7. Compiling a Literature Review

Compiling your first Literature Review within the college environment is quite difficult due to the guidelines you need to follow.  As you are trying to understand what a literature review is, you must source credible material for secondary research relating to the specific topic.  Secondary research comes from many media including books, journals, publications, previous research studies and websites. 

Having sourced the relevant literature, you then must read the information to gain knowledge and understanding on the topic.  This can take a lot of time but it is crucial to compiling a good literature review.  The next stage is to start writing your literature review in the third person, explaining your understanding of the material read and critically analysing the information. 

I found that the literature review on The Importance of Effective Communication & Diversity in today’s Working Environment allowed me to illustrate my understanding of the topic.  I focused on the areas of effective communication, multi-skilled and team oriented individuals as I believe they are relevant to social care work.  

At first there can be some anxiety in meeting the word count.  Don’t under estimate the time it takes to compile a literature review.  Where ever you use a quote or paraphrase you must include the reference i.e. author/date.  It is necessary to edit the final draft for possible errors, fluency and to check you have not exceeded the word count.  The Harvard style of referencing must be complied with when writing your reference list.  The final phase is up loading it onto Moodle where your literature review will be automatically screened through “turn-it-in” the anti-plagiarism system. 

Tips:

• Formal writing style.
• Logical structure - introduction, body and conclusion.
• Analytical thinking.
• Clear and concise language.
• Avoid plagiarism
• Effective proof-reading.
• Correct Harvard style referencing.