How to Write a Critical Literature Review for University Assignments

Perhaps the studies appear to disagree only because they define the key concept differently.

Those observations can become the structure of your review.

Organise the Review Around Ideas, Not Authors

This is probably the biggest change you can make to improve your writing.

A weak structure looks like this:

Smith's Study

Summary of Smith.

Jones's Study

Summary of Jones.

Patel's Study

Summary of Patel.

It becomes repetitive very quickly.

Instead, group studies according to the issues they address.

For an education assignment, you might use:

Student Engagement

Compare studies examining participation, interaction and motivation.

Academic Performance

Consider what researchers have found about grades, assessment outcomes or attainment.

Accessibility

Examine whether the approach benefits students equally.

Limitations in the Evidence

Bring together methodological problems and unanswered questions.

This thematic structure allows several researchers to appear in the same paragraph. That is what makes synthesis of research possible.

The University of Central Arkansas describes synthesis as drawing connections between several sources around a common theme rather than summarising articles individually. (UCA LibGuides)