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Literature Review Basics

  • Literature Review Step-by-Step
  • Common Questions about Literature Reviews
  • How do I craft a basic citation?
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This video will provide a short introduction to literature reviews.

Steps For Writing a Literature Review

Recommended steps for writing a literature review:

  • Review what a literature review is, and is not 
  • Review your assignment and seek clarification from your instructor if needed
  • Narrow your topic
  • Search and gather literature resources. 
  • Read and analyze literature resources
  • Write the literature review
  • Review appropriate  Citation and Documentation Style  for your assignment and literature review

Common Questions

What is a literature review?

A literature review is a type of scholarly, researched writing that discusses the already published information on a narrow topic . 

What is the purpose of a writing literature review?

Writing a literature review improves your personal understanding of a topic, and demonstrates your knowledge and ability to make connections between concepts and ideas. The literature review is a service to your reader, summarizing past ideas about a topic, bringing them up to date on the latest research, and making sure they have all any background information they need to understand the topic.  

What is "the literature"?

This already published information- called the literature- can be from primary information sources such as speeches, interviews, and reports, or from secondary information sources such as peer-reviewed journal articles, dissertations, and books. These type of sources are probably familiar to you from previous research projects you’ve done in your classes.

Is a literature review it's own paper?

You can write a literature review as a standalone paper , or as part of a larger research paper . When a standalone paper, the literature review acts as a summary, or snapshot, of what has been said and done about a topic in the field so far. When part of the a larger paper, a literature review still acts as a snapshot, but the prior information it provides can also support the new information, research, or arguments presented later in the paper.

Does a literature review contain an argument?

No, a literature review does NOT present an argument or new information. The literature review is a foundation that summarizes and synthesizes the existing literature in order for you and your readers to understand what has already been said and done about your topic.

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What is a Literature Review?

Literature review video.

In Research Articles 

What is a literature review? Rather than describing original research results, literature reviews summarize the research on a particular topic by synthesizing information from many primary sources.

Why should I read literature reviews? Review articles can be helpful for gathering background information and identifying key articles in a particular field.

How can I find a literature review? Many library databases, including Scopus, Web of Science, and PubMed, allow you to filter search results to include only "review articles" or "literature reviews."  

For Class Assignments 

In a class, a lit review may be assigned to help students familiarize themselves with a topic and with scholarship in their field, get an idea of the other researchers working on the topic they’re interested in, find gaps in existing research in order to propose new projects, and/or develop a theoretical framework and methodology for later research.

Source: The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue. (n/a). What is a literature review? Purdue University.  Writing a Literature Review // Purdue Writing Lab

To better understand what is a literature review, watch the video from the NC State University Libraries. 

Watch  Literature Reviews: An Overview for Graduate Students  00:09:37

Source: NC State University Libraries(n.a.)  Literature Reviews: An Overview for Graduate Students . Retrieved from   https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/tutorials/lit-review  

ScienceOxygen

What is a literature review in biology?

A literature review surveys scholarly articles, books and other sources relevant to a particular issue, area of research, or theory.

How do I write a science literature review?

What are the 5 steps in writing a literature review?

What are the 7 steps in writing a literature review?

How does literature review look like?

The literature review is a written overview of major writings and other sources on a selected topic. Sources covered in the review may include scholarly journal articles, books, government reports, Web sites, etc. The literature review provides a description, summary and evaluation of each source.

How many pages should a literature review be?

The length of a literature review varies depending on its purpose and audience. In a thesis or dissertation, the review is usually a full chapter (at least 20 pages), but for an assignment it may only be a few pages. There are several ways to organize and structure a literature review.

What makes a good literature review?

A good literature review shows signs of synthesis and understanding of the topic. There should be strong evidence of analytical thinking shown through the connections you make between the literature being reviewed.

What are the 3 types of scientific literature?

How do you write a literature review for a lab report?

Summarize and synthesize: Give an overview of the main points of each source and combine them into a coherent whole. Analyze and interpret: Don’t just paraphrase other researchers – add your own interpretations where possible, discussing the significance of findings in relation to the literature as a whole.

How do you start a literature review example?

How did you begin in writing your literature review?

Write the review Start by writing your thesis statement. This is an important introductory sentence that will tell your reader what the topic is and the overall perspective or argument you will be presenting. Like essays, a literature review must have an introduction, a body and a conclusion.

What are the main components of a literature review?

Just like most academic papers, literature reviews also must contain at least three basic elements: an introduction or background information section; the body of the review containing the discussion of sources; and, finally, a conclusion and/or recommendations section to end the paper.

How do you write a literature review template?

What are the 6 different steps in literature review?

What are the 10 steps of writing a review of related literature?

What is a literature review outline?

A literature review structure is very similar to a traditional essay and consists of an introduction, followed by the main body, and finally a conclusion. The paper is centered on an author’s interpretation of a literary piece, in various perspectives that can be backed up by different sources.

What are the four literature review strategies?

Outlining important research trends. Assessing strengths and weaknesses (of individual studies as well the existing research as a whole). Identifying potential gaps in knowledge. Establishing a need for current and/or future research projects.

How long should it take to write a literature review?

The estimated completion of an acceptable literature review will take between three and six months of effort. The purpose of this guide is to articulate, collect and summarize the most relevant information and how it will contribute to existing research in that area.

How long does writing a literature review take?

The average review may take six months to write and require multiple revisions. “If you don’t schedule some time for the dissertation,” he says, “it will slip into the background.”

What makes a bad literature review?

There are several mistakes that may happen while writing an effective literature review includes no proper lines like dispute statement, absences of appropriate research, indicating the sources incorrectly, the poor formation of paper, plagiarism checking.

How many studies should be in a literature review?

In general, undergraduate students will usually be required to use somewhere between 5 and 20 sources; graduate students typically will need between 20 and 40. However, the number can vary greatly, so always read your requirements and ask your professor.

What is an example of scientific literature?

Examples: journal articles, conference proceedings, dissertations, and patents.

What is primary literature in biology?

Primary literature in the field of science refers to original reports of research reviewed by experts and published in scholarly journals (periodical publications in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published).

What are the three types of sources for a literature review?

Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Sources.

Does a literature review have an abstract?

The actual review generally has 5 components: Abstract – An abstract is a summary of your literature review. It is made up of the following parts: A contextual sentence about your motivation behind your research topic.

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20 Topics For A Biology Literature Review

a literature review biology

The building block of all  academic research activities , regardless of discipline, is to base the work on existing knowledge and link it up. Hence, doing so correctly should be a priority for all academics. However, the task has got more and more complicated. Development of knowledge within the field of  business research  is growing at a tremendous pace while remaining fragmented and interdisciplinary at the same time. This makes it difficult to keep up with state of the art studies and be at the forefront, as well as analyse the accumulated evidence in a specific area of research. Therefore, the literature review as a method of research is more relevant than ever. A review of literature can be generally defined as a more or less systematic way of collecting and synthesizing prior research.

A successful and well-done analysis as a research method provides a firm foundation for the advancement of knowledge and the growth of theory.  Scientific research support  services  offer the  medical analysis data  that are related to research work. Through combining observations and insights from many scientific studies, a review of the literature will answer research questions with a strength that no single study has (Boyd & Solarino, 2016).

The Process of Conducting a Literature Review

There are a number of steps that need to be taken and decisions are taken to produce a study that satisfies the publication criteria.  The basic steps and essential choices involved in conducting a literature review will be suggested and addressed in four phases; (1) Planning of the review, (2) Conducting of the review, (3) Analyses and (4) Writing the review (Palmatier et al., 2018).

Interesting topics to Choose in Biology

Here we have discussed 20 topics to choose in biology, which can be quite interesting. The first 10 topics are explained to the point where we can work and the remaining 10 articles are stated on general themes.

1.Obesity related to Genetic Phenomenon

Obesity  is a heterogeneous disease whose biological causes are complex. The increasing frequency of obesity over the last few decades is attributed to environmental factors such as sedentary lifestyles and overnutrition, but that is obese at an individual level is determined by genetic susceptibility (Venkatesan & Mohan, 2016).

2.Is Paleo diet the healthiest choice

Paleolithic diet  has been gaining worldwide popularity due to its putative health benefits. “Paleo” was Google’s most wanted diet word in 2014. Nonetheless, a 2015 US News and World Report ranking of 35 diets with feedback from a panel of health experts ranked the Paleolithic diet dead last, citing a lack of evidence of clinical benefits from research (Manheimer et al., 2015).

3.Resistant to Antibiotics

Antibiotics are the’ wonder medicines’ used for battling microbes. Numerous types of antibiotics have been not only used for therapeutic purposes for decades but have been used prophylactically across other fields such as livestock and animal husbandry. Uncertainty has emerged as microbes have become immune to specific antibiotics while the host remains unaware of the development of antibiotic resistance (Zaman et al., 2017).

4.The Need of the Hour – Coronavirus

A cluster of identified-cause pneumonia patients was related to a wholesale market for seafood in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. A previously unknown betacoronavirus was discovered from patients with pneumonia by using objective sequencing in the samples .

5.Impact of Tobacco Use

Cigarettes smoked in the form of either smoke or smokeless is dangerous for the human body. Globally, the death toll from cigarettes has risen to around 6.4 million annually and is on a steady rise (Shah et al., 2018).

6.The need to review HIV

Human Immunodeficiency Virus / Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (HIV / AIDS) is a global health problem: more than 70 million people were diagnosed with HIV, 35 million died, and 36.7 million people are currently living with the disease (Fajardo-Ortiz et al., 2017).

7.The Unsolved Leprosy

Leprosy, a chronic mycobacterial infection caused by Mycobacterium leprae, is an infectious disease that has destroyed human societies for thousands of years. This ancestral pathogen causes cutaneous lesions to disfigure, peripheral nerve damage, ostearticular deformity, loss of limbs and weakness, blindness and stigma (Franco-Paredes & Rodriguez-Morales, 2016).

8.Tuberculosis – The Disease without Boundaries

An airborne disease of Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB), which usually affects the lungs causing severe coughing, fever, and chest pain. While current research has provided valuable insight into the transmission, diagnosis, and treatment of TB over the past four years, much remains to be learned to effectively decrease the occurrence of and ultimately eliminate TB (Levine et al., 2015).

9.The Epidemic of the Century – Diabetes

It studies the epidemic essence of diabetes mellitus in various regions. The North Africa and the Middle East region has the lowest prevalence of diabetes in adults (10.9 percent), while the Western Pacific region has the highest number of diabetes-diagnosed adults and countries with the highest incidence of diabetes (37.5 per cent) (Kharroubi, 2015).

10.Parkinson’s Disease

The disease of Parkinson is a progressive neurodegenerative disease characterized by tremor and bradykinesia and is a common neurological disorder. Male sex and advancing age are independent risk factors, and rising productivity and medical resources are taking on increasing toll as the population ages (Hayes, 2019).

General Topics to Focus

Future Scopes

A review of the literature may be thorough or limited, but it should discuss landmark or principal works and works that have been important in the field. The complexity of a review of the literature can vary according to assignment and discipline. The analysis of literature may be part of a larger piece of work or a stand-alone post, meaning it’s a paper entirely. Moreover, literature reviews can pave a way to numerous research questions and research ideas.

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Ecology and evolutionary biology research guide.

What is a literature review?

A literature review surveys scholarly articles, books and other sources relevant to a particular issue, area of research, or theory. The purpose is to offer an overview of significant literature published on a topic.

A literature review may constitute an essential chapter of a thesis or dissertation, or may be a self-contained review of writings on a subject. In either case, its purpose is to:

A literature review can be just a simple summary of the sources, but it usually has an organizational pattern and combines both summary and synthesis. A summary is a recap of the important information of the source, but a synthesis is a re-organization, or a reshuffling, of that information. It might give a new interpretation of old material or combine new with old interpretations. Or it might trace the intellectual progression of the field, including major debates. And depending on the situation, the literature review may evaluate the sources and advise the reader on the most pertinent or relevant.

Similar to primary research, development of the literature review requires four stages:

Remember, this is a process and not necessarily a linear one. As you search and evaluate the literature, you may refine your topic or head in a different direction which will take you back to the search stage. In fact, it is useful to evaluate as you go along so you don't spend hours researching one aspect of your topic only to find yourself more interested in another.

The main focus of an academic research paper is to develop a new argument, and a research paper will contain a literature review as one of its parts. In a research paper, you use the literature as a foundation and as support for a new insight that you contribute. The focus of a literature review, however, is to summarize and synthesize the arguments and ideas of others without adding new contributions.

For additional information, including suggestions for the structure of your literature review, see this guide from the University of North Carolina's Writing Center: https://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/literature-reviews/

This <10 minute tutorial from North Carolina State University also provides a good overview of the literature review: https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/tutorials/lit-review/

Finding Examples

While we don't have any examples of an EEB JP literature review, it may be useful to look at other reviews to learn how researchers in the field "summarize and synthesize" the literature. Any research article or dissertation in the sciences will include a section which reviews the literature. Though the section may not be labeled as such, you will quickly recognize it by the number of citations and the discussion of the literature. Another option is to look for Review Articles, which are literature reviews as a stand alone article. Here are some resources where you can find Research Articles, Review Articles and Dissertations:

*** Note about using Review Articles in your research - while they are useful in helping you to locate articles on your topic, remember that you must go to and use the original source if you intend to include a study mentioned in the review. The only time you would cite a review article is if they have made an original insight in their work that you talk about in your paper. Going to the original research paper allows you to verify the information about that study and determine whether the points made in the review are valid and accurate.

