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Literature Review: EDG 680: Introduction

How to do a Literature Review, with specific examples and instructions for EDG 680.

Books about Literature Reviews

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What Is a Literature Review?

A Literature Review Is Not:

  • just a summary of sources
  • a grouping of broad, unrelated sources
  • a compilation of everything that has been written on a particular topic
  • literature criticism (think English) or a book review

So, what is it then?

A literature review is an integrated analysis-- not just a summary-- of scholarly writings that are related directly to your research question.  That is, it represents the literature that provides background information on your topic and shows a correspondence between those writings and your research question.

A literature review may be a stand alone work or the introduction to a larger research paper, depending on the assignment. Rely heavily on the guidelines your instructor has given you.

Why is it important?

A literature review is important because it:

  • Explains the background of research on a topic.
  • Demonstrates why a topic is significant to a subject area.
  • Discovers relationships between research studies/ideas.
  • Identifies major themes, concepts, and researchers on a topic.
  • Identifies critical gaps and points of disagreement.
  • Discusses further research questions that logically come out of the previous studies.

(From "What Is a Literature Review," University of West Florida)

Literature Review vs. Annotated Bibliography

Differences in Purpose
  • A literature review makes a case for further investigation and research, highlighting gaps in knowledge and asking questions that need to be answered for the betterment of the discipline; as such, its contents are selected to make the case.
  • An annotated bibliography is a list of what's available in a given field, accompanied by a short description. While it may feature a critical component, the criticism is generally directed at the quality of the work, rather than at its value in answering a particular question or buttressing an argument In short, a literature review usually has a thesis or statement of purpose, stated or implied, at its core.
Differences in Format
  • A literature review is a prose document similar to a journal article or essay, not a list of citations and descriptions. Your professor does not want to read a long list of book and article titles, and neither does the department committee.

It may help you if you organize your writing into sections, each with a theme. For example, your literature review might include a section on resources that support your hypothesis, another section on resources that disprove or contradict your thesis, a section on resources that neither support nor disprove your thesis but raise additional questions, etc. 

  • An annotated bibliography is simply that: a bibliography (a list of works or resources), accompanied by annotations. The annotations are usually short descriptions and a brief critical assessment of each work. While annotated bibliographies are generally not acceptable as literature reviews written for departmental review and approval, they are valuable adjuncts to literature reviews. Indeed, the best literature reviews will be based on good, comprehensive annotated bibliographies; and many disciplines require that literature reviews written for departmental approval of research be accompanied by an annotated bibliography.

("The Literature Review--Purpose," University of Arizona)

Literature Review Tutorial

Literature Reviews: An Overview for Graduate Students (by North Caroline State University Libraries)

What is a Literature Review? A Tutorial (by University of West Florida)

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