :)
Thanks for the kind words, Teha.
Glad I come across this video! It's comprehensive and very insightful in guiding one's research. I don't have a particular deadline yet for my Master's thesis, but this is definitely a great way to start it. The part about trying to keep all thoughts in my head or mentally note the articles hit me so much. Would definitely maximize the template provided! Thanks Derek and team.
Thanks for the comment, Denzel. Good luck with your research :)
I am currently working on my literature review I can say it seems to be the challenging chapter. Watching this video will help me a lot 🙏🙏.
At a point when i feel giving up my master program because i really dont know where to start my thesis, behold! I came acrossed this video very interesting presentation. Thank you.
I hope that you didn't give up on your masters, and pray that finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel.
You are not alone
Waaaaaw! It was fluent and simply to understand, it'was MAGIC😀I'am impressed!and so excited to do my literature review, thank you so much 🙏
Glad it was helpful! Good luck writing your literature review :)
This presenter deserves credit he is so clear and easy to follow. Thank you.
You're very welcome! Good luck writing your literature review.
You have no idea how much this saved me.
Thank you for simplifying the process.
Glad it helped! Best of luck writing your literature review.
Not all heroes wear capes man, indeed. Big thank you for this.
Superb!!!
This makes you fall in love with the process of researching, I wish I have found this earlier... What grad Coach is doing is really priceless and appreciable, I am totally amazed!
I am the type person who is not good with virtual classes and tutors and unfortunately due to pandemic in my city I could rarely meet my guide professor but after I found this channel and later your website I feel as if I am in a real class and directly contacting and clearing my doubts
This video gave me new insights on how to write a literature review. Not all the steps of it were new but most of it were. The step that were new to me is that how we cataloging all the relevant articles. I had never done cataloging before so it will help me to track the relevant articles easily. Then when we have written up the draft, we can ask feedback from someone as they read it. This part will also help me to know about my writing of the literature review. Thank you, it helps me a lot!
A reasonably descent narrative on everything about writing up a good literature review. Thank you so much because your content has improved my my understanding and confidence in the topic.
Glad it was helpful :)
This was so informative. I appreciate you breaking it down to the core so that we can understand and ace our paper. Very Grateful.
Great to hear that
Great video, I wish I would have watched it in my first year of PhD. Very nice way to organise literature. I am in second year now, its still gonna help me a lot with my thesis. Thank you so much Grad Coach
Glad it was helpful - thank you for the kind words. All the best writing your literature review.
Currently writing my literature review. I am so following you to the letter. Thank you for taking me up. Lol, I feel such a connection, almost as if I were your student. This video is really helpful.
MashAllah Awesome n Outclass
Thank you so much🎉, you have really relieved my anxiety for my first literature review on my project. Very clear to understand how to go about it🙏🏾
Serious gratitude from this student! Finding your explanation is impeccable timing. I cannot express enough how this is helping me complete my research study lit review as I am not the greatest at writing but I enjoy the research. 1000 Blessings!
This is great! Thank you so much for this video, keep up the good work!
This video has enormously assisted me in my MBA assignments. Thank you very much for creating this resourceful video.
This is an awesome video. I am so glad that I found it. So organized. Great flow and logic. Thanks!
Totally worth the full 40mins of time. Thank you for being so thorough and concise! Great info.
Glad you enjoyed it, Shelby. Good luck writing up your literature review.
Amazing presentation. I think am fully sorted with this video. My Thesis would be super.
Great to hear that!
I really like the way you presenting. You are so calm and concise. Thank you, so much. I have been so confused.
Thanks for the kind words, Thembi. Much appreciated. I wish you all the best with your literature review.
I watch this video in 1.5x normal speed and setting it back to normal feels like a slow motion. Unbelievable how calm this guy is and every point he makes including the mottos is priceless. Thank you Coach!!
You're welcome :)
Thanks for this clarity-filled presentation on Literature Review and ALL of the resource links.
🙏🙏🙏
Most welcome! Good luck writing up your literature review.
@@GradCoach thanks. Greetings from India
I WISH I would have stumbled upon this video before I started my paper. I literally did everything I wasn't supposed to and didn't do anything beneficial. Dx
At least I could put this to use in my next paper. Thank you for this video!
Cheers, and God bless!
You are so welcome! Good luck with your upcoming papers :)
This has been so helpful. I will begin my dissertation Fall 2020. I have begun my reading and reviewing my literature. This is most helpful and I really appreciate it. Thank you for your descriptions and details.
Great to hear that, Amy. Glad you found it useful. All the best for your literature review :)
Grad, you've nailed it 👌
I'm so impressed with the simplicity of your explanation. May God reward you the best, thank you.
Thank you, this has been really helpful. Hopefully I will be able to do it now
Honestly speaking it is an eye-opening presentation. Thank you very much, from Ethiopia
Glad to hear that. Good luck writing your literature review.
I just met my supervisor and she likes my literature review. Thank you for sharing these amazing tips, I honestly had no idea how to write my literature review but these tips were really helpful. I'm definitely watching your other videos to finish my dissertation.
Great to hear it!