how to write literature review rmit

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Guidance for researchers and PhD candidates on how to develop their research writing skills.

Research writing encompasses many forms of writing, for many audiences. While there are disciplinary differences, writing to disseminate research and make an impact follows many well-established conventions and practices. We work with researchers and PhD candidates to develop their research writing skills. We can work with you on:

• Managing your research
• Developing research questions
• Outlining your thesis structure
• Using an academic writing style
• Writing for a wider audience
• Writing in different disciplines
• Research proposals and Confirmation of Candidature documents
• Thesis sections and chapters (abstract, introduction, literature review, methodology, results, discussion, conclusion)
• Publications (journal articles, review papers, systematic reviews)
• Research statements for Non-Traditional Research Outputs (NTROs) as part of ERA reporting.

Here are some guides and modules to help you get started:

Creative and practice-based research

Resources and techniques used for searching the literature and writing for creative and practice-based research.

Literature reviews

How to start a literature review, including searching the literature and writing the review.

How to apply strategic measures when considering publishing, promoting and tracking your research.

Becoming a research writer

This online module looks at ways research writers use premises and claims to build arguments. Also covered is the significance of thesis statements and how to position your own work by identifying gaps in the field.

Writing your literature review

This module describes a literature review, and outlines the steps in writing, structuring and styling the review. It also covers the techniques for note-taking and writing an annotated bibliography.

Developing an effective research proposal

This online module provides key information, strategies, and resources for developing an effective research proposal.

Strategic publishing workshops

We offer an individual advice as well as tailored workshops for groups that cover any of the following topics:

• Collaboration : Identify potential research collaborators, at a broad institutional level and at a specific researcher level, using benchmarking and research tools such as SciVal and InCites.  
• Planning : Develop a publication plan to identify relevant high-quality publication sources based on your target audience and publishing objectives.
• Writing and submission : Use strategies and practical tools for generating a writing focus, developing your voice, and tailoring your writing to the style of the publication. Tips on navigating submission, revision, and publication processes. 
• Promotion and discovery : Share, promote and track your research and publications using different discoverability tools  (such as researcher profiles and social media) and open access.

Research writing for HDR research methods courses

Academic Skills Advisors offer workshops for Research Methods courses on the following topics:

• Writing different text types  (research proposals, confirmation of candidature, thesis, journal articles)
• Writing different thesis sections and chapters  (abstract, introduction, literature review, methodology, results, discussion, conclusion)
• Thesis writing and academic writing style  (structuring your ideas, writing with authority, developing voice)
• Preparing for academic publication  (including writing journal articles and strategic publishing).

Help and related information

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Want to create or adapt books like this? Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices.

Book Title: Research and Writing Skills for Academic and Graduate Researchers

Author: RMIT University Library

Download this book

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Book Description: These modules are for academic and higher degree researchers who want to develop and extend the skills required in the contemporary research environment. (This set of modules is under development - check back regularly to find additional content.)

Book Information

Book description.

Research and Writing Skills for Academic and Graduate Researchers is for higher degree students and academics who want to develop skills to assist them on their research journey, from the beginning stages of searching the literature and developing a research proposal, to writing and presentation skills, and on to managing their researcher profile and finding evidence of their research impact.

While written with RMIT University higher degree and academic researchers in mind, other researchers world-wide may find it applicable – feel free to adopt or adapt to suit your own context.

This set of modules is under development – check back regularly to find additional content.

Research and Writing Skills for Academic and Graduate Researchers Copyright © 2022 by RMIT University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

Research methods: general

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• What will I need?
• Who will help me?
• About the institution
• New to university?
• Studying efficiently
• Time management
• Mind mapping
• Note-taking
• Reading skills
• Argument analysis
• Preparing for assessment
• Critical thinking and argument analysis
• Online learning skills
• Starting my first assignment
• Researching your assignment
• What is referencing?
• Understanding citations
• When referencing isn't needed
• Paraphrasing
• Summarising
• Synthesising
• Integrating ideas with reporting words
• Referencing with Easy Cite
• Getting help with referencing
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• Artificial intelligence tools
• Understanding your audience
• Writing for coursework
• Literature review
• Academic style
• Writing for the workplace
• Spelling tips
• Writing paragraphs
• Writing sentences
• Academic word lists
• Annotated bibliographies
• Artist statement
• Case studies
• Creating effective poster presentations
• Essays, Reports, Reflective Writing
• Law assessments
• Oral presentations
• Reflective writing
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• Critical thinking
• Maths and statistics
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• Educators' guide
• Learning Lab content in context
• Latest updates
• Students Alumni & Giving Staff Library

Learning Lab

Getting started at uni, study skills, referencing.

• When referencing isn't needed
• Integrating ideas

Writing and assessments

• Critical reading
• Poster presentations
• Postgraduate report writing

Subject areas

For educators.