Research in the Biological and Life Sciences: A Guide for Cornell Researchers: Literature Reviews

What is a Literature Review?

A literature review is a body of text that aims to review the critical points of current knowledge on a particular topic. Most often associated with science-oriented literature, such as a thesis, the literature review usually proceeds a research proposal, methodology and results section. Its ultimate goals is to bring the reader up to date with current literature on a topic and forms that basis for another goal, such as the justification for future research in the area. (retrieved from  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literature_review )

Writing a Literature Review

The literature review is the section of your paper in which you cite and briefly review the related research studies that have been conducted. In this space, you will describe the foundation on which  your  research will be/is built. You will:

The literature review should be selective and should group the cited studies in some logical fashion.

If you need some additional assistance writing your literature review, the Knight Institute for Writing in the Disciplines offers a  Graduate Writing Service .

Demystifying the Literature Review

For more information, visit our guide devoted to " Demystifying the Literature Review " which includes:

Online Resources

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Molecular and Cellular Biology: Literature Review

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Article Pre-prints

An literature review examples on biology literature reviews is a prosaic composition of a small volume and free composition, expressing individual impressions and thoughts on a specific occasion or issue and obviously not claiming a definitive or exhaustive interpretation of the subject.

Some signs of biology literature reviews literature review:

The goal of an literature review in biology literature reviews is to develop such skills as independent creative thinking and writing out your own thoughts.

Writing an literature review is extremely useful, because it allows the author to learn to clearly and correctly formulate thoughts, structure information, use basic concepts, highlight causal relationships, illustrate experience with relevant examples, and substantiate his conclusions.

Examples List on Biology Literature Reviews

Molecular Biology of the Cell Text Book

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Literature Reviews, Theoretical Frameworks, and Conceptual Frameworks: An Introduction for New Biology Education Researchers

Department of Mathematics, Social Studies, and Science Education, Mary Frances Early College of Education, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602-7124

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*Address correspondence to: Sophia Jeong ( E-mail Address: [email protected] ).

Department of Teaching & Learning, College of Education & Human Ecology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210

Department of Biology, Eastern Washington University, Cheney, WA 99004

Department of Biology, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN 37132

To frame their work, biology education researchers need to consider the role of literature reviews, theoretical frameworks, and conceptual frameworks as critical elements of the research and writing process. However, these elements can be confusing for scholars new to education research. This Research Methods article is designed to provide an overview of each of these elements and delineate the purpose of each in the educational research process. We describe what biology education researchers should consider as they conduct literature reviews, identify theoretical frameworks, and construct conceptual frameworks. Clarifying these different components of educational research studies can be helpful to new biology education researchers and the biology education research community at large in situating their work in the broader scholarly literature.

INTRODUCTION

Discipline-based education research (DBER) involves the purposeful and situated study of teaching and learning in specific disciplinary areas ( Singer et al. , 2012 ). Studies in DBER are guided by research questions that reflect disciplines’ priorities and worldviews. Researchers can use quantitative data, qualitative data, or both to answer these research questions through a variety of methodological traditions. Across all methodologies, there are different methods associated with planning and conducting educational research studies that include the use of surveys, interviews, observations, artifacts, or instruments. Ensuring the coherence of these elements to the discipline’s perspective also involves situating the work in the broader scholarly literature. The tools for doing this include literature reviews, theoretical frameworks, and conceptual frameworks. However, the purpose and function of each of these elements is often confusing to new education researchers. The goal of this article is to introduce new biology education researchers to these three important elements important in DBER scholarship and the broader educational literature.

The first element we discuss is a review of research (literature reviews), which highlights the need for a specific research question, study problem, or topic of investigation. Literature reviews situate the relevance of the study within a topic and a field. The process may seem familiar to science researchers entering DBER fields, but new researchers may still struggle in conducting the review. Booth et al. (2016b) highlight some of the challenges novice education researchers face when conducting a review of literature. They point out that novice researchers struggle in deciding how to focus the review, determining the scope of articles needed in the review, and knowing how to be critical of the articles in the review. Overcoming these challenges (and others) can help novice researchers construct a sound literature review that can inform the design of the study and help ensure the work makes a contribution to the field.

The second and third highlighted elements are theoretical and conceptual frameworks. These guide biology education research (BER) studies, and may be less familiar to science researchers. These elements are important in shaping the construction of new knowledge. Theoretical frameworks offer a way to explain and interpret the studied phenomenon, while conceptual frameworks clarify assumptions about the studied phenomenon. Despite the importance of these constructs in educational research, biology educational researchers have noted the limited use of theoretical or conceptual frameworks in published work ( DeHaan, 2011 ; Dirks, 2011 ; Lo et al. , 2019 ). In reviewing articles published in CBE—Life Sciences Education ( LSE ) between 2015 and 2019, we found that fewer than 25% of the research articles had a theoretical or conceptual framework (see the Supplemental Information), and at times there was an inconsistent use of theoretical and conceptual frameworks. Clearly, these frameworks are challenging for published biology education researchers, which suggests the importance of providing some initial guidance to new biology education researchers.

Fortunately, educational researchers have increased their explicit use of these frameworks over time, and this is influencing educational research in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. For instance, a quick search for theoretical or conceptual frameworks in the abstracts of articles in Educational Research Complete (a common database for educational research) in STEM fields demonstrates a dramatic change over the last 20 years: from only 778 articles published between 2000 and 2010 to 5703 articles published between 2010 and 2020, a more than sevenfold increase. Greater recognition of the importance of these frameworks is contributing to DBER authors being more explicit about such frameworks in their studies.

Collectively, literature reviews, theoretical frameworks, and conceptual frameworks work to guide methodological decisions and the elucidation of important findings. Each offers a different perspective on the problem of study and is an essential element in all forms of educational research. As new researchers seek to learn about these elements, they will find different resources, a variety of perspectives, and many suggestions about the construction and use of these elements. The wide range of available information can overwhelm the new researcher who just wants to learn the distinction between these elements or how to craft them adequately.

Our goal in writing this paper is not to offer specific advice about how to write these sections in scholarly work. Instead, we wanted to introduce these elements to those who are new to BER and who are interested in better distinguishing one from the other. In this paper, we share the purpose of each element in BER scholarship, along with important points on its construction. We also provide references for additional resources that may be beneficial to better understanding each element. Table 1 summarizes the key distinctions among these elements.

This article is written for the new biology education researcher who is just learning about these different elements or for scientists looking to become more involved in BER. It is a result of our own work as science education and biology education researchers, whether as graduate students and postdoctoral scholars or newly hired and established faculty members. This is the article we wish had been available as we started to learn about these elements or discussed them with new educational researchers in biology.

LITERATURE REVIEWS

Purpose of a literature review.

A literature review is foundational to any research study in education or science. In education, a well-conceptualized and well-executed review provides a summary of the research that has already been done on a specific topic and identifies questions that remain to be answered, thus illustrating the current research project’s potential contribution to the field and the reasoning behind the methodological approach selected for the study ( Maxwell, 2012 ). BER is an evolving disciplinary area that is redefining areas of conceptual emphasis as well as orientations toward teaching and learning (e.g., Labov et al. , 2010 ; American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2011 ; Nehm, 2019 ). As a result, building comprehensive, critical, purposeful, and concise literature reviews can be a challenge for new biology education researchers.

Building Literature Reviews

There are different ways to approach and construct a literature review. Booth et al. (2016a) provide an overview that includes, for example, scoping reviews, which are focused only on notable studies and use a basic method of analysis, and integrative reviews, which are the result of exhaustive literature searches across different genres. Underlying each of these different review processes are attention to the s earch process, a ppraisa l of articles, s ynthesis of the literature, and a nalysis: SALSA ( Booth et al. , 2016a ). This useful acronym can help the researcher focus on the process while building a specific type of review.

However, new educational researchers often have questions about literature reviews that are foundational to SALSA or other approaches. Common questions concern determining which literature pertains to the topic of study or the role of the literature review in the design of the study. This section addresses such questions broadly while providing general guidance for writing a narrative literature review that evaluates the most pertinent studies.

The literature review process should begin before the research is conducted. As Boote and Beile (2005 , p. 3) suggested, researchers should be “scholars before researchers.” They point out that having a good working knowledge of the proposed topic helps illuminate avenues of study. Some subject areas have a deep body of work to read and reflect upon, providing a strong foundation for developing the research question(s). For instance, the teaching and learning of evolution is an area of long-standing interest in the BER community, generating many studies (e.g., Perry et al. , 2008 ; Barnes and Brownell, 2016 ) and reviews of research (e.g., Sickel and Friedrichsen, 2013 ; Ziadie and Andrews, 2018 ). Emerging areas of BER include the affective domain, issues of transfer, and metacognition ( Singer et al. , 2012 ). Many studies in these areas are transdisciplinary and not always specific to biology education (e.g., Rodrigo-Peiris et al. , 2018 ; Kolpikova et al. , 2019 ). These newer areas may require reading outside BER; fortunately, summaries of some of these topics can be found in the Current Insights section of the LSE website.

In focusing on a specific problem within a broader research strand, a new researcher will likely need to examine research outside BER. Depending upon the area of study, the expanded reading list might involve a mix of BER, DBER, and educational research studies. Determining the scope of the reading is not always straightforward. A simple way to focus one’s reading is to create a “summary phrase” or “research nugget,” which is a very brief descriptive statement about the study. It should focus on the essence of the study, for example, “first-year nonmajor students’ understanding of evolution,” “metacognitive prompts to enhance learning during biochemistry,” or “instructors’ inquiry-based instructional practices after professional development programming.” This type of phrase should help a new researcher identify two or more areas to review that pertain to the study. Focusing on recent research in the last 5 years is a good first step. Additional studies can be identified by reading relevant works referenced in those articles. It is also important to read seminal studies that are more than 5 years old. Reading a range of studies should give the researcher the necessary command of the subject in order to suggest a research question.

Given that the research question(s) arise from the literature review, the review should also substantiate the selected methodological approach. The review and research question(s) guide the researcher in determining how to collect and analyze data. Often the methodological approach used in a study is selected to contribute knowledge that expands upon what has been published previously about the topic (see Institute of Education Sciences and National Science Foundation, 2013 ). An emerging topic of study may need an exploratory approach that allows for a description of the phenomenon and development of a potential theory. This could, but not necessarily, require a methodological approach that uses interviews, observations, surveys, or other instruments. An extensively studied topic may call for the additional understanding of specific factors or variables; this type of study would be well suited to a verification or a causal research design. These could entail a methodological approach that uses valid and reliable instruments, observations, or interviews to determine an effect in the studied event. In either of these examples, the researcher(s) may use a qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods methodological approach.

Even with a good research question, there is still more reading to be done. The complexity and focus of the research question dictates the depth and breadth of the literature to be examined. Questions that connect multiple topics can require broad literature reviews. For instance, a study that explores the impact of a biology faculty learning community on the inquiry instruction of faculty could have the following review areas: learning communities among biology faculty, inquiry instruction among biology faculty, and inquiry instruction among biology faculty as a result of professional learning. Biology education researchers need to consider whether their literature review requires studies from different disciplines within or outside DBER. For the example given, it would be fruitful to look at research focused on learning communities with faculty in STEM fields or in general education fields that result in instructional change. It is important not to be too narrow or too broad when reading. When the conclusions of articles start to sound similar or no new insights are gained, the researcher likely has a good foundation for a literature review. This level of reading should allow the researcher to demonstrate a mastery in understanding the researched topic, explain the suitability of the proposed research approach, and point to the need for the refined research question(s).

The literature review should include the researcher’s evaluation and critique of the selected studies. A researcher may have a large collection of studies, but not all of the studies will follow standards important in the reporting of empirical work in the social sciences. The American Educational Research Association ( Duran et al. , 2006 ), for example, offers a general discussion about standards for such work: an adequate review of research informing the study, the existence of sound and appropriate data collection and analysis methods, and appropriate conclusions that do not overstep or underexplore the analyzed data. The Institute of Education Sciences and National Science Foundation (2013) also offer Common Guidelines for Education Research and Development that can be used to evaluate collected studies.

Because not all journals adhere to such standards, it is important that a researcher review each study to determine the quality of published research, per the guidelines suggested earlier. In some instances, the research may be fatally flawed. Examples of such flaws include data that do not pertain to the question, a lack of discussion about the data collection, poorly constructed instruments, or an inadequate analysis. These types of errors result in studies that are incomplete, error-laden, or inaccurate and should be excluded from the review. Most studies have limitations, and the author(s) often make them explicit. For instance, there may be an instructor effect, recognized bias in the analysis, or issues with the sample population. Limitations are usually addressed by the research team in some way to ensure a sound and acceptable research process. Occasionally, the limitations associated with the study can be significant and not addressed adequately, which leaves a consequential decision in the hands of the researcher. Providing critiques of studies in the literature review process gives the reader confidence that the researcher has carefully examined relevant work in preparation for the study and, ultimately, the manuscript.

