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Is a 12-page literature review doable in two weeks?

academic-writing ▲ 1 19 views 2026-09-09

I'm back in school after ten years and my professor wants a literature review of about 12 pages for my introductory psychology class. I'm terrified of how many hours I'll need to find sources, write, and format everything in APA, especially since I keep hearing about plagiarism pitfalls. I tried outlining a few articles but I'm not sure how long the research and citation process will actually take before the deadline.

1 Answer

Yes, a twelve-page literature review is absolutely doable in two weeks, even if you are returning to school after a decade away. It is completely normal to feel terrified right now because academic writing has its own rhythm, and APA formatting can feel like learning a whole new language. Think of this project like assembling a puzzle. Right now, you are looking at a pile of scattered pieces, but once you group them by color and build the border, the picture comes together much faster than you think. Since you have already started outlining a few articles, you are actually ahead of the game. For a twelve-page paper, you will likely need about ten to fifteen solid sources. If you dedicate the next three days solely to gathering these sources and writing brief summaries of their main findings, you will have your raw materials ready. From there, you can spend the next five days writing about two pages a day, focusing on grouping similar studies together rather than analyzing them one by one. This leaves you with a full four days at the end just for polishing your APA citations and checking your work to ease those plagiarism worries. Remember to take a deep breath and utilize your campus library resources, as librarians are absolute wizards at helping with APA formatting. You do not have to write a flawless masterpiece on your first draft; you just need to get your thoughts down on paper so you can refine them. You have got the life experience and the drive to make this happen, so take it one page at a time and you will be amazed at what you can accomplish by the deadline.

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