literature review definition sociology

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What is a Literature Review?

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.

Key Questions for a 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 ?

Examples of Literature Reviews

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]

Useful Links

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

Evidence Matrix for Literature Reviews

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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Doing a Literature Review in Sociology

Introduction, early in the process, during data analysis, getting ready to write, before submitting the paper.

• Searching: Early in the Process
• Organizing: Getting Ready to Write

Top Journals & Publishers

Recommended Journals

• American Journal of Sociology Published by University of Chicago Press, available through JSTOR
• American Sociological Review Published by the American Sociological Association, available through SAGE Journals database
• Annual Review of Sociology Published by Annual Reviews, available through Brandeis subscription to the Annual Reviews website
• Social Forces Published by Oxford University Press, most recent issues (2000-present) available through Project Muse database
• Social Problems Published by Oxford University Press, available through Brandeis subscription to Oxford University Press website
• Theory & Society Published by Springer, available through Brandeis's subscription to Springer Standard Collection

Recommended Publishers

Found a good book that we don't own?  Contact  [email protected]  to request a library purchase! 

A literature review helps you figure out what scholars, what studies, and what questions your project is in conversation with. It typically happens in stages throughout the life of your project – it is not something you do once and are then finished with!

This guide explores how to think about and do a literature review at four different stages of a project. On this page, Professor Wendy Cadge suggests how to think about each step. Get specific advice on strategies for searching and organizing on the subsequent pages of this guide.

​Wendy's Process

The first time I do a literature review is when I am thinking about possible research topics and questions and want to know what people have written about these questions and what they have found. I search the topics and questions broadly aiming to get a relatively comprehensive sense of what is known about my topic and whether there is space for another study that is going to contribute meaningfully to the conversation. I am trying to figure out both who is in this conversation (what scholars specifically but also in what fields), what they are talking about, and what is known and not known according to these experts.

The goal here is to figure out whether my study will be new and relevant and whether there is a way to motivate it both empirically and theoretically for the audience I am thinking of. I need this answer to be yes in order to proceed with the process.

As I do this initial literature review I am also refining my research question, asking myself whether it makes sense, how it relates to the ways others have approached my topic, etc. Often questions are too big (they will require thousands of pages to answer) or too small (you don’t need an empirical study to answer them) so I am also trying to get my question to be the right size as I do this first review.

My search strategies are as follows   Google Scholar and Sociological Abstracts with key terms, and focus on books published by major presses and articles in well-known journals. When I get hits I sort them into groups based on what they are - materials by sociologists, by other academics, by journalists, etc. I only read things that are published (no conference papers!) and read books in the top academic presses first (Chicago, UC Berkeley, Princeton, Oxford, Cambridge) and things in well-known sociology journals. (See the box to the left for links to these journals.) Depending on the topic, I may read a lot written by non-sociologists to learn more . I read almost nothing in the popular media on the first go through.

I also don’t “read” everything - I skim books and read article abstracts to get an overview. The goal is to write 5-6 double spaced pages about what is known and what my study might add. I also want to have a set of more specific search terms and author names to search later. Typically I am mostly reviewing the sociology literature to think about how to fit this into a social science frame while also separating out “primary sources” to read later. These other sources about my topic include data (like government reports, statistical information etc.), which will be analyzed later rather than used for sociological framing.

Before I start collecting data I check with various colleagues to make sure my assessment of the literature and the place of my study in it (my 5-6 page document) makes sense and is convincing (i.e., I don’t want to waste my time gathering data to answer a question that people either don’t think is interesting, has already been answered in the literature, or isn’t going to add anything new and significant to the conversation. I don’t want to be the dud at the dinner party who is saying something people already know or doesn’t have anything to say.

Themes typically emerge in the process of analyzing the data that require me to revisit what I think I know about my topic and question from the literature. This is usually the place where I am trying to figure out what my empirical and theoretical arguments are. Often I have ideas about what my theoretical hooks or arguments might be but they come from other literatures, scholars or friends working in different parts of sociology, etc. This is often where I go back to the literature (via Annual Review articles and searches) to see how people have used certain concepts and to see if those concepts might help me articulate what I am finding. I also read the key empirical articles cited in the Annual Review articles to see how what I am finding is similar to and different from what others know and how I can relate to those studies with my data.

