Make sure you have read the aims and scope for the journal you are submitting to and follow them closely. Different journals accept different types of articles and not all will accept review articles, so it’s important to check this before you start writing.
- Have you checked the journal’s aims and scope?
- Have you defined the scope of your article?
- Did you use multiple search engines to find sources to evaluate?
- Have you written a descriptive title and abstract using keywords?
- Did you start with an overview of the topic?
- Have you presented a critical discussion?
- Have you included future suggestions for research in your conclusion?
- Have you asked a friend to do a final spell and grammar check?
Don’t make your introduction too long. Divide the review into sections of a suitable length to allow key points to be identified more easily.
A review article, also called a literature review, is a survey of previously published research on a topic. It should give an overview of current thinking on the theme and, unlike an original research article, won’t present new experimental results.
What do review articles do?
Make sure you present a critical discussion, not just a descriptive summary of the topic. If there is contradictory research in your area of focus, make sure to include an element of debate and present both sides of the argument. You can also use your review paper to resolve conflict between contradictory studies.
The objective of a literature review is to provide a critical evaluation of the data available from existing studies. Review articles can identify potential research areas to explore next, and sometimes they will draw new conclusions from the existing data.
There are some journals that only publish review articles, and others that do not accept them. Make sure you check the aims and scope of the journal you’d like to publish in to find out if it’s the right place for your review article.
Research will ground your article in fact. Good details to include with your how-to are:
Keeping your audience in mind, write a tighter draft incorporating the new supporting information you’ve collected. Sometimes what you’ve learned in Steps 2 and 3 may compel you to start over with a completely fresh draft. Or you may just want to revise what you have as you proceed, retaining a nice conversational tone by directly addressing your audience.
If you’ve ever jotted down a recipe or shared do-it-yourself instructions with a friend, you already understand the basic structure of how-to writing. How-tos inform the reader and can often be submitted to an editor with a simple cover letter.
Read the draft of your how-to article out loud to a supportive friend. Then, ask her a series of questions: Does she now understand the process? Are there any steps missing? Is there anything else she would like to know about the subject? Could she do the task herself? With your friend’s suggestions in mind, use your best judgment in deciding what changes, if any, need to be made.
STEP 2: ADDRESS YOUR AUDIENCE’S NEEDS
If your narrative goes on and on, or off in too many directions, break it down into key points indicated with subheads (as in this article). Synthesizing complicated information and breaking it down into steps is especially crucial for online writing, and is also a trend in print.
Rewrite, read aloud, rewrite, read aloud, rewrite, find a proofreader and, only when you’re satisfied you’ve written an effective how-to article, submit your piece to an appropriate publication with a short cover letter.
Choose a topic that interests you enough to focus on it for at least a week or two. If your topic is broad, narrow it. Instead of writing about how to decorate your home, try covering how to decorate your home in country style on a shoestring budget. That’s more specific and, as such, easier to tackle.
Now you’re probably wondering: What is literature review in research? How can I write one?
Literature reviews should be detailed and specific. This means you should narrow down your working topic as much as possible. Ask your professor about how many sources to include, their nature, and whether you should analyze, evaluate or critique them. Think about what interests you and what would interest readers. It’s also critical to mention sources that contradict to your research viewpoint as these sources add value to your assignment.
- List all the sources used in the research paper.
- Start with the most relevant ones that contributed most to the understanding of your research problem.
- Explain the relationship between various references used to compose your research paper.
- Highlight the knowledge of each source and how it contributed to your task.
- Analyze sources, and highlight any areas for further research or errors made by other researchers.
Evaluate and compare sources from an analytical point of view. The literature review structure should be able to inform readers about trends, knowledge, and problems solved in the task or areas where you’d faced challenges. Write a critical analysis by highlighting relationships between sources in the body of your review. Read what you’ve written, and see if you have a clear central idea around which the research revolves. If this is not clear, rewrite the outline of your assignment, and make sure that it delivers relevant information.
Narrow Down your Topic
Sources in a lit review are either organized in a thematic manner, by trend, in a methodological approach, by publication or chronological order. The most popular way is to list your sources according to topic as this helps you highlight trends and theories regarding your assignment. This method might require shifting different time periods in each section as long as they relate to the same point.
There are a few easy tips that help you finish an excellent literature review paper. Follow these tips to avoid mistakes that will cost you more time and effort:
This standard format will help you finish the literature review for any research paper, regardless of its type. It’s all about following some simple rules that help you submit your task with the best quality.
