Literature Review Outline
Literature Review Outline
Literature Review Outline
I. Introduction
a. Describe the topic that you have been investigating, why it is important to the field
b. Give a “big picture” of the literature.
c. Present a thesis or argument statement – why is it important to explore this topic?
II. Theme A1
a. Overview of characteristics of the theme (commonalities, differences, nuances)
b. Sub-theme – narrow but grouped findings related to the theme
i. Study 1 (Research question(s), Methods/Participants, Related Findings)
“In a qualitative study examining Latino high school students, Campos (2016)
found that the participants had unique academic experiences due to their
location in a suburban neighborhood. Using in-depth interviews, Campos
determined that….” Comment [RM1]: Examples of how to write about studies
ii. Study 2 (Research question(s), Methods/Participants, Related Findings) without listing.
In a similar study with African American high school students, Sung (2015)
identified three key factors that impacted students’ academic experiences in rural
settings, which are….. Sung surveyed students across three different high
schools, which may partially explain differences in responses….
iii. Study 3 (Research question(s), Methods/Participants, Related Findings)
iv. Do these studies share commonalities? How do these studies differ? Discuss
c. Sub-theme – narrow but grouped findings related to the theme
i. Study 4 (Research question(s), Methods/Participants, Related Findings)
ii. Study 5 (Research question(s), Methods/Participants, Related Findings)
iii. Study 6 (Research question(s), Methods/Participants, Related Findings)
iv. Do these studies share commonalities? How do these studies differ? Discuss
d. Etc., etc., etc. with other findings that fit Theme A; studies can be repeated if there are
multiple findings that fit under more than one theme. However, no need to re-write
methods/participants in detail (just enough to remind the reader about the study).