What structure works best for a literature review?

Two are common: by region (international, domestic) or by theme. The thematic structure shows more synthesis and is usually preferred by reviewers. This map includes both, so delete the branch your supervisor does not want.

What is the difference between current research and critical evaluation?

Current research reports what others have done; critical evaluation is your assessment of their contributions, limitations and gaps, leading into your own study. Reviews that list without evaluating are the problem reviewers point out most often.

Can the mind map go straight into the thesis?

It can appear as a figure at the start of the review, exported as PNG or Word. In the main text, tables or roadmaps are more common; the mind map works best as a writing outline and in proposal defences.

Literature Review Framework Mind Map Template

Literature review mind map with five branches (key concepts, current research, research themes, methods, critical evaluation) to organise your sources and find the research gap before you write. For theses and proposals; free PNG, Word and PowerPoint export.

Previewed in the “Ink Teal” theme; you can switch themes in the editor

Open in the editorFree · No sign-up · No watermark

Once open you can edit the text, switch themes and style, and change the layout before exporting. The download buttons here give you the template as is

When to use it

Before writing the literature review chapter of a thesis or the "state of research" section of a proposal, use this map to sort what you have read. The five branches match the five parts of a review: define the concepts, survey the research by region and theme, note the methods used, and end with what is missing and where your study comes in.

Making it yours

Replace "concept 1" and "concept 2" with the key concepts of your topic, and add two or three representative definitions under each.
Organise "Research themes" by how your sources actually group: factors, mechanisms and outcomes, or chronologically as early, developing and recent work.
Put representative works in the leaves, such as "Smith 2021: …"; the export then works as an outline to write from.
Levels are set by indentation, two more spaces per level; avoid round brackets in node text, which Mermaid reads as shape syntax.
Word export appends this code at the end of the document, so you can keep editing later.

Mermaid code

mindmap
  root((Literature review))
    Key concepts
      Definition and dimensions of concept 1
      Definition and dimensions of concept 2
    Current research
      International studies
      Domestic studies
    Research themes
      Influencing factors
      Mechanisms
      Outcomes and effects
    Methods
      Quantitative
      Qualitative
      Mixed methods
    Critical evaluation
      Contributions of existing work
      Limitations and research gap
      Where this study fits

Ask an AI for one with this structure

Send the prompt below to ChatGPT or Claude, then paste the whole reply into the editor; the code inside is detected automatically.

Draw a literature review framework mind map in Mermaid mindmap syntax for the topic [your topic]. The root is "Literature review" in double round brackets; first-level branches are Key concepts, Current research, Research themes, Methods, Critical evaluation. Under them: [key concepts: ...; current research: international, domestic; themes: ...; methods: quantitative, qualitative; critical evaluation: contributions, limitations and gap, where this study fits]. Do not use round brackets in node text. Output only the mermaid code block.

FAQ

What structure works best for a literature review?: Two are common: by region (international, domestic) or by theme. The thematic structure shows more synthesis and is usually preferred by reviewers. This map includes both, so delete the branch your supervisor does not want.
What is the difference between current research and critical evaluation?: Current research reports what others have done; critical evaluation is your assessment of their contributions, limitations and gaps, leading into your own study. Reviews that list without evaluating are the problem reviewers point out most often.
Can the mind map go straight into the thesis?: It can appear as a figure at the start of the review, exported as PNG or Word. In the main text, tables or roadmaps are more common; the mind map works best as a writing outline and in proposal defences.

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Updated 2026-10-03