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What is a Literature Review?

Key questions for a literature review, examples of literature reviews, useful links, evidence matrix for literature reviews.

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The Scholarly Conversation

A literature review provides an overview of previous research on a topic that critically evaluates, classifies, and compares what has already been published on a particular topic. It allows the author to synthesize and place into context the research and scholarly literature relevant to the topic. It helps map the different approaches to a given question and reveals patterns. It forms the foundation for the author’s subsequent research and justifies the significance of the new investigation.

A literature review can be a short introductory section of a research article or a report or policy paper that focuses on recent research. Or, in the case of dissertations, theses, and review articles, it can be an extensive review of all relevant research.

• The format is usually a bibliographic essay; sources are briefly cited within the body of the essay, with full bibliographic citations at the end.
• The introduction should define the topic and set the context for the literature review. It will include the author's perspective or point of view on the topic, how they have defined the scope of the topic (including what's not included), and how the review will be organized. It can point out overall trends, conflicts in methodology or conclusions, and gaps in the research.
• In the body of the review, the author should organize the research into major topics and subtopics. These groupings may be by subject, (e.g., globalization of clothing manufacturing), type of research (e.g., case studies), methodology (e.g., qualitative), genre, chronology, or other common characteristics. Within these groups, the author can then discuss the merits of each article and analyze and compare the importance of each article to similar ones.
• The conclusion will summarize the main findings, make clear how this review of the literature supports (or not) the research to follow, and may point the direction for further research.
• The list of references will include full citations for all of the items mentioned in the literature review.

A literature review should try to answer questions such as

• Who are the key researchers on this topic?
• What has been the focus of the research efforts so far and what is the current status?
• How have certain studies built on prior studies? Where are the connections? Are there new interpretations of the research?
• Have there been any controversies or debate about the research? Is there consensus? Are there any contradictions?
• Which areas have been identified as needing further research? Have any pathways been suggested?
• How will your topic uniquely contribute to this body of knowledge?
• Which methodologies have researchers used and which appear to be the most productive?
• What sources of information or data were identified that might be useful to you?
• How does your particular topic fit into the larger context of what has already been done?
• How has the research that has already been done help frame your current investigation ?

Example of a literature review at the beginning of an article: Forbes, C. C., Blanchard, C. M., Mummery, W. K., & Courneya, K. S. (2015, March). Prevalence and correlates of strength exercise among breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer survivors . Oncology Nursing Forum, 42(2), 118+. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com.sonoma.idm.oclc.org/ps/i.do?p=HRCA&sw=w&u=sonomacsu&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA422059606&asid=27e45873fddc413ac1bebbc129f7649c Example of a comprehensive review of the literature: Wilson, J. L. (2016). An exploration of bullying behaviours in nursing: a review of the literature.   British Journal Of Nursing ,  25 (6), 303-306. For additional examples, see:

Galvan, J., Galvan, M., & ProQuest. (2017). Writing literature reviews: A guide for students of the social and behavioral sciences (Seventh ed.). [Electronic book]

Pan, M., & Lopez, M. (2008). Preparing literature reviews: Qualitative and quantitative approaches (3rd ed.). Glendale, CA: Pyrczak Pub. [ Q180.55.E9 P36 2008]

• Write a Literature Review (UCSC)
• Literature Reviews (Purdue)
• Literature Reviews: overview (UNC)
• Review of Literature (UW-Madison)

The  Evidence Matrix  can help you  organize your research  before writing your lit review.  Use it to  identify patterns  and commonalities in the articles you have found--similar methodologies ?  common  theoretical frameworks ? It helps you make sure that all your major concepts covered. It also helps you see how your research fits into the context  of the overall topic.

• Evidence Matrix Special thanks to Dr. Cindy Stearns, SSU Sociology Dept, for permission to use this Matrix as an example.
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Literature review.

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Reviewing the Literature: Why do it?

• Personal: To familiarize yourself with a new area of research, to get an overview of a topic, so you don't want to miss something important, etc.
• Required writing for a journal article, thesis or dissertation, grant application, etc.

Literature reviews vary; there are many ways to write a literature review based on discipline, material type, and other factors.