• Educators' guide

Planning using mind maps

Mind maps are a visual map to link and organise key concepts of your research. They also show links and relationships between ideas. Sometimes it is a good idea to number key ideas in the order that you are going to place them in your literature review.

Example of a mind map

Here is an example of a mind map on motivation:

• carrot and stick
• other factors
• basic existence
• social acceptance
• growth through achievement
• definitions
• making own choices
• stimulation
• challenges - sense of achievement
• improve statius
• personal sense of uniqueness
• desire to improve
• point 1 etc.
• point 2 etc.
• point 3 etc.
• point 4 etc.

Writing examples

Writing your literature review takes time. You may need to complete several drafts before your final copy. It is important to have a good introduction that clearly tells the reader what the literature will be about.

An introduction must tell the reader the following:

• what you are going to cover in the review
• the scope of your research
• how the review ties in with your own research topic.

1. Introduction

This is a good example of an introduction because it has a topic sentence which indicates what will be covered and also tells the reader the specific focus of the literature review in the concluding sentence.

Introduction example

• 'Topic sentence': identifies five major themes as the scope of this review
• 'Theme #': The five major themes to be covered
• 'Concluding sentence': The specific focus 

Many theories have been proposed to explain what motivates human behaviour. [Topic sentence: Although the literature covers a wide variety of such theories, this review will focus on five major themes which emerge repeatedly throughout the literature reviewed.] These themes are: incorporation of the [Theme 1: self-concept] into traditional theories of motivation, the influence of [theme 2: rewards] on motivation, the increasing importance of [theme 3: internal forces] of motivation, [theme 4: autonomy and self-control] as sources of motivation, and [theme 5: narcissism] as an essential component of motivation. [Concluding sentence: Although the literature represents these themes in a variety of contexts, this paper will primarily focus on their application to self-motivation.]

Lecturer's comments

Notice how the student has clearly said WHAT she will cover in this review. This is particularly important in a large topic area.

2. Integration of multiple sources in paragraphs

To develop an integrated argument from multiple sources, you need to link your arguments together. The model below is a guide.

• 'Topic sentence': outlining your main claim or key point for that paragraph
• 'Evidence': supporting evidence from the readings
• 'Contrast': contrasting theories from research
• 'Conclusion': concluding sentence linking to the next paragraph

[Topic sentence: Most early theories of motivation were concerned with need satisfaction.] [Evidence: Robbins, Millett, Cacioppe and Waters-Marsh (1998) argued that motivation relies on what a person needs and wants. Similarly the early theories of Maslow and Mc Gregor (cited in Robbins et al. 1998) focused on personal needs and satisfaction as the basis for motivational behaviour.] [Contrast: However, recent studies outlined by Leonard, Beauvais, and Scholl (1999) suggest that personality and disposition play an equally important role in motivation.] [Conclusion: Current thinking does not discount these theories, but builds on them to include a self-concept.]

3. Integration of student analysis

It is important to integrate your analysis and interpretation of the literature in your literature review. Read the following paragraph and see how the arguments have been integrated into the paragraph along with student analysis. Analysis is not just student opinion; it needs to be supported by the literature.

• 'Evidence #': order of statement of evidence from the literature
• 'Analysis': by the student
• 'Conclusion': concluding statement

[Topic sentence: By its very nature, motivation requires a degree of individual satisfaction or narcissism.] [Evidence 1: Robbins et al. (1998) suggest that motivation has as its basis the need to focus on, and please the self.] [Evidence 2: This is supported by Shaw, Shapard and Waugaman (2000) who contend that this narcissistic drive is based upon the human effort to find personal significance in life.] [Analysis: It can be argued that the desire to improve one's status is a highly motivational force, and is central to the idea of narcissistic motivation. The narcissistic motivational strategies put forward by Shaw et al. (2000) are concerned with motivation for life in general, but may also have applications in the context of work.] [Conclusion: These strategies, with their focus on personal needs, demonstrate that narcissism is an essential component of motivation.]

4. Example of linking and reporting verbs

Most early theories of motivation were concerned with need satisfaction. Robbins, Millett, Cacioppe, and Waters-Marsh (1998) argue that motivation relies on what a person needs and wants. Similarly the early theories of Maslow and McGregor (cited in Robbins et al., 1998) focused on personal needs satisfaction as the basis for motivational behaviour. However , recent studies outlined by Leonard, Beauvais and Scholl (1999) suggest that personality and disposition play an equally important role in motivation. Current thinking does not discount theories, but simply builds on them to include a self-concept.

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Teaching and Research guides

Systematic reviews.

• Starting the review
• About systematic reviews
• Research question
• Plan your search
• Sources to search
• Search example
• Screen and analyse

What to include

Introduction, discussion and conclusion.

