Conducting a Systematic Literature Review in Education: A Basic Approach for Graduate Students

Abstract

Though essential for graduate students’ success, academic writing remains complex for a variety of reasons. Lack of institutional support and non-transparent writing practices leave graduate students in education to depend on the support of their academic supervisors. The aim of this paper is to familiarize graduate students with the genre of systematic literature review (SLR), as it is conducted in the field of education, by providing them with a self-paced approach to writing a SLR. This approach contains goals, explanations, and recommended time frames, while at the same time suggesting deliverables to be produced that would facilitate the writing of this important part of their research project.