Whether you’re an experienced researcher or just starting out in your career, writing review articles can be a great way to develop your critical reading skills. Essentially, a review article is an analysis of primary research and can be used to stimulate further discussion and inspire new work in a particular field.
There are many aspects to a successful review, including: selecting the topic; identifying gaps in literature; and choosing papers to focus on. Once you’ve decided on a topic, the first step is to read the relevant literature. This is a critical and strategic process: think about your motivation for writing the review (for example, if you’re looking to fill gaps in the literature) and base your selection of papers on those that will help you achieve this goal.
Next, identify a key subset of recent publications that you’ll focus on in the review, and read each one carefully. This will give you a clear understanding of the research being carried out, the main questions that it addresses, and any limitations or flaws in its design. It also gives you a chance to make notes and cite evidence, so that the reference list you create later will be well-organised and robust.
Once you’ve read the relevant literature, it’s time to start drafting your review article. Depending on the scope of your review, you may be able to complete this task in a single session or it might take several iterations before the text is ready for submission. It’s worth allowing plenty of time between the initial read and drafting, as this will enable you to return to the draft with fresh eyes and see where you could improve the text.
The next step is to draw up an outline for your review, based on the scientific content that you’ve identified from the literature. This should include a brief introduction to the core research topic, a main section that discusses the research in detail and subheadings to demarcate each subtopic. During the writing phase, this will be refined with additional subheadings and references as you incorporate details on the topic.
After drafting your article, you will want to proofread it and edit it before submission. This will help you to spot any errors, grammatical mistakes or language issues. It’s especially important to do this for reviews that are written in English, as you will need to check all citations against your bibliography and ensure that your spelling is consistent throughout the text.
It’s best to re-read your article a day or two after writing it, as this will help you to catch any mistakes in grammar and punctuation. It’s also a good idea to ask a friend or colleague for feedback on the final version before you submit it.
The most crucial step in writing a review article is to carefully select and interpret the primary literature. Using this information, you can build a thorough and informative analysis that will appeal to the general public as well as your target audience.
