WRITING A LITERATURE

REVIEW WRITING THE REVIEW

MD2 Medical Research & EBM
John Klir, MD, PhD
 Writing the literature review

Main sections:

• Introduction
• Main body
• Conclusion
• References
 Writing the literature review

Introduction:
• It should clearly establish the focus and purpose of the literature review
• Stand-alone literature review  give some background on the topic and its
importance, discuss the scope of the literature to be reviewed
• The time period of the sources
• The objective
• What new insight will be drawn from the literature?
 Writing the literature review
Main body:
• Depending on the length of the literature review  can divide the body into
subsections  Use a subheading for each theme, time period, or methodological
approach
Useful tips during writing:
 Summarize and synthesize  give an overview of the main points of each source and

combine them into a coherent whole

 Analyze and interpret  don’t just paraphrase other researchers  add own
interpretations where possible, discussing the significance of findings in relation to
the literature as a whole
 Critically evaluate  mention the strengths and weaknesses of the sources
 Write in well-structured paragraphs  use transition words and topic sentences to
 Writing the literature review

Conclusion:
• Summarize the key findings from the literature and emphasize their
significance
 Writing the literature review

References:
• The purpose is to provide a list of references for all citations used in the
text
• Must us one formatting style
• Different journals may use differ reference formats