Suggestions for Writing Research Review Papers
Use multiple references to make your points in a paragraph rather than just making a single point about a single reference. It is an example of excellent scientific writing style.
The introduction should conclude with a sentence that indicates the purpose of your paper or its thesis: The purpose of this paper is to …. or In this paper, I will compare and contrast x, y, and z… or The focus of this paper will be on elucidating mechanisms associated with x and demonstrating their influence on y and z. So, one thing that needs to be present in the introduction is a clear, definitive, well-developed statement of your thesis or purpose of your paper.
Mainly, some broad suggestions would be: 1) Have a clear sentence that describes the purpose of your paper; 2) use section headings to help organize your paper and improve flow; 3) paraphrase sources rather than using a direct quote (but be sure to indicate the source of the paraphrase of course) and integrate the sources more fluidly in the text. When you present a sentence that states a position or claim, try to include some supporting citations/references in the text: e.g., Mindfulness meditation has been shown to be effective in enhancing empathy (reference, 2015), reducing pain (reference1, 2013; reference2, 2019), and enhancing overall well-being (reference3, 2018).
You may want to check out the free reference manager called Mendeley, which will make use of a PDF of your article to automatically enter all the reference detail. You can then have the program automatically format your reference section. Broadly, I would recommend the following suggestions for improved writing: 1) Make sure your introduction makes use of several citations or references to highlight what we know or don’t know about your topic and that orients the reader to the problem or purpose your paper is trying to address. It then leads into a sentence that states the purpose or thesis of your paper, as you clearly presented; 2) Rather than devoting a paragraph to describing the findings of a particular article, present a concept or issue or topic in a paragraph and use multiple sources to support, refute, or describe the information you are trying to get across in the paragraph. 4) Use references in an integrative way, rather than a descriptive way, which will really help enhance the impact of your writing.
1) Make sure your introduction is a unique section that leads into a sentence that states the purpose or thesis of your paper; 2) Use section headings to organize the flow of your paper. Start with the section headings and just type them into your paper first. Then under each section heading, type in the paragraphs that support each section. It is harder to see the flow and direction of your paper without section headings. I usually start with an outline and take my section headings from the outline directly. 3) Rather than devoting a paragraph to describing the findings of a particular article, present a concept or issue or topic in a paragraph and use multiple sources to support, refute, or describe the information you are trying to get across in the paragraph. 4) Rather than using direct quotes, I recommend paraphrasing the
information from an article and then providing the citation. Again, using references in an integrative way, rather than a descriptive way will really help enhance the impact of your writing.
If you use figures, make sure to include figure captions to orient the reader to what the figure represents.
Paraphrase specific information from your sources rather than using a direct quote, but always make sure to cite the source of the information. For example, rather than using a direct quote from a paper, you could say, “One study highlighted the potential role of mindfulness meditation in treatment and prevention of disorders associated with ACC deficits through its ability to enhance ACC connectivity (Tang, et al., 2010).” This sentence paraphrases the implications of the article rather than taking direct quotes from the article.
Don’t use “This” or “These” without a noun that follows “This” or “These”. Otherwise, it is unclear to what “This” is referring.
In the conclusion, integrate some references into this final section to tie your concluding thoughts into the extant literature. You could point out specific challenges to the field and some potential challenges to navigate these challenges in future research.