From the International Law 341 consultations I have had so far it is clear that students are struggling to understand and formulate a literature review. Here are a few pointers that could assist you:
- A literature review should consist of approximately 500-600 words – this means you are looking at approximately 3 – 4 paragraphs. The aim of a literature review is for you to find a few relevant, comparable sources, that could be 3 or 5 sources depending on the topic. However, the sources has to be authoritative, comparable and relevant.
- Essentially a literature review tells your reader what specific part of a specific source is going to assist you to answers a specific research question or sub-question or assist you to reach a specific research aim.
- It is important to understand that your literature review is not a list of sources with a short description of each one. Or merely copying each source in your bibliography with a short description.
Consultation slots are quickly filling up so if you have any technical questions, do not hesitate to make use of our Facebook platform which you can access here.
Best of luck!
Chantelle Hough Louw
