apa 7 literature review sample pdf

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Literature Review

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"a narrative summary and evaluation of the findings or theories within a literature base.  Also known as 'narrative literature review'. "

• Key takeaways from the Psi Chi webinar So You Need to Write a Literature Review via APA Style.org

Examples of Literature Reviews

• Financial socialization: A decade in review (2021)
• The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the development of anxiety disorders - a literature review (2021)
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Literature Review: Conducting & Writing

• Sample Literature Reviews
• Steps for Conducting a Lit Review
• Finding "The Literature"
• Organizing/Writing
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Sample Lit Reviews from Communication Arts

Have an exemplary literature review.

• Literature Review Sample 1
• Literature Review Sample 2
• Literature Review Sample 3

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Please contact Britt McGowan at [email protected] for inclusion in this guide. All disciplines welcome and encouraged.

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Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

Writing a Literature Review

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A literature review is a document or section of a document that collects key sources on a topic and discusses those sources in conversation with each other (also called synthesis ). The lit review is an important genre in many disciplines, not just literature (i.e., the study of works of literature such as novels and plays). When we say “literature review” or refer to “the literature,” we are talking about the research ( scholarship ) in a given field. You will often see the terms “the research,” “the scholarship,” and “the literature” used mostly interchangeably.

Where, when, and why would I write a lit review?

There are a number of different situations where you might write a literature review, each with slightly different expectations; different disciplines, too, have field-specific expectations for what a literature review is and does. For instance, in the humanities, authors might include more overt argumentation and interpretation of source material in their literature reviews, whereas in the sciences, authors are more likely to report study designs and results in their literature reviews; these differences reflect these disciplines’ purposes and conventions in scholarship. You should always look at examples from your own discipline and talk to professors or mentors in your field to be sure you understand your discipline’s conventions, for literature reviews as well as for any other genre.

A literature review can be a part of a research paper or scholarly article, usually falling after the introduction and before the research methods sections. In these cases, the lit review just needs to cover scholarship that is important to the issue you are writing about; sometimes it will also cover key sources that informed your research methodology.

Lit reviews can also be standalone pieces, either as assignments in a class or as publications. In a class, a lit review may be assigned to help students familiarize themselves with a topic and with scholarship in their field, get an idea of the other researchers working on the topic they’re interested in, find gaps in existing research in order to propose new projects, and/or develop a theoretical framework and methodology for later research. As a publication, a lit review usually is meant to help make other scholars’ lives easier by collecting and summarizing, synthesizing, and analyzing existing research on a topic. This can be especially helpful for students or scholars getting into a new research area, or for directing an entire community of scholars toward questions that have not yet been answered.

What are the parts of a lit review?

Most lit reviews use a basic introduction-body-conclusion structure; if your lit review is part of a larger paper, the introduction and conclusion pieces may be just a few sentences while you focus most of your attention on the body. If your lit review is a standalone piece, the introduction and conclusion take up more space and give you a place to discuss your goals, research methods, and conclusions separately from where you discuss the literature itself.

Introduction:

• An introductory paragraph that explains what your working topic and thesis is
• A forecast of key topics or texts that will appear in the review
• Potentially, a description of how you found sources and how you analyzed them for inclusion and discussion in the review (more often found in published, standalone literature reviews than in lit review sections in an article or research paper)
• Summarize and synthesize: Give an overview of the main points of each source and combine them into a coherent whole
• Analyze and interpret: Don’t just paraphrase other researchers – add your own interpretations where possible, discussing the significance of findings in relation to the literature as a whole
• Critically Evaluate: Mention the strengths and weaknesses of your sources
• Write in well-structured paragraphs: Use transition words and topic sentence to draw connections, comparisons, and contrasts.

Conclusion:

• Summarize the key findings you have taken from the literature and emphasize their significance
• Connect it back to your primary research question

How should I organize my lit review?

Lit reviews can take many different organizational patterns depending on what you are trying to accomplish with the review. Here are some examples:

• Chronological : The simplest approach is to trace the development of the topic over time, which helps familiarize the audience with the topic (for instance if you are introducing something that is not commonly known in your field). If you choose this strategy, be careful to avoid simply listing and summarizing sources in order. Try to analyze the patterns, turning points, and key debates that have shaped the direction of the field. Give your interpretation of how and why certain developments occurred (as mentioned previously, this may not be appropriate in your discipline — check with a teacher or mentor if you’re unsure).
• Thematic : If you have found some recurring central themes that you will continue working with throughout your piece, you can organize your literature review into subsections that address different aspects of the topic. For example, if you are reviewing literature about women and religion, key themes can include the role of women in churches and the religious attitude towards women.
• Qualitative versus quantitative research
• Empirical versus theoretical scholarship
• Divide the research by sociological, historical, or cultural sources
• Theoretical : In many humanities articles, the literature review is the foundation for the theoretical framework. You can use it to discuss various theories, models, and definitions of key concepts. You can argue for the relevance of a specific theoretical approach or combine various theorical concepts to create a framework for your research.

