Is my literature review draft missing enough articles after rejection?
I just got feedback on my first draft for the MBA strategic management case presentation and was told the literature review is too thin. The professor expects at least 15 peer‑reviewed articles, but I only have nine and I'm not sure which sources to add. I have two weeks before the final submission and need to restructure the review while keeping the APA style consistent.
1 Answer
Yes, your literature review is indeed missing enough articles, but please don't panic because you have plenty of time to fix this. Falling short of a professor's specific source count is a very common hurdle, and it is completely normal to feel overwhelmed when you get that draft back covered in red ink. Think of your literature review like a dinner party where your sources are the guests. Right now, with only nine guests, the conversation is a bit quiet and thin. To hit that fifteen-article mark, you just need to invite a few more voices to join the discussion and fill those empty seats. Since you have two weeks, you are actually in a great position to restructure this smoothly. A good trick is to look at the reference lists of the nine papers you already have. If three of your current articles all point to a specific study on strategic alliances, that is your cue to track down that study and add it to your review. You can also break your main MBA case topic into three smaller sub-themes and aim for five articles per theme. This naturally brings you to fifteen, makes the writing flow better, and keeps your APA formatting tight since you are building the bibliography as you go. Take a deep breath and tackle this search one afternoon at a time. You've already done the hard work of setting up the foundation, and now you just need to expand the conversation to cross the finish line.
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