A practice paper asks how sleep affects study habits. Before reporting his own survey, the writer includes a literature review. What is its main job?

Extract from a practice paper: "We asked 120 students in our school. Their average sleep on school nights was 6.2 hours." Which section is this extract from?

A draft on screen time has three paragraphs. Each one retells a single source, and none of them mentions another source. What does this draft still need?

Two sample sources both link long commutes to less study time; one looked at buses, the other at jeepneys. Which thesis states a synthesis of them?

A writer has six sample sources on plastic waste in a coastal town. How should those sources be grouped inside the literature review?

Source A says canteen prices stop students from buying vegetables. Source B says students avoid vegetables because of the taste. What is their disagreement about?

Source C finds reading scores rise when students read for pleasure. Source D finds the same rise, but only when students pick their own books. Where do the sources agree?

A student's paragraph reports only the results of her own survey of her classmates. Is this paragraph doing the work of a literature review?

An outline for a paper on urban heat lists: research question, method, the writer's own results, conclusion. What still needs to be added?

How does a literature review differ from a list of summaries of the same sources?

A writer finds one sample source that disagrees with the four others on plastic waste. Why should the review still include it?

Which sentence belongs in the literature review of a paper on canteen nutrition?

A review covers four sample sources on urban heat: W and Y measured tree cover, X measured roof color, Z measured traffic. Which sources belong in the same paragraph?

Which thesis only announces a topic instead of stating what the sources show?

After summing up earlier studies, a review notes that none of them looked at students in rural schools. What has the writer pointed out?

A paragraph compares two sample sources on sleep, names where they agree, and says what the pair suggest together. Is it doing the work of a literature review?

A draft discusses its sources in the order the writer happened to read them. Why is that arrangement a problem in a literature review?

A review paragraph on commuting time ends: "I think the city should add more buses." Why does this sentence not belong there?

Source E finds free breakfast raises attendance. Source F finds no change in attendance but better focus in class. Which statement fairly synthesizes both?

In a research paper, the literature review is placed before the section where the writer reports his or her own findings.