A solid literature review clearly anchors the proposed study in the field and connects the research question(s), the methodological approach, and the discussion. Reviewing extant research leads to research questions that will contribute to what is known in the field. By summarizing what is known, the literature review points to what needs to be known, which in turn guides decisions about methodology. Finally, notable findings of the new study are discussed in reference to those described in the literature review.

Within published BER studies, literature reviews can be placed in different locations in an article. When included in the introductory section of the study, the first few paragraphs of the manuscript set the stage, with the literature review following the opening paragraphs. Cooper et al. (2019) illustrate this approach in their study of course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs). An introduction discussing the potential of CURES is followed by an analysis of the existing literature relevant to the design of CUREs that allows for novel student discoveries. Within this review, the authors point out contradictory findings among research on novel student discoveries. This clarifies the need for their study, which is described and highlighted through specific research aims.

A literature reviews can also make up a separate section in a paper. For example, the introduction to Todd et al. (2019) illustrates the need for their research topic by highlighting the potential of learning progressions (LPs) and suggesting that LPs may help mitigate learning loss in genetics. At the end of the introduction, the authors state their specific research questions. The review of literature following this opening section comprises two subsections. One focuses on learning loss in general and examines a variety of studies and meta-analyses from the disciplines of medical education, mathematics, and reading. The second section focuses specifically on LPs in genetics and highlights student learning in the midst of LPs. These separate reviews provide insights into the stated research question.

Suggestions and Advice

A well-conceptualized, comprehensive, and critical literature review reveals the understanding of the topic that the researcher brings to the study. Literature reviews should not be so big that there is no clear area of focus; nor should they be so narrow that no real research question arises. The task for a researcher is to craft an efficient literature review that offers a critical analysis of published work, articulates the need for the study, guides the methodological approach to the topic of study, and provides an adequate foundation for the discussion of the findings.

In our own writing of literature reviews, there are often many drafts. An early draft may seem well suited to the study because the need for and approach to the study are well described. However, as the results of the study are analyzed and findings begin to emerge, the existing literature review may be inadequate and need revision. The need for an expanded discussion about the research area can result in the inclusion of new studies that support the explanation of a potential finding. The literature review may also prove to be too broad. Refocusing on a specific area allows for more contemplation of a finding.

Booth, A., Sutton, A., & Papaioannou, D. (2016a). Systemic approaches to a successful literature review (2nd ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Sage. This book addresses different types of literature reviews and offers important suggestions pertaining to defining the scope of the literature review and assessing extant studies.

Booth, W. C., Colomb, G. G., Williams, J. M., Bizup, J., & Fitzgerald, W. T. (2016b). The craft of research (4th ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. This book can help the novice consider how to make the case for an area of study. While this book is not specifically about literature reviews, it offers suggestions about making the case for your study.

Galvan, J. L., & Galvan, M. C. (2017). Writing literature reviews: A guide for students of the social and behavioral sciences (7th ed.). Routledge. This book offers guidance on writing different types of literature reviews. For the novice researcher, there are useful suggestions for creating coherent literature reviews.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS

Purpose of theoretical frameworks.

As new education researchers may be less familiar with theoretical frameworks than with literature reviews, this discussion begins with an analogy. Envision a biologist, chemist, and physicist examining together the dramatic effect of a fog tsunami over the ocean. A biologist gazing at this phenomenon may be concerned with the effect of fog on various species. A chemist may be interested in the chemical composition of the fog as water vapor condenses around bits of salt. A physicist may be focused on the refraction of light to make fog appear to be “sitting” above the ocean. While observing the same “objective event,” the scientists are operating under different theoretical frameworks that provide a particular perspective or “lens” for the interpretation of the phenomenon. Each of these scientists brings specialized knowledge, experiences, and values to this phenomenon, and these influence the interpretation of the phenomenon. The scientists’ theoretical frameworks influence how they design and carry out their studies and interpret their data.

Within an educational study, a theoretical framework helps to explain a phenomenon through a particular lens and challenges and extends existing knowledge within the limitations of that lens. Theoretical frameworks are explicitly stated by an educational researcher in the paper’s framework, theory, or relevant literature section. The framework shapes the types of questions asked, guides the method by which data are collected and analyzed, and informs the discussion of the results of the study. It also reveals the researcher’s subjectivities, for example, values, social experience, and viewpoint ( Allen, 2017 ). It is essential that a novice researcher learn to explicitly state a theoretical framework, because all research questions are being asked from the researcher’s implicit or explicit assumptions of a phenomenon of interest ( Schwandt, 2000 ).

Selecting Theoretical Frameworks

Theoretical frameworks are one of the most contemplated elements in our work in educational research. In this section, we share three important considerations for new scholars selecting a theoretical framework.

The first step in identifying a theoretical framework involves reflecting on the phenomenon within the study and the assumptions aligned with the phenomenon. The phenomenon involves the studied event. There are many possibilities, for example, student learning, instructional approach, or group organization. A researcher holds assumptions about how the phenomenon will be effected, influenced, changed, or portrayed. It is ultimately the researcher’s assumption(s) about the phenomenon that aligns with a theoretical framework. An example can help illustrate how a researcher’s reflection on the phenomenon and acknowledgment of assumptions can result in the identification of a theoretical framework.

In our example, a biology education researcher may be interested in exploring how students’ learning of difficult biological concepts can be supported by the interactions of group members. The phenomenon of interest is the interactions among the peers, and the researcher assumes that more knowledgeable students are important in supporting the learning of the group. As a result, the researcher may draw on Vygotsky’s (1978) sociocultural theory of learning and development that is focused on the phenomenon of student learning in a social setting. This theory posits the critical nature of interactions among students and between students and teachers in the process of building knowledge. A researcher drawing upon this framework holds the assumption that learning is a dynamic social process involving questions and explanations among students in the classroom and that more knowledgeable peers play an important part in the process of building conceptual knowledge.

It is important to state at this point that there are many different theoretical frameworks. Some frameworks focus on learning and knowing, while other theoretical frameworks focus on equity, empowerment, or discourse. Some frameworks are well articulated, and others are still being refined. For a new researcher, it can be challenging to find a theoretical framework. Two of the best ways to look for theoretical frameworks is through published works that highlight different frameworks.

When a theoretical framework is selected, it should clearly connect to all parts of the study. The framework should augment the study by adding a perspective that provides greater insights into the phenomenon. It should clearly align with the studies described in the literature review. For instance, a framework focused on learning would correspond to research that reported different learning outcomes for similar studies. The methods for data collection and analysis should also correspond to the framework. For instance, a study about instructional interventions could use a theoretical framework concerned with learning and could collect data about the effect of the intervention on what is learned. When the data are analyzed, the theoretical framework should provide added meaning to the findings, and the findings should align with the theoretical framework.

A study by Jensen and Lawson (2011) provides an example of how a theoretical framework connects different parts of the study. They compared undergraduate biology students in heterogeneous and homogeneous groups over the course of a semester. Jensen and Lawson (2011) assumed that learning involved collaboration and more knowledgeable peers, which made Vygotsky’s (1978) theory a good fit for their study. They predicted that students in heterogeneous groups would experience greater improvement in their reasoning abilities and science achievements with much of the learning guided by the more knowledgeable peers.

In the enactment of the study, they collected data about the instruction in traditional and inquiry-oriented classes, while the students worked in homogeneous or heterogeneous groups. To determine the effect of working in groups, the authors also measured students’ reasoning abilities and achievement. Each data-collection and analysis decision connected to understanding the influence of collaborative work.

Their findings highlighted aspects of Vygotsky’s (1978) theory of learning. One finding, for instance, posited that inquiry instruction, as a whole, resulted in reasoning and achievement gains. This links to Vygotsky (1978) , because inquiry instruction involves interactions among group members. A more nuanced finding was that group composition had a conditional effect. Heterogeneous groups performed better with more traditional and didactic instruction, regardless of the reasoning ability of the group members. Homogeneous groups worked better during interaction-rich activities for students with low reasoning ability. The authors attributed the variation to the different types of helping behaviors of students. High-performing students provided the answers, while students with low reasoning ability had to work collectively through the material. In terms of Vygotsky (1978) , this finding provided new insights into the learning context in which productive interactions can occur for students.

Another consideration in the selection and use of a theoretical framework pertains to its orientation to the study. This can result in the theoretical framework prioritizing individuals, institutions, and/or policies ( Anfara and Mertz, 2014 ). Frameworks that connect to individuals, for instance, could contribute to understanding their actions, learning, or knowledge. Institutional frameworks, on the other hand, offer insights into how institutions, organizations, or groups can influence individuals or materials. Policy theories provide ways to understand how national or local policies can dictate an emphasis on outcomes or instructional design. These different types of frameworks highlight different aspects in an educational setting, which influences the design of the study and the collection of data. In addition, these different frameworks offer a way to make sense of the data. Aligning the data collection and analysis with the framework ensures that a study is coherent and can contribute to the field.

New understandings emerge when different theoretical frameworks are used. For instance, Ebert-May et al. (2015) prioritized the individual level within conceptual change theory (see Posner et al. , 1982 ). In this theory, an individual’s knowledge changes when it no longer fits the phenomenon. Ebert-May et al. (2015) designed a professional development program challenging biology postdoctoral scholars’ existing conceptions of teaching. The authors reported that the biology postdoctoral scholars’ teaching practices became more student-centered as they were challenged to explain their instructional decision making. According to the theory, the biology postdoctoral scholars’ dissatisfaction in their descriptions of teaching and learning initiated change in their knowledge and instruction. These results reveal how conceptual change theory can explain the learning of participants and guide the design of professional development programming.

The communities of practice (CoP) theoretical framework ( Lave, 1988 ; Wenger, 1998 ) prioritizes the institutional level , suggesting that learning occurs when individuals learn from and contribute to the communities in which they reside. Grounded in the assumption of community learning, the literature on CoP suggests that, as individuals interact regularly with the other members of their group, they learn about the rules, roles, and goals of the community ( Allee, 2000 ). A study conducted by Gehrke and Kezar (2017) used the CoP framework to understand organizational change by examining the involvement of individual faculty engaged in a cross-institutional CoP focused on changing the instructional practice of faculty at each institution. In the CoP, faculty members were involved in enhancing instructional materials within their department, which aligned with an overarching goal of instituting instruction that embraced active learning. Not surprisingly, Gehrke and Kezar (2017) revealed that faculty who perceived the community culture as important in their work cultivated institutional change. Furthermore, they found that institutional change was sustained when key leaders served as mentors and provided support for faculty, and as faculty themselves developed into leaders. This study reveals the complexity of individual roles in a COP in order to support institutional instructional change.

It is important to explicitly state the theoretical framework used in a study, but elucidating a theoretical framework can be challenging for a new educational researcher. The literature review can help to identify an applicable theoretical framework. Focal areas of the review or central terms often connect to assumptions and assertions associated with the framework that pertain to the phenomenon of interest. Another way to identify a theoretical framework is self-reflection by the researcher on personal beliefs and understandings about the nature of knowledge the researcher brings to the study ( Lysaght, 2011 ). In stating one’s beliefs and understandings related to the study (e.g., students construct their knowledge, instructional materials support learning), an orientation becomes evident that will suggest a particular theoretical framework. Theoretical frameworks are not arbitrary , but purposefully selected.

With experience, a researcher may find expanded roles for theoretical frameworks. Researchers may revise an existing framework that has limited explanatory power, or they may decide there is a need to develop a new theoretical framework. These frameworks can emerge from a current study or the need to explain a phenomenon in a new way. Researchers may also find that multiple theoretical frameworks are necessary to frame and explore a problem, as different frameworks can provide different insights into a problem.

Creswell, J. W. (2018). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (5th ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Sage. This book provides an overview of theoretical frameworks in general educational research.

Ding, L. (2019). Theoretical perspectives of quantitative physics education research. Physical Review Physics Education Research , 15 (2), 020101-1–020101-13. This paper illustrates how a DBER field can use theoretical frameworks.

Nehm, R. (2019). Biology education research: Building integrative frameworks for teaching and learning about living systems. Disciplinary and Interdisciplinary Science Education Research , 1 , ar15. https://doi.org/10.1186/s43031-019-0017-6 . This paper articulates the need for studies in BER to explicitly state theoretical frameworks and provides examples of potential studies.

Patton, M. Q. (2015). Qualitative research & evaluation methods: Integrating theory and practice . Sage. This book also provides an overview of theoretical frameworks, but for both research and evaluation.

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORKS

Purpose of a conceptual framework.