Background:

• Literature Reviews - UNC Writing Center
• Literature Reviews: An Overview for Graduate Students  - What is a literature review? What purpose does it serve in research? What should you expect when writing one? - NCSU Video

Where to get help (there are lots of websites, blogs , articles,  and books on this topic) :

• The Center for writing and Communicating Ideas (CWCI)
• (these are non-STEM examples: dissertation guidance , journal guidelines )
• How to prepare a scientific doctoral dissertation based on research articles (2012)
• Writing a graduate thesis or dissertation (2016)
• The good paper : a handbook for writing papers in higher education (2015)
• Proposals that work : a guide for planning dissertations and grant proposals (2014)
• Theses and dissertations : a guide to planning, research, and writing (2008)
• Talk to your professors, advisors, mentors, peers, etc. for advice

READ related material and pay attention to how others write their literature reviews:

• Dissertations
• Journal articles
• Grant proposals
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CHEM 451 (Rivera) - Introduction to Physical Chemistry

• Creating a Literature Review
• Welcome to FLITE

Getting Started

Main sections, completing the review, some useful library guides.

• Finding Scholarly Content

A scientific literature review is a critical account of what has been published on a topic by accredited researchers. Literature reviews contribute to the communication and advancement of scientific knowledge. They help us understand how knowledge in a particular field is changing and developing over time, they provide a good introduction ot the major work in a field, and they may uncover gaps in research, conflicting results, and under-examined areas.

You will need to pick a topic that will fit this assignment. Initial research can help you narrow down or focus your topic. General resources might include books, library encyclopedias, overview articles, industry surveys, documentary video, etc. There are movements among both librarians and the general scientific community to create and edit articles in Wikipedia to improve reliability.

Make sure your topic and list of articles to review matches the requirements of your assignment.

Search the literature and identify sources to include in the literature review. Some things to consider about each article are:

Who are the authors? Who is the publisher? Who funded the research? What is the stated purpose of the article?

What evidence is included? Is contradictory evidence presented fairly? Is the writing impartial?

Is the article current? 

Do I think that the article's conclusions are reasonable?

Your review should include:

Abstract -- provide a summary of your review; often there will be a word limit to ensure that the abstract is concise.

Introductory Paragraph -- include core scientific facts, why is this important, what is the aim of the review, what topics will be covered. It makes sense to write the introduction after you've written the main body of the paper.

Body of the Paper -- divided into sections with one key point per paragraph. Each paragraph will include the topic sentence, supporting sentences, concluding sentence. The structure of the sections will depend on your topic.

Concluding Paragraph -- point back to the Introduction, highlight major research, indicate gaps and inconsistencies, and express your own point of view. Provide closure.

Reference List

Evaluate your own work. Did you use representative sources? Does your critical analysis contribute to understanding of the topic?

Example of a review:

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10956-016-9619-3

• Literature Reviews Detailed discussion from The Writing Center at the University of North Carolina
• Writing a Literature Review Good advice from Wichita State University
• Scientific Literature Review Very Detailed Discussion of Literature Reviews from Dublin City University
• Writing a Literature Review Clear and basic instructions with an example and a video, from the University of Arizona (formerly Ashford University) Writing Center.
• Synthesis Matrix (example) One suggestion for how to organize your information
• ACS Style Guide
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Chemistry 401 | Chemical Literature

• Getting Started
• Types of Sources in Chemistry
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• Literature Review
• Literature Reviews: An Overview for Graduate Students What is a literature review? What purpose does it serve in research? What should you expect when writing one? Borrowed from North Carolina State University

What's a literature review?

A literature review is a collection of selected articles, books and other sources about a specific subject. The purpose is to summarize the existing research that has been done on the subject in order to put your research in context and to highlight what your research will add to the existing body of knowledge. Literature reviews are typically organized in some way (chronological, thematic, methodological).

Let's take a look at an example of a literature review in an article, a dissertation, and a review article.

• Article Example: Abused Drugs in Insects Oliveira, J. S.; Baia, T. C.; Gama, R. A.; Lima, K. M. G. Development of a novel non-destructive method based on spectral fingerprint for determination of abused drug in insects: An alternative entomotoxicology approach. Microchemical Journal 2014, 115, 39-46.
• Dissertation Example: Forensic Entomotoxicology Peace, Michelle Renee'. "Forensic Entomotoxicology: A Study in the Deposition and Effects of Amphetamines and Barbiturates in the Larvae of the Black Blow Fly, Phormia Regina." Order No. 3177624 Virginia Commonwealth University, 2005. Ann Arbor: ProQuest. Web. 18 Aug. 2016.
• Review Article: Determination of Post-Burial Entomology Singh R, Sharma S, Sharma A. 2016. Determination of post-burial interval using entomology: A review. J Forensic Leg Med. 42:37-40.

Purpose of a Literature Review

A literature review may constitute an essential chapter of a thesis or dissertation, or may be a self-contained review of writings on a subject. In either case, its purpose is to:

• Place each work in the context of its contribution to the understanding of the subject under review
• Describe the relationship of each work to the others under consideration
• Identify new ways to interpret, and shed light on any gaps in, previous research
• Resolve conflicts amongst seemingly contradictory previous studies
• Identify areas of prior scholarship to prevent duplication of effort
• Point the way forward for further research
• Place one's original work (in the case of theses or dissertations) in the context of existing literature

The literature review itself, however, does not present new primary scholarship.

