We argue that this is the easiest part of the paper—apologies for the bragging, but maybe that’s because we’ve gotten quite good at it. So, we thought we’d share a perfect literature review that we did, and together we’ll analyze it.
Topic: The relationship between phonological awareness and emotional maturity in first grade.
Let’s start by building a framework for the literature review:
First, we’ll begin the review by repeating the variables and the question to enhance understanding of why we’re discussing these topics in the review. Not mandatory, but it helps the reader.
“As mentioned, this work examines whether there’s a relationship between phonological awareness and emotional maturity in first grade. The research hypothesis is that the higher the phonological awareness, the higher the level of emotional maturity in first grade. This literature review will present several definitions of phonological awareness and then review a number of studies dealing with readiness and emotional maturity in first grade regarding all characteristics and variables related to phonological awareness.”
It’s crucial to include explanations of the concepts and theories you’ll need for the rest of the work in your literature review; these will serve you later in the critical discussion chapter of your research paper. For example:
“Often, people think reading begins by learning the sounds of letters. However, many children start reading long before they understand that letters represent sounds. A basic component of language skill is called phonological awareness. Phonological awareness (PA) is the ability to identify and manipulate the spoken parts of sentences and words, such as identifying rhyming words, recognizing alliteration, segmenting a sentence into words, identifying the syllables in a word, and more. Phonological awareness includes a sequence of skills that develop over time and are vital for the success of reading and spelling since they are central to learning decoding and spelling words. Phonological awareness is particularly important in the early stages of reading development—in kindergarten and first grade (Carroll et al., 2003). Proper development of phonological awareness in these early years can prevent future reading problems for many students. However, at any age, it is definitely possible to work on phonological awareness.”
Ensure your writing is pleasant and clear, with a good flow in between paragraphs. Examples of transition phrases between paragraphs could be “However, in this context, contrary to what was said, in relation to the previous paragraph, similar to the discussed research, in contrast,” etc. Here’s an example:
“Alongside this, the five vital areas for school readiness are: social and emotional development, learning abilities, language and literacy, cognition and general knowledge, and physical development and health. When we talk about “school readiness,” we picture children learning letters and numbers, colors, shapes, and traditional learning skills.
However, according to Zins et al. (2004), recent decades of research on school readiness have unequivocally shown that children’s social and emotional development is of central importance to success in school.”
It’s vital to base your arguments in the review on existing academic research. Quality studies from recent years will make your review professional and well-founded. Do not hesitate to write about studies conducted in the same field you are researching, even if they found different results, as this will give you a good foundation for the discussion that comes at the end of your research paper.
“Proylich et al. (2010) examined whether phonological awareness is a predictor of reading and writing skills among young children. The study tested 188 children with phonological awareness difficulties and behavioral issues. It found that children with lower levels of phonological awareness have more emotional problems, are more hyperactive, and have more issues with their peers than children with higher levels of phonological awareness. Another study confirmed the relationship between phonological awareness and early language skills. The study compared two groups of children aged 4: one with advanced speech and language skills and the other with low phonological skills. Each group received tests that measured formulation level, vocabulary, literacy, and phonological skills… (Rvachew et al, 2003).”
Lastly, if you have variables that need to be quantitatively measured, it is advisable to write definitions for your variables in the review and explain why you chose to define the variables this way based on academic articles.
Moreover, embracing AI tools like RikiGPT can drastically streamline the entire process of conducting a literature review, no matter the type of research you’re doing. Over the past year, RikiGPT has proven capable of synthesizing and organizing information from hundreds of theoretical papers, simplifying the painstaking task of literature collection and review, and yet maintaining high academic standards. Professors have consistently enjoyed the essay without realizing RikiGPT had a hand in it, which exemplifies the seamless integration of AI in enhancing academic productivity.
