Literature reviews require students to collect, synthesise and interpret large amounts of information. This means that keeping organised from the start is very important. On this page, you will find practical tips for arranging the content for your review.
A common problem that students run into when writing a literature review is that they collect a lot of information without organising it logically. Using a system that allows you to do the following will save you a lot of time and frustration later:
find what you are looking for quickly
sort information into topics
compare and contrast views, theories and studies.
Also keep in mind that you will need to record the referencing details of the sources you find immediately; there is nothing worse than finding great information and not remembering where it came from.
Searchable tables
One way to get organised is to create a table in a program such as Microsoft Word or Excel. This way, you can use control + f (Windows) or command + f (Mac) to search the table and locate the information you need quickly and easily.
To illustrate, the following headings could be used:
Author(s): It's essential to record the author or authors' names so that you do not lose track of who the information comes from. Make sure that their names are correctly spelled.
Topic: As you decide on the topics you want to cover in your review, create two-to-three word tags for them that can be placed in this column. Then, when you come to write about a particular topic, you can find all of the information from different authors on that topic quickly.
Key points: In this column, write the information from the source text that you would like to include in your review. It's a good idea to record the page number of each piece of information so that you can locate it easily in the future, should you need to.
Agreement/disagreement: For literature reviews, you need to find areas of agreement and disagreement. Using a searchable table can help you to compare the views of authors side-by-side.
Reference: Referencing often makes up part of your grade, so it is important to record this information as you go.
Topic
Key points
Agreement / disagreement
Reference
Corporate social responsibility
CSR can improve employee satisfaction and retention (p. 56).
Leadership plays crucial role, but CSR outcomes also depend on culture (p. 59).
Partially agrees with Al Mansouri
Singh, R. (2021). Integrating CSR into corporate culture. Journal of Corporate Responsibility, 7(3), 50-65. DOI
Sustainable businesss
Influencer marketing is effective for brand visibility (p. 82).
Disagrees with Fernandez
O'Connor, L. (2023). Sustainable business practices in small and medium enterprises. International Journal of Business Sustainability, 9(1), 40-60. DOI
Digital marketing trends
AI significantly enhances targeting accuracy in digital marketing (p. 12).
Agrees with Chen & Smith
Patel, R., & Nguyen, T. (2022). Digital marketing trends in the 21st century. Journal of Business Innovations, 14(2), 10-25. DOI
Corporate social responsibility
CSR initiatives enhance brand reputation and customer loyalty (p. 102).
Al-Mansouri, H. (2020). Leadership styles and company culture. In J. R. Thompson (Ed.), Leadership in modern business (pp. 95-110). Business Press.
Digital marketing trends
Social media platforms are crucial for increasing consumer engagement (p. 78).
Influencer marketing is effective for brand visibility (p. 82).
Agrees with Patel & Nguyen
Chen, Y., & Smith, A. (2021). Social media and influencer marketing. Online Business Review, 11(4), 70-85. DOI
Sustainable businesss
Large corporations face significant challenges in implementing sustainability (p. 33).
Disagrees with O'Connor
Fernandez, M. (2023). Sustainability in business: Challenges and opportunities. eBusiness Books.
Visual diagrams
If you are someone who prefers to see how information and ideas connect visually, then creating a mind map or a flow chart can be a great way to organise the information you have collected. To do this, you can arrange topics around your central theme and use arrows to show the areas of agreement and disagreement between the authors.
