Writing Literature Reviews

by José L. Galvan, Melisa C. Galvan

This useful guide educates students in the preparation of literature reviews for term projects, theses, and dissertations. The authors provide numerous examples from published reviews that illustrate the guidelines discussed throughout the book. New to the seventh edition:

Genres: Nonfiction, Education, Writing, Research, Reference, School, Grad School

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Jose L. Galvan (Ph.D., 1980, UT Austin) is Professor Emeritus at California State University, Los Angeles. His academic career spans 39 years, including appointments at UCLA; Teachers College, Columbia University; California State University, Los Angeles; and San Francisco State University.

Reviews

[Erin M]

This was one of the required texts for my Academic Writing class, and because school takes away from my reading for pleasure time, I am counting this as one of my books for my yearly goal. :-)

This was a great refresher book on academic writing, and there were some really good tips on how to organize your notes/research and how best to approach beginning your literature review. I will definitely be keeping this book on the shelf as I go through my doctoral program, and it is useful for folks no matter WHERE they are in their academic career.

[Hayley]

I'm so bored omg

[Deirdre]

A useful, practical, and easy to follow guide to completing a successful literature review. If you're looking for complex jargon in a boring instruction manual, you won't find it in this book. I started the book prior to starting my lit review and have just completed my first amateur review. This book definitely gave me the needed tools to get over the finish line.

[Crystal]

An easy, comprehensive guide to writing a literature review. While it wasn't entirely appropriate for the level of the course that I'm currently taking, it would probably be a great help to college freshmen who have no idea what the hell it is they're doing.

[Scott Whitney]

I did not pick this one up until the end of my degree. I should have picked it up sooner. The information is good, the ideas it has given me are going to be helpful for writing my final and I will probably use some of the information in this book for some of my honors students.

[Stephen]

READ APR 2009

Good high-level overview for academic writing in general, and writing literature reviews in particular.

[Emmanuel Saka]

Very insightful book. Straight to the point content. Liked it!!

[Satosan]

I think this is very helpful

[Hannah]

This book was very informative on how to write literary reviews.

[Melissa Kuehnle]

Step by step instructions to writing and finalizing a literature review.

[Larina Warnock]

Hands down the best book for getting the lit review finished.

[Mary]

A bit outdated with online/digital notations, however this book is a seminal work in how to write literature reviews. I found this very useful for my current research work, and I will absolutely reference this book again in the future!

[Rob Moore]

Great overview of how to conduct a literature review. Clearly written, easy to digest, a good overview for people who are trying to do this well.

[Sarah]

Review for the 6th edition:
A nice introduction to the topic for undergrads, review of the topic for grad students, and teaching resource for instructors.

[Jeannie]

This was a required book for my research methods class, and it was such a helpful breakdown of how to approach writing a literature review.

[Amanda F]

Pretty decent for a research textbook.

[Melissa Ganka-Collins]

All of this info is available on the internet now and can be organized using AI. A textbook guide is not needed.

[Teena D Lykins]

Informative, but it was hard for me to process everything contained in the book. It was a bit overwhelming.

[Hooma]

It looks interesting enough.

[Emmy]

I guess useful, but I don't want to ever have to need this ever again!

[Mills College Library]

808.0663 G182 2014

[Dani]

Required reading for school but immensely helpful. I'll definitely be revisiting this one.

[Nadia Jaramillo]

Very useful and practical. Easy guidelines into writing the literature review