Mistakes to avoid when writing your dissertation literature review

Building a strong and high-quality literature review is vital to gaining marks when writing your dissertation. After all, this chapter is typically worth a high percentage of your overall grade. Therefore, this article will outline some of the most common mistakes to avoid when writing your dissertation literature review. 

Describing and not analysing literature 

Being too descriptive is one of the most common mistakes seen in dissertation literature reviews. A literature review is not simply used for detailing every single thing that has been said about the topic. You need to go beyond merely stating which researcher said what. 

Use the literature review to show current theory and its strengths/weaknesses, areas of agreement/disagreement, recent trends, how the topic has changed over time and uninvestigated areas within this topic. 

At the end of your literature review, it should be clear what the ‘gap in the literature’ is that you are planning to research further. 

Using old or unreliable sources

Whilst you may wish to reference older sources to show how a topic originated and changed over time, it’s important to also use up-to-date sources, especially when discussing the latest trends surrounding your topic. Otherwise, it will weaken your argument if you use older sources, especially if more recent research is available. 

The same applies to sources that are unreliable or poor quality. These may be inaccurate, out of date or poorly written. It’s best to stick to academic journals (particularly peer-reviewed), Google Scholar, textbooks, conference papers or lecture material. Have a look at the sources on your reading lists or ask your university librarian to help you identify sources. 

Mentioning irrelevant literature

The purpose of the literature review is to critically review the theory upon which your research question and aims is based. Therefore, you should focus on literature that directly relates to your research. Whilst you may wish to provide some background information keep this to a minimum and remain focused on your own research. 

Poor structure and flow 

Another common mistake found in literature reviews is a lack of proper structure. When beginning this chapter, it’s tempting to start writing as you discover new literature. However, this will risk having plenty of theory and background but without a properly structured argument. 

Your literature review should start with an overall introduction to your topic where you offer key definitions and the scope of the rest of your chapter. Next, you should critically review the current literature relating to your topic including areas of agreement/disagreement, key theories, criticisms and how the topic has evolved over time. 

Lastly, you should summarise the key findings of your literature review and identify any gaps in the literature which will form the basis for your research. 

Plagiarism 

Plagiarising, that is using someone else’s work without correctly referencing them is a serious mistake as this can come with academic consequences. Read more about plagiarism and how to avoid it here.

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