Best examples of thematic literature review examples (with templates and tips)

Start with real examples of thematic literature review examples

Instead of starting with abstract definitions, let’s look at what a thematic literature review actually looks like in practice. When you read published papers, you’ll notice that strong thematic reviews:

• Group studies by ideas (themes), not by author or year.
• Use headings that signal concepts (for example, “Teacher Self-Efficacy” or “Barriers to Telehealth Adoption”).
• Weave multiple sources into each paragraph to show patterns and disagreements.

Below are several examples of thematic literature review examples from common student and graduate research areas. You can adapt any of these structures to your own topic.

Example of a thematic literature review in education

Imagine you’re writing a literature review on online learning and student engagement in U.S. higher education after COVID-19 (2020–2024). Instead of summarizing each article one by one, you could organize your review around themes like:

• Changes in engagement compared to pre-pandemic classes
• Teaching strategies that support engagement online
• Inequities in access and participation

A thematic structure might look like this:

Theme 1: Shifts in student engagement in online courses (2020–2024)
Here you synthesize research that compares student engagement before and after the rapid shift to online learning. You might reference national survey data from organizations like the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) or studies from universities that tracked student participation during the pandemic.

You could write something like:

Recent studies of undergraduate courses in the United States indicate that student engagement in online classes has become more variable since 2020. While some students report greater flexibility and increased participation in discussion boards, others describe heightened distraction and reduced interaction with peers and instructors. Large-scale surveys conducted between 2021 and 2023 suggest that synchronous video sessions can support engagement, but only when paired with clear expectations and active learning strategies.

Notice how this paragraph doesn’t focus on one author. It blends findings from several sources around a single idea: how engagement has changed.

Theme 2: Instructional strategies that foster online engagement
Here, you compare research on techniques such as breakout rooms, low-stakes quizzes, multimedia content, and structured discussion prompts. You might integrate evidence from teaching centers at universities (for example, Harvard’s Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning) and peer-reviewed studies.

Theme 3: Digital divide and equity in engagement
This theme pulls together studies on technology access, bandwidth, home environment, and disability accommodations. You might include U.S. data from NCES or ED.gov on device access and broadband availability, and connect that to how often students can participate in synchronous sessions.

This is a clear example of thematic literature review structure: each theme answers a different part of the same big question about online engagement.

Health and psychology: examples include anxiety, telehealth, and behavior change

Many of the best examples of thematic literature review examples come from health and psychology, because these fields deal with complex human behavior.

Example of a thematic review on adolescent anxiety after social media use

Suppose your topic is social media use and adolescent anxiety in the United States (2018–2025). A thematic review might use themes like:

Theme 1: Patterns of social media use among adolescents
You group studies that describe how often teens use platforms, what they do there (scrolling, posting, messaging), and how usage patterns differ by age, gender, and socioeconomic status.

Theme 2: Links between social media and anxiety symptoms
Here, you synthesize findings that connect heavy or problematic use with anxiety, sleep disruption, and body image concerns. You might reference large observational studies or meta-analyses, as well as reports from organizations like the National Institutes of Health (NIH) or CDC that track adolescent mental health trends.

Theme 3: Protective factors and positive uses of social media
Instead of only focusing on harm, a strong thematic review also includes work showing how social media can support social connection, identity exploration, or peer support communities.

Theme 4: Interventions and policy responses (2020–2025)
This theme pulls together experimental studies, school-based programs, and platform-level policy changes (for example, screen-time limits, content warnings, or digital literacy curricula). Here you show what researchers and policymakers are trying, and how effective those efforts appear to be.

Again, each theme cuts across many studies. That’s the heart of a thematic literature review.

Public health: examples of thematic literature review examples on telehealth

Telehealth exploded during COVID-19, and there are now many real examples of thematic literature review examples on this topic. If your review focuses on telehealth adoption in rural U.S. communities (2020–2024), you might organize it like this:

Theme 1: Policy changes that enabled rapid telehealth expansion
You synthesize research and policy analysis on Medicare reimbursement changes, interstate licensing waivers, and emergency regulations. You could draw on reports from HHS.gov and CMS.gov, along with academic articles.

Theme 2: Technology access and digital literacy barriers
This theme groups studies showing that rural patients may have limited broadband access, older devices, or less familiarity with video platforms. You might connect this to FCC broadband maps or CDC rural health data.

Theme 3: Patient and provider satisfaction with telehealth
Here you bring together surveys, interviews, and mixed-methods studies that measure satisfaction, trust, and perceived quality of care. You compare patterns by age, condition (for example, mental health vs. chronic disease management), and visit type.

Theme 4: Health outcomes and equity concerns
Finally, you synthesize research on whether telehealth has improved or worsened disparities for groups such as older adults, low-income patients, or people with disabilities.

When you read published reviews on telehealth in journals or on sites like NIH, you’ll notice this same pattern: each section is a theme, not a single study.

Technology and AI in education: recent 2024–2025 themes

If you’re writing in 2024–2025, you’re almost guaranteed to touch AI in some way. This makes for very current examples of thematic literature review examples.

Imagine your topic is AI-powered tools (like ChatGPT) in higher education writing courses. A thematic review might use themes such as:

Theme 1: Student use patterns and attitudes toward AI tools
You group together surveys and qualitative studies that ask students how often they use AI, for what tasks (idea generation, editing, full draft writing), and how they feel about it (helpful, confusing, unethical, etc.).

Theme 2: Faculty perceptions, concerns, and course-level responses
Here you synthesize research on how instructors are adapting assignments, updating academic integrity policies, and experimenting with AI as a teaching aid. You might draw on teaching center reports from universities like Harvard or Stanford.

Theme 3: Learning outcomes and writing quality
This theme compares studies that measure whether AI support improves student writing, harms it, or changes what students learn (for example, focusing more on revision and reasoning than on grammar).