A conceptual framework is a description of the way a researcher understands the factors and/or variables that are involved in the study and their relationships to one another. The purpose of a conceptual framework is to articulate the concepts under study using relevant literature ( Rocco and Plakhotnik, 2009 ) and to clarify the presumed relationships among those concepts ( Rocco and Plakhotnik, 2009 ; Anfara and Mertz, 2014 ). Conceptual frameworks are different from theoretical frameworks in both their breadth and grounding in established findings. Whereas a theoretical framework articulates the lens through which a researcher views the work, the conceptual framework is often more mechanistic and malleable.

Conceptual frameworks are broader, encompassing both established theories (i.e., theoretical frameworks) and the researchers’ own emergent ideas. Emergent ideas, for example, may be rooted in informal and/or unpublished observations from experience. These emergent ideas would not be considered a “theory” if they are not yet tested, supported by systematically collected evidence, and peer reviewed. However, they do still play an important role in the way researchers approach their studies. The conceptual framework allows authors to clearly describe their emergent ideas so that connections among ideas in the study and the significance of the study are apparent to readers.

Constructing Conceptual Frameworks

Including a conceptual framework in a research study is important, but researchers often opt to include either a conceptual or a theoretical framework. Either may be adequate, but both provide greater insight into the research approach. For instance, a research team plans to test a novel component of an existing theory. In their study, they describe the existing theoretical framework that informs their work and then present their own conceptual framework. Within this conceptual framework, specific topics portray emergent ideas that are related to the theory. Describing both frameworks allows readers to better understand the researchers’ assumptions, orientations, and understanding of concepts being investigated. For example, Connolly et al. (2018) included a conceptual framework that described how they applied a theoretical framework of social cognitive career theory (SCCT) to their study on teaching programs for doctoral students. In their conceptual framework, the authors described SCCT, explained how it applied to the investigation, and drew upon results from previous studies to justify the proposed connections between the theory and their emergent ideas.

In some cases, authors may be able to sufficiently describe their conceptualization of the phenomenon under study in an introduction alone, without a separate conceptual framework section. However, incomplete descriptions of how the researchers conceptualize the components of the study may limit the significance of the study by making the research less intelligible to readers. This is especially problematic when studying topics in which researchers use the same terms for different constructs or different terms for similar and overlapping constructs (e.g., inquiry, teacher beliefs, pedagogical content knowledge, or active learning). Authors must describe their conceptualization of a construct if the research is to be understandable and useful.

There are some key areas to consider regarding the inclusion of a conceptual framework in a study. To begin with, it is important to recognize that conceptual frameworks are constructed by the researchers conducting the study ( Rocco and Plakhotnik, 2009 ; Maxwell, 2012 ). This is different from theoretical frameworks that are often taken from established literature. Researchers should bring together ideas from the literature, but they may be influenced by their own experiences as a student and/or instructor, the shared experiences of others, or thought experiments as they construct a description, model, or representation of their understanding of the phenomenon under study. This is an exercise in intellectual organization and clarity that often considers what is learned, known, and experienced. The conceptual framework makes these constructs explicitly visible to readers, who may have different understandings of the phenomenon based on their prior knowledge and experience. There is no single method to go about this intellectual work.

Reeves et al. (2016) is an example of an article that proposed a conceptual framework about graduate teaching assistant professional development evaluation and research. The authors used existing literature to create a novel framework that filled a gap in current research and practice related to the training of graduate teaching assistants. This conceptual framework can guide the systematic collection of data by other researchers because the framework describes the relationships among various factors that influence teaching and learning. The Reeves et al. (2016) conceptual framework may be modified as additional data are collected and analyzed by other researchers. This is not uncommon, as conceptual frameworks can serve as catalysts for concerted research efforts that systematically explore a phenomenon (e.g., Reynolds et al. , 2012 ; Brownell and Kloser, 2015 ).

Sabel et al. (2017) used a conceptual framework in their exploration of how scaffolds, an external factor, interact with internal factors to support student learning. Their conceptual framework integrated principles from two theoretical frameworks, self-regulated learning and metacognition, to illustrate how the research team conceptualized students’ use of scaffolds in their learning ( Figure 1 ). Sabel et al. (2017) created this model using their interpretations of these two frameworks in the context of their teaching.

FIGURE 1. Conceptual framework from Sabel et al. (2017) .

A conceptual framework should describe the relationship among components of the investigation ( Anfara and Mertz, 2014 ). These relationships should guide the researcher’s methods of approaching the study ( Miles et al. , 2014 ) and inform both the data to be collected and how those data should be analyzed. Explicitly describing the connections among the ideas allows the researcher to justify the importance of the study and the rigor of the research design. Just as importantly, these frameworks help readers understand why certain components of a system were not explored in the study. This is a challenge in education research, which is rooted in complex environments with many variables that are difficult to control.

For example, Sabel et al. (2017) stated: “Scaffolds, such as enhanced answer keys and reflection questions, can help students and instructors bridge the external and internal factors and support learning” (p. 3). They connected the scaffolds in the study to the three dimensions of metacognition and the eventual transformation of existing ideas into new or revised ideas. Their framework provides a rationale for focusing on how students use two different scaffolds, and not on other factors that may influence a student’s success (self-efficacy, use of active learning, exam format, etc.).

In constructing conceptual frameworks, researchers should address needed areas of study and/or contradictions discovered in literature reviews. By attending to these areas, researchers can strengthen their arguments for the importance of a study. For instance, conceptual frameworks can address how the current study will fill gaps in the research, resolve contradictions in existing literature, or suggest a new area of study. While a literature review describes what is known and not known about the phenomenon, the conceptual framework leverages these gaps in describing the current study ( Maxwell, 2012 ). In the example of Sabel et al. (2017) , the authors indicated there was a gap in the literature regarding how scaffolds engage students in metacognition to promote learning in large classes. Their study helps fill that gap by describing how scaffolds can support students in the three dimensions of metacognition: intelligibility, plausibility, and wide applicability. In another example, Lane (2016) integrated research from science identity, the ethic of care, the sense of belonging, and an expertise model of student success to form a conceptual framework that addressed the critiques of other frameworks. In a more recent example, Sbeglia et al. (2021) illustrated how a conceptual framework influences the methodological choices and inferences in studies by educational researchers.

Sometimes researchers draw upon the conceptual frameworks of other researchers. When a researcher’s conceptual framework closely aligns with an existing framework, the discussion may be brief. For example, Ghee et al. (2016) referred to portions of SCCT as their conceptual framework to explain the significance of their work on students’ self-efficacy and career interests. Because the authors’ conceptualization of this phenomenon aligned with a previously described framework, they briefly mentioned the conceptual framework and provided additional citations that provided more detail for the readers.

Within both the BER and the broader DBER communities, conceptual frameworks have been used to describe different constructs. For example, some researchers have used the term “conceptual framework” to describe students’ conceptual understandings of a biological phenomenon. This is distinct from a researcher’s conceptual framework of the educational phenomenon under investigation, which may also need to be explicitly described in the article. Other studies have presented a research logic model or flowchart of the research design as a conceptual framework. These constructions can be quite valuable in helping readers understand the data-collection and analysis process. However, a model depicting the study design does not serve the same role as a conceptual framework. Researchers need to avoid conflating these constructs by differentiating the researchers’ conceptual framework that guides the study from the research design, when applicable.

Explicitly describing conceptual frameworks is essential in depicting the focus of the study. We have found that being explicit in a conceptual framework means using accepted terminology, referencing prior work, and clearly noting connections between terms. This description can also highlight gaps in the literature or suggest potential contributions to the field of study. A well-elucidated conceptual framework can suggest additional studies that may be warranted. This can also spur other researchers to consider how they would approach the examination of a phenomenon and could result in a revised conceptual framework.

Maxwell, J. A. (2012). Qualitative research design: An interactive approach (3rd ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Sage. Chapter 3 in this book describes how to construct conceptual frameworks.

Ravitch, S. M., & Riggan, M. (2016). Reason & rigor: How conceptual frameworks guide research . Los Angeles, CA: Sage. This book explains how conceptual frameworks guide the research questions, data collection, data analyses, and interpretation of results.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

Literature reviews, theoretical frameworks, and conceptual frameworks are all important in DBER and BER. Robust literature reviews reinforce the importance of a study. Theoretical frameworks connect the study to the base of knowledge in educational theory and specify the researcher’s assumptions. Conceptual frameworks allow researchers to explicitly describe their conceptualization of the relationships among the components of the phenomenon under study. Table 1 provides a general overview of these components in order to assist biology education researchers in thinking about these elements.

It is important to emphasize that these different elements are intertwined. When these elements are aligned and complement one another, the study is coherent, and the study findings contribute to knowledge in the field. When literature reviews, theoretical frameworks, and conceptual frameworks are disconnected from one another, the study suffers. The point of the study is lost, suggested findings are unsupported, or important conclusions are invisible to the researcher. In addition, this misalignment may be costly in terms of time and money.

Conducting a literature review, selecting a theoretical framework, and building a conceptual framework are some of the most difficult elements of a research study. It takes time to understand the relevant research, identify a theoretical framework that provides important insights into the study, and formulate a conceptual framework that organizes the finding. In the research process, there is often a constant back and forth among these elements as the study evolves. With an ongoing refinement of the review of literature, clarification of the theoretical framework, and articulation of a conceptual framework, a sound study can emerge that makes a contribution to the field. This is the goal of BER and education research.

a literature review biology

Submitted: 24 May 2021 Revised: 13 April 2022 Accepted: 26 April 2022

© 2022 J. A. Luft et al. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2022 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 4.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0).

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Open Access

Ten Simple Rules for Writing a Literature Review

* E-mail: [email protected]

Affiliations Centre for Functional and Evolutionary Ecology (CEFE), CNRS, Montpellier, France, Centre for Biodiversity Synthesis and Analysis (CESAB), FRB, Aix-en-Provence, France

PLOS

Published: July 18, 2013

Figure 1

Citation: Pautasso M (2013) Ten Simple Rules for Writing a Literature Review. PLoS Comput Biol 9(7): e1003149. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003149

Editor: Philip E. Bourne, University of California San Diego, United States of America

Copyright: © 2013 Marco Pautasso. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Funding: This work was funded by the French Foundation for Research on Biodiversity (FRB) through its Centre for Synthesis and Analysis of Biodiversity data (CESAB), as part of the NETSEED research project. The funders had no role in the preparation of the manuscript.

Competing interests: The author has declared that no competing interests exist.

Literature reviews are in great demand in most scientific fields. Their need stems from the ever-increasing output of scientific publications [1] . For example, compared to 1991, in 2008 three, eight, and forty times more papers were indexed in Web of Science on malaria, obesity, and biodiversity, respectively [2] . Given such mountains of papers, scientists cannot be expected to examine in detail every single new paper relevant to their interests [3] . Thus, it is both advantageous and necessary to rely on regular summaries of the recent literature. Although recognition for scientists mainly comes from primary research, timely literature reviews can lead to new synthetic insights and are often widely read [4] . For such summaries to be useful, however, they need to be compiled in a professional way [5] .

When starting from scratch, reviewing the literature can require a titanic amount of work. That is why researchers who have spent their career working on a certain research issue are in a perfect position to review that literature. Some graduate schools are now offering courses in reviewing the literature, given that most research students start their project by producing an overview of what has already been done on their research issue [6] . However, it is likely that most scientists have not thought in detail about how to approach and carry out a literature review.

Reviewing the literature requires the ability to juggle multiple tasks, from finding and evaluating relevant material to synthesising information from various sources, from critical thinking to paraphrasing, evaluating, and citation skills [7] . In this contribution, I share ten simple rules I learned working on about 25 literature reviews as a PhD and postdoctoral student. Ideas and insights also come from discussions with coauthors and colleagues, as well as feedback from reviewers and editors.

Rule 1: Define a Topic and Audience

How to choose which topic to review? There are so many issues in contemporary science that you could spend a lifetime of attending conferences and reading the literature just pondering what to review. On the one hand, if you take several years to choose, several other people may have had the same idea in the meantime. On the other hand, only a well-considered topic is likely to lead to a brilliant literature review [8] . The topic must at least be:

Ideas for potential reviews may come from papers providing lists of key research questions to be answered [9] , but also from serendipitous moments during desultory reading and discussions. In addition to choosing your topic, you should also select a target audience. In many cases, the topic (e.g., web services in computational biology) will automatically define an audience (e.g., computational biologists), but that same topic may also be of interest to neighbouring fields (e.g., computer science, biology, etc.).

Rule 2: Search and Re-search the Literature

After having chosen your topic and audience, start by checking the literature and downloading relevant papers. Five pieces of advice here:

The chances are high that someone will already have published a literature review ( Figure 1 ), if not exactly on the issue you are planning to tackle, at least on a related topic. If there are already a few or several reviews of the literature on your issue, my advice is not to give up, but to carry on with your own literature review,

thumbnail

The bottom-right situation (many literature reviews but few research papers) is not just a theoretical situation; it applies, for example, to the study of the impacts of climate change on plant diseases, where there appear to be more literature reviews than research studies [33] .

