How To Write Literature Review Summary

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How to write a literary review.

Guidelines on how to write a literary review in the face of mediocrity

Ladies and gentlemen of the internet, it's high time it was explained to you how to write a literature review. This is a gruesome yet necessary task in the modern age. Thanks to the egalitarian availability brought about by technology we are currently seeing a proliferation of reviews of literary products – primarily across the internet written by individuals who do not know how write a literature review.

To correct this I am going to outline some very basic guidelines on how to write a literature review that is both critical and engaging.

The first is to always keep an objective perspective. This is the golden rule. Is it engaging because it is written well or just because you like one aspect of it?

Second at regular intervals, maybe a chapter or number of pages stop and consider what you've read. What stood out, what made you turn the page and the kind of things that did rise an emotional response from you.

When you have these points identified you have identified key aspects of the text. Look at how their handled and whether there are enough in the size of the text. Too few and text has no engagement value. Too many and it is confused.

Another problem is how to write a literature review for your different audiences. Consider the context of your publication when you write and the readers of that publication. Net based audiences may not relate to classical literary references but will identify with figures in popular culture. With this also in mind you can also choose to select elements of the text to mention that the potential audience may be more likely to want to engage with such as mentioning the level of scientific knowledge of the author for a science fiction piece. Audiences of such a genre will be interested in knowing how based in fact the tale is and how much is fantasy. This is how to write a literary review that grabs the attention of the target audience.

But equally the review should be at least half written in layman terms in order for the general public to get an understanding of a text that they might not otherwise read. So how to write a literary review for people who don't want to read that kind of book I hear you ask? Give an indication of what's different. State what makes a work stand out from others of its genre. Maybe a greater use of dialogue or elements of another genre are noticeable in the text. Research is always needed.

It is also key to know how to write a literary review without buzz words or slang. Again this is to appeal to a wider demographic by using common terms found in every day speech. This is how to write a literary review without looking like an avid fan or an amateur. Neither impressions will lend you credibility when attempting such a critical piece.

So that's it. That should be all you need to know on how to write a literary review without looking like excitable fans and more like critical readers. Good luck.