What Is a Literature Review?
A literature review is a comprehensive analytical summary and synthesis of the published materials on a topic. Literature reviews summarize existing research to answer a review question, provide context for new research, or identify important gaps in the existing body of literature.
A literature review is NOT :
- An annotated bibliography in which you summarize each article you have reviewed. A literature review focuses on the critical analysis of reviewed works and their relationship to your research question.
- An exhaustive account of everything published. Instead, a literature review should discuss all the significant academic literature and other relevant sources important to the topic as it relates to your research.
The Purpose of a Literature Review
Literature reviews help you to understand a research topic and develop your own perspective about the research topic.
The goal of the literature reviews summarize existing research in order to:
- Identify what research has been done on a topic, including identifying key researchers and field experts;
- Examine common theories and methodologies;
- Understand what challenges, controversies, and contradictions there are;
- Establish a project’s novelty by identifying gaps in the research that your approach will address.