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003149.g001

When searching the literature for pertinent papers and reviews, the usual rules apply:

Rule 3: Take Notes While Reading

If you read the papers first, and only afterwards start writing the review, you will need a very good memory to remember who wrote what, and what your impressions and associations were while reading each single paper. My advice is, while reading, to start writing down interesting pieces of information, insights about how to organize the review, and thoughts on what to write. This way, by the time you have read the literature you selected, you will already have a rough draft of the review.

Of course, this draft will still need much rewriting, restructuring, and rethinking to obtain a text with a coherent argument [11] , but you will have avoided the danger posed by staring at a blank document. Be careful when taking notes to use quotation marks if you are provisionally copying verbatim from the literature. It is advisable then to reformulate such quotes with your own words in the final draft. It is important to be careful in noting the references already at this stage, so as to avoid misattributions. Using referencing software from the very beginning of your endeavour will save you time.

Rule 4: Choose the Type of Review You Wish to Write

After having taken notes while reading the literature, you will have a rough idea of the amount of material available for the review. This is probably a good time to decide whether to go for a mini- or a full review. Some journals are now favouring the publication of rather short reviews focusing on the last few years, with a limit on the number of words and citations. A mini-review is not necessarily a minor review: it may well attract more attention from busy readers, although it will inevitably simplify some issues and leave out some relevant material due to space limitations. A full review will have the advantage of more freedom to cover in detail the complexities of a particular scientific development, but may then be left in the pile of the very important papers “to be read” by readers with little time to spare for major monographs.

There is probably a continuum between mini- and full reviews. The same point applies to the dichotomy of descriptive vs. integrative reviews. While descriptive reviews focus on the methodology, findings, and interpretation of each reviewed study, integrative reviews attempt to find common ideas and concepts from the reviewed material [12] . A similar distinction exists between narrative and systematic reviews: while narrative reviews are qualitative, systematic reviews attempt to test a hypothesis based on the published evidence, which is gathered using a predefined protocol to reduce bias [13] , [14] . When systematic reviews analyse quantitative results in a quantitative way, they become meta-analyses. The choice between different review types will have to be made on a case-by-case basis, depending not just on the nature of the material found and the preferences of the target journal(s), but also on the time available to write the review and the number of coauthors [15] .

Rule 5: Keep the Review Focused, but Make It of Broad Interest

Whether your plan is to write a mini- or a full review, it is good advice to keep it focused 16 , 17 . Including material just for the sake of it can easily lead to reviews that are trying to do too many things at once. The need to keep a review focused can be problematic for interdisciplinary reviews, where the aim is to bridge the gap between fields [18] . If you are writing a review on, for example, how epidemiological approaches are used in modelling the spread of ideas, you may be inclined to include material from both parent fields, epidemiology and the study of cultural diffusion. This may be necessary to some extent, but in this case a focused review would only deal in detail with those studies at the interface between epidemiology and the spread of ideas.

While focus is an important feature of a successful review, this requirement has to be balanced with the need to make the review relevant to a broad audience. This square may be circled by discussing the wider implications of the reviewed topic for other disciplines.

Rule 6: Be Critical and Consistent

Reviewing the literature is not stamp collecting. A good review does not just summarize the literature, but discusses it critically, identifies methodological problems, and points out research gaps [19] . After having read a review of the literature, a reader should have a rough idea of:

It is challenging to achieve a successful review on all these fronts. A solution can be to involve a set of complementary coauthors: some people are excellent at mapping what has been achieved, some others are very good at identifying dark clouds on the horizon, and some have instead a knack at predicting where solutions are going to come from. If your journal club has exactly this sort of team, then you should definitely write a review of the literature! In addition to critical thinking, a literature review needs consistency, for example in the choice of passive vs. active voice and present vs. past tense.

Rule 7: Find a Logical Structure

Like a well-baked cake, a good review has a number of telling features: it is worth the reader's time, timely, systematic, well written, focused, and critical. It also needs a good structure. With reviews, the usual subdivision of research papers into introduction, methods, results, and discussion does not work or is rarely used. However, a general introduction of the context and, toward the end, a recapitulation of the main points covered and take-home messages make sense also in the case of reviews. For systematic reviews, there is a trend towards including information about how the literature was searched (database, keywords, time limits) [20] .

How can you organize the flow of the main body of the review so that the reader will be drawn into and guided through it? It is generally helpful to draw a conceptual scheme of the review, e.g., with mind-mapping techniques. Such diagrams can help recognize a logical way to order and link the various sections of a review [21] . This is the case not just at the writing stage, but also for readers if the diagram is included in the review as a figure. A careful selection of diagrams and figures relevant to the reviewed topic can be very helpful to structure the text too [22] .

Rule 8: Make Use of Feedback

Reviews of the literature are normally peer-reviewed in the same way as research papers, and rightly so [23] . As a rule, incorporating feedback from reviewers greatly helps improve a review draft. Having read the review with a fresh mind, reviewers may spot inaccuracies, inconsistencies, and ambiguities that had not been noticed by the writers due to rereading the typescript too many times. It is however advisable to reread the draft one more time before submission, as a last-minute correction of typos, leaps, and muddled sentences may enable the reviewers to focus on providing advice on the content rather than the form.

Feedback is vital to writing a good review, and should be sought from a variety of colleagues, so as to obtain a diversity of views on the draft. This may lead in some cases to conflicting views on the merits of the paper, and on how to improve it, but such a situation is better than the absence of feedback. A diversity of feedback perspectives on a literature review can help identify where the consensus view stands in the landscape of the current scientific understanding of an issue [24] .

Rule 9: Include Your Own Relevant Research, but Be Objective

In many cases, reviewers of the literature will have published studies relevant to the review they are writing. This could create a conflict of interest: how can reviewers report objectively on their own work [25] ? Some scientists may be overly enthusiastic about what they have published, and thus risk giving too much importance to their own findings in the review. However, bias could also occur in the other direction: some scientists may be unduly dismissive of their own achievements, so that they will tend to downplay their contribution (if any) to a field when reviewing it.

In general, a review of the literature should neither be a public relations brochure nor an exercise in competitive self-denial. If a reviewer is up to the job of producing a well-organized and methodical review, which flows well and provides a service to the readership, then it should be possible to be objective in reviewing one's own relevant findings. In reviews written by multiple authors, this may be achieved by assigning the review of the results of a coauthor to different coauthors.

Rule 10: Be Up-to-Date, but Do Not Forget Older Studies

Given the progressive acceleration in the publication of scientific papers, today's reviews of the literature need awareness not just of the overall direction and achievements of a field of inquiry, but also of the latest studies, so as not to become out-of-date before they have been published. Ideally, a literature review should not identify as a major research gap an issue that has just been addressed in a series of papers in press (the same applies, of course, to older, overlooked studies (“sleeping beauties” [26] )). This implies that literature reviewers would do well to keep an eye on electronic lists of papers in press, given that it can take months before these appear in scientific databases. Some reviews declare that they have scanned the literature up to a certain point in time, but given that peer review can be a rather lengthy process, a full search for newly appeared literature at the revision stage may be worthwhile. Assessing the contribution of papers that have just appeared is particularly challenging, because there is little perspective with which to gauge their significance and impact on further research and society.

Inevitably, new papers on the reviewed topic (including independently written literature reviews) will appear from all quarters after the review has been published, so that there may soon be the need for an updated review. But this is the nature of science [27] – [32] . I wish everybody good luck with writing a review of the literature.

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to M. Barbosa, K. Dehnen-Schmutz, T. Döring, D. Fontaneto, M. Garbelotto, O. Holdenrieder, M. Jeger, D. Lonsdale, A. MacLeod, P. Mills, M. Moslonka-Lefebvre, G. Stancanelli, P. Weisberg, and X. Xu for insights and discussions, and to P. Bourne, T. Matoni, and D. Smith for helpful comments on a previous draft.

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What is a Literature Review?

Why write a literature review.

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A literature review is an explanation of what has been published on a subject. Occasionally you will be asked to write one as a separate assignment (sometimes in the form of an annotated bibliography), but more often it is part of the introduction to a research report, essay, thesis, or dissertation. It's not just a summary of sources. You should provide a new interpretation of old material. It should:

A literature review should do these things:

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Biology: Literature Reviews

What is a Literature Review?

What is a literature review?

Before you start your research paper you need to find out what other research has been done on the topic.  A literature review will include the works you consulted in order to understand and investigate your research problem.  A good literature review is not simply a summary of other research articles. The sources listed should be organized logically with the sources dealing with the same aspects of the topic grouped together.  You should also evaluate the sources, show the relationships among them and explain why they are important (or not) for your own research.  

Literature reviews analyze  critically this segment of a published body of knowledge through summary, classification, and comparison of prior research studies, reviews of literature, and theoretical articles.

A literature review is an overview of the previously published works on a specific topic. The term can refer to a full scholarly paper or a section of a scholarly work such as a book, or an article. Either way, a literature review is supposed to provide the researcher/author and the audiences with a general image of the existing knowledge on the topic under question. A good literature review can ensure that a proper research question has been asked and a proper theoretical framework and/or research methodology have been chosen. To be precise, a literature review serves to situate the current study within the body of the relevant literature and to provide context for the reader. In such case, the review usually precedes the methodology and results sections of the work.

A literature review is important because it:

Questions to Ask

Some questions to think about as you develop your literature review:

Additional Help:

“Literature Reviews", The Writing Center at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

The Literature Review: A Few Tips On Conducting It

Patricia Cronin, Frances Ryan, and Michael Coughlan, “Undertaking a Literature Review: A Step-by-Step Approach,” British Journal of Nursing, 17, no 1 (2008), 38-43.

A Literature Review is NOT

Keep in mind that a literature review defines and sets the stage for your later research.  While you may take the same steps in researching your literature review, your literature review is not:

Not an annotated bibliography  in which you summarize each article that you have reviewed.  A lit review goes beyond basic summarizing to focus on the critical analysis of the reviewed works and their relationship to your research question.

Not a research paper   where you select resources to support one side of an issue versus another.  A lit review should explain and consider all sides of an argument in order to avoid bias, and areas of agreement and disagreement should be highlighted.

flow diagram of the steps to consider when developing a search strategy

Steps to Conduct a Literature Review

Finding the literature.

When someone talks about “the literature” they are referring to the body of research, scholarly articles, books and other sources (e.g. dissertations, conference proceedings) relevant to a particular issue, area of research, or theory.  A literature review is a descriptive summary of research on a topic that has previously been studied. The purpose of a literature review is to inform readers of the significant knowledge and ideas that have been established on a topic. Its purpose is to compare, contrast and/or connect findings that were identified when reviewing researchers' work.

The word  literature  (in 'literature review') broadly refers to the scholarly or scientific writing on a topic.

Common sources of written works include:

A good quality literature review involves searching a number of databases individually.

The  Library databases  are an excellent resource for finding  peer-reviewed journal articles  (and also book chapters and conference papers).

Databases may be multidisciplinary or discipline-specific. The best way to find the relevant databases for your review is to consult a list of databases such as the ones found in:

Books  are often useful for background information when learning about a topic. They may be general, such as textbooks, or specialised.

A good way to find books is to use an online catalog such as the Felician University Library catalog.

Grey literature  is information which has been published informally or non-commercially (where the main purpose of the producing body is not commercial publishing) or remains unpublished.

It can include a range of material, such as government reports, policy documents, statistics, discussion papers, dissertations, conference proceedings and unpublished trial data. The quality of grey literature can vary greatly - some may be peer-reviewed whereas some may not have been through a traditional editorial process.

Grey literature may be included in a literature review to minimize  publication bias .

Key ways of  finding grey literature  include using search engines, databases, government or organization websites and grey literature directories. For example:

Additional statistics are available from many government websites. Try limiting by site or domain in  Google Advanced Search  and using the keyword Statistics.

Data Sources (includes Biological Sciences Data/Sets)

re3data.org (Registry of Research Data Repositories)

Dryad Digital Repository

U.S. Government Open Data

NIH Data Sharing Repositories

DataONE (Earth and environmental data)

EPA Environmental dataset gateway

OpenDOAR : Directory of Open Access Repositories is a browsable directory of open access repositories. Search by subject, country of origin and content type.

Health Statistics

CDC SNAPS (county and state level)

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)  

Community Health Status Indicators Report

County Health Rankings (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation)

National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS)  

Partners in Information Access for the Public Health Workforce  

State Health Facts Online (Kaiser Family Foundation)

Dissertation Databases

PQDT Open (ProQuest)

Open Access Theses and Dissertations

OpenDissertations (EBSCO)

Dissertation Search

Limit to Thesis/Dissertation under Content

Conference papers  are typically published in conference proceedings (the collection of papers presented at a conference), and may be found on an organization or Society's website, as a journal, or as a special issue of journal.

In some disciplinary areas (such as computer science), conference papers may be a particularly well regarded as a form of scholarly communication; the conferences are highly selective, the papers are generally peer-reviewed, and papers are published in proceedings affiliated with high-quality publishing houses.  

