AVSC 4950: Aerospace Technology Management Capstone Project

A literature review is a summary of the available research (articles, books, etc.) on a particular topic or question. It should include relevant background information, reference major studies, point out areas that need more research, and discuss significant controversies or debates. A good literature review will convey to your readers what knowledge and ideas have been established on a topic and what their strengths and weaknesses are, as well as understanding why your own research is relevant and important and the developments they need to know to understand your work.

A literature review must do these things:

1. Be organized around and related directly to the thesis or research question you are developing.
2. Synthesize results into a summary of what is and is not known.
3. Identify areas of controversy in the literature.
4. Formulate questions that need further research.

This video comes from the UCLA Library.

Choosing your research topic is an important step in writing a literature review.

First, choose a strong topic and one you're interested in. You don't want a topic that is too narrow or one that has little or no research about it. Think of a topic that will have enough supporting articles relating to it. Is it significant enough that research has been done on it?

A good research question is manageable in scope - not too broad, but not too narrow. If your topic is too broad, you may become overwhelmed and find it difficult to organize your ideas. If your topic is too narrow, you may not be able to find enough information to include in your literature review.

It is often helpful to start with a broad idea, then narrow your focus by brainstorming related ideas. If you have a general area of interest, you can think about various issues in that general subject area.

Think of it as an inverted triangle:

The image comes from "Literature Reviews Libguide" originally from the University of Reading library.

Once you have enough sources focus on identifying major ideas and themes and gaps in the research.  This will help you make sense of all the relevant ideas in your sources and blend them together with your own thoughts and ideas. A synthesis matrix is a helpful tool you can use to synthesize your research along with your own voice. The blank synthesis matrix can help you organize your paper by the main idea, identify connections between your sources, and add your own analysis.

• Read your articles—it's OK to skim rather than reading each article from beginning to end. Scan the abstracts, introductions, discussions, and conclusions. Highlight and make note of important findings, main ideas and arguments, and references to previous studies and theories.
• Look for specific connections and or links between your sources and how those relate to your thesis or question.
• Organize your literature review by the themes you find within your sources or themes you have identified, not by sources. 
• Write a short introduction to your summary that lets your reader know what to expect.
• Write paragraphs that summarize the findings found in the literature. Each paragraph should address one major idea. Similar sources can be summarized together in statements like, "Most researchers agree that..." or "Current trends in the literature are..."
• Use transitions to show how different sources interact with each other. For example, you might write, "While earlier researchers thought X, new discoveries have led researchers to think Y." Or "Researcher applied W in new circumstances and found Z."
• Avoid directly quoting material in your review—you should be summarizing and paraphrasing as much as possible. Remember to use in-text citations when you refer to an idea from a specific source, whether you're paraphrasing or using a direct quotation.
• Write a short conclusion that sums up the major points from the literature. If you've noticed there are subjects that the literature hasn't tackled yet, you can point out that further research is needed.
• Only include sources in your bibliography that you quoted, paraphrased, or mentioned in your paper. 

An outline is the foundation of your paper—the basic framework on which you organize your ideas. The word “annotation” refers to adding information, usually summaries, explanations, or citations. Taking the time to draft an annotated outline can help you determine if your ideas connect to each other, what order of ideas works best, where gaps in your thinking may exist, or whether you have sufficient evidence to support each of your points. It is also an effective way to think about the time you will need to complete each part of your paper before you begin writing.

This video comes from the UNC Writing Center.

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