How Do You Write a Research Paper Literature Section?

Sometimes you will be given a topic that includes a literature section. You may have to explain or analyze a piece of literature that your teacher has assigned to you. You will be expected to provide support for this section of the paper using critical analysis databases. Here are a few tips on how to best write a literature section of a research paper.

Literature Sources

There are many literature databases that are only about literature and authors. Start your research with one of those sites. You may find most of your information at one or two of these generous locations. Using them will give you expert and credible sources that can be sued to support your ideas throughout your entire paper.

You may also want to look at some of the magazines and journals that are about literature. Using these sources will also give you expert and valid sources.

Read the Piece of Literature

Make sure you read the piece of literature that you plan on writing your paper about. It is important that you are 100% familiar with the work. You cannot write about a subject that you are not familiar with.

Remember that the shorty story, poem, play, fable, folk tale, or novel is considered one of your sources for your paper. You can quote from it, just make sure you add it to your bibliography or works cited page. Additionally, make sure you cite it in the actual paper.

Author Background

You will be expected to provide some author background information in the paper. Just remember that the author background details you provide should not be longer that the information about the author’s piece of writing. You are writing about the literature, so one to two paragraphs on the author will be sufficient.

New Works

Many times students want to write about literature that has recently been published. It is okay to select a new publication as your topic, but remember there will be less information and support about a new piece of writing as opposed to a piece that has been a round for a while and critiqued heavily. Be careful if this is what you want to do. Check ahead and make sure there is enough information on your topic. If there is not a lot of information, you may want to change your topic.