Tips for finding conference papers:

When you are writing your own primary literature review you must:

(a) use recent articles that report research tightly connected to the same specific current research problem (not simply any primary articles somehow related to the same general topic), and;

(b) write paragraphs that explicitly compare the objectives, methods, and findings of the articles with each other and with your proposed research project or findings*

*A literature review is not simply summarizing each article separately one after the other -- that would be more like an annotated bibliography and does not connect the details to your own methods/findings in your research proposal (BIO 450) or discussion/conclusion (BIO 451).

Write about how the specific research objectives, methods, and findings of the articles are similar and how are they different from each other as well as yours. 

Literature Review vs. Systematic Review

It is common to confuse systematic and literature reviews as both are used to provide a summary of the existent literature or research on a specific topic.  Even with this common ground, both types vary significantly.  Please review the following chart (and its corresponding poster linked below) for a detailed explanation of each as well as the differences between each type of review.

What's in a name? The difference between a Systematic Review and a Literature Review, and why it matters by Lynn Kysh, MLIS, University of Southern California - Norris Medical Library

a literature review biology

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Sample Literature Review On Biology

Type of paper: Literature Review

Topic: Transportation , DNA , Infrastructure , Vehicles , Energy , Animals , Protein , Plants

Published: 03/02/2020

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Mitochondria are important organelles found in all nucleated cells contained in both plants and animals. It is because they are the sites in which organic substrates are oxidized to generate adenosine triphosphate (ATP), a substance normally used as a provider of chemical power. This energy produced is used up in most intercellular processes (Pon & Schon, 2011). This discourse will analyze the difference that exists in mitochondrial movement, in plants and animals. Notable differences between plant mitochondria movements and animal mitochondria movements do occur mainly because of the physical and integral distinctions that are found between the two organisms. To execute transport of this significant number of molecules, the normal plant mitochondrion has a variety of mitochondrial bearing proteins inside. Usually, these are transmembrane substances with a shared ordinary form and they transport relatively small charged molecules, like metabolites. In Arabidopsis, there exist close to 60 members, most of which are not necessarily characterized, giving an idea to the complicated nature of the mitochondrial movement processes (Kempken, 2010). It is worth mentioning that the mitochondria transport more than metabolites, and, as such, also other forms of mobilizers are engaged. The external membrane is semi-permeable to all non-polymeric complexes. The semi-permeability is an outcome of the presence of porous elements, which seem to be exposed in most in vitro tests. Animals’ cells have notable pore-forming substances in the mitochondrial exterior membrane, called porins, which seem to regulate the transport across the membrane. In plants, non-photosynthetic energy transduction occurs in eukaryotic cells which, execute aerobic metabolic processes. Energy transduction covers up all those processes through which the chemical bearing energy of biological substrates is converted into an easily transported form, adenosine-5'-triphosphate (ATP). The rapid rearrangements of F-actin meshwork interconnecting end cellular membranes turn out to be especially important for perception-signaling purposes of plant cells, especially in association with guard cell movements, mechanical and gravity-sensing, plant host-pathogen interactions, and wound-healing (Alberts B, Johnson A. & Lewis J, et al., 2002). The mitochondrion has its integral genome and protein breaking down abilities. Most of the protein synthesized by the mitochondria are encoded by the genes in the nucleus of the cell and must be imported to into the mitochondrion. Proteins remaining in the mitochondrion are characterized by a special signal sequence that is recognized by the mitochondrial stimulation, which is a chaperone as it targets the proteins to a receptor embedded in the outer membrane of the mitochondrion (Drouart, 2012).

Alberts B, Johnson A, Lewis J, et al (2002). Molecular Biology of the Cell. 4th Edition. New York: Garland Science. Frank K (2010). Plant Mitochondria. Washington D.C: Springer. Laurence D. (2012). Mitochondrial Genome Evolution. Massachusetts: Academic Press. Liza A. Pon, Eric A. Schon (2011). Mitochondria. Massachusetts: Academic Press.

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Primary melanoma of the cervix uteri: a systematic review and meta-analysis of the reported cases.

a literature review biology

Simple Summary

1. introduction, 2.1. literature search, 2.2. eligibility criteria, 2.3. data extraction and handling, 2.4. quality assessment, 2.5. data synthesis, 3.1. study characteristics, 3.2. patient characteristics, 3.3. outcome and survival rates, 3.4. quality of the studies, 4. discussion, 4.1. results in the context of the literature, 4.2. strengths and limitations, 5. conclusions, supplementary materials, author contributions, institutional review board statement, informed consent statement, data availability statement, conflicts of interest.

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Kechagias, K.S.; Zafeiri, M.; Katsikas Triantafyllidis, K.; Kyrtsonis, G.; Geropoulos, G.; Lyons, D.; Burney Ellis, L.; Bowden, S.; Galani, A.; Paraskevaidi, M.; Kyrgiou, M. Primary Melanoma of the Cervix Uteri: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Reported Cases. Biology 2023 , 12 , 398. https://doi.org/10.3390/biology12030398

Kechagias KS, Zafeiri M, Katsikas Triantafyllidis K, Kyrtsonis G, Geropoulos G, Lyons D, Burney Ellis L, Bowden S, Galani A, Paraskevaidi M, Kyrgiou M. Primary Melanoma of the Cervix Uteri: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Reported Cases. Biology . 2023; 12(3):398. https://doi.org/10.3390/biology12030398

Kechagias, Konstantinos S., Marina Zafeiri, Konstantinos Katsikas Triantafyllidis, Georgios Kyrtsonis, Georgios Geropoulos, Deirdre Lyons, Laura Burney Ellis, Sarah Bowden, Apostolia Galani, Maria Paraskevaidi, and Maria Kyrgiou. 2023. "Primary Melanoma of the Cervix Uteri: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Reported Cases" Biology 12, no. 3: 398. https://doi.org/10.3390/biology12030398

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Computational modeling and optimization of biofabrication in Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine — a literature review

Biofabrication is the generation of biologically functional products from living cells and biomaterials through bioprinting and subsequent maturation processes. Technological and scientific domains are underlying biofabrication ranging from biology to automated manufacturing and culture systems. Among its application domains, Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine poses strict quality requirements for biofabrication, requiring fast and disruptive innovation for processes and products to comply. Innovation in biofabrication is slow and incremental, relying on R&D processes that are inefficient (slow, risky, and costly), ineffective (products have sub-optimal quality), and challenging to replicate. While automation and digitalization support process execution, design, and innovation, they often work as tools for empirical, problem-specific, and operator-dependent approaches. On the other hand, computational approaches support biofabrication process modeling, design, and optimization of experimental activity to improve the quality of processes and products. To express their full potential, computational methods must factor in the biological complexity underlying biofabrication. This review analyzes computational approaches to biofabrication process modeling, design, and optimization with a focus on solutions explicitly accounting for biological complexity.

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The final chord is related to special aspects of academic paper-writing. It means that every writer is prepared to cite properly, use different styles, and so on, so you don’t have to be worried about formatting at all.

‘So, can they write an ideal paper for me?’ We answer in the affirmative because we select only the best writers for our customers. Approximately 11% of all applicants can pass the whole set of tests and are ready to help you. All writers are fully compensated for their work and are highly motivated to provide you with the best results.

We are online 24/7 so that you could monitor the process of paper-writing and contact us whenever necessary. Don’t forget that your satisfaction is our priority. Our writers fully focus on your order when it comes to the ‘write my paper’ procedure. Our managers will immediately send all the information to your writer if any corrections are required.

It’s time to write my paper! What should I do?

‘I am ready to pay to have a paper written! Where do I start?’ Our team hears these words every day. We really believe that every student should be happy. That’s why we offer you to look at the simple steps to make the process even more convenient.

Every paper we can write for you is expertly-researched, well-structured, and consistent. Take a look at some types of papers we can help you with:

Questions like ‘I would like you to write a paper for me without destroying my reputation. Can you promise to do so?’ or ‘Can you write my paper for me cheap and fast?’ often arise, and we take pride that these options are included in the list. Your safety and anonymity are parts of our common priority, which is to make you fully satisfied with all offered services.

Moreover, our pricing policy is flexible and allows you to select the options that totally suit your needs at affordable prices. You will be pleased with the results and the amount of money spent on your order. Our managers and writers will do the rest according to the highest standards.

Don’t hesitate and hire a writer to work on your paper now!

We believe that students know what is best for them, and if you suppose that it is time to ‘write my paper right now,’ we will help you handle it. ‘Will you do my paper without any hesitation?’ Of course, we will. Our service has all the necessary prerequisites to complete assignments regardless of their difficulty, academic level, or the number of pages. We choose a writer who has vast experience and a breadth of knowledge related to your topic.

Our ‘write my paper for me’ service offers a wide range of extra features to make the ordering process even more pleasant and convenient. Unlike lots of other services, we provide formatting, bibliography, amendments, and a title page for free.

‘When you write my paper for me? Can I monitor the process?’ Naturally, you can. We understand that you may want to ensure that everything is going well. Furthermore, there may be situations when some corrections are needed. We believe that a tool like this can come in handy. The assigned writer will strictly follow your and your professor’s requirements to make sure that your paper is perfect.

‘Is it possible to write my essay from scratch?’ We don’t do just proofreading or editing. Our goal is to fully carry your burden of writing. When this or similar questions appear, we always assure our customers that our writers can do whatever they need. Apart from writing from scratch or editing and proofreading, our experts can effortlessly cope with problem-solving of all kinds;even sophisticated software assignments!

Our ‘write my paper for me’ service is good for everyone who wants to delegate paper-writing to professionals and save precious time that can be spent differently and in a more practical way. We want you to be happy by offering the great opportunity to forget about endless and boring assignments once and forever. You won’t miss anything if your papers become the concern of our professional writers.

Don’t waste your precious time browsing other services. We provide you with everything you need while you are enjoying yourself by doing things you really enjoy. ‘Write my paper then! Do my paper for me right now!’ If you are ready to exclaim these words with delight, we welcome you to our haven, a place where students spend their time serenely and never worry about papers! It’s your turn to have fun, whereas our mission is to provide you with the best papers delivered on time!

Questions our customers ask

Can someone write my paper for me.

Yes, we can. We have writers ready to cope with papers of any complexity. Just contact our specialists and let us help you.

Who can I pay to write a paper for me?

We will help you select a writer according to your needs. As soon as you hire our specialist, you’ll see a significant improvement in your grades.

Can I pay someone to write a paper for me?

Yes, you can. We have lots of professionals to choose from. We employ only well-qualified experts with vast experience in academic paper writing.

What website will write a paper for me?

WritePaperFor.me is the website you need. We offer a wide range of services to cover all your needs. Just place an order and provide instructions, and we will write a perfect paper for you.

Is it safe to use your paper writing service?

Our service is completely safe and anonymous. We don’t keep your personal and payment details and use the latest encryption systems to protect you.

What are you waiting for?

You are a couple of clicks away from tranquility at an affordable price!

- Will you write my paper for me? - Yes, we will.

What we offer:, let’s write a paper for you in no time, follow these 4 simple steps and solve you problem at once.

Provide details such as your topic, the number of pages, and extra requirements, and we’ll do a paper for you in no time!

Log in to your personal account to know the current status of your paper(s). You can also turn to our support team for the same purpose. Enjoy your life while we're working on your order.

As soon as we write the paper(s) for you, check it for correctness, and if everything is good to go, just download it and enjoy the results.

Our customers’ feedback

Still hesitant just look: others have already used our services and were pleased with the results.

Thank you guys for the amazing work! I got an A, and my professor was impressed. You have done the impossible, and I will never forget your help! The best service ever!

I ordered my paper two weeks ago and received it on time. The quality is very good, much better than other companies provide. My support agent is a pro, fast and simple explanations. Thanks!

I am firmly convinced that you will never disappoint me because you haven’t done it before. Amazing approaches and solutions at perfect prices! Please continue working the way you do!

I’ve been using WritePaperFor.me for about five months, and I have nothing to complain about. Excellent quality, perfect grammar, delivery on time, nice support team, pleasant prices, amazing results.

This service helped me focus on my job, and I will never forget the support I received. I’ve got a promotion in the end! Thanks a lot for everything you do for people like me!

I have to admit that searching for a reliable and professional service was a tough quest. Nevertheless, I am happy that I managed to find writepaperforme! Everything is much better than I expected!

The best bargain is just a few clicks away!

Get an original paper that doesn’t cost a fortune!

​​Still have questions?

Contact our support agents and let them help you!

Is it time to write a paper for you? Contact us and relish the highest academic performance! 

Our professionals will do their best!

You’ll write my paper for me, won’t you? We certainly will!

So tired of writing papers that you’re starting to think of your professor’s demise? Relax, we’re only joking! However, even a joke is woven with the thread of truth, and the truth is that endless assignments are constantly nagging at you and keeping you up all night long.

‘Writing my papers is unbearable!’ you may think But you’re not alone… What if we told you that we know a magical place where professionals can write your essays so perfectly that even professors’ most sophisticated requirements will be met? You’ve probably already guessed that we’re talking about WritePaperFor.me — the most delightful, facilitating, and destressing custom paper-writing service!

