Keep It Together While Writing a Lit Review
10:48 PM
A big part of studying psychology is conducting literature reviews, which are like research projects but require APA formatting and doesn't involve any actual studies (i.e. surveys, experiments, or observations). Instead, it is much like an MLA report where one reviews different peer reviewed sources and create a report that usually just includes the Introduction, Literature Review, Discussion, and Conclusion. Since no study has been conducted, there's no need for procedures, methods, or results. Often, an abstract is not needed, either.
Creating one of these reports may seem like a cluster of a mess and a burden. But the main purpose of these reports is to get you to research other peer reviewed items and to read about something outside of a textbook. It is also to get you to understand how research studies create the results that the layperson sees as truths.
If you feel that these papers keep you in a state of stress, try following my steps towards success below:
Plan ahead accordingly.
I've written about assignment planning before. Basically, have a good idea of how you work and how much time you need to do an assignment, and plan accordingly. In my online classes, I get the syllabus a week ahead of time, so I start planning the semester right then. Here's how that looks:
So, given this, I can see what I need to get done, when. I actually don't go by a strict schedule anymore because I've reached a familiarity with myself and how I work, so I can just...go by my own needs. But the schedule still looks quite similar to the above. Just because I don't follow the schedule to a T doesn't mean I wait to the last minute to get things done.
So, given this, I can see what I need to get done, when. I actually don't go by a strict schedule anymore because I've reached a familiarity with myself and how I work, so I can just...go by my own needs. But the schedule still looks quite similar to the above. Just because I don't follow the schedule to a T doesn't mean I wait to the last minute to get things done.
Have some familiarity with the APA format...or use a template.
If you are in the psychology major, all your papers will end up being APA, regardless if they are reflection, research, a study, or...whatever. So one day you should have a class that teaches you how to write APA, like Research Methods or Writing for Social Sciences. If you haven't taken those classes yet, do not fear...there are tools out there to help you.
First there is Academic Writer, which is basically an engine that formats your writing for you. You type out your essay in the appropriate fields, and when done...bam! A full, put-together report!
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| Select a template that best fits your paper. Then, get started! |
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| I forgot all of the name of the paper I was referencing, but I remembered one of the authors and parts of the title. The paper popped right up! |
See if your school has access to this tool. Otherwise, you may have to pay for it. If you don't want to do that, there are other ways to put together your paper. Word has a template for APA here. And then there is Google docs with a template here. However, no matter what you use, make sure that the finished product adheres to the APA 6th edition guidelines (or, whatever edition is out when you read this). If you don't know what those are, check out the below:
- Purdue Owl
- APA Style Blog or the archived blog
- The Blue Book
- Or the much easier to read Green Book
- Scribbr
Time to research your topic.
I am going to use my topic of this week for Psychophysiology for an example. The topic is Alzheimer's disease, specifically, the genes and other causes linked to Alzheimer's disease. This is a subject I am very keen about...after all, my grandma died of Alzheimer's in 1998, and if anything, I want to avoid that same fate in myself.
I begin by using my school library's resource search engine, and will use Alzheimer's as the first term and either cause, treatment, or genes/genetics in the second term:
This provides me with the most relevant items. I am required to use peer reviewed items for this paper, so I don't look at textbooks, guides for the layperson, videos, or periodicals.
Input your resources into a generator.
Use something like Academic Writer or Citation Machine, which will automatically format your references in alphabetical order and in proper APA formatting (sidenote: even if they do so, be sure to always check your references...sometimes these generators can give you an oops with stray commas or periods, or italics where they aren't needed, etc.).
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| After you create a citation, it will be displayed on your "Bibliography." This is a confirmation it was created. |
Citation Machine will organize your references in alphabetical order, and then you can copy all and paste into your reference page. You can search for your reference by title, author, or doi. Keywords don't help much, however. You can cite a variety of items, and even use their manual entry mode to add references that Citation Machine can't find.
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| You can see that Citation Machine can help you create citations for many different formats, and for many types of resources. Aside from books, websites, and journals, one I use most is photographs for use in presentations. Yeah, you have to cite those too! |
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| My citation list usually ends up being a few pages, so the "copy all" tool really helps! When you paste it to your reference page, make sure that the formatting is correct. Sometimes it will switch fonts and font sizes on you. |
Create notes based on what you find in the articles.
After I find a resource I want to use (I will be using Carroll & Macauley's paper for this lit review), I will go ahead and read it while taking notes on relevant information. When I first started writing lit reviews, I would print out the whole report and highlight information. Then I realized that, for literature reviews, you usually only need to read two sections: the abstract and discussion sections.
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| I write notes on things I find that seem relevant to the writing prompt. These papers have tons of biological info that I do not understand and have never been taught. I try to stick to things that are also relevant to the course, which is an undergrad biological psychology course. |
The abstract is going to tell you that this study is one you need to pay attention to. The discussion section will not only elaborate on things mentioned in the abstract, but will also tell you if the study's hypothesis was proven or disproved. However, if you are reading a literature review, like the paper I have selected above, you will have to read all of it, with the conclusion summarizing the info.
When you take notes, be sure to mention which resource the notes came from, and if you can, the page number in case you need to go back to the resource later. Here I have noted the citation of the authors, and date, so that it can be easily referenced when writing.
Write by section, and leave the intro for last.
Many people get caught up in writing the introduction for a lit review first. But how can you introduce what you are writing before you have written it? If you are able to do this, all the kudos to you, but for the rest of us, it's probably best to leave the intro for last.
Instead, start on the lit review. Write by subheadings, i.e. for this paper:
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| I usually use other papers that have been graded as having good APA format for a template. That way, I don't have to worry about re-formatting! Here you can see bits of my last essay on sleep disorders remaining. In this particular essay for Alzheimer's, I wrote the discussion first because 1) it was easier and 2) it required reflection and I had a lot to say about the disease. |
Try to keep the information in an order that flows, leading towards a conclusion. You can see from the above that I started with explaining the disease (symptoms, who it effects, etc), and then moved to causes, then to treatments.
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| I went section by section to not only ensure the flow of the paper, but to keep my brain from frazzling. You can do the sections out of order if it makes sense, too! Sometimes I do that as well. |
Fill in each chunk separately, and add citations as you go. Your reference page should be complete so it should be easy to add citations now. And, if your notes are organized with citations, you can just plug them in where you need them! No need for going back to the resources and trying to figure out where you saw what.
Write the conclusion.
The conclusion is going to be more like a discussion and conclusion, and it will go into more detail than the introduction will.
Write the intro, and if your professor requires an abstract, write that now.
The introduction should be just that: an intro to what you are going to write without going into a ton of detail. You are leading the reader into what they are about to read. But since you knew what you wrote now, this part should be easy.
Check to make sure you have used all your citations.
Even though I make notes on many citations, and use Citation Machine to add them to the list, sometimes I do not use all my citations. Double check that they are used, and if not, just delete them, or if you forgot to cite them, add the citations now.
Make sure that your citations are formatted correctly.
See the below? See any mistakes?
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| This is directly copied from the school Library's citation generator! |
Yeah, that's right. After some of the last names, there are no commas. This is why you need to double check Citation Machine, or wherever you get your citations generated from (these come from the Library's citation generator!). Sometimes the generators will Italicize things that don't need it, add capital letters in places where it should not be, and will remove dates even if they are there. Each generator I've used has some flaw, so you just have to keep on your toes.
Ensure formatting is good on all other things.
Check your title page, your running heads, and margins. If everything is good to go, submit the paper for review by a tutor, or, turn it in.
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