Search strategies Google scholar and Sociological Abstracts, Annual review articles, asking people who know the discipline better than I do where to go to learn about concept x or y. At this point I’m looking for ideas as I read that will help me make and articulate whatever arguments might be supported by my data.

By the time I finish this step I have a good sense of what my findings and argument are and how they fit i nto the existing conversation / literature.

If I have done the above two steps well, I probably have an outline by now that lays out what I think my findings are and how I am going to situate them and motivate them in existing literatures. Before I start to write I read through my entire Endnote database and I put citations and notes in the outline that will help me make certain points. If I see holes or don’t feel like the outline is tight enough I do more lit review at this point to help me situate my question as tightly as possible in existing literature. While articles are written in a way that makes it look like you do the lit review, then the data collection and analysis, then articulate the findings, etc. this is actually iterative for me through the whole process.

For more information on EndNote and other citation management software like Zotero, see the Organizing section of this guide .

Search strategies The same as what’s outlined above. Part of the trick here though is knowing when to stop searching and start writing! I try to start writing before I feel like I am finished reading because I will discover as I write what is missing and will go back and fill it in.

I have friends and colleagues read my paper and give me feedback. If this is going to a journal I look at the editorial board and make sure I have engaged with the ideas of any scholars on the editorial board that are relevant as these people are likely to be reviewers . I also always fill in a lot of citations after the article is drafted so I can see it as a whole and see what is and is not needed to make the argument more compelling.

Search strategies This is when I am looking up certain people usually on the web to see if I read relevant publications or am searching for a particular article. If I know I need some citations about a certain topic to support a point, this is also when I find them. This is usually the easiest part of the process.

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How to write Literature Review: Explained with Examples

There is hardly any topic left in this time and age that has not been researched, discussed, or written. Therefore, while computing any academic paper (such as term paper, dissertation , etc.), you will encounter multiple works along the same line. When you read these already published works and use them to further your research, that is when and where a literature review is needed. Writing a literature review is an essential part of academic writing. You cannot claim ideas to be your original ideas when they already exist out there. Therefore, to give due credit to those people and the work who inspired you and/or helped you complete your research is the aim of a literature review. Thus, a review of existing literature allows you to tell your audience the pretext and the context of your work and place it in the current dialogue.

This article will talk about different types of literature reviews and how to write one. We will allocate necessary examples whenever it is necessary for better understanding.

Types of Literature Review

Narrative Literature Review

A narrative literature review is the most traditional literature review. Here the aim is to summarize and critique the body of literature you’re studying. A narrative review can also be used to establish conclusions and identify gaps in the border study. To perform a narrative review, you should have an exact research question or hypothesis to know exactly what you’re looking for.

Systematic Literature Review

Compared to other forms of literature, the systematic literature review is the more stringent one. It has a well-defined strategy that can be further divided into two types: Meta-analysis and meta-synthesis. 

Meta-analysis: In a meta-analysis review, you combine the results of multiple research on the same topic and then statistically analyze them. It identifies links and patterns and reaches a cohesive conclusion.

Meta-Synthesis: Opposing to meta-analysis, the meta-synthesis approach is based on procedures that are not statistical. This method combines analyses and interprets the results of several qualitative research projects. It is often used when conducting inductive research.

Argumentative Literature Review

As the name suggests, an argumentative review is done to either support or contradict an argument. It is done to reflect on an already existing assumption or a philosophical dilemma once again. However, there is a drawback of this approach in that it is mostly prejudiced in nature since the reviewer has already taken aside.

Integrative Literature Review

An integrative review examines and evaluates secondary sources. It aims to produce new frameworks and perspectives. The integrative literature review will be your only alternative if your research does not entail primary data collecting and analysis.

Theoretical Literature Review

Theoretical review is concerned with a body of knowledge accumulated in relation to a topic, concept, theory, or phenomenon. Theoretical literature reviews are useful for determining what ideas already exist, their relationships, and the extent to which existing theories have been studied and for generating new hypotheses to test.

Guide for writing the Literature Review

We cannot elaborate on all the various kinds of literature reviews in one article. Therefore we will focus on the narrative literature review and how to do it. Nonetheless, all the kinds of literature reviews are somewhat similar and follow the same outline.

