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Orillia Instructional Videos

These videos will help you with research at Lakehead-Orillia.

How to Write a Literature Review

A literature review provides an overview of a topic, synthesizes and critiques the arguments of leading scholars relevant to your topic, and illustrates how research you want to do is going to contrast, extend, or fill a gap in the existing research on your topic.

You might be asked by your professor to write a literature review as part of a research project. If you ever plan to pursue graduate studies (a Masters degree or PhD), you will definitely have to complete a literature review as part of your research.

The Lakehead Library also has some books on how to write a literature review. Try searching the library catalogue.

Below is a Prezi presentation with some tips for writing a literature review. (Prezi is similar to PowerPoint, and is a great tool for creating visual presentations. There's no software to download - you just need to sign up for a free account online. You can also learn more on the Prezi Support Center.)

Click on "Start Prezi" below, then use the arrows at the bottom of the presentation to click through the slides. The icon at the bottom right corner of the presentation will enlarge the Prezi to full-screen. Press Escape to exit full-screen mode.