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• Further help

In general, the writing process for a systematic review is similar to the process of writing any other kind of review.

A systematic review should provide an answer to the research question , it is not a broad overview of current trends and gaps in research. The review should show the reader how the answer was found, and provide the results you have identified.

A systematic review must have a detailed methodology that describes the search process and the selection process. This is why careful documentation of the methodology is important. A reader of the review should be able to critically interpret the findings- to understand why sources were chosen, how they were assessed, and how conclusions were reached.

The structure of the systematic review differs from the narrative review or the traditional literature review that allows you to organise it to best support your argument. A systematic review should reflect the stages outlined in the protocol . With a systematic review reporting guidelines should be followed that help you identify what should be included in each section of the review. One such standard approach is PRISMA .

Although much time is invested in developing a search strategy and screening results, a systematic review is valued by the critical reflection and interpretation of the findings . Focus on analysing, not summarising. Use a critical analysis tool to assess the studies.

Your systematic review needs to tell a story, and it needs to clearly articulate how it provides meaningful and original advancement of the field .

The abstract provides an overview of the systematic review. It usually covers the following:

• A brief background (what we know and often the gap that the review will fill)
• The aim or hypothesis
• Summary of methods
• Summary of results
• Summary of conclusion (and sometimes recommendations).

Note that these points represent the general ‘story line’ seen in most systematic reviews: What we know (and perhaps what the gap is); what we set out to do; what we did; what we found; what this means.

The introduction provides an overview of the systematic review and enough contextual information for the reader to make sense of the remainder of the report. It usually covers the following:

• Background information to contextualise the review (what we already know about this area)
• Definitions of key terms and concepts if needed
• The rationale for the study (often in terms of a gap in knowledge that needs to be filled, a lack of agreement within the literature that needs to be resolved, or the potential implications of the findings)
• The aims and/or objectives (optional)
• The research question/s emanating from the rationale
• Additional information (Optional)

Note however, that these points are not always in this order. Some writers prefer to begin with the research questions, followed by the context, building to the rationale.

The  methods  section can be divided up into two main sections.

The first section describes how the literature search was conducted. This section may contain any of the following information: 

• The databases searched and whether any manual searches were completed 
• How search terms were identified 
• What terms were employed in the key word searches 
• If particular sections of articles were looked at during the search and collection stage i.e. titles, abstracts, table of contents ( note : the information in these sections may have informed the selection process) 

The second  section discusses the criteria for including or excluding studies. This section may include any of the following information:

• Your selection criteria
• How you identified relevant studies for further analysis 
• What articles you reviewed 
• What particular areas you looked at in the selected articles i.e. a relationship or association between two things (such as a genetic predisposition and a drug), the outcome measures of a health campaign, drug treatment, or clinical intervention, the differing impact of a particular drug or treatment. 

Details about the kind of systematic review undertaken, i.e. thematic analysis, might also be mentioned in the methods section.​

Broadly speaking, in the  results  section,  everything you have done so far needs to be presented.  This can include any of the following: ​

• briefly mention the  databases used for the searching
• identify the number of hits
• show how the articles were selected by title, abstract, table of contents or other procedures. 
• Overview of the kinds of studies selected for the review i.e. the types of methodologies or study designs used.
• where the trials were conducted
• treatment  duration
• details about participants
• similarities and differences in the way data was measured
• similar or different approaches to the same treatment or condition 
• Risk of bias across studies 
• the kinds of relationships or associations demonstrated by the studies
• frequency of positive or adverse effects of a particular treatment or drug
• the number of studies that found a positive correlation between two phenomena or found a causal relationship between two variables

Often, researchers will include tables in the Results section or Appendix to provide on overview of data found in the studies. Remember, tables in the Results section need to be explained fully.

A primary function of your discussion and conclusion is to help readers understand the main findings and implications of the review.

The following elements are commonly found in the discussion and conclusion sections. Note that the points listed are neither mandatory nor in any prescribed order.   

Discussion:

• Summary of main findings
• Interpretation of main findings (don’t repeat results)
• Strengths and weaknesses
• Comparison with previous review findings or general literature
• The degree to which the review answers the research question
• Whether the hypothesis was confirmed
• Limitations (e.g. biases, lack of methodological rigour or weak evidence in the articles)

Conclusion:

• Summary of how it answers the research question (the ‘take home’ message)
• Significance of the findings
• Reminder of the limitations
• Implications and recommendations for further research.

Separate or combined?

A key difference between a discussion and a conclusion relates to how specific or general the observations are. A discussion closely interprets results in the context of the review. A conclusion identifies the significance and the implications beyond the review. Some reviews present these as separately headed sections. Many reviews, however, present only one section using a combination of elements. This section may be headed either Discussion or Conclusion.

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• Last Updated: May 28, 2024 11:17 AM
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