Theme 4: Ethics, equity, and access
You bring together debates about plagiarism, bias in AI models, data privacy, and unequal access to paid tools. This is where you connect educational research to broader AI ethics work.

These are timely, real examples of thematic literature review examples because many institutions are publishing rapid-response studies and reports on AI in classrooms.

How to spot themes (and build your own) from real examples

Looking at an example of thematic literature review is helpful, but you also need a repeatable process. Here’s a practical way to get from messy notes to clear themes:

Step 1: Read and code for recurring ideas
As you read each article, jot down short labels for key ideas: “teacher burnout,” “parental support,” “access to devices,” “sleep disruption,” “policy barriers,” and so on. Don’t worry about perfect labels yet.

Step 2: Cluster similar codes into bigger buckets
Once you’ve coded 10–20 sources, step back and group similar codes together. Maybe “access to devices,” “broadband,” and “tech support” all fall under a broader theme like “digital infrastructure.”

Step 3: Name your themes like mini-arguments
Strong themes sound like claims, not vague categories. Instead of “Technology,” try “Limited technology access constrains participation in online learning.” That phrasing reminds you that each theme should make a point, not just list facts.

Step 4: Check that every theme connects to your research question
If a cluster of studies doesn’t help answer your main question, it might belong in a different project—or in a short paragraph, not a full theme.

When you review published articles, you’ll see that the best examples of thematic literature review examples follow this exact process, even if the authors don’t spell it out.

Thematic vs. chronological vs. methodological reviews

Sometimes students confuse a thematic literature review with other formats. Looking at real examples helps clarify the differences:

• In a chronological review, headings follow time: “Studies before 2000,” “Studies 2000–2010,” and so on.
• In a methodological review, headings follow methods: “Quantitative surveys,” “Qualitative interviews,” “Mixed-methods studies.”
• In a thematic review, headings follow ideas: “Barriers to care,” “Coping strategies,” “Policy responses.”

If your headings look like dates or methods, you probably don’t yet have a true thematic structure. Revisiting examples of thematic literature review examples in your field can help you reframe your sections around ideas instead of timelines or tools.

Short, concrete examples from multiple disciplines

To give you more variety, here are a few quick sketches of how themes might look in different areas:

STEM education
Topic: Women’s persistence in undergraduate engineering programs.
Possible themes: early STEM exposure, classroom climate and microaggressions, mentoring and role models, institutional support programs, internship and industry experiences.

Climate change communication
Topic: Public understanding of climate risks in U.S. coastal communities.
Possible themes: risk perception and personal experience with storms, trust in scientific and governmental sources, media framing and misinformation, community-level adaptation efforts.

Workplace studies
Topic: Remote work and employee well-being in U.S. tech companies.
Possible themes: work–life boundaries, communication and collaboration tools, managerial support and monitoring, mental health and burnout, hybrid work arrangements post-2022.

Nursing and patient care
Topic: Nurse burnout and retention in hospital settings.
Possible themes: staffing ratios and workload, emotional labor and compassion fatigue, organizational culture and leadership, support programs and resilience training, policy responses after COVID-19.

Each of these is an example of thematic literature review planning: you’re deciding in advance how to group the conversation into meaningful, research-driven themes.

Putting it all together: writing style in thematic reviews

Once your themes are set, the writing itself should:

• Introduce the theme clearly at the start of each section, usually in the first two sentences.
• Compare and contrast multiple studies in each paragraph, not just summarize one.
• Highlight agreements, disagreements, and gaps in the literature.
• End each theme with a short synthesis sentence that points back to your research question.

For instance, a synthesis sentence might look like:

Taken together, these studies suggest that while telehealth has increased access for many rural patients, persistent broadband limitations and digital literacy challenges continue to restrict its benefits for older adults and low-income households.

If you read real examples of thematic literature review examples in journals or dissertations, you’ll notice that this type of “taken together” sentence appears again and again. It signals to your reader that you’re not just summarizing—you’re synthesizing.

FAQ: examples of thematic literature review examples

Q: Where can I find real examples of thematic literature review examples to model my paper on?
You can search education or health databases for phrases like “thematic literature review” or “thematic synthesis.” University libraries often provide sample theses and dissertations with strong literature review chapters. You can also look at open-access journals in your field; many reviews in psychology, education, nursing, and public health use thematic structures even if they don’t label them that way.

Q: How many themes should I have in a thematic literature review?
Most papers work well with three to six main themes. Fewer than three often feels too thin; more than six can make your review feel scattered. Look at any example of thematic literature review in your discipline and you’ll usually see a small set of well-developed themes rather than a long list of tiny sections.

Q: Can I mix thematic and chronological organization?
Yes, but do it carefully. A common approach is to use themes as your main structure and mention time trends within each theme. For example, in a theme on “AI in writing instruction,” you might note that early studies (2020–2022) focused on plagiarism concerns, while more recent work (2023–2025) examines learning outcomes.

Q: Do I need a separate section for theory in a thematic review?
Often, theory appears inside your themes. For example, in a theme on “student motivation,” you might discuss self-determination theory and expectancy-value theory as part of the conversation. Some disciplines, especially in the social sciences, still prefer a short standalone theory section; check examples in your target journal or program guidelines.

Q: What’s the biggest mistake students make when trying a thematic review?
The most common problem is writing one paragraph per article, even when the headings are thematic. If each paragraph only mentions a single study, you’re not really synthesizing. Revisit published examples of thematic literature review examples and notice how each paragraph weaves multiple sources together to make a point.

If you study how strong published papers group their ideas, you’ll quickly develop an instinct for themes. Start by skimming a few real examples of thematic literature review examples in your field, outline their headings, and then use that outline style as a template for your own work.