Outline: Literature Review

By Amanda Riojas

1) Introduction
       a) Statement of Purpose
              i) Why does this need a review?
       b) Relevance of Topic
              i) Why is this important?
       c) Brief Summary
              i) Highlights of important research milestones in the literature
2) General Background
       a) Summary of Recent Studies
             i) Why each study is relevant to the review
            ii) Strengths and/or weaknesses of each study
           iii) Mention studies to which other papers may call attention (for good or bad reasons)
       b) Long-standing problems or challenges
             i) Why are these areas problematic?
            ii) Why haven’t solutions been found?
       c) Areas of research that still need to be investigated
             i) Why haven’t these areas been explored?
            ii) New advances that may allow for future research
3) Current Study
       a) Background of Current Study
             i) Previous work
       b) Methodology
       c) Results
       d) Conclusions
4) Overall Conclusions
        a) Restate:
             i) Statement of Purpose
            ii) Relevance of Topic
           iii) Summary of Recent Studies
                    (1) Inadequacies of recent studies
        b) Summary of Current Study
        c) Revisit: Areas of research for future investigation (update, if necessary)

About the author
Currently, Dr. Amanda Riojas is the Scientific Computing Manager/Researcher for Brewer Science in Austin, Texas. After graduating with a B.S. in Forensic Chemistry from St. Edward's University in 2008, Dr. Riojas received a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of North Texas in 2015. During her time at UNT, she was a member of the Graduate Education Advisory Board for the American Chemical Society, where she gained experience as an advocate for graduate education and developed an interest in preparing graduate students for careers in industry. Her other professional interests and volunteer activities include science and technology policy, advocacy for women and minorities in the sciences, and St. Edward's Alumni outreach. Since December 2015, Dr. Riojas has also been trying out a new role: Mommy.

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