Elements of a Literature Review

• An overview of the subject, issue or theory under consideration, along with the objectives of the literature review
• Division of sources under review into categories (e.g. those in support of a particular position, those against, and those offering alternative theses entirely)
• Explanation of how each source is similar to and how it varies from the others
• Conclusions as to which sources are best considered in their argument, are most convincing of their opinions, and make the greatest contribution to the understanding and development of their area of research
• Literature Review Worksheet Use to evaluate the contribution of each article to your thesis/question/assertion
• Literature Review Worksheet: Filled in Example of how the sheet might be used
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• Last Updated: Apr 28, 2023 1:29 PM
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Exploring the Chemical Literature

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Reviews: Summary and Synthesis

Reviews summarize and synthesize the current state of the research on a particular topic. Ideally, the writer analyzes all recent literature to provide a coherent narrative of the state of knowledge on that topic. Since reviews do not report new original research, they are part of the Secondary Literature. Review articles will tell you about:

• recent major advances and discoveries
• significant gaps in the research
• current debates
• who's working in a field
• ideas of where research might go next

Review articles typically cover a finite time period (such as the last 5-10 years or since the last major review came out).  They are usually longer than research articles (some might be 100 pages or more!) and have extensive bibliographies. Thus they are excellent places to discover important prior articles on a topic. Unlike research articles, reviews are better places to get background on a topic, although some prior familiarity with it is expected.

(Note:  Narrative reviews in the physical and natural sciences literature should not be confused with " systematic reviews " found in the biomedical and health science literature.  Systematic reviews are completely different in terms of scope and purpose, as well as the methodology behind them.)

Where are reviews published?

Reviews can be found in different kinds of publications.

• JOURNALS:  Many research journals also publish regular or occasional reviews.  Some journals publish only reviews; examples include Chemical Reviews, Accounts of Chemical Research , and Chemical Society Reviews .
• BOOKS:  Most scientific books (monographs) are essentially long reviews or edited collections of review chapters.
• ENCYCLOPEDIAS:  Encyclopedia articles are background reviews intended for a more general audience.  Examples are the Kirk Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology and the Encyclopedia of Analytical Chemistry .
• REVIEW SERIALS:  These publications, which occupy a middle ground between journals and monographs, often have titles like Advances in ..., Progress in ..., or Annual Review of ....  Chapters in these serials can be lengthy and thorough summaries of past and recent research. One of the best known examples in chemistry is Organic Reactions , an irregular series that publishes voluminous and thorough reviews of synthesis techniques.
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Chemistry 4491E Library Information Session

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What is a literature review?

Analysis and critical evaluation of research previously done on your topic.

Literature review helps you:

• find a gap in the research so you can contribute something original
• justify your project and set the context for your topic

You will cite articles, standards, books, etc. on your topic that helped you develop your project (ideas, processes, models, useful quotations).

Some examples of literature review in the PDF below. Go through each example and pick one that is the best out of the four.

Writing your literature review

Take notes as you read!

Use a Synthesis Matrix, local version below adapted from the Synthesis Matrix technique developed by North Carolina State University).

• Synthesis Matrix - Local Version

The Writing Support Centre on campus provides writing help.

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Using Scientific Literature

In this initial exercise you will learn more about searching the scientific literature. You need not follow the standard format for labs for your report (this applies to this report only). Next week’s quiz will include material from this discussion.

The goal of scientific research is to produce new knowledge that others may use. Performing a literature search can save you much work and even embarrassment in the long run. Google, Wikipedia and other similar resources are very useful. However you need go beyond these for serious scientific research.

Why We Need Peer Review

This video presents an outstanding explanation of why media reports of science are often completely wrong. This is why we need the scientific peer review process. Watch: Scientific Studies: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Rnq1NpHdmw

Structure of a Typical Scientific Paper

• Although each scientific paper may be a little different, most papers follow the following template.
• Short Introduction describing the purpose, relevant theory and derived equations.
• Experimental with a short description of the apparatus and procedures.
• Results including sample calculations, tabulated results with error bounds.
• Conclusions with a discussion of error, precision and accuracy as appropriate. Compares results with any other available literature values and discusses error and accuracy.
• References. A citation of all sources including books, peer reviewed journals and the internet.

