General approaches

There are four general approaches to structuring a literature review, depending on the main relationship you are creating between the texts you are reviewing, and how they serve your research aims.

The Sequential approach

This approach is useful if your central aim is to:

  • Chart the developments in your chosen field in a way that highlights causality and consequence (for instance, how one piece of research informed or gave rise to another and so on)
  • Use a chronological sequence to demonstrate how an issue or research area has evolved over time

Thematic approach

Sometimes, your literature review might aim to bring together previously unrelated areas of research, and there is no linear structure to that relationship – you simply identify the different themes under which you want to organise it, depending on which texts you want to talk about as a group. You might choose to arrange your review into different themes, contexts, schools of thought, subject disciplines, or by methods, theories and approaches.

Funnel approach

The funnel structure moves from the broad to the detailed, the general to the specific, or from the abstract to the concrete. So you start with the broader aspects of your topic (the contextual background, for instance) and then gradually narrow your focus until you reach the specific aspect of the topic that you will be addressing. You might equally be looking at the more abstract, theoretical work on your subject before moving to more concrete case studies in which those approaches have been applied, or more general treatments to more detailed and smaller scale studies. That way, you are guiding your reader and helping them build their understanding of your topic: providing them with the background information and context they need in order to grasp your main ideas.

Mixed approach

Often, your literature review has more than one function and there is more than one key point you want to convey. For instance, you may need to define your theoretical framework, evaluate how other researchers have approached your topic more generally, then outline your specific area of focus and how it relates to the existing literature. Your finished literature review will then comprise different sub-sections that each achieve a particular aim.