What is a Literature Review?
A literature review is a critical account of what has been published on a topic by accredited researchers. Literature reviews highlight gaps in published research and topics, and discusses how these gaps can be addressed.
Purpose of a Literature Review
Literature reviews:
- report on knowledge and ideas that have been established on a particular topic, including their strengths and weaknesses
- demonstrate your knowledge of the subject area
- determine what each source contributes to the topic
- understand the relationship between the various contributions, identify and (if possible) resolve contradictions, and determine gaps or unanswered questions
How to conduct a Literature Review
An note on the Analyse and Synthesise step:
Analyse means looking at all the published literature you have gathered on your chosen topic, and tweaking out the key concepts or topics across all the research you have found.
Synthesising means comparing and contrasting the published literature against each other in order to identify the recurring themes and concepts, and see where more research may be needed.