What are some strategies or tips I can use while writing my lit review?

Any lit review is only as good as the research it discusses; make sure your sources are well-chosen and your research is thorough. Don’t be afraid to do more research if you discover a new thread as you’re writing. More info on the research process is available in our "Conducting Research" resources .

As you’re doing your research, create an annotated bibliography ( see our page on the this type of document ). Much of the information used in an annotated bibliography can be used also in a literature review, so you’ll be not only partially drafting your lit review as you research, but also developing your sense of the larger conversation going on among scholars, professionals, and any other stakeholders in your topic.

Usually you will need to synthesize research rather than just summarizing it. This means drawing connections between sources to create a picture of the scholarly conversation on a topic over time. Many student writers struggle to synthesize because they feel they don’t have anything to add to the scholars they are citing; here are some strategies to help you:

• It often helps to remember that the point of these kinds of syntheses is to show your readers how you understand your research, to help them read the rest of your paper.
• Writing teachers often say synthesis is like hosting a dinner party: imagine all your sources are together in a room, discussing your topic. What are they saying to each other?
• Look at the in-text citations in each paragraph. Are you citing just one source for each paragraph? This usually indicates summary only. When you have multiple sources cited in a paragraph, you are more likely to be synthesizing them (not always, but often
• Read more about synthesis here.

The most interesting literature reviews are often written as arguments (again, as mentioned at the beginning of the page, this is discipline-specific and doesn’t work for all situations). Often, the literature review is where you can establish your research as filling a particular gap or as relevant in a particular way. You have some chance to do this in your introduction in an article, but the literature review section gives a more extended opportunity to establish the conversation in the way you would like your readers to see it. You can choose the intellectual lineage you would like to be part of and whose definitions matter most to your thinking (mostly humanities-specific, but this goes for sciences as well). In addressing these points, you argue for your place in the conversation, which tends to make the lit review more compelling than a simple reporting of other sources.

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• Specific Examples/Applications of APA Style, 7th edition

Sample APA-Style Papers (7th edition)

The following links provide samples of student-paper formatting in APA's 7th edition style.  The first is from APA's web site; the second is from Purdue OWL's web site.

• Sample APA Student Paper This document from the APA web site illustrates the 7th edition formatting of a student paper. This format is a simplified version of the professional paper format (excluding things like running heads, etc.).
• Purdue OWL Sample Student Paper This sample student paper in APA 7th edition comes from PurdueOWL. It can be used to supplement the example from the APA web site, or stand on its own.

The following links provide samples of professional-paper formatting in APA's 7th edition style.  The first is from APA's web site; the second is from Purdue OWL's web site.  The formatting of these professional papers is a bit more involved than that of the student sample papers.

• Sample APA Professional Paper This sample professional paper from the APA web site illustrates the 7th edition formatting for a paper submitted for publication to a professional journal.
• Purdue OWL Sample Professional Paper This sample paper from Purdue OWL illustrates in 7th edition formatting a professional paper. It can be used to supplement the APA sample paper or it can stand alone.

Quotations and Paraphrases in APA Style (7th edition)

• Quotations (APA 7th Edition) This link takes you to a page on the official APAstyle.org web site with information that includes how to cite both direct and indirect quotations (short and long), how to cite material for direct quotations that do not contain page numbers, and more.
• Quotations--PurdueOWL (APA 7th edition) On this "Basics: In-Text Citations" page from PurdueOWL, scroll down to see explanations and example for quotations both short (under 40 words) and long (40+ words). In addition, it gives guidance about paraphrases/summaries and how to use in-text citations to document their original source(s).

Formatting an Annotated Bibliography in APA Style (7th edition)

• Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL): Annotated Bibliographies This helpful page from PurdueOWL explains the purpose of annotated bibliographies, what they often contain, and why they're helpful.
• Guidelines for Formatting Annotated Bibliographies (APA, 7th ed.) This document provides guidance for formatting annotated bibliographies, including a sample annotated bib.