Peer Reviewed Scientific Journals

Peer reviewed scientific journals remain the most important source of information for scientists. Examples include the New England Journal of Medicine, Nature, Science, the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Peer review refers to the process where papers are submitted to journals. The papers are sent anonymously to other scientists who review the papers for importance, errors, length, readability and other things. Reviewers make recommendation to editors who reject or accept them depending upon the reviews. Peer review is the “gold standard” of the scientific process although mistakes are often made. It does not guarantee that the paper is correct but it catches obvious errors and fraud (usually)

Other Primary Sources

Preprints (papers sent to journals and under peer review are now often available before their acceptance by journals but beware! Some many never appear due to errors found during peer review.

The “Gray Literature"

• Masters and Ph.D. Dissertations
• Government Reports
• Proceedings from scientific meetings

Secondary Literature

The secondary literature presents results that are compiled from the primary sources. Textbooks are a form of secondary literature with which you are probably most familiar. Other important sources include indexes and abstracts. These include sources such as Chemical Abstracts, Medline and Web of Science. Other excellent sources include review journals such as Chemical Reviews and Reviews of Geophysics; and data collections such as the CRC Handbook.

Chemical Abstracts and SciFinder Scholar

Chemical abstracts is the most respected source of chemical information and guide to the literature. The print version began in 1907 and the electronic version began in 1967. It covers almost anything in the primary literature that can be construed to be new research in chemistry or chemical engineering. This means that it also includes much about the literature in biology, environment, geology, materials, medicine and physics. Coverage is global and it tries to include all languages. You can search it in many ways including by keywords, title and authors. SciFinder Scholar is an electronic version of chemical abstracts.

MEDLINE® (Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online)

MEDLINE is a leading bibliographic database for medicine, medicinal chemistry and the life sciences. Given the importance of chemistry for medicine, MEDLINE includes a significant amount of abstracts in most areas of chemistry. An advantage of MEDLINE is that it’s free and available to the general public. MEDLINE contains citations of over 15 million journal articles. It begins in about 1950 (there is some older material) to the present. There are citations from approximately 5,000 journals in 37 languages. MEDLINE is a subset of PubMed® which is, in turn, one of the databases provided by US National Library of Medicine 's National Center for Biotechnology Information (Source US National Library of Medicine website; see below).

Instructions for MEDLINE®

1) MEDLINE: Go to the US National Library of Medicine (National Institutes of Health) website: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/ 2) Go to PubMed in upper left-hand corner. 3) Try an author search first. Type a name of one of our faculty in the search box at the top and submit. If no articles appear try again. If too many appear try a list of two names or more. Now you will find fewer citations. For example suppose that you are looking for a paper written by Fujita AND Stockwell. Arrive at a more reasonble number of abstracts. View one of the abstracts by clicking on its title. 4) Now try a subject search. It works just like the author search.

Google Scholar

A Google search engine focused on the scholarly literature. Works mostly like Google; see the site at: http://scholar.google.com/

American Chemical Society

To see a list of journals published by the ACS go to: http://pubs.acs.org/action/showPublications?display=journals Search these journals at: http://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/content

Science - American Association for the Advancement of Science

http://www.sciencemag.org/

Beware of Science Fraud

Approximately one published scientific paper per day is retracted due to some form of misconduct that ranges from plagiarism to fabricating results. Two percent of scientists say they have fudged their data in publications. Do not commit fraud in your labatory reports or during your professional career. Read: What’s Behind Big Science Frauds? By Adam Marcus and Ivan Oransky May 22, 2015 in the New Your Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/23/opinion/whats-behind-big-science-frauds.html?_r=0

Assignment - To Do

In this initial exercise you will perform a literature search by using an online abstract service. Most operate in more or less the same way. Given the health profession orientation of many in our class you can use MEDLINE® OR the other sites listed above.

Complete Table 1

Complete Table 1 using MEDLINE to perform the search, or use or another one of the databases listed above. Be sure to put you name and the database you used and write down how many citations you find for your search.

Table 1. Subject / Keyword Search Results – The quotes are necessary where shown.

Discuss the Results for Table 1.

Notice that many of the searchs in Table 1 are linked, such as the search for Enzyme and the search for Thermodynamics AND Enzyme. Write a paragraph that discusses the differences between the connected search terms. Include in your report.

Find a Paper by Using a Search Strategy

The best databases include links so that you can download papers. However costs are usually involved. Howard University has several subscriptions that are free to you when used within the university. Come up with a total of three search terms. These may be authors or key words or some combination of these and list in the Report section. Use the search terms to find a recent research article in a primary peer reviewed journal . You many need to revise the search terms depending on your results. Try to find a paper that includes all or most of the standard paper components that we discussed in class (Abstract, Experimental (or methods), Results, Discussion and References). Do not worry if the paper does not contain an Appendix because its not included in the typical paper. Download the paper to your computer. Each student will find a unique paper. You must use a defensible search strategy; just using a paper that you happen to have does not count. After you find a paper, Reseserve I t by writing down its reference on the reservation sheet on my door.

