What is a Research Review (Review-type Graduation Thesis)

A review is a type of academic paper that uses published literature as raw material for research. It is a rigorous and systematic commentary and data-based scientific paper written from the author’s own perspective on the historical background, previous work, contentious issues, research status, and development prospects of a specific topic or field. A good review usually presents or introduces some unpublished new materials and ideas, possesses authority and guidance, and can play a guiding and leading role in the further development of the discipline under discussion.

I. The Connotation of a Review

1. “Comprehensive” refers to the author’s归纳整理 (summarizing and organizing) and综合分析 (comprehensively analyzing) a large amount of material related to the topic they are writing about, making the material more refined, clear, hierarchical, and logical.
2. “Narrative” is the critical review, a more comprehensive, in-depth, and systematic discussion and evaluation of the results of the “comprehensive” process, proposing the evolutionary patterns and development trends of a particular field or research point within a specific period.

II. Characteristics of a Review

1. It provides a comprehensive and reliable analysis and a detailed, systematic elaboration of the research history, current status, progress, and future trends of a field or research point (content), leading to structural, trend-based, forward-looking, and guiding conclusions (results).
2. The information is充分详实 (sufficient and detailed), the summary is系统全面 (systematic and comprehensive); the conclusions or viewpoints are clear, pointing out existing problems and future development directions; the篇幅 (length) is long, with numerous参考文献 (references).
3. It features lofty and authoritative viewpoints, often written by leading figures or authoritative experts in the field or industry.

III. Classification of Reviews

Based on the scope of literature, reviews can be divided into major reviews and minor reviews.

1. Major Review

A major review summarizes the relevant literature of an entire field.

2. Minor Review

A minor review summarizes the literature directly related to the author’s own research topic (a specific research point).

Depending on the quantity of原始文献资料 (original literature) collected, the degree of refinement and processing, the organizational writing style, and the level of academic quality, reviews can be categorized as inductive (data organization type), general type, or critical (comprehensive research type).

(1) Inductive Review

Written by classifying and arranging materials in a certain order, making them interconnected and coherent, resulting in a review with a certain level of organization, systematization, and logic. It can, to some extent, reflect the current research status and progress of a specific topic or field, but it often lacks the author’s own insights and viewpoints.

(2) General Review

A review written based on collecting a considerable amount of literature, possessing relatively strong systematization and logic, where the writing can express the author’s own views or tendencies. It has certain guiding significance and reference value for readers working in a specific topic or field.

(3) Critical Review

A discursive review written based on collecting a large amount of literature, involving the归纳整理 (summarizing and organizing) and综合分析 (comprehensive analysis) of original materials, reflecting the current research progress and development prospects in the field. It is highly logical, contains many of the author’s own insights and comments, and has general guiding significance for readers’ research work.

IV. Structure of a Review

1. Introduction

Mainly describes the purpose and function of the review, outlines the relevant concepts and definitions of the topic, and briefly describes the historical background, development process, research status, contentious issues, application value, and practical significance of the chosen topic.

2. Main Body

It can generally be divided into several major sections based on the amount of content, each with a short and striking subheading. The criteria for distinguishing sections vary, such as by problem, principle, method, argument, chronology, development stage, etc.

1) Historical Development. Chronologically describes the background, development overview, and research level at each stage of the topic.
2) Current Status Review. Discusses the current domestic and international research status, reviews solved and unsolved problems, proposes possible solutions; points out existing contentious issues, compares different viewpoints and provides theoretical explanations, stating the author’s position; details creative and promising theories and hypotheses, providing evidence and indicating possible development trends.
3) Prospect Prediction. Through vertical and horizontal comparison, affirms the research level of the topic, points out existing problems, proposes possible development trends, indicates research directions, reveal research shortcuts, and provides guidance for specialized research or industry development.

3. Conclusion and Outlook

Summarizes and looks ahead for the entire paper,提出意见 (proposes opinions),建议 (suggestions), and发展趋势 (development trends); provides a concise summary of the main content of the body and presents the author’s own见解 (insights), indicating what the author supports and opposes. For shorter reviews, the conclusion may not be listed separately but instead be高度概括 (highly summarized) in a few short sentences at the end of each section of the main body.

4. References

References are the original material and foundation of a review. Citing sufficient, representative, and temporally balanced references is a prerequisite for writing a successful review. The number of citations can range from as few as 60 to over 120.

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