During your time as a student at U of G, you may be asked to write a literature review, either for a class assignment, or for your thesis project. “The purpose of this academic assignment is to demonstrate knowledge and familiarity with the important literature on a chosen subject,” said Jodie Salter, writing specialist, Writing & Learning Services. Considering most students will be asked to write a literature review at some point during their academic programs, the library created a Write a Literature Review guide, which had 13,804 views in the Fall 2025 semester.
How will this guide support you?
Designed as a time-of-need resource, the guide supports writers with step-by-step instructions. In the guide, you’ll find support and direction for:
- Getting started with a literature review
- Gathering and reading literature
- Organizing notes
- Crafting purpose statements
- Drafting sections of the review
- Revising your final written document
Resources you’ll find inside the guide
In the guide, you'll find resources to guide you through the different stages of writing your literature review:
- Developing a Research Question and Worksheet
- Grouping Topics or Conversations in your Literature Review
- Four Steps to Narrow Your Research Topic
- Note-taking and Writing Tips to Avoid Accidental Plagiarism
Writing appointments for literature reviews
Writing appointments are available to help you develop your writing skills – this includes the skills you need to write your literature review. “Talking to someone about your literature review is an excellent way for you to organize your thoughts and begin grouping a lot of sources into related themes and topics,” said Salter. When you book an appointment to discuss writing your literature review, you can expect to:
- Get started
- Gain strategies for organizing the material
- Discuss patterns and connections for the written sections
- Get feedback on clarity, cohesion, and flow of your written document
Upcoming writing workshops
Each semester, the library offers thesis writing workshops, one of the sessions is specifically designed to guide for writing the literature review. View all upcoming library workshops.
Questions?
Contact us. We’re here to help.
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.