Write a Paragraph Explainging Your Search Strategy

To get credit for this part you must successfully explain in your report how you found your paper from the databases. From your report I need to be able to find it from your description. Include in your discussion a list of your search terms such as: Term 1. Thermodynamics ; Term 2. Kinetics ; Term 3. Enzyme

Discuss the Paper Briefly

For the primary research paper that you found discuss its format. How well does it present its results? I am not looking for a detailed review, just a short assessment that should be expressed in two or three paragraphs. If you were the reviewer would you recommend major changes (why or why not)?

More Questions to Answer in Your Report

• What is the difference between the primary and secondary scientific literature?
• Discuss the differences between a paper in a peer-reviewed journal, a review article and a textbook.
• Given the same paper, would scientists believe it more if it were published in Nature or a Federal Government Report? Why?
• Discuss the peer review process. What are its virtues? Can you imagine any serious problems and deficiencies?
• Suppose you are new to a specialized research area but familiar with the overall subject. Would it be better to begin your search with a paper in a peer reviewed journal, a review article or a textbook? Defend you answer.
• Compare the Example Databases to Google and the Wikipedia. What are their relative strengths and weaknesses?

Chemistry Education Research and Practice

Writing a review article: what to do with my literature review.

* Corresponding authors

a Institute of Chemistry Education, Justus-Liebig-University, Giessen, Germany

b Department of Chemistry, University of South Florida, USA

c Department of Chemistry, Fort Hays State University, USA

d Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and School of Education, North Dakota State University, USA

e School of Chemistry & Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia E-mail: [email protected]

The first page of this article is displayed as the abstract.

Article information

Download citation, permissions.

N. Graulich, S. E. Lewis, A. Kahveci, J. M. Nyachwaya and G. A. Lawrie, Chem. Educ. Res. Pract. , 2021,  22 , 561 DOI: 10.1039/D1RP90006D

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Starting a Literature Review

If you have never completed a literature review, it can be daunting at first, or tempting to rush through without taking the steps needed to complete the review.  The main point to remember is that you are trying to summarize the current state of research in a specific area/field.  This is done by looking through different sources from different authors/research groups and then putting that information into a single document.

What can be confusing is that literature reviews will vary in length and number of references depending on the topic, field, and depth of research.  For example, a basic literature review for a graduate class might have 15-20 references while a literature review conducted for a dissertation may have 100 or more references.  It is the researcher's job to assess what is needed for their application like any other engineering project.

Finally, be sure to check out the UMD Libraries' Ethical Use of Information Guide to help you through this process!

Literature Review Steps

The basic steps of a literature review include: Search - Record - Evaluate & Analyze - Synthesize.  These can be more explicitly put into the following six steps:

1. Define your topic/research question

2. Search relevant databases, journals, and more (Search)

3. Document references found applicable to topic in a citation manager or similar (Evaluate)

4. Organize references into sub-topics (Analyze)

5. Document results through a summary of the state of research discovered via the steps above (Synthesize)

6. (Recommended) Publish your results!

Examples & Further Information

Literature Review Tips:

• Ten Simple Rules for Literature Reviews
• Avoiding Common Errors
• Case Western Reserve University Engineering Literature Reviews Overview of literature review process for engineers from another engineering school.
• Literature Reviews for Harvard Engineering Graduate Students Library resource for engineering graduate students.

Finally, check out information on systematic reviews - a growing type of scholarly review that contains more analysis as part of the review process:

• Systematic Review by Nedelina Tchangalova Last Updated Mar 4, 2024 14215 views this year
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• Last Updated: Mar 11, 2024 2:38 PM
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Review Articles

Electrochemical hydrogenation and oxidation of organic species involving water

The use of water for electrochemical hydrogenation and oxidation of organic species provides a sustainable route for synthesizing chemicals. The electrode types, general electrocatalyst selection principles and interface microenvironment control are elucidated, conducive to designing efficient electrocatalysts and reaction systems.

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Solvent effects in anion recognition

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Strategies to improve hydrogen activation on gold catalysts

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Complementary probes for the electrochemical interface

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DNA as a universal chemical substrate for computing and data storage

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Solar reforming as an emerging technology for circular chemical industries

This Review introduces solar reforming as an emerging technology to produce sustainable fuels and chemicals from diverse waste feedstocks using sunlight. The chemistry and concept of solar reforming, suggestions of key metrics and proposed directions to realize solar-powered refineries for a future circular economy are discussed.

