Literature Review: What is a Literature Review?

A literature review is an in-depth critical analysis of published scholarly research related to a specific topic.Published scholarly research (the "literature") may include journal articles, books, book chapters, dissertations and thesis, or conference proceedings. 

A solid lit review must:

• be organized around and related directly to the thesis or research question you're developing
• synthesize results into a summary of what is and is not known
• identify areas of controversy in the literature
• formulate questions that need further research

• to distinguish what has been done from what needs to be done
• to discover important variables relevant to the topic
• to synthesize and gain new perspective
• to identify relationships between ideas and practices
• to establish the context of the topic
• to rationalize the significance of the problem
• to enhance and acquire subject vocabulary
• to understand the structure of the subject
• tp relate ideas and theory to applications
• to identify main methodologies and research techniques that have been used
• to place research in a historical context to show familiarity with state-of-art development

• What is the overarching question or problem your literature review seeks to address?
• How much familiarity do you already have with the field? Are you already familiar with common methodologies or professional vocabularies?
• What types of strategies or questions have others in your field pursued?
• How will you synthesize or summarize the information you gather?
• What do you or others perceive to be lacking in your field?
• Is your topic broad? How could it be narrowed?
• Can you articulate why your topic is important in your field?