In this short guide, we will take a step-by-step approach to teach you how to write an article review. We will explain the differences between an article review for a variety of subjects and let you know where you can find a great example of an article review on the web. We will begin by first answering the question many students have about this kind of assignment.
The main part of how to write a review of an article is writing your critique. Refer to your outline and summary to draft several paragraphs evaluating the effectiveness of the writer’s arguments. You should address whether the article was useful, thorough, and clear in explaining the subject. The critique will form the body paragraphs, so each paragraph should address a single sub-topic. In each paragraph, decide whether or not you agree with the writer backed up with sufficient support.
Despite everything you’ve learned about how to write an article review, you need to ensure you adhere to the fundamentals of good essay writing. This means that you should set your review aside for a few days before you start your revisions. If you have the time you should set it aside for more time before you start editing and proofreading your work. Writing a great academic review will earn you a high grade and you will be under greater scrutiny since you are critiquing someone else’s ideas, structure, and writing, so be sure to put in the extra work.
The first thing you need to know about how to review a research article is evaluating its organization. Your review will mirror the author’s structure and format. Focus on the most important elements, including main points, supporting evidence, and claims. It’s a good idea to break up the article into parts to better identify all of the essential elements that need to be addressed.
What is An Article Review?
This should be done as a straightforward freewriting session. Just take the main points of the original article and attempt to rewrite in in your own words. This will let you identify the places where you are not in total agreement with what the author has presented. Your writing should be focused on all of the main arguments, main research points, and claims that the author makes.
The introduction and conclusion should be written after you’ve written the main portion (critique body paragraphs) of the review. Your intro will identify the article, mention its central themes, and arguments made by the author. Your conclusion will summarize the main points of the article in addition to your critique of them. Each of these paragraphs should be no more than 10% to 15% of your review.
- The Science Article Review
- The APA Article Review
- The Law Review Article
- The Journal Article Review
Writing an article review entails assessing and summarizing an article by somebody else. But, what is an article review? Well, this type of work can be defined as logical evaluation of the article’s central theme, supporting arguments, and suggestions for further research. Knowing how to review an article is very important because:
Discuss the central points and arguments of the article. Additionally, explain whether the points used by the author supported their argument. Show whether the author exhibited any biases. Additionally, tell your readers whether you concur with the article author. If you do, give reasons to support them and if you don’t, give reasons for disagreeing with them. What’s more, tell the readers about the audience that will benefit from the article you are reviewing.
The conclusion of your review can be one or a few paragraphs depending on the size or length of the reviewed work. However, it should include a summary of the main points. Also, tell readers about the accuracy, significance, and clarity of the article that you have reviewed. If relevant, comment on the article’s implications. You can also say something about further research on the topic. It’s crucial to note that your review conclusion section should be 10% of the entire work. Therefore, be as brief as possible when writing this section.
You need to organize your review properly to make it easier for your audience to read. How you organize your review may depend on the instructions provided by the educator or professor. For instance, you may be required to write an APA article review. In that case, find out what the requirements of this writing style are.
Start your article review from preparation
By this time, you’ve known how to write a article review. If not, check out an article review example online to know what you’re expected to produce. Here’s how to write article review introduction:
Writing a critical review of journal article requires some research or knowledge of the industry. That’s because you need a basis for critiquing the work of another person. As such, take your time to read the article and compare it with the existing literature. You can even quote other experts in the industry to enhance the credibility of your critique.
Start by preparing to write the review. Preparation should entail organizing your workplace and making sure that you have all the resources required to review an article. This may include getting an article review sample or an article review template. Such materials can help you when it comes to organizing thoughts and getting ready for the task ahead.
This article has been adapted into lecture slides that you can use to teach your students about writing a literature review.
In the conclusion, you should summarize the key findings you have taken from the literature and emphasize their significance.
If you are writing the literature review section of a dissertation or research paper, you will search for literature related to your research problem and questions.
When you’ve finished writing and revising your literature review, don’t forget to proofread thoroughly before submitting. Not a language expert? Check out Scribbr’s professional Proofreading & Editing service!
Introduction
You might argue for the relevance of a specific theoretical approach, or combine various theoretical concepts to create a framework for your research.
Scribbr slides are free to use, customize, and distribute for educational purposes.
The content will look slightly different in each case, but the process of conducting a literature review follows the same steps.
Depending on the length of your literature review, you can combine several of these strategies (for example, your overall structure might be thematic, but each theme is discussed chronologically).