• Subhajit Bhattacharjee
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• How to Write a Literature Review | Guide, Examples, & Templates

How to Write a Literature Review | Guide, Examples, & Templates

Published on January 2, 2023 by Shona McCombes . Revised on September 11, 2023.

What is a literature review? A literature review is a survey of scholarly sources on a specific topic. It provides an overview of current knowledge, allowing you to identify relevant theories, methods, and gaps in the existing research that you can later apply to your paper, thesis, or dissertation topic .

There are five key steps to writing a literature review:

• Search for relevant literature
• Evaluate sources
• Identify themes, debates, and gaps
• Outline the structure
• Write your literature review

A good literature review doesn’t just summarize sources—it analyzes, synthesizes , and critically evaluates to give a clear picture of the state of knowledge on the subject.

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Table of contents

What is the purpose of a literature review, examples of literature reviews, step 1 – search for relevant literature, step 2 – evaluate and select sources, step 3 – identify themes, debates, and gaps, step 4 – outline your literature review’s structure, step 5 – write your literature review, free lecture slides, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions, introduction.

• Quick Run-through
• Step 1 & 2

When you write a thesis , dissertation , or research paper , you will likely have to conduct a literature review to situate your research within existing knowledge. The literature review gives you a chance to:

• Demonstrate your familiarity with the topic and its scholarly context
• Develop a theoretical framework and methodology for your research
• Position your work in relation to other researchers and theorists
• Show how your research addresses a gap or contributes to a debate
• Evaluate the current state of research and demonstrate your knowledge of the scholarly debates around your topic.

Writing literature reviews is a particularly important skill if you want to apply for graduate school or pursue a career in research. We’ve written a step-by-step guide that you can follow below.

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Writing literature reviews can be quite challenging! A good starting point could be to look at some examples, depending on what kind of literature review you’d like to write.

• Example literature review #1: “Why Do People Migrate? A Review of the Theoretical Literature” ( Theoretical literature review about the development of economic migration theory from the 1950s to today.)
• Example literature review #2: “Literature review as a research methodology: An overview and guidelines” ( Methodological literature review about interdisciplinary knowledge acquisition and production.)
• Example literature review #3: “The Use of Technology in English Language Learning: A Literature Review” ( Thematic literature review about the effects of technology on language acquisition.)
• Example literature review #4: “Learners’ Listening Comprehension Difficulties in English Language Learning: A Literature Review” ( Chronological literature review about how the concept of listening skills has changed over time.)

You can also check out our templates with literature review examples and sample outlines at the links below.

Download Word doc Download Google doc

Before you begin searching for literature, you need a clearly defined topic .

If you are writing the literature review section of a dissertation or research paper, you will search for literature related to your research problem and questions .

Make a list of keywords

Start by creating a list of keywords related to your research question. Include each of the key concepts or variables you’re interested in, and list any synonyms and related terms. You can add to this list as you discover new keywords in the process of your literature search.

• Social media, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, TikTok
• Body image, self-perception, self-esteem, mental health
• Generation Z, teenagers, adolescents, youth

Search for relevant sources

Use your keywords to begin searching for sources. Some useful databases to search for journals and articles include:

• Your university’s library catalogue
• Google Scholar
• Project Muse (humanities and social sciences)
• Medline (life sciences and biomedicine)
• EconLit (economics)
• Inspec (physics, engineering and computer science)

You can also use boolean operators to help narrow down your search.

Make sure to read the abstract to find out whether an article is relevant to your question. When you find a useful book or article, you can check the bibliography to find other relevant sources.

You likely won’t be able to read absolutely everything that has been written on your topic, so it will be necessary to evaluate which sources are most relevant to your research question.

For each publication, ask yourself:

• What question or problem is the author addressing?
• What are the key concepts and how are they defined?
• What are the key theories, models, and methods?
• Does the research use established frameworks or take an innovative approach?
• What are the results and conclusions of the study?
• How does the publication relate to other literature in the field? Does it confirm, add to, or challenge established knowledge?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of the research?

Make sure the sources you use are credible , and make sure you read any landmark studies and major theories in your field of research.

You can use our template to summarize and evaluate sources you’re thinking about using. Click on either button below to download.

Take notes and cite your sources

As you read, you should also begin the writing process. Take notes that you can later incorporate into the text of your literature review.

It is important to keep track of your sources with citations to avoid plagiarism . It can be helpful to make an annotated bibliography , where you compile full citation information and write a paragraph of summary and analysis for each source. This helps you remember what you read and saves time later in the process.

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To begin organizing your literature review’s argument and structure, be sure you understand the connections and relationships between the sources you’ve read. Based on your reading and notes, you can look for:

• Trends and patterns (in theory, method or results): do certain approaches become more or less popular over time?
• Themes: what questions or concepts recur across the literature?
• Debates, conflicts and contradictions: where do sources disagree?
• Pivotal publications: are there any influential theories or studies that changed the direction of the field?
• Gaps: what is missing from the literature? Are there weaknesses that need to be addressed?