Follow the steps listed below to write a splendid literature review:

• Start your Reading and Make Notes
• Plan your Review
• Write the Literature Review
• Recheck and Submit 

1.  Read and Make Notes

To be able to write a review, one needs to be well-read. Reading is the first step in the process of writing a literature review. You know what to read since you already know that topic and the themes you want to work on. Read around the various subtopics, examples, and contexts to build a holistic understanding of your topic. As you keep reading and researching, ensure that you maintain a record. A human brain can’t remember all that it reads. Therefore, it is imperative to make notes while reading for an extensive project like a literature review. We recommend that the best way to keep track of all the reading you have done is via maintaining an annotated bibliography.

An annotated bibliography is where you methodologically make notes. You keep a record of the author, publisher, year of publication, page numbers, main argument, examples or sub-arguments, conclusion, and keywords.

A few resources from where you can read and research:

Few sites where you can maintain an annotated bibliography:

• Google Docs OR Word Document
• Google Sheets OR Excel
• Physically in a notebook or placards

2.  Planning

This is the step where you determine which type of review you want to take up for your academic work. You should make a rough outline in this stage, signifying what you wish to cover in your review and how. The review can be either a single body or divided thematically or topically that is absolutely up to you. The purpose of the literature review should be clear- informing the reader about the pre-existing work that has already been done and how it helps your study.

Let us take the example that you are writing a dissertation on “How capital influences the process of Food Experimentation” .

As said above, in this article we will take up the example of Narrative Literature Review , which means that the following things need to be highlighted when you write the review:

• The summary or the main argument
• How to help you in your study
• Where are the research gaps

3.  Writing the Literature Review

      A Literature Review should have the following components:

• A title (subtitle optional)

The Main Body

• Bibliography

Title and Subtitle

The literature review should have the same title as your main project. The title should reflect what your project is about in the least numbers possible. Use a subtitle if necessary to make your title more reflective.

Keywords are essential while writing a review of the literature. Since it is a vast body of literature, citing the keywords initially gives the reader a sense of idea about what they are about to read. Keywords are those concepts, theories, and/or ideas recurring throughout your literature review and your research project. Restrict your keywords to 6 to 8 only so that you do not overwhelm the reader.

For example, the keywords for your literature review can be:

Food Experimentation, Social capital, Cultural capital, Economic capital

The main body is where you write the central portion of your review. You can either write a free-flowing body or divide it into themes and topics. Reiterating the main point once again, the aim is to produce a review that conveys how the existing piece of literature helps further your study. You can either explain each resource separately or try to club them together if they have the same argument. You have to elucidate the main argument of reading and its relevance to your study, no matter which method you choose. In the end, you should be able to find a research gap and use it to facilitate your academic work, such as term papers or dissertations.

If you plan to write a review where each paragraph talks about one essential reading that helped you, then you can write it in this manner:

Start your paragraph by writing a general or broad statement about food and its relationship with different capitals. Then cite the major work with proper reference. After that, state its main argument. You can even write multiple viewpoints if necessary. After this, explain how this reading has helped you formulate your argument.

You can extend upon these lines, taking them as your frame:

Talking about food cannot be done without talking about money. The economic condition of a person is one of the biggest factors in food consumption. The classical work of Pierre Bourdieu, Cultural Reproduction and Social Reproduction will be applied to study the impact of three types of Capital on food experimentation. Economic capital allocates the money, social capital allows the people to access various foods, and cultural capital informs a class of people more about emerging food practices than some other less unaware classes.

The last paragraph or the last few lines of your review should be reserved for elaborating on the research gap in the realm of your research topic. You also explain how you aim to fill this gap or contribute to the discipline in the long run through your project.

Make sure to cite and reference as you go properly. Literature review, in its essence, is secondary writing taken from other sources; therefore, not referencing your work will lead to large amounts of plagiarism.

4.  Last Checks

The last step is to leave your work for a while. Take a breather and refresh your mind. Revisit your review again after this break, and then look at it from three perspectives to get the perfect version to submit. For the first perspective, put yourself in the shoes of an editor. Search and cull out grammatical mistakes and/or spelling errors. For the second revision, be yourself again and see if you’ve missed something or misinterpreted something. Lastly, look at the review from the reader’s point of view and eliminate any unnecessary jargon that does not add to your review’s quality. Once you have looked at your literature review from every possible angle, submit it and take a breath of relief.