Formatting a Literature Review in APA Style (7th edition)

While APA doesn't itself provide an example of how to format a literature review, it does provide some guidance in its Publication Manual * about the content of a lit review:

Literature Reviews:

• provide summaries and evaluations of findings/theories in the research literature of a particular discipline or field;
• may include qualitative, quantitative, or a variety of other types of research;
• should define and clarify the problem being reviewed;
• summarize previous research to inform readers of where research stands currently in regard to the problem;
• identify relationships, contradictions, gaps, and inconsistencies in the current literature;
• suggest next steps or further research needed to move toward solving the problem.  (APA, 2020, Section 1.6, p. 8)

* American Psychological Association. (2020).  Publication manual of the American Psychological Association: The official guide to APA style (7th ed.). American Psychological Association.

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APA Literature Review

The realm of academia thrives on knowledge expansion, and a crucial element in this quest is the literature review. Whether it be delving into an extensive body of research, analyzing a book or article, or comprehending a research paper format , the literature review serves as a cornerstone for scholarly pursuits. In this article, we explore the intricacies of an APA literature review, providing a step-by-step guide on how to craft one effectively. Let us embark on this enlightening journey, acquainting ourselves with the vital aspects of citation, in-text citation, and the construction of a reference list. Along the way, we will answer three frequently asked questions to further enhance your understanding. So, let’s dive in!

1. Literature Review Template

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2. APA Literature Review

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3. Instruction for APA Style Literature Review

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4. APA Style Literature Review

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5. Sections of APA Literature Review

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6. APA Paper Literature Review

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7. APA Style Literature Review Example

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8. Types of APA Paper Literature Review

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9. Sociology APA Literature Review

10. APA Writing Style and Language Literature Review

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11. APA Literature Review in Psychology

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12. APA Literature Review Format

13. APA Style Literature Review Guidelines

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14. APA Annotated Bibliography Literature Review

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17. APA Literature Review Action Research Proposal

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18. APA 6th Edition Literature Review

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19. APA Writing Literature Review

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20. APA Contextual Literature Review

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What is an APA Literature Review?

An APA literature review encapsulates a systematic examination and synthesis of scholarly sources relevant to a specific research topic. It serves to provide a comprehensive overview of the existing knowledge, identify gaps in research, and present a theoretical foundation for further investigation. Distinct from a book review or an article review that focuses on analyzing a single publication, a literature review involves an in-depth exploration of a broad range of sources. By adhering to the guidelines set forth by the American Psychological Association (APA), this review ensures clarity, consistency, and credibility throughout the process.

How to Write an APA Literature Review

Embarking on the journey of crafting an APA literature review requires careful planning and meticulous execution. By following these steps, you can streamline your writing process and ensure a cohesive and comprehensive review.

Select a Topic:

Begin by choosing a research topic that aligns with your area of interest or academic requirements. This topic should be broad enough to provide an adequate range of relevant sources but specific enough to maintain focus.

Gather Relevant Literature:

Conduct a thorough search of scholarly databases, libraries, and academic journals to collect a diverse array of sources that contribute to your topic. Evaluate the quality and relevance of each source to ensure credibility and significance.

Read and Analyze:

Engage critically with each selected source, comprehending the key arguments, methodologies, and findings presented. Take diligent notes and identify common themes or gaps in the existing literature to guide the structure of your review.

Organize Your Thoughts:

Create an outline to organize your literature review effectively. Arrange the sources thematically or chronologically to present a logical flow of information. Introduce each section with an informative heading to guide the reader.

Compose the Review:

Begin writing your literature review by providing an engaging introduction that highlights the importance of the topic and presents the scope of your review. Subsequently, present the findings from each source, critically evaluating the methodologies, results, and implications. Use appropriate in-text citations to acknowledge the authors and support your claims.

Conclude with Insight:

Wrap up your literature review with a well-crafted conclusion that summarizes the main findings, identifies research gaps, and suggests avenues for future investigation. Reinforce the significance of your review and its contribution to the existing body of knowledge.

What is the difference between a literature review and a book review?

A literature review examines a range of scholarly sources on a specific topic, while a book review focuses on analyzing a single publication, typically for the purpose of providing a critique or evaluation.

Do I need to include all the sources I find in my literature review?

No, it is crucial to evaluate the quality and relevance of each source. Include sources that contribute significantly to your research topic and present diverse perspectives.

How can I format the reference list in APA style?

The APA style requires a specific format for the reference list. To ensure accuracy, you can check out 9+ reference list examples here , which demonstrate how to cite different types of sources in APA format.

The journey of crafting an APA literature review demands meticulous research, critical analysis, and skillful presentation. By immersing yourself in the vast sea of literature, navigating the intricacies of citation and in-text citation , and adhering to the guidelines set forth by APA, you can construct a compelling review that contributes to the scholarly discourse. So, let your words breathe life into the existing body of knowledge, igniting the curiosity of readers and propelling the pursuit of wisdom forward. Happy reviewing!

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