This step will help you work out the structure of your literature review and (if applicable) show how your own research will contribute to existing knowledge.

• Most research has focused on young women.
• There is an increasing interest in the visual aspects of social media.
• But there is still a lack of robust research on highly visual platforms like Instagram and Snapchat—this is a gap that you could address in your own research.

There are various approaches to organizing the body of a literature review. Depending on the length of your literature review, you can combine several of these strategies (for example, your overall structure might be thematic, but each theme is discussed chronologically).

Chronological

The simplest approach is to trace the development of the topic over time. However, if you choose this strategy, be careful to avoid simply listing and summarizing sources in order.

Try to analyze patterns, turning points and key debates that have shaped the direction of the field. Give your interpretation of how and why certain developments occurred.

If you have found some recurring central themes, you can organize your literature review into subsections that address different aspects of the topic.

For example, if you are reviewing literature about inequalities in migrant health outcomes, key themes might include healthcare policy, language barriers, cultural attitudes, legal status, and economic access.

Methodological

If you draw your sources from different disciplines or fields that use a variety of research methods , you might want to compare the results and conclusions that emerge from different approaches. For example:

• Look at what results have emerged in qualitative versus quantitative research
• Discuss how the topic has been approached by empirical versus theoretical scholarship
• Divide the literature into sociological, historical, and cultural sources

Theoretical

A literature review is often the foundation for a theoretical framework . You can use it to discuss various theories, models, and definitions of key concepts.

You might argue for the relevance of a specific theoretical approach, or combine various theoretical concepts to create a framework for your research.

Like any other academic text , your literature review should have an introduction , a main body, and a conclusion . What you include in each depends on the objective of your literature review.

The introduction should clearly establish the focus and purpose of the literature review.

Depending on the length of your literature review, you might want to divide the body into subsections. You can use a subheading for each theme, time period, or methodological approach.

As you write, you can follow these tips:

• Summarize and synthesize: give an overview of the main points of each source and combine them into a coherent whole
• Analyze and interpret: don’t just paraphrase other researchers — add your own interpretations where possible, discussing the significance of findings in relation to the literature as a whole
• Critically evaluate: mention the strengths and weaknesses of your sources
• Write in well-structured paragraphs: use transition words and topic sentences to draw connections, comparisons and contrasts

In the conclusion, you should summarize the key findings you have taken from the literature and emphasize their significance.

When you’ve finished writing and revising your literature review, don’t forget to proofread thoroughly before submitting. Not a language expert? Check out Scribbr’s professional proofreading services !

This article has been adapted into lecture slides that you can use to teach your students about writing a literature review.

Scribbr slides are free to use, customize, and distribute for educational purposes.

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If you want to know more about the research process , methodology , research bias , or statistics , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

• Sampling methods
• Simple random sampling
• Stratified sampling
• Cluster sampling
• Likert scales
• Reproducibility

 Statistics

• Null hypothesis
• Statistical power
• Probability distribution
• Effect size
• Poisson distribution

Research bias

• Optimism bias
• Cognitive bias
• Implicit bias
• Hawthorne effect
• Anchoring bias
• Explicit bias

A literature review is a survey of scholarly sources (such as books, journal articles, and theses) related to a specific topic or research question .

It is often written as part of a thesis, dissertation , or research paper , in order to situate your work in relation to existing knowledge.

There are several reasons to conduct a literature review at the beginning of a research project:

• To familiarize yourself with the current state of knowledge on your topic
• To ensure that you’re not just repeating what others have already done
• To identify gaps in knowledge and unresolved problems that your research can address
• To develop your theoretical framework and methodology
• To provide an overview of the key findings and debates on the topic

Writing the literature review shows your reader how your work relates to existing research and what new insights it will contribute.

The literature review usually comes near the beginning of your thesis or dissertation . After the introduction , it grounds your research in a scholarly field and leads directly to your theoretical framework or methodology .

A literature review is a survey of credible sources on a topic, often used in dissertations , theses, and research papers . Literature reviews give an overview of knowledge on a subject, helping you identify relevant theories and methods, as well as gaps in existing research. Literature reviews are set up similarly to other  academic texts , with an introduction , a main body, and a conclusion .

An  annotated bibliography is a list of  source references that has a short description (called an annotation ) for each of the sources. It is often assigned as part of the research process for a  paper .  

