1. WHAT IS A REVIEW PAPER?
The purpose of a review paper is to succinctly review recent progress in a
particular topic. Overall, the paper summarizes the current state of knowledge of
the topic. It creates an understanding of the topic for the reader by discussing the
findings presented in recent research papers.
A review paper is not a "term paper" or book report. It is not merely a report
on some references you found. Instead, a review paper synthesizes the results
from several primary literature papers to produce a coherent argument about a
topic or focused description of a field.
The emphasis of a review paper is interpreting the primary literature on the
subject. You need to read several original research articles on the same topic
and make your own conclusions about the meanings of those papers.
HOW TO WRITE THE PAPER
Overview of the Paper:
Your paper should consist of four general sections:
• Introduction and Background
• The body of the paper
• Conclusion
• References
Review articles contain neither a materials and methods section nor an abstract.
Organizing the Paper:
Use topic headings. Do not use a topic heading that reads, "Body of the paper."
Instead the topic headings should refer to the actual concepts or ideas covered in
that section.
Example
What Goes into Each Section:
Section of the paper What it should contain
Introduction & Background Introduction
2. The introduction of your review should accomplish
three things:
Introduce your topic
It may sound redundant to "introduce" your topic in the
introduction, but often times writer's fail to do so. Let
the reader in on background information specific to
the topic, define terms that may be unfamiliar to them,
explain the scope of the discussion, and your purpose
for writing the review.
State your topic's relevance
Think of your review paper as a statement in the
larger conversation of your academic community.
Your review is your way of entering into that
conversation and it is important to briefly address why
your review is relevant to the discussion. You may feel
the relevance is obvious because you are so familiar
with the topic, but your readers have not yet
esatblished that familiarity.
Reveal your thesis to the reader
The thesis is the main idea that you want to get
across to your reader. your thesis should be a clear
statement of what you intend to prove or illustrate by
your review. By revealing your thesis in the
introduction the reader knows what to expect in the
rest of the paper.
• Make it brief (~1/5 of the paper’s total length).
• Grab the reader's interest while introducing the
topic.
• Explain the "big picture" relevance.
• Provide the necessary background information.
Body of the Paper Don't Summarize!
A review paper is not simply a summary of literature
you have reviewed. Be careful not to leave out your
3. own analysis of the ideas presented in the literature.
Synthesize the material from all the works—what are
the connections you see, or the connections you are
trying to illustrate, among your readings.
Analyze, synthesize, and interpret.
A review paper is not a pure summary of the
information you read for your review. You are required
to analyze, synthesize, and interpret the information
you read in some meaningful way.
It is not enough to simply present the material you
have found, you must go beyond that and explain its
relevance and significance to the topic at hand.
Establish a clear thesis from the onset of your writing
and examine which pieces of your reading help you in
developing and supporting the ideas in your thesis.
Stay focused.
Keep your discussion focused on your topic and more
importantly your thesis. Don't let tangents or
extraneous material get in the way of a concise,
coherent discussion. A well focused paper is crucial in
getting your message across to your reader.
Organize your points.
Keeping your points organized makes it easier for the
reader to follow along and make sense of your review.
Start each paragraph with a topic sentence that
relates back to your thesis. The headings used for this
guide give you some idea of how to organize the
overall paper, but as far as the discussion section
goes use meaningful subheadings that relate to your
content to organize your points.
Conclusion Because the conclusions section often gets left for last
it is often the weakest part of a student review paper.
It is as crucial a part of the paper as any and should
be treated as such.
4. A good conclusion should illustrate the key
connections between your major points and your
thesis as well as they key connections between your
thesis and the broader discussion—what is the
significance of your paper in a larger context? Make
some conclusions—where have you arrived as a
result of writing this paper?
Be careful not to present any new information in the
conclusion section.
References Here you report all the works you have cited in your
paper using the following format depending on your
refernce material.
BOOKS
Author, A. A. (Year). Title of book. Location: Publisher.
ARTICLES
Journal Article (print):
For articles with up to and including 7 authors*,
include the names of all authors.
Author, A. A., and Author, B.B. (Year). Title of article.
Title of Journal, volume number(issue number),
pages.
Kozma, A., and Stones, M.J. (1983). Re-validation of
the Memorial University of Newfoundland scale of
happiness.
Canadian Journal on Aging, 2(1), 27-29.
Journal Article (online):
Provide the doi number (Digital Object Identifier).
Author, A. A. (Year). Title of article. Title of Journal,
volume number(issue number), pages. doi:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Fuller, D. (2002). Critical friendships: Reading
women's writing communities in Newfoundland.
Women's Studies International Forum, 25(2), 247-260.
5. doi: 10.1016/S0277-5395(02)00234-0
WEBSITES
*if no publication date is available, use (n.d.) for "no
date". If no author is available, begin Reference list
entry with the the title.
Entire Website
Author, A.A. (Date). Title of web site. Retrieved from
http://homepage address
Page/Document on a Website
Author, A.A. (Date). Title of page/document. In Title of
web site. Retrieved from http://URL link to specific
page/document
Note: This is the criteria of how your review will be rated.
6. SUMMARY
RUBRIC
CATEGORY 4 3 2 1 NS/0
Content: Organization is a A logical progression One or more major Ideas/events are This code may be used
ORGANIZATION logical progression of of ideas/events and lapses in the logical presented in a for compositions that are
ideas/events and is is reasonably progression of random fashion.• entirely illegible or
unified and complete. complete, although ideas/events is Title of article and otherwise unscorable:
Title of article and minor lapses may be evident. No title/ author’s name are blank responses,
author’s name are present. Title of author’s name are included in the text. responses written in a
included in the text. article and/or included in the text. Direct quotes aren't foreign language,
Direct quotes are author’s name are Direct quotes are placed in quotation restatements of the
placed in quotation included in the text. placed in quotation marks and in MLA prompt, responses that
marks and in MLA or Direct quotes are marks and in MLA or APA format. . are off-topic or
APA format. . placed in quotation or APA format. . incoherent.
marks and in MLA or
APA format. .
Content: FOCUS Topic/subject is clear, Topic/subject is Topic/subject may Topic/subject is This code may be used
though it may/may generally clear be vague. unclear or for compositions that are
not be explicitly though it may not be confusing. entirely illegible or
stated. explicitly stated. otherwise unscorable:
blank responses,
responses written in a
foreign language,
restatements of the
prompt, responses that
are off-topic or
incoherent.
Content: Sufficiently analysis Some analysis lacks Analyzes Barely analyzes Lacks analysis of the
Analysis, salient points about supporting examples. superficially salient salient points of the topic.
the topic with the points of the topic topic.
Synthesis and supporting examples. with some limited
Interpretation examples.
Sources All sources All sources All sources Some sources are All sources are not
(information and (information and (information and not accurately documented.
graphics) are graphics) are graphics) are documented.
accurately accurately accurately
documented in the documented, but a documented, but
desired format. few are not in the many are not in the
desired format. desired format.
