Literature Review Writing

A skill for structuring, synthesizing, and writing literature reviews. Covers narrative reviews, systematic reviews, scoping reviews, and literature review sections within empirical papers. Provides frameworks for organizing sources, identifying themes, and writing with synthesis rather than summary.

Types of Literature Reviews

Choosing the Right Review Type

Type	Purpose	Search	Analysis	Length
Narrative	Broad overview of a topic	Selective	Qualitative synthesis	5-30 pages
Systematic	Answer a specific question exhaustively	Exhaustive, documented	May include meta-analysis	10-40 pages
Scoping	Map the extent of research on a topic	Broad, systematic	Charting and categorizing	10-20 pages
Integrative	Synthesize diverse methodologies	Targeted	Conceptual synthesis	10-25 pages
Umbrella	Review of systematic reviews	Focused on SRs	Synthesis of syntheses	10-20 pages

Organizing Your Sources

Building a Literature Matrix

def create_literature_matrix(sources: list[dict]) -> dict:
    """
    Create a structured matrix for organizing reviewed literature.

    Args:
        sources: List of dicts with keys: author, year, title, method,
                 sample, key_findings, themes, limitations
    """
    matrix = {
        "headers": [
            "Author (Year)", "Research Question", "Method",
            "Sample/Data", "Key Findings", "Themes", "Limitations"
        ],
        "rows": [],
        "theme_index": {}
    }

    for src in sources:
        row = {
            "citation": f"{src['author']} ({src['year']})",
            "question": src.get("research_question", ""),
            "method": src.get("method", ""),
            "sample": src.get("sample", ""),
            "findings": src.get("key_findings", ""),
            "themes": src.get("themes", []),
            "limitations": src.get("limitations", "")
        }
        matrix["rows"].append(row)

        for theme in src.get("themes", []):
            matrix["theme_index"].setdefault(theme, []).append(
                row["citation"]
            )

    return matrix