We are not going to be shy about our wish to see you as our steady customer. As a result, we aren’t twiddling our thumbs but permanently improving our services; we carefully select writers who always bone up on their subjects and disciplines, and we won’t rest unless you’ve gotten your ideal paper(s). All your wishes become our unshakable rules!

Why would I ask you to write paper for me?

Despite the obvious and even natural resistance to the idea of paper writing in principle that may occur with any student, you may also ask yourself, ‘Why would I need you to help me write my paper?’ The answer to this question lies in the spectrum of your routine actions. It’s not surprising that studying becomes part of our lives, but sometimes we’ve just got too much going on!

When you write an essay or academic paper, you just do one of the numerous things you face daily or weekly. This part of your life consumes lots of energy and time, so how can you possibly get around to doing other things like having fun, working, playing sports, helping relatives, and spending time with friends?

People are social creatures, and it’s only natural of us to request help from experts.. That’s why we ask doctors, electricians, or plumbers to help us! They’re all specialists. Who writes essays for you better than you do? Right, people who write numerous essays every day. We are experts in academic writing, aimed at satisfying all your needs related to education.

You just hire a professional to get a paper written, like you normally do in other situations. Our team of writers know everything about writing your paper and can cope with assignments of any complexity and academic level. Well-researched and expertly-written papers are what we do for our customers, and we always do our work professionally so that you could kick back and enjoy your life to the fullest.

The undeniable benefits of our custom paper-writing service

Apart from a paper written in accordance with the highest standards, we provide a wide range of contributory advantages to make your life easier. Let’s take a closer look at them.

Round-the-Clock Support. Our paper-writing service works day and night to help you with all current issues. Our friendly support team is available whenever you need them, even if it’s the middle of the night. They will gladly guide you and answer all your questions on how to order customized papers or consult you about the matters at hand. Feel free to share your questions or concerns with them and get comprehensible answers.

High-Class Quality. ‘Will you write a paper for me that meets all requirements?’ This question is frequently asked by many students, and we always answer in the affirmative. Our main goal is to deliver a perfectly written paper the meets the highest possible writing standards. We don’t rest unless you are satisfied with our work. If you hire a paper writer online, we guarantee you that you get 100% original and plagiarism-free assignments of high quality.

Complete Anonymity. We value your privacy and use modern encryption systems to protect you online. We don’t collect any personal or payment details and provide all our customers with 100% anonymity. ‘Can you write a paper for me and let me stay anonymous?’ Of course, we can! We are here to help you, not to cause problems.

Fast Delivery. We completely understand how strict deadlines may be when it comes to writing your paper. Even if your paper is due tomorrow morning, you can always rely on us. Our writers meet all set deadlines unequivocally. This rule is ironclad! The offered range is wide and starts from 6 hours to 2 weeks. Which one to choose is totally up to you. On our part, we guarantee that our writers will deliver your order on time.

Free Revisions. Our mission is to hone your paper to perfection. That’s why we offer you free revisions to make everything ideal and according to your needs. Feel free to ask for revisions if there is something you would like to be changed. That’s how our paper writing service works.

Money-Back Guarantee. You can get up to a 100% refund if you are dissatisfied with our work. Nevertheless, we are completely sure of our writers’ professionalism and credibility that offer you hard-core loyalty to our guarantees.

Comprehensible Explanations. ‘Can someone write my paper for me and provide clarifications?’ This question arises from time to time. Naturally, we want you to be totally prepared for the upcoming battle with your professor. If you need to fill the gaps in your knowledge, you can always ask for clarifications related to your paper. Moreover, when you order ‘write my paper for me’ service, you can always turn to our support agents for assistance. They will be glad to provide you with the necessary information and comprehensible explanations.

Fast and Customer-Focused Solutions. ‘Is it possible to do my paper for me so that I don’t worry about it at all?’ It certainly is! We offer all-encompassing solutions to all your academic problems by defining issues, determining their causes, selecting proper alternatives, and ultimately solving them. You are free to do your favorite activities while we are taking care of ongoing matters. You can always rely on us when it comes to essay-writing online and taking an individual approach to every case.

Who will write my paper when I order it?

Another crucial advantage of our service is our writers. You may have asked yourself, ‘I’d like to pay someone to write a paper for me, but who exactly will that person be?’ Once you order a paper, our managers will choose the best writer based on your requirements. You’ll get a writer who is a true expert in the relevant subject, and a perfect fit is certain to be found due to our thorough procedure of selecting.

Every applicant passes a complex procedure of tests to become one of our permanent writers. First of all, they should provide their credentials.  We need to make sure that any prospective writers we hire have the proper experience.. The next step resides in passing a series of tests related to grammar, in addition to subject and/or discipline. Every paper-writer must pass them to prove their competency and their selected field of expertise.

One more step includes writing a sample to prove the ability to research and write consistently. Moreover, we always set our heart on hiring only devoted writers. When you ask us to write your essay or other academic works, you can be sure that they always do their best to provide you with well-structured and properly-written papers of high quality.

The final chord is related to special aspects of academic paper-writing. It means that every writer is prepared to cite properly, use different styles, and so on, so you don’t have to be worried about formatting at all.

‘So, can they write an ideal paper for me?’ We answer in the affirmative because we select only the best writers for our customers. Approximately 11% of all applicants can pass the whole set of tests and are ready to help you. All writers are fully compensated for their work and are highly motivated to provide you with the best results.

We are online 24/7 so that you could monitor the process of paper-writing and contact us whenever necessary. Don’t forget that your satisfaction is our priority. Our writers fully focus on your order when it comes to the ‘write my paper’ procedure. Our managers will immediately send all the information to your writer if any corrections are required.

It’s time to write my paper! What should I do?

‘I am ready to pay to have a paper written! Where do I start?’ Our team hears these words every day. We really believe that every student should be happy. That’s why we offer you to look at the simple steps to make the process even more convenient.

Every paper we can write for you is expertly-researched, well-structured, and consistent. Take a look at some types of papers we can help you with:

Questions like ‘I would like you to write a paper for me without destroying my reputation. Can you promise to do so?’ or ‘Can you write my paper for me cheap and fast?’ often arise, and we take pride that these options are included in the list. Your safety and anonymity are parts of our common priority, which is to make you fully satisfied with all offered services.

Moreover, our pricing policy is flexible and allows you to select the options that totally suit your needs at affordable prices. You will be pleased with the results and the amount of money spent on your order. Our managers and writers will do the rest according to the highest standards.

Don’t hesitate and hire a writer to work on your paper now!

We believe that students know what is best for them, and if you suppose that it is time to ‘write my paper right now,’ we will help you handle it. ‘Will you do my paper without any hesitation?’ Of course, we will. Our service has all the necessary prerequisites to complete assignments regardless of their difficulty, academic level, or the number of pages. We choose a writer who has vast experience and a breadth of knowledge related to your topic.

Our ‘write my paper for me’ service offers a wide range of extra features to make the ordering process even more pleasant and convenient. Unlike lots of other services, we provide formatting, bibliography, amendments, and a title page for free.

‘When you write my paper for me? Can I monitor the process?’ Naturally, you can. We understand that you may want to ensure that everything is going well. Furthermore, there may be situations when some corrections are needed. We believe that a tool like this can come in handy. The assigned writer will strictly follow your and your professor’s requirements to make sure that your paper is perfect.

‘Is it possible to write my essay from scratch?’ We don’t do just proofreading or editing. Our goal is to fully carry your burden of writing. When this or similar questions appear, we always assure our customers that our writers can do whatever they need. Apart from writing from scratch or editing and proofreading, our experts can effortlessly cope with problem-solving of all kinds;even sophisticated software assignments!

Our ‘write my paper for me’ service is good for everyone who wants to delegate paper-writing to professionals and save precious time that can be spent differently and in a more practical way. We want you to be happy by offering the great opportunity to forget about endless and boring assignments once and forever. You won’t miss anything if your papers become the concern of our professional writers.

Don’t waste your precious time browsing other services. We provide you with everything you need while you are enjoying yourself by doing things you really enjoy. ‘Write my paper then! Do my paper for me right now!’ If you are ready to exclaim these words with delight, we welcome you to our haven, a place where students spend their time serenely and never worry about papers! It’s your turn to have fun, whereas our mission is to provide you with the best papers delivered on time!

Questions our customers ask

Can someone write my paper for me.

Yes, we can. We have writers ready to cope with papers of any complexity. Just contact our specialists and let us help you.

Who can I pay to write a paper for me?

We will help you select a writer according to your needs. As soon as you hire our specialist, you’ll see a significant improvement in your grades.

Can I pay someone to write a paper for me?

Yes, you can. We have lots of professionals to choose from. We employ only well-qualified experts with vast experience in academic paper writing.

What website will write a paper for me?

WritePaperFor.me is the website you need. We offer a wide range of services to cover all your needs. Just place an order and provide instructions, and we will write a perfect paper for you.

Is it safe to use your paper writing service?

Our service is completely safe and anonymous. We don’t keep your personal and payment details and use the latest encryption systems to protect you.

What are you waiting for?

You are a couple of clicks away from tranquility at an affordable price!

- Will you write my paper for me? - Yes, we will.

What we offer:, let’s write a paper for you in no time, follow these 4 simple steps and solve you problem at once.

Provide details such as your topic, the number of pages, and extra requirements, and we’ll do a paper for you in no time!

Log in to your personal account to know the current status of your paper(s). You can also turn to our support team for the same purpose. Enjoy your life while we're working on your order.

As soon as we write the paper(s) for you, check it for correctness, and if everything is good to go, just download it and enjoy the results.

Our customers’ feedback

Still hesitant just look: others have already used our services and were pleased with the results.

Thank you guys for the amazing work! I got an A, and my professor was impressed. You have done the impossible, and I will never forget your help! The best service ever!

I ordered my paper two weeks ago and received it on time. The quality is very good, much better than other companies provide. My support agent is a pro, fast and simple explanations. Thanks!

I am firmly convinced that you will never disappoint me because you haven’t done it before. Amazing approaches and solutions at perfect prices! Please continue working the way you do!

I’ve been using WritePaperFor.me for about five months, and I have nothing to complain about. Excellent quality, perfect grammar, delivery on time, nice support team, pleasant prices, amazing results.

This service helped me focus on my job, and I will never forget the support I received. I’ve got a promotion in the end! Thanks a lot for everything you do for people like me!

I have to admit that searching for a reliable and professional service was a tough quest. Nevertheless, I am happy that I managed to find writepaperforme! Everything is much better than I expected!

The best bargain is just a few clicks away!

Get an original paper that doesn’t cost a fortune!

​​Still have questions?

Contact our support agents and let them help you!

Is it time to write a paper for you? Contact us and relish the highest academic performance! 

Our professionals will do their best!

You’ll write my paper for me, won’t you? We certainly will!

So tired of writing papers that you’re starting to think of your professor’s demise? Relax, we’re only joking! However, even a joke is woven with the thread of truth, and the truth is that endless assignments are constantly nagging at you and keeping you up all night long.

‘Writing my papers is unbearable!’ you may think But you’re not alone… What if we told you that we know a magical place where professionals can write your essays so perfectly that even professors’ most sophisticated requirements will be met? You’ve probably already guessed that we’re talking about WritePaperFor.me — the most delightful, facilitating, and destressing custom paper-writing service!

We are not going to be shy about our wish to see you as our steady customer. As a result, we aren’t twiddling our thumbs but permanently improving our services; we carefully select writers who always bone up on their subjects and disciplines, and we won’t rest unless you’ve gotten your ideal paper(s). All your wishes become our unshakable rules!

Why would I ask you to write paper for me?

Despite the obvious and even natural resistance to the idea of paper writing in principle that may occur with any student, you may also ask yourself, ‘Why would I need you to help me write my paper?’ The answer to this question lies in the spectrum of your routine actions. It’s not surprising that studying becomes part of our lives, but sometimes we’ve just got too much going on!

When you write an essay or academic paper, you just do one of the numerous things you face daily or weekly. This part of your life consumes lots of energy and time, so how can you possibly get around to doing other things like having fun, working, playing sports, helping relatives, and spending time with friends?

People are social creatures, and it’s only natural of us to request help from experts.. That’s why we ask doctors, electricians, or plumbers to help us! They’re all specialists. Who writes essays for you better than you do? Right, people who write numerous essays every day. We are experts in academic writing, aimed at satisfying all your needs related to education.

You just hire a professional to get a paper written, like you normally do in other situations. Our team of writers know everything about writing your paper and can cope with assignments of any complexity and academic level. Well-researched and expertly-written papers are what we do for our customers, and we always do our work professionally so that you could kick back and enjoy your life to the fullest.

The undeniable benefits of our custom paper-writing service

Apart from a paper written in accordance with the highest standards, we provide a wide range of contributory advantages to make your life easier. Let’s take a closer look at them.

Round-the-Clock Support. Our paper-writing service works day and night to help you with all current issues. Our friendly support team is available whenever you need them, even if it’s the middle of the night. They will gladly guide you and answer all your questions on how to order customized papers or consult you about the matters at hand. Feel free to share your questions or concerns with them and get comprehensible answers.

