Does a literature review come before the introduction?

In standard academic writing, including APA style, the introduction always comes before the literature review. Think of your introduction as the broad hook that welcomes the reader and establishes the general topic, while the literature review is a deeper, more focused dive into what other scholars have already discovered about that specific niche. If you start with the literature review, your readers will feel like they have jumped into the middle of a conversation without knowing what the overall debate is about. The introduction sets the stage, defines your research question, and explains why the study matters, which naturally paves the way for the detailed synthesis of existing research that follows. To picture how this works in a real paper, imagine you are writing about how classroom seating arrangements affect student participation in high school English classes. Your introduction would start by discussing the general importance of student engagement and state your thesis that flexible seating boosts interaction. Once you have established that foundation, you would transition into your literature review section. Here, you would group and analyze previous studies on active learning spaces, traditional rows versus horseshoe setups, and the psychological impacts of classroom design. This flow makes sense to the reader because you first told them what you are investigating, and then you showed them what prior research has already said about it. Since you are diving into this over the weekend, a great first step is to look up a couple of published articles from a reputable education journal to see how those authors transition from their introductory paragraphs into their literature reviews. You should also draft a quick outline where your introduction ends with a clear thesis statement, which will serve as the perfect springboard into your first literature review subheading. Finally, try writing a single transition sentence that connects the problem you introduce to the body of research you are about to analyze, ensuring your paper flows logically from the very first page.