Learn: How to Write Coursework?

Hello! Eiti is a budding sociologist whose passion lies in reading, researching, and writing. She thrives on coffee, to-do lists, deadlines, and organization. Eiti's primary interest areas encompass food, gender, and academia.

Sociology Research Guide

• Picking a topic
• Background research and finding books
• Advanced searching in databases and Google
• Finding statistics
• Evaluating sources
• Literature Reviews

What is a Lit Review?

How to write a lit review.

• Video Introduction to Lit Reviews

Main Objectives

Examples of lit reviews, additional resources.

• SOC1: Morales (Cultural Artifact)
• SOC4: Ie (Literature Review)

What is a literature review?

• Either a complete piece of writing unto itself or a section of a larger piece of writing like a book or article
• A thorough and critical look at the information and perspectives that other experts and scholars have written about a specific topic
• A way to give historical perspective on an issue and show how other researchers have addressed a problem
• An analysis of sources based on your own perspective on the topic
• Based on the most pertinent and significant research conducted in the field, both new and old

• A descriptive list or collection of summaries of other research without synthesis or analysis
• An annotated bibliography
• A literary review (a brief, critical discussion about the merits and weaknesses of a literary work such as a play, novel or a book of poems)
• Exhaustive; the objective is not to list as many relevant books, articles, reports as possible
• To convey to your reader what knowledge and ideas have been established on a topic
• To explain what the strengths and weaknesses of that knowledge and those ideas might be
• To learn how others have defined and measured key concepts    
• To keep the writer/reader up to date with current developments and historical trends in a particular field or discipline
• To establish context for the argument explored in the rest of a paper
• To provide evidence that may be used to support your own findings
• To demonstrate your understanding and your ability to critically evaluate research in the field
• To suggest previously unused or underused methodologies, designs, and quantitative and qualitative strategies
• To identify gaps in previous studies and flawed methodologies and/or theoretical approaches in order to avoid replication of mistakes
• To help the researcher avoid repetition of earlier research
• To suggest unexplored populations
• To determine whether past studies agree or disagree and identify strengths and weaknesses on both sides of a controversy in the literature

• Choose a topic that is interesting to you; this makes the research and writing process more enjoyable and rewarding.
• For a literature review, you'll also want to make sure that the topic you choose is one that other researchers have explored before so that you'll be able to find plenty of relevant sources to review.

• Your research doesn't need to be exhaustive. Pay careful attention to bibliographies. Focus on the most frequently cited literature about your topic and literature from the best known scholars in your field. Ask yourself: "Does this source make a significant contribution to the understanding of my topic?"
• Reading other literature reviews from your field may help you get ideas for themes to look for in your research. You can usually find some of these through the library databases by adding literature review as a keyword in your search.
• Start with the most recent publications and work backwards. This way, you ensure you have the most current information, and it becomes easier to identify the most seminal earlier sources by reviewing the material that current researchers are citing.

The organization of your lit review should be determined based on what you'd like to highlight from your research. Here are a few suggestions:

• Chronology : Discuss literature in chronological order of its writing/publication to demonstrate a change in trends over time or to detail a history of controversy in the field or of developments in the understanding of your topic.  
• Theme: Group your sources by subject or theme to show the variety of angles from which your topic has been studied. This works well if, for example, your goal is to identify an angle or subtopic that has so far been overlooked by researchers.  
• Methodology: Grouping your sources by methodology (for example, dividing the literature into qualitative vs. quantitative studies or grouping sources according to the populations studied) is useful for illustrating an overlooked population, an unused or underused methodology, or a flawed experimental technique.

