A literature review is a synthesized account that critically evaluates the publications in a particular subject area, typically written by scholars or researchers. Its purpose is not merely to summarize what has been written but to analyze, compare, and connect the existing research to your own work.

Common contexts for a literature review include:

• A standalone article

• The introduction to a research paper

• The introduction to a research prospectus

• An early chapter in a master’s thesis or doctoral dissertation

A literature review is NOT:

• An annotated bibliography

• A descriptive list of readings

• A simple summary of your readings

When writing a literature review, you must evaluate the literature and show how it informs your research question or supports your thesis statement. The goal is to demonstrate the state of the field, identify gaps or debates, and position your own research within the broader scholarly conversation.

You may have been told that you’re required to write a literature review but aren’t sure why. Understanding the reasons can help you focus your efforts and write a more effective review.

Why a literature review is important in different contexts:

Standalone Article:

• Updates readers and the author on current research, theories, and methodologies in the subject area.

• Demonstrates your ability to critically evaluate the literature.

Research Paper:

• Sets the context for your thesis statement for the reader.

• Helps focus and refine your thesis statement.

• Shows that you can critically evaluate the literature.

Research Prospectus:

• Explains the context of your research proposal and key definitions for a general audience.

• Demonstrates to professionals that you are familiar with relevant literature and can evaluate it.

• Updates you on current research, theories, and methodologies that will help focus your proposal.

Thesis or Dissertation:

• Helps identify gaps in the field’s knowledge and determine whether your research question is original.

• Guides the focus of your research question and hypothesis.

• Provides important historical and current facts, theories, models, and methods in your topic area.

• Sets the context for your research question.

A good starting point is to read some literature reviews in your field and become familiar with the organization and evaluation strategies in them. Here are some ways to find literature reviews:

• Find research or review articles written by faculty in your department, or on your thesis/dissertation committee, to see how they wrote their lit reviews
• Search in ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, which contains full text dissertations and theses in all fields. Do a search for your topic or a related one and read the literature reviews in some of the resulting documents
• Search a journal article database, such as Academic Search Complete, for your topic plus the word "review" to find standalone literature reviews 
• Search Google Scholar for your topic plus the word "review" to find standalone literature reviews

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