A literature review is an academic work that embraces the validity and understanding of the academic material available concerning the topic. It reviews the major concepts of the investigation and prior studies and demonstrations in a given area of research. When writing a work of literature review, you employ historical data and information that is accessible to create new meaning. It will help you to read the limits of your investigation and to position yourself. After all, the literature review can be your best friend from the time you start writing an introduction of your paper to the time when you are finalizing your conclusion. However, the question is, how long should a literature review be written for a research paper?
The problem of determining the right length for a literature review in a research paper
It is impossible to determine how many pages or how long a literature review should be as it depends on the type of work, the research, and the author. For the literature review, there are expectations for every field, and the expectations usually include the word limit for the given type of literature review. In general, though, the common wisdom is that the greater the depth of the research topic then the more comprehensive the literature review needs to be.
For example, a literature review section for a business research topic may not be extensive but be pretty much to the point, possibly consisting only of numerical tables with major figures and indicators. On the other hand, the literature review for the research topic in history may be very comprehensive, with explanations of such aspects of the research as historical analysis.
Finally, it can be concluded that the literature review length is a relative concept that depends on the discretion of a concrete researcher and the features of a concrete research initiative. Still, regardless of its length, a literature review must be complete, precise, and laconic – that is, it must give a reader an overview of the state of knowledge of the selected research subject.
Now it is high time to discuss the Literature sizes for the different types of writings. To deal with these different types of writing students prefer to hire dissertation help online.
Length of Literature Review for A Research Paper
For whom are you writing, and what are you hoping to accomplish with this? That is the first question one needs to answer before producing a research paper. Notably, this question will hold for each aspect of your work. When choosing a topic, it’s important to consider your audience and aim. The same question is to be answered when one is writing an introduction for a research paper.
The collection of materials regarded as the most important source for finding out the needed information is called a literature review. It helps to keep abreast of what is known in a given field at any one time and to realize where further research is necessary.
The length of a literature review differs with the level and the goal of the research that is being conducted. For instance, one of the components of a PhD thesis will be a literature review that will be longer than a literature review on a high school research paper. The literature review length also depends on the coverage of the research area, the large coverage of the research area calls for extensive review.
In general, one should expect a literature review to range from a minimum of 20 pages. However, as it has been seen, this will vary depending on the specific task that one needs to complete as part of the assignment. High school paper topics might only require several paragraphs, while longer papers will need detailed discussion.
However, the basic requirement is that the literature review should be written in proper English and should offer a critical analysis of the existing literature on a subject (BAW, 2022). It should define the areas of silence in the existing literature and propose research directions.
Amount of time that should be taken to complete a stand-alone literature review
A literature review can be a very impeccable treat to read as a stand-alone article because of the complexity of the research that is normally involved in producing them. In the measure that the integrated work can only be a write-up, the literature review can comprise as many aspects as to supply much through background. It involves giving background and modern backgrounds to make historical worth to the subject of your research. Nevertheless, it is an inspiration; it flows like a river and the fact is, you have probably constructed a dam around it somewhere or other, eventually. A literature review that is conducted for a period that is either too short or when it is stand-alone inadequate, insights will be lacking.
On the other hand, if the lit review is too long, it becomes tiring to the reader hence leading to the weakening of your argument. It could be agreed that the literature review when written as an individual article should be minimally 20 pages long. You can, of course, add more pages if you need more, but there is a limit to this.
To sum up
What the length of a literature review in a research paper might be can be understood in many ways. Of course, everything relies on the nature and scope of your study as well as how you calculate how much labor has to be done. You should be able to answer this question by now, and therefore go ahead and ace that literature review section.
However, if the review forms part of a bigger write-up, then your introduction and conclusion will have relatively more details since you will include a discussion on your research objectives, methods, and findings as well as the literature used in your study (Proofed, 2024).
References
Proofed, & Proofed. (2023, October 1). How long should a literature review be? Proofed. https://proofed.com/writing-tips/how-long-should-a-literature-review-be/
BAW (2022). How Academic Help Providers Save the Students’ Future? https://bestassignmentwriter.co.uk/blog/how-academic-help-providers-save-the-students-future/