How To Write A Literary Review?

[Clownbike]

Hi guys

I've been trying to write a literary review for ages and i'm not getting anywhere!

For those who don't know what a literary review is - I'm taking 5 sources and critically analysing them in 2000ish words.

So the topic is Airline Deregulation and i've narrowed it down to look at price wars. My first question is, should i know that i'm looking at price wars in the industry or after the literary review should i find out i want to do a methodology on price wars?

My first journal is a theoretical and the other four are empirical. I've been reading loads on how to write them, but it doesn't really fit into economics too well. I've never had to write one before, but now they are introducing it on my course - stupid F*ckS!

Does anyone have a sample of a literary review (ANY SUBJECT), as i'm really stuck on how it should flow and how i should go about gutting the papers.

Any help would be apreciated.....because i feel like crying

Cheers

Neil

EDIT - sorry if this makes no sense!

Edited November 11, 2007 by Clownbike

[monkeyseemonkeydo]

Dunno if this is much use but for something simlar to what you're talking about (totally different topic) I used the following structure.

Introduction

What it says on the tin, introduce the topic and the reason a lit review is necessary.

Justification

Again, giving very brief info on the papers you've chosen and why you've chosen them. Why are they relevant? What areas do they look into?

Overview

Using necessary sub-headings, discuss fairly briefly what is contained within each paper and their conclusions and findings. State any reservations the author has with the work or any issue's you've picked up on but don't go too far.

Critical Reflection

This is where you can start being critical of the papers, picking up on problems you can see and any discrepancies between the papers. It's about picking holes without being too nasty... I used the same sub-headings as the previous section so that it all kinda relates and flows a bit better.

Discussion

This is a kind of summary of what you've found out. I basically did a paragraph on each of the papers/topics, indicating the shortcomings of their work but also the positive, useful aspects.

Concluding Comments

Short and sweet indicating whether you've sussed out what you hoped to in the Introduction...

References

Finally, you need to list the publications you've cited in the text.

Hope that's of some use to you...

Dave

[Clownbike]

Dunno if this is much use but for something simlar to what you're talking about (totally different topic) I used the following structure.

Introduction

What it says on the tin, introduce the topic and the reason a lit review is necessary.

Justification

Again, giving very brief info on the papers you've chosen and why you've chosen them. Why are they relevant? What areas do they look into?

Overview

Using necessary sub-headings, discuss fairly briefly what is contained within each paper and their conclusions and findings. State any reservations the author has with the work or any issue's you've picked up on but don't go too far.

Critical Reflection

This is where you can start being critical of the papers, picking up on problems you can see and any discrepancies between the papers. It's about picking holes without being too nasty... I used the same sub-headings as the previous section so that it all kinda relates and flows a bit better.

Discussion

This is a kind of summary of what you've found out. I basically did a paragraph on each of the papers/topics, indicating the shortcomings of their work but also the positive, useful aspects.

Concluding Comments

Short and sweet indicating whether you've sussed out what you hoped to in the Introduction...

References

Finally, you need to list the publications you've cited in the text.

Hope that's of some use to you...

Dave

Sounds good to me - apart from the "subheading" bits.......but anyother suggestions or samples?

Ta