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Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies

A guide of resources to support the teaching, learning, and research of the Institute for Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies (IGSF)

Tips for writing a literature review

  1. Read published papers and pay close attention to their literature review sections. These often peer-reviewed publications will help provide you with a structure of how literature reviews function in your subject-area. 
  2. Keep in mind not all literature review sections are clearly defined as the literature review section
  3. Remember that your literature review summarizes what is already happening in your field, show gaps in the field's research and explains how your paper is going to contribute to the field (close a gap, show another theory / view is erroneous, present a new theory / view, etc.)

How to Write a Literature Review

This Scribbr video outlines how to write a literature review in a step-by-step guide.

Identify Themes and Gaps in Literature

This video goes over identifying themes and gaps in the literature you are reading for your literature review.

Structure Your Literature Review

There are four common ways to structure a literature review:

  1. Chronological: older to more recent publications
  2. Thematic: organize the literature review around key themes
  3. Method: organize the literature review round key research methadologies
  4. Theory: organize the literature review around theories, models or definitions of key concepts

Outline Your Literature Review

This video from Scribbr describes in more detail how you can go about structuring your literature review. 

 4 TIPS for Writing a Literature Review's Intro, Body & Conclusion

  1. Summarize & synthesize 
  2. Analyze and interpret
  3. Critically evaluate
  4. Use well-structured paragraphs

This video from Scribbr describes in more detail on the 4 tips for writing a literature review 

Liaison Librarian for Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies

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Marcela Isuster
Contact:
Humanities and Social Sciences Library
Bibliothèque des sciences humaines et sociales
3459 McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9
(514) 398 - 4729

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