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ACS Style Guide American Chemical Society: Literature Review

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How to Write a Literature Review

• How to Write a Literature Review From the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This handout is from the Writing Center at the University. It is a great step by step guide to assist you in writing your literature review.
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Literature Review: Conducting & Writing

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Sample Lit Reviews from Communication Arts

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Chemistry Literature Reviews Samples For Students

13 samples of this type

Over the course of studying in college, you will inevitably have to write a lot of Literature Reviews on Chemistry. Lucky you if linking words together and turning them into meaningful content comes naturally to you; if it's not the case, you can save the day by finding a previously written Chemistry Literature Review example and using it as a template to follow.

This is when you will certainly find WowEssays' free samples database extremely useful as it includes numerous expertly written works on most various Chemistry Literature Reviews topics. Ideally, you should be able to find a piece that meets your criteria and use it as a template to build your own Literature Review. Alternatively, our expert essay writers can deliver you an original Chemistry Literature Review model crafted from scratch according to your individual instructions.

Good Lack Of Students Interest In Studying Science Literature Review Example

Literature review on supramolecular chemistry, free chemistry in the kitchen literature review sample, introduction.

The paper presents the literature review on everyday chemistry and covers the following areas: Food molecules. Chemistry using kitchen chemicals. Food safety from rotten products. The paper used Google Scholar, WorldCat, Science Direct for literature search, and the key words were: food molecules, food chemistry, kitchen chemicals, food safety and rotten.

Types of Food Molecules

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Hansch analysis, good literature review on electrical conductivity as a function of nanoadditive (carbon based) in biopolymer, good literature review on soybean-based adhesive bonded to wood composite or particle board, free frankenstein literature review sample, good example of sustainability report of 2008 beijing olympic games literature review, polyether block amide (pebax) 7233 and graphene literature review example, literature review on social issues in education, example of the capability of crystalline silicon, thin-film solar cells, and photonic nanostructures to enhance efficiency of solar panels for domestic use literature review, the capability of crystalline silicon, thin-film solar cells, and photonic nanostructures to enhance efficiency of solar panels for domestic use literature review samples, good literature review on health effect of fiber.

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What is a Literature Review?

A literature review is a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the principal research about the topic being studied.

The aim of a literature review is to show "that the writer has studied existing work in the field with insight" (Haywood and Wragg, 1982). It is not enough merely to show what others in your field have discovered. You need to view the work of others with insight to review critically. An effective review analyses and synthesizes material, and it should meet the following requirements: (Caulley, 1992)

• Compare and contrast different authors' views on an issue
• Group authors who draw similar conclusions,
• Criticise aspects of methodology,
• Note areas in which authors are in disagreement,
• Highlight exemplary studies,
• Identify patterns or trends in the literature
• Highlight gaps in and omissions in previous research or questions left unanswered
• Show how your study relates to previous studies,
• Show how your study relates to the literature in general,
• Conclude by summarising what the literature says.

A literature review has a number of purposes. It enables you to:

• Set the background on what has been researched on a topic.
• Show why a topic is significant to a subject area.
• Discover relationships between ideas.
• Identify major themes & concepts.
• Identify critical gaps & points of disagreement.
• Help the researcher turn a network of articles into a coherent view of the literature.

Source: University of Melbourne's Literature Review Libguide

Organizing the Review

Categorizing the Literature

When categorizing the writings in the review, the researcher might consider

• the methodology employed;
• the quality of the findings or conclusions;
• the document’s major strengths and weaknesses;
• any other pivotal information.

He/She might consider such questions as:

• what beliefs are expressed?
• Is there an ideological stance?
• What is being described? Is it comprehensive or narrow?
• Are the results generalizable?

Remember that you are relating other studies to your study. How do the studies in your lit. review relate to your thesis? How are the other studies related to each other?

From http://libguides.redlands.edu/content.php?pid=32380&sid=239161

Literature Review Samples

• Otterbein's Institutional Repository You can browse by collection and then department and student scholarship. Look up samples of literature reviews in theses and dissertations.
• OhioLink's ETD Browse by institution and look up samples of literature review in the students' theses and dissertations

Planning your Literature Review

While planning your review, in addition to finding and analyzing the reviews in dissertations, you might ask yourself questions such as the following:

What is my central question or issue that the literature can help define?

What is already known about the topic?

Is the scope of the literature being reviewed wide or narrow enough?

Is there a conflict or debate in the literature?

What connections can be made between the texts being reviewed?

What sort of literature should be reviewed? Historical? Theoretical? Methodological? Quantitative? Qualitative?

What criteria should be used to evaluate the literature being reviewed?

How will reviewing the literature justify the topic I plan to investigate?

From: Writing the successful thesis and dissertation: entering the conversation, by Irene L. Clark

source: Kent State University's Literature Reviews Libguide

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