What to know: Literature reviews are not just summaries of the articles that you have read in preparation for your research project. They are opportunities for you to build a conversation between sources that will inform your work.
What you’ll learn: The function of a literature review, and how to build one from articles you collect to support your research.
Why you should care: Conducting a literature review will prevent you from conducting research that has already been published.
A literature review is am account of what has been published on a topic by credible scholars and researchers. The purpose of a literature review is to summarize what knowledge and ideas have been established on a topic while also offering analysis on that prior research.
A Literature Review MUST:
1. Be organized and directly relate to the thesis, topic, or research question being developed
2. Synthesize results into a summary of what is and is not known
3. Identify opportunities for new research to fill in gaps of knowledge
4. Include sources that cover multiple perspectives