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Literature Reviews: 2. Organizing

Stepwise introduction and review for producing literature reviews

Types of Lit Reviews

Literature reviews can organize the literature in a variety of ways. When you've chosen a method of organizing your supporting literature, your paper will be divided into sections and/or subsections depending on your choice. Frequently, more than one organization type might be used; for example, list publications chronologically within geographical sections.

Chronological

If your review follows the chronological method, you would write about the materials according to their publication date.

Thematic

Thematic reviews of literature are organized around a topic or issue, rather than the progression of time. Thematic reviews would shift between time periods within each section according to the point made.

Advancements or trends

Organize your review by the major advancements or trends in the field.

Methodological

A methodological approach focuses on the "methods" of the researcher or writer. It will influence either the types of documents in the review or the way in which these documents are discussed.

Geographical

Organize your review by geographical developments in the field.

Publication

Order your sources by publication if that order demonstrates a more important trend. This might be appropriate for some interdisciplinary topics. 

Questions

Present some major research questions relating to your topic and then organize your review by addressing each question in turn.

Guide to writing an empirical...Typical Outlines

Subject Guide

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