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Literature Reviews

What is a Literature Review?

What is a Literature Review?

A literature review is an academic text that surveys, synthesizes, and critically evaluates the existing literature on a specific topic. It is typically required for theses, dissertations, or long reports and serves several key purposes:

  1. Surveying the Literature: It involves a comprehensive search and examination of relevant academic books, journal articles, and other sources related to the chosen topic.
  2. Synthesizing Information: The literature review summarizes and organizes the information found in the literature, often identifying patterns, themes, and gaps in the current knowledge.
  3. Critical Analysis: It critically analyzes the collected information, highlighting limitations, gaps, and areas of controversy, and suggests directions for future research.
  4. Establishing Context: It places the current research within the broader context of the field, demonstrating how the new research builds on or diverges from previous studies.

 

Types of Literature Reviews

Literature reviews can take various forms, including:

  • Narrative Reviews: These provide a qualitative summary of the literature and are often used to give a broad overview of a topic. They may be less structured and more subjective, focusing on synthesizing the literature to support a particular viewpoint.
  • Systematic Reviews: These are more rigorous and structured, following a specific methodology to identify, evaluate, and synthesize all relevant studies on a particular question. They aim to minimize bias and provide a comprehensive summary of the existing evidence.
  • Integrative Reviews: Similar to systematic reviews, but they aim to generate new knowledge by integrating findings from different studies to develop new theories or frameworks.

 

Importance of Literature Reviews

  • Foundation for Research: They provide a solid background for new research projects, helping to justify the research question and methodology.

  • Identifying Gaps: Literature reviews highlight areas where knowledge is lacking, guiding future research efforts.

  • Building Credibility: Demonstrating familiarity with existing research enhances the credibility of the researcher and their work.

In summary, a literature review is a critical component of academic research that helps to frame the current state of knowledge, identify gaps, and provide a basis for new research.

The research, the body of current literature, and the particular objectives should all influence the structure of a literature review. It is also critical to remember that creating a literature review is an ongoing process - as one reads and analyzes the literature, one's understanding may change, which could require rearranging the literature review.

 

Sources:

Paré, G. and Kitsiou, S. (2017) 'Methods for Literature Reviews' , in: Lau, F. and Kuziemsky, C. (eds.) Handbook of eHealth evaluation: an evidence-based approach. Victoria (BC): University of Victoria.

Perplexity AI (2024) Perplexity AI response to Kathy Neville, 31 July.       

Royal Literary Fund (2024) The structure of a literature review. Available at: https://www.rlf.org.uk/resources/the-structure-of-a-literature-review/ (Accessed: 23 July 2024).

Library Services for Undergraduate Research (2024) Literature review: a definition. Available at: https://libguides.wustl.edu/our?p=302677 (Accessed: 31 July 2024).

 

Further Reading:

Methods for Literature Reviews

What is a Literature Review?

Literature Review (The University of Edinburgh)

Literature Reviews (University of Sheffield)