Literature Reviews
A literature review is an overview and evaluation of research on a topic. It involves analyzing and comparing published literature from peer-reviewed articles and other scholarly sources and synthesizing the information in order to support your own research and demonstrate how your work adds new insight.
Purpose
A literature review goes beyond summarizing to provide your own interpretations, hypotheses, or conclusions. Your critical examination of the literature should focus on:
- Identifying patterns, trends, or gaps in the literature
- Providing background information and context
- Highlighting key concepts and important publications
- Comparing methodologies and insights
- Exploring diverse viewpoints or controversies on the subject
A literature review can be a section of a research paper, or a stand-alone paper. It is an essential part of the research process that demonstrates that you have a solid grasp of the topic, justifies why your research needs to be done, and how it contributes something new to the field.
Steps
Define Your Research Question
Your review may need to be comprehensive, examining all published literature on a topic, or you may limit to a specific timeframe, population, or other criteria. You may find that you need to broaden or narrow your topic as you begin looking at the available research – this is a part of the research process.
Search for Relevant Literature
To find relevant literature you will need to search library resources such as research databases, and develop your search strategy. See Research by Subject for recommended databases and other sources for your literature search.
Evaluate and Organize Your Sources
Evaluate your sources for relevance to your topic. Make sure you have included any major works by looking at impact factors such as the number of times an article has been cited in subsequently published articles.  Â
A citation manager helps with keeping your sources organized, sharing with a team, and with formatting citations in your finished paper.
Analyze and Synthesize
Compare and contrast your sources and critically evaluate their claims and methods. Look for patterns, contradictions, biases, or limitations. Highlight any gaps in the literature and compare viewpoints, theories, and methodologies. Provide your own conclusions and support for why your research contributes to the scholarly conversation.
Write your Review
UNE’s Student Academic Success Center (SASC) can help you with writing your paper, including grammar, style, drafting, and revision.
Questions & Help
If you have questions on this, or another topic, contact a librarian for help!