High-Class Quality. ‘Will you write a paper for me that meets all requirements?’ This question is frequently asked by many students, and we always answer in the affirmative. Our main goal is to deliver a perfectly written paper the meets the highest possible writing standards. We don’t rest unless you are satisfied with our work. If you hire a paper writer online, we guarantee you that you get 100% original and plagiarism-free assignments of high quality.

Complete Anonymity. We value your privacy and use modern encryption systems to protect you online. We don’t collect any personal or payment details and provide all our customers with 100% anonymity. ‘Can you write a paper for me and let me stay anonymous?’ Of course, we can! We are here to help you, not to cause problems.

Fast Delivery. We completely understand how strict deadlines may be when it comes to writing your paper. Even if your paper is due tomorrow morning, you can always rely on us. Our writers meet all set deadlines unequivocally. This rule is ironclad! The offered range is wide and starts from 6 hours to 2 weeks. Which one to choose is totally up to you. On our part, we guarantee that our writers will deliver your order on time.

Free Revisions. Our mission is to hone your paper to perfection. That’s why we offer you free revisions to make everything ideal and according to your needs. Feel free to ask for revisions if there is something you would like to be changed. That’s how our paper writing service works.

Money-Back Guarantee. You can get up to a 100% refund if you are dissatisfied with our work. Nevertheless, we are completely sure of our writers’ professionalism and credibility that offer you hard-core loyalty to our guarantees.

Comprehensible Explanations. ‘Can someone write my paper for me and provide clarifications?’ This question arises from time to time. Naturally, we want you to be totally prepared for the upcoming battle with your professor. If you need to fill the gaps in your knowledge, you can always ask for clarifications related to your paper. Moreover, when you order ‘write my paper for me’ service, you can always turn to our support agents for assistance. They will be glad to provide you with the necessary information and comprehensible explanations.

Fast and Customer-Focused Solutions. ‘Is it possible to do my paper for me so that I don’t worry about it at all?’ It certainly is! We offer all-encompassing solutions to all your academic problems by defining issues, determining their causes, selecting proper alternatives, and ultimately solving them. You are free to do your favorite activities while we are taking care of ongoing matters. You can always rely on us when it comes to essay-writing online and taking an individual approach to every case.

Who will write my paper when I order it?

Another crucial advantage of our service is our writers. You may have asked yourself, ‘I’d like to pay someone to write a paper for me, but who exactly will that person be?’ Once you order a paper, our managers will choose the best writer based on your requirements. You’ll get a writer who is a true expert in the relevant subject, and a perfect fit is certain to be found due to our thorough procedure of selecting.

Every applicant passes a complex procedure of tests to become one of our permanent writers. First of all, they should provide their credentials.  We need to make sure that any prospective writers we hire have the proper experience.. The next step resides in passing a series of tests related to grammar, in addition to subject and/or discipline. Every paper-writer must pass them to prove their competency and their selected field of expertise.

One more step includes writing a sample to prove the ability to research and write consistently. Moreover, we always set our heart on hiring only devoted writers. When you ask us to write your essay or other academic works, you can be sure that they always do their best to provide you with well-structured and properly-written papers of high quality.

The final chord is related to special aspects of academic paper-writing. It means that every writer is prepared to cite properly, use different styles, and so on, so you don’t have to be worried about formatting at all.

‘So, can they write an ideal paper for me?’ We answer in the affirmative because we select only the best writers for our customers. Approximately 11% of all applicants can pass the whole set of tests and are ready to help you. All writers are fully compensated for their work and are highly motivated to provide you with the best results.

We are online 24/7 so that you could monitor the process of paper-writing and contact us whenever necessary. Don’t forget that your satisfaction is our priority. Our writers fully focus on your order when it comes to the ‘write my paper’ procedure. Our managers will immediately send all the information to your writer if any corrections are required.

It’s time to write my paper! What should I do?

‘I am ready to pay to have a paper written! Where do I start?’ Our team hears these words every day. We really believe that every student should be happy. That’s why we offer you to look at the simple steps to make the process even more convenient.

Every paper we can write for you is expertly-researched, well-structured, and consistent. Take a look at some types of papers we can help you with:

Questions like ‘I would like you to write a paper for me without destroying my reputation. Can you promise to do so?’ or ‘Can you write my paper for me cheap and fast?’ often arise, and we take pride that these options are included in the list. Your safety and anonymity are parts of our common priority, which is to make you fully satisfied with all offered services.

Moreover, our pricing policy is flexible and allows you to select the options that totally suit your needs at affordable prices. You will be pleased with the results and the amount of money spent on your order. Our managers and writers will do the rest according to the highest standards.

Don’t hesitate and hire a writer to work on your paper now!

We believe that students know what is best for them, and if you suppose that it is time to ‘write my paper right now,’ we will help you handle it. ‘Will you do my paper without any hesitation?’ Of course, we will. Our service has all the necessary prerequisites to complete assignments regardless of their difficulty, academic level, or the number of pages. We choose a writer who has vast experience and a breadth of knowledge related to your topic.

Our ‘write my paper for me’ service offers a wide range of extra features to make the ordering process even more pleasant and convenient. Unlike lots of other services, we provide formatting, bibliography, amendments, and a title page for free.

‘When you write my paper for me? Can I monitor the process?’ Naturally, you can. We understand that you may want to ensure that everything is going well. Furthermore, there may be situations when some corrections are needed. We believe that a tool like this can come in handy. The assigned writer will strictly follow your and your professor’s requirements to make sure that your paper is perfect.

‘Is it possible to write my essay from scratch?’ We don’t do just proofreading or editing. Our goal is to fully carry your burden of writing. When this or similar questions appear, we always assure our customers that our writers can do whatever they need. Apart from writing from scratch or editing and proofreading, our experts can effortlessly cope with problem-solving of all kinds;even sophisticated software assignments!

Our ‘write my paper for me’ service is good for everyone who wants to delegate paper-writing to professionals and save precious time that can be spent differently and in a more practical way. We want you to be happy by offering the great opportunity to forget about endless and boring assignments once and forever. You won’t miss anything if your papers become the concern of our professional writers.

Don’t waste your precious time browsing other services. We provide you with everything you need while you are enjoying yourself by doing things you really enjoy. ‘Write my paper then! Do my paper for me right now!’ If you are ready to exclaim these words with delight, we welcome you to our haven, a place where students spend their time serenely and never worry about papers! It’s your turn to have fun, whereas our mission is to provide you with the best papers delivered on time!

Questions our customers ask

Can someone write my paper for me.

Yes, we can. We have writers ready to cope with papers of any complexity. Just contact our specialists and let us help you.

Who can I pay to write a paper for me?

We will help you select a writer according to your needs. As soon as you hire our specialist, you’ll see a significant improvement in your grades.

Can I pay someone to write a paper for me?

Yes, you can. We have lots of professionals to choose from. We employ only well-qualified experts with vast experience in academic paper writing.

What website will write a paper for me?

WritePaperFor.me is the website you need. We offer a wide range of services to cover all your needs. Just place an order and provide instructions, and we will write a perfect paper for you.

Is it safe to use your paper writing service?

Our service is completely safe and anonymous. We don’t keep your personal and payment details and use the latest encryption systems to protect you.

What are you waiting for?

You are a couple of clicks away from tranquility at an affordable price!

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  1. 20 Topics For A Biology Literature Review

    A review of literature can be generally defined as a more or less systematic way of collecting and synthesizing prior research. A successful and well-done analysis as a research method provides a firm foundation for the advancement of knowledge and the growth of theory.

  2. Research Guides: Biology: How do I write a literature review?

    No, a literature review does NOT present an argument or new information. The literature review is a foundation that summarizes and synthesizes the existing literature in order for you and your readers to understand what has already been said and done about your topic. Last Updated: Feb 22, 2023 3:27 PM https://fhsuguides.fhsu.edu/biology

  3. Research Guides: Biology: What is a Literature Review?

    In a class, a lit review may be assigned to help students familiarize themselves with a topic and with scholarship in their field, get an idea of the other researchers working on the topic they're interested in, find gaps in existing research in order to propose new projects, and/or develop a theoretical framework and methodology for later …

  4. What is a literature review in biology? [Fact Checked!]

    What are the 10 steps of writing a review of related literature? Rule 1: Define a Topic and Audience. Rule 2: Search and Re-search the Literature. Rule 3: Take Notes While Reading. Rule 4: Choose the Type of Review You Wish to Write. Rule 5: Keep the Review Focused, but Make It of Broad Interest. Rule 6: Be Critical and Consistent.

  5. Biology Literature Review Examples That Really Inspire

    Biomarkers In Gastric Cancer Literature Review The term biological marker or biomarker refers to a quantified characteristic which may act as a key indicator of a biological condition or a biological state. It can also allude to a substance whose existence indicates the presence of living organisms.

  6. 20 Topics For A Biology Literature Review

    A review of literature can be generally defined as a more or less systematic way of collecting and synthesizing prior research. A successful and well-done analysis as a research method provides a firm foundation for the advancement of knowledge and the growth of theory.

  7. What is a Literature Review?

    Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Research Guide What is a literature review? A literature review surveys scholarly articles, books and other sources relevant to a particular issue, area of research, or theory. The purpose is to offer an overview of significant literature published on a topic.

  8. Literature Reviews

    A literature review is a body of text that aims to review the critical points of current knowledge on a particular topic. Most often associated with science-oriented literature, such as a thesis, the literature review usually proceeds a research proposal, methodology and results section. Its ultimate goals is to bring the reader up to date with ...

  9. Literature Review

    Excellent place to start a literature review. Get peer-reviewed journals, articles, book chapters on a wide variety of scientific topics, including the life sciences and health topics, as well as engineering content related to biology, including chemical engineering. Academic Search Complete

  10. Examples List on Biology Literature Reviews

    An literature review examples on biology literature reviews is a prosaic composition of a small volume and free composition, expressing individual impressions and thoughts on a specific occasion or issue and obviously not claiming a definitive or exhaustive interpretation of the subject.

  11. Literature Reviews, Theoretical Frameworks, and Conceptual Frameworks

    To frame their work, biology education researchers need to consider the role of literature reviews, theoretical frameworks, and conceptual frameworks as critical elements of the research and writing process. However, these elements can be confusing for scholars new to education research. This Research Methods article is designed to provide an overview of each of these elements and delineate ...

  12. Biology Literature Review

    When you require a little spank to create a proper Biology Literature Review, nothing does the job more effectively than a great sample you can use for inspiration or as a standard to follow. And hardly can you find a better place with so many top-notch Literature Review samples than WePapers.com open-access repository of Biology papers.

  13. Biology Literature Review Example

    Biology Literature Review Example. 1. SAM PLE BIOLOGY LITERATURE REVIEW Mendel's exploration of hereditary scales today is so clear and simple that we often wonder why it took thirty years to serve as a solid point around which new science disciplines - genetics. It is forgetting that the idea of a stable, discrete entity that is unchanged is ...

  14. Ten Simple Rules for Writing a Literature Review

    Reviewing the literature requires the ability to juggle multiple tasks, from finding and evaluating relevant material to synthesising information from various sources, from critical thinking to paraphrasing, evaluating, and citation skills [7].

  15. Literature Reviews

    A literature review is an explanation of what has been published on a subject. Occasionally you will be asked to write one as a separate assignment (sometimes in the form of an annotated bibliography), but more often it is part of the introduction to a research report, essay, thesis, or dissertation. It's not just a summary of sources.

  16. Literature Reviews

    Literature reviews analyze critically this segment of a published body of knowledge through summary, classification, and comparison of prior research studies, reviews of literature, and theoretical articles.. A literature review is an overview of the previously published works on a specific topic. The term can refer to a full scholarly paper or a section of a scholarly work such as a book, or ...

  17. Biology Literature Review Example

    Sample Literature Review On Biology. Topic: Transportation, DNA, Infrastructure, Vehicles, Energy, Animals, Protein, Plants. Mitochondria are important organelles found in all nucleated cells contained in both plants and animals. It is because they are the sites in which organic substrates are oxidized to generate adenosine triphosphate (ATP ...

  18. Biology

    We conducted a systematic review of the literature by screening three electronic databases until June 2022. The critical appraisal checklist provided by the Joanna Briggs Institute was employed to evaluate the overall quality of the studies. We included 96 reports, which comprised 137 patients diagnosed with MM of the cervix. ... Biology. 2023 ...

  19. Computational modeling and optimization of biofabrication in Tissue

    Biofabrication is the generation of biologically functional products from living cells and biomaterials through bioprinting and subsequent maturation processes. Technological and scientific domains are underlying biofabrication ranging from biology to automated manufacturing and culture systems. Among its application domains, Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine poses strict quality ...

  20. Literature Review Biology

    Literature Review Biology Our Professional Writers Are Our Pride EssayService boasts its wide writer catalog. Our writers have various fields of study, starting with physics and ending with history.

  21. Literature Review In Biology

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  22. Literature Review In Biology

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