8th Edition

Writing Literature Reviews A Guide for Students of the Social and Behavioral Sciences

By Melisa C. Galvan, Jose L. Galvan Copyright 2025
288 Pages 36 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

288 Pages 36 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

288 Pages 36 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

Writing Literature Reviews: A Guide for Students of the Social and Behavioral Sciences provides students with practical guidelines for the complex process of writing literature reviews for course projects, theses or dissertations, and research manuscripts for publication. This bestselling book follows a systematic, natural progression of steps and focuses on the writing of critical reviews of... Read more

Part I: Managing the Literature Search;  1. Writing Reviews of Academic Literature: An Overview;  2. Learn to Navigate the Electronic Resources in Your University’s Library;  3. Selecting a Topic for Your Review  4. Organizing Yourself to Begin the Selection of Relevant Titles;  Part II: Analyzing the Relevant Literature;  5. Conduct a Deep Analysis of the Articles;  6. Analyzing Quantitative Research Literature;  7. Analyzing Qualitative Research Literature;  8. Organizing Your Notes by Grouping the Results of Your Analysis;  Part III: Writing the First Draft of Your Literature Review;  9. Synthesizing Trends and Patterns: Preparing to Write;  10. Guidelines for Writing a First Draft;  11. Guidelines for Developing a Coherent Essay;  Part IV: Editing and Preparing the Final Draft of Your Review;  12. Guidelines for Editing Your Review and Incorporating Feedback;  13. Preparing a Reference List;  Appendix A: Comprehensive Self-editing Checklist for Refining the Final Draft;  Appendix B: Sample Literature Reviews

Biography

Melisa C. Galvan (Ph.D., 2013, UC Berkeley) is co-author of Proposing Empirical Research: A Guide to the Fundamentals (Routledge, 2020) and Writing Empirical Research Reports: A Basic Guide for Students of the Social and Behavioral Sciences (Routledge, 2023). Dr. Galvan is Professor at California State University, Northridge, USA.

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