Your voice

A successful literature review does more than just represent the ideas of other authors. It also includes the voice of the person writing the review. Let's find out how we can do this.

Highlighting gaps, strengths and limitations

This shows your evaluation of the studies you have engaged with. This can be done with attitude markers. Here are some tips to get started:

• Attitude towards topics or issues
  • Abdul (2020) explores the critical issue of...
  • Lubov (2021) examines the alarming trend of...
  • Jones (2024) describes the pressing need for...
• Attitude through adverbs
  • Interestingly, Hope (2022) discusses that...
  • Unfortunately, the sample size was too small to...
  • The results clearly show that...
  • Importantly, the study took into account the fact that...
• Attitude through 'that' phrases
  • It is evident that...
  • It is worth noting that...
  • It is possible that...
• Attitude towards studies
  • Khalid (2023) provides a compelling argument that...
  • Chen (2024) thoroughly describes...
  • Matherson (2022) convincingly argues that...
  • Anuman et al. (2023) astutely observe that...
  • Alim (2021) underestimates the importance of...
  • In their comprehensive study from 2025, Drummond states that...

Providing criticism

Naturally, at times you will find yourself disagreeing with what an author has said. However, critiquing other authors should be done professionally, respectfully and constructively. Simply saying that you disagree with someone's ideas is not constructive, as you need to detail why you disagree with them. Similarly, using strong, emotive language to describe their ideas such as saying it is 'wrong' or 'ridiculous' is not respectful.

Here are some techniques that can be used to soften criticism of the views of other authors.

• Acknowledging strengths first
  Mention a positive, before expressing a negative.

  While Rodriguez (2022) provides a comprehensive overview of the topic, there are areas that could benefit from further exploration.

• Use careful language
  Employ hedging words to soften the critique, such as "might," "may", "could," "appears to," or "suggests."

  Callao (2022) may have overlooked the possibility of...

• Suggest further research
  If you have not been convinced by an author's theory, then you may suggest further research in the area is needed.

  While Chen (2021) raises some interesting points, further investigation into the root causes of academic misconduct is required.

• Acknowledge complexity
  If you believe an author has not provided a satisfactory answer to a problem, you can state that you disagree but also acknowledge that the issue is complex.

  While Hernan (2023) has suggested some helpful steps, given the complexity of the issue, these steps cannot be considered a conclusive solution.

• Express uncertainty
  A polite way of showing disagreement can be to express uncertainty.

  There appear to be some inconsistencies in the results obtained in the 2022 study by Mraz and Webster.

• Avoid emotional language
  Overly emotional or 'emotive' language can make you seem biased. Instead of using words like 'terrible' or 'ridiculous' to describe someone's ideas, you could instead say that they are 'problematic' or 'inadequate'.

  This approach is problematic because it fails to take into account the people who are affected by the situation.

Here are some more examples of emotive language that should be avoided in academic writing and some more neutral words that can be used instead:

Emotive	Neutral
Awful	Unfavourable, suboptimal
Fantastic	Noteworthy, effective
Disaster	Problematic
Perfect	Ideal
Dreadful	Unsatisfactory
Unbelievable	Improbable
One-sided	Biased, influenced