[How to write a good paper for academic novice] Literature review

I. Introduction

Preface: When writing this part, we must first clarify what the purpose and function of the literature review is.

1. Purpose

1. Sorting out the context of previous research
2. Find out the shortcomings of previous research

2. Function

Make this research more substantial, tell readers that this research has a solid theoretical foundation + only when the research is found to be insufficient, the significance of this paper can be highlighted

2. Cutting angle

When we clarify the purpose and function of literature review, we will know which angle to start from. Generally speaking, we can look at independent variables, dependent variables, research fields, and academic debates, mainly from these perspectives.

So how to choose energy?
You can choose from the following points:

1. Which variable is newer?
2. Less academic research?
3. New to this topic?
4. Have a big argument? Choose the most controversial

3. Writing method

Literature review writing is very particular about logic and hierarchy, connecting and advancing step by step, which is a test of the author's writing ability.
Here are two main writing methods:

Writing method 1: progressive	Writing method 2: Parallel
The first paragraph: We must first consider which level to start with the first sentence. Summarize the topic/variable in one sentence (it can be the effect of the topic/variable, concept definition, importance).
Matters needing attention : Which level we consider to start is very critical, it determines whether our research is carried out from a large or small scope in the field (equal to our foundation). Starting from a large field may require a lot of elaboration to focus, and it will be more general when writing research contributions in the later stage; starting from a small field may encounter less current research and a relatively thin literature review.
The second paragraph: Progressive literature review is a test of the connection of each part of the research results. Here we take "Replenishing Wisdom with Emotion: Research on the Remedial Effect of Artificial Intelligence Empathy Response" as an example to disassemble. This article conducts a literature review on AI application research in the service industry. The overall logic is: early research focused on customers’ evaluation of AI; as the field matured, scholars began to study from the image characteristics of AI; but in the end, customer retention is the most important, and scholars started research on how to maintain customers.	Second paragraph: Parallel writing. This part has an obvious feature. It is to sum up first and then divide, first summarize which aspects of the current research are carried out, and then elaborate in detail separately. For example, we conduct a literature review on a. What is the definition of A, its importance, necessity. Previous studies have done a lot of research on the mechanism of antecedent influence and backward effect of a. Specifically, previous scholars pointed out that xxxx can significantly affect a, and at the same time, from the perspective of the backward effect of a, a can also significantly affect xxxx. For another example, we continue the literature review on b, what is the definition of B, the importance of b, must be done, etc. Previous studies on b have focused on the harm of b to the individual and social levels. Specifically, on an individual level, b xx; on a social level, b xxx.
Note : The logic of this literature review is very rigorous, sorting out AI papers according to different time or development stages. Each stage is discussed in a high-level summary rather than a list of examples. At the same time, more attention should be paid to the fact that our literature review is to discover the shortcomings of previous studies, rather than to summarize all previous studies. When we review, we must write in a targeted manner, in order to highlight research deficiencies and introduce our research.	Note : Generally speaking, this kind of writing logic is relatively simple. Its most critical part is the summary section. The purpose of our literature review is to find gaps, so the summary and overview of the article should contribute to proposing research gaps (it can be understood that it is because aspect a has been studied in the past, so there is no research on aspect b).
The third paragraph: a summary summary, and finally must settle down to the summary. Then in the third paragraph, we can briefly summarize the content of the previous paragraph, and then point out that the current research is insufficient. We can start from the following points: 1. Insufficient research on a certain aspect of this field (less discussion) 2. There are controversies in previous studies, and we haven't explored more effective issues in our research field? 3. Existing studies have explored the situation a, but the situation b is very important and lack of discussion. 4. When discussing this issue, previous studies did not take into account the interference or existence of other factors. 5. Previous studies did not clarify the mechanism of action (mostly refer to mediation mechanism), there is still a theoretical black box in the process from a to b. After we explain the current research deficiencies, we need to introduce our research content, which can be expanded from the following points: 1. Directly explain our research content 2. Our research content Practical significance of the research, importance 3. Our research content + possible theoretical contributions, supplemented by xxx reveals xxx