For students with a draft Chapter Two in a five-chapter project, as set up in Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya. The page covers the parts listed in the university guides quoted here, and what a supervisor questions in each. For the Philippine Review of Related Literature, see review of related literature.
Esmond doesn't open your sources. From within your field, it points out where your use of them leaves a claim unsupported, where you cite a source in two conflicting ways, and other blind spots.
Chapter Two shows what is known about the variables named in Chapter One, which theory explains how they relate, what earlier studies found and how they found it, and what is still open.
The headings vary. The UNIZIK Manual of Style at Nnamdi Azikiwe University lists a conceptual framework and a theoretical framework (both where applicable), theoretical studies, empirical studies and a summary of the literature review. Kumasi Technical University in Ghana asks for subheadings that reflect the topic, built on the key concepts in the specific objectives.
“The sub-themes in the literature review should derive from the objectives”, as Laikipia University's proposal guidelines put it. A quick check: hold the list of subheadings next to the list of objectives. For how long the chapter tends to be, see how long should a literature review be?; for the other chapters, see thesis chapter feedback.
A hypothetical example of a commentYour theoretical framework presents Herzberg's two-factor theory, but no research question, questionnaire item or discussion point refers to hygiene factors or motivators again. Where does the theory do work after Chapter Two?
A first comment on one part of your own draft, right away and without an account.
Get a free previewThe conceptual review takes each key variable from the topic and sets out how the literature defines it. The part a supervisor looks for comes at the end of each concept: which definition does this project adopt, and why? That adopted definition has to match the operational definition in Chapter One and the items in the instrument in Chapter Three.
Some departments add a conceptual framework at this point. In the UNIZIK manual it shows how the variables and major issues in the study connect with one another, drawn as a sketch. The conceptual framework page covers that diagram in detail.
The theoretical framework names the theory that explains why your variables should be related, and says which of its claims your study relies on. Laikipia University's guidelines for theses and projects ask for the main tenets of the theory, its strengths and weaknesses, and a justification of its suitability for this research. Where more than one theory is used, they ask for a reason for each and an account of how they complement each other.
A supervisor reads this section forward. Which part of the theory predicts the relationship in your hypothesis? Does the instrument measure the constructs the theory names? Does Chapter Five return to the theory when it discusses the findings? A theory chosen because it is well known, then never used again, leaves the reader asking why it is there.
JKUAT's School of Public Health asks students to “Indicate what has been done by other researchers including the methodologies used and identify gaps.” The UNIZIK manual adds a limit on how this is presented: “Presentation of the abstract of each work in a paragraph shall not be allowed.”
Read together, the two guides ask for the methods and findings of earlier studies, organized by issue. Under each subheading (one per variable or relationship from the objectives), group the studies, say where their findings agree and where they differ, and give the likely reason: a different population, design, instrument or setting. A paragraph per study, each starting with an author and a year, reads as a list and leaves the comparison to the reader.
The University of Ilorin's Postgraduate School puts “Critical Appraisal of the Literature” among the criteria on its thesis evaluation form for PhD and MD theses, next to relevance, currency and authoritative sources. That form is for doctoral theses at Ilorin; the question behind it applies to any empirical review: what do these studies tell us together, and what don't they?
Laikipia University sets an explicit age limit for its graduate students: “Literature review should include current research works related to the current study and should not be more than five (5) years old except in the case of books that are considered as classicals or archival studies in that discipline area since they are timeless.” That rule belongs to Laikipia's guidelines; your department may set a different limit or none. Ask your supervisor.
Without a fixed limit, a reader still asks about a review whose newest empirical study is a decade old, a textbook cited for an empirical finding, or a study cited through another author. A study in a very different population needs a sentence on why it applies to yours.
The chapter ends by condensing what the review found. The UNIZIK manual asks the summary to point out what has been done and what is left out, and Laikipia University's guidelines ask for a summary of the gaps identified in the reviewed literature.
The gap you name here has to be the same gap the statement of the problem names in Chapter One. If Chapter One says the problem is low uptake of a service in rural areas, and the summary says no study has used a particular statistical test, the two chapters argue for different studies. The research gap in a thesis page covers how to support a gap. The summary can also prepare Chapter Three: which designs and instruments will you adopt from the reviewed studies?
| Part | Sign of trouble | Question you will hear |
|---|---|---|
| Subheadings | Topics that no objective mentions, or an objective with no subheading | Where is the literature for objective three? |
| Conceptual review | Six definitions in a row, none adopted | Which definition does your instrument measure? |
| Theoretical framework | A theory described and never referred to again | Which hypothesis does this theory explain? |
| Empirical review | One paragraph per study, no comparison | Where do these findings disagree, and why? |
| Sources | Old statistics, secondary citations | Is there more recent evidence for this claim? |
| Summary | A gap different from the problem in Chapter One | Which gap does your study fill? |
These fragments are made up. None of them comes from a real thesis.
Esmond evaluates every assignment before you submit. It never writes it.
Esmond is an AI tool that doesn't write for you. If your course doesn't allow any AI tools, don't use Esmond for that work. If you're unsure, ask your instructor or advisor.
In a literature review chapter, Esmond flags what a supervisor would ask about in the text you made: subheadings that don't cover an objective, definitions that the project never chooses between, a theory that the later chapters don't use, an empirical review that summarizes studies without comparing them, a gap that differs from the problem in Chapter One. The sample report shows what such feedback looks like; how Esmond works describes the process.
Esmond reads what you upload. If the file holds the whole draft, it can set this chapter against the others; if it holds one chapter, the review stays within that chapter and may raise a point that another chapter already answers.
Esmond doesn't search the literature for you, doesn't check your reference style against your department's format, and adds no text. Which points you take up is your decision.
In the UNIZIK Manual of Style: conceptual framework and theoretical framework (both where applicable), theoretical studies, empirical studies, and a summary of the literature review. Your department's format decides the exact headings.
A short paragraph that says what the chapter covers. Laikipia University's graduate school guidelines number it 2.1; Bolgatanga Technical University calls it 2.0 Introduction.
The conceptual review defines the key variables. The theoretical framework presents the theory that explains how they relate. The empirical review reports and compares earlier studies that measured them, with their samples, methods and findings.
Laikipia University's graduate school sets five years, with an exception for classic works; that is Laikipia's rule. Ask your supervisor which limit, if any, applies to you.
It does the same work in a different place. The 2013 UP Manila manual for graduate theses in the health sciences puts the review of related literature in Chapter II, Theoretical Background; the 2023 Emilio Aguinaldo College manual places it inside Chapter 1, Introduction.
Read on November 8, 2026.
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