1. Why Analyze a Book?
2. Pick A Book to Analyze.
3. Read the Book Twice.
4. Annotate Key Sections.
5. Establish the Book’s Key Idea.
6. Review the Context Behind the Book.
7. Chart the Book’s Story Arcs.
8. Reflect On Your Emotional Reaction.

Critical reading:

1. Identify the author’s thesis and purpose.
2. Analyze the structure of the passage by identifying all main ideas.
3. Consult a dictionary or encyclopedia to understand material that is unfamiliar to you.
4. Make an outline of the work or write a description of it.
5. Write a summary of the work.

When analyzing a book review, we need to ask ourselves five important questions:

1. Does it have a clear, concise thesis in the introductory paragraph?
2. Is the summary of the book brief yet thoughtfully explained?
3. Is the thesis well-supported with specific examples and details from the book?

A good review paper can clarify the state of knowledge, explain apparent contradictions, identify needed research, and even create a consensus where none existed before. Writing a good review can also help to advance your career. Because reviews tend to be highly cited, they help with recognition and promotion.

C1 [ T ] to think or talk about something again, in order to make changes to it or to make a decision about it: The committee is reviewing the current arrangement/situation. Let’s review what has happened so far. He reviewed his options before making a final decision.

The goal of a review is to evaluate or judge something.

Just like most academic papers, literature reviews also must contain at least three basic elements: an introduction or background information section; the body of the review containing the discussion of sources; and, finally, a conclusion and/or recommendations section to end the paper.

In the absence of specific instructions about the length of a literature review, a general rule of thumb is that it should be proportionate to the length of your entire paper. If your paper is 15 pages long 2-3 pages might suffice for the literature review.

Definition. A literature review surveys books, scholarly articles, and any other sources relevant to a particular issue, area of research, or theory, and by so doing, provides a description, summary, and critical evaluation of these works in relation to the research problem being investigated.

Getting Started on your Literature Review

1. Problem definition. identify a research problem or idea. formulate research questions. identify relevant KEYWORDS.
2. Search strategies. identify your information needs. develop information seeking strategies.
3. Analysis. review and summarise articles. take detailed notes.
4. Writing.

Literature Review Outline

1. Describe the overall topic that you have been investigating, why it is important to the field, and why you are interested in the topic.
2. Identify themes and trends in research questions, methodology, and findings. Give a “big picture” of the literature.