• Be selective. Highlight only the most important and relevant points from a source in your review.
• Use quotes sparingly. Short quotes can help to emphasize a point, but thorough analysis of language from each source is generally unnecessary in a literature review.
• Synthesize your sources. Your goal is not to make a list of summaries of each source but to show how the sources relate to one another and to your own work.
• Make sure that your own voice and perspective remains front and center. Don't rely too heavily on summary or paraphrasing. For each source, draw a conclusion about how it relates to your own work or to the other literature on your topic.
• Be objective. When you identify a disagreement in the literature, be sure to represent both sides. Don't exclude a source simply on the basis that it does not support your own research hypothesis.
• At the end of your lit review, make suggestions for future research. What subjects, populations, methodologies, or theoretical lenses warrant further exploration? What common flaws or biases did you identify that could be corrected in future studies?

• Double check that you've correctly cited each of the sources you've used in the citation style requested by your professor (APA, MLA, etc.) and that your lit review is formatted according to the guidelines for that style.

Your literature review should:

• Be focused on and organized around your topic.
• Synthesize your research into a summary of what is and is not known about your topic.
• Identify any gaps or areas of controversy in the literature related to your topic.
• Suggest questions that require further research.
• Have your voice and perspective at the forefront rather than merely summarizing others' work.
• Cyberbullying: How Physical Intimidation Influences the Way People are Bullied
• Use of Propofol and Emergence Agitation in Children
• Eternity and Immortality in Spinoza's 'Ethics'
• Literature Review Tutorials and Samples - Wilson Library at University of La Verne
• Literature Reviews: Introduction - University Library at Georgia State
• Literature Reviews - The Writing Center at UNC Chapel Hill
• Writing a Literature Review - Boston College Libraries
• Write a Literature Review - University Library at UC Santa Cruz
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Literature Review

In a  literature review you explore research that has come before you and is relevant to your topic. It can help you identify:

• Core research in the field
• Experts in the subject area
• Methodology you may want to use (or avoid)
• Gaps in the literature -- or where your research would fit in

Helpful approaches:

• See what literature reviews already exist on your topic! Databases like Oxford Bibliographies Online: Sociology and Sociological Abstracts (limit the document type to literature review) can save you a lot of time. Also don’t forget the Annual Review of Sociology , and the Proquest Dissertations and Theses database; these in-depth pieces usually have comprehensive lists of references.
• Citation slogging (aka "snowballing") -- work your way back through citations (or footnotes) to key articles
• Forward citation -- see who has cited key articles using  Google Scholar  and  Web of Science Cited Reference Search  . ​

Writing Guidelines:

• Start with Writing for Sociology  from the UC Berkeley Sociology Department—it’s packed with great content!
• A great overview of the entire process from the Writing Center at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
• A piece from the blog Everyday Sociology on “ How (and Why) to Write a Literature Review ”

Systematic Reviews

Systematic reviews are not the same as literature reviews; instead, they can be considered an extremely rigorous subset of literature reviews.  Generally, systematic reviews take a team of professionals and one to two years to complete, and they usually can't be done for avenues of research which are newly being explored (there needs to be an established body of literature to examine).  This makes them very helpful resources if they exist for your topic of interest!

You may wish to peruse UCSF's  Systematic Review Guide  for information.

If you do decide to do a systematic review, UC Berkeley licenses  Covidence , a tool to help you. In Covidence, you can  import citations ,  screen titles and abstracts ,  upload references ,  screen full text ,  create forms for critical appraisal ,  perform risk of bias tables ,  complete data extraction , and  export a PRISMA flowchart  summarizing your review process. As an institutional member, our users have priority access to Covidence support.   To access Covidence using the UC Berkeley institutional account ,  start at this page  and follow the instructions.

Great brief overview, from NCSU

Synthesizing the literature

Now That You Have All Those Articles, How Do You Synthesize Them?

Unlike the annotated bibliography, the literature review does not just summarize each article or book. Instead, they synthesize. Some researchers find it helpful to develop a framework, making a column for each element that they want to compare. The elements vary depending on the research, making it easier to understand the relationships between  all  the articles and how they relate to your research. Here's  one example !

How To Organize and Cite Your Research

Citation management tools  help you manage your research, collect and cite sources, and create bibliographies in a variety of citation styles.  Each one has its strengths and weaknesses, but any are easier than doing it by hand! The Library offers   workshops  on Endnote, Zotero, and Refworks. I'm also happy to help arrange a small group workshop, or one on one help with Zotero. 

For more information on the various tools available, and more on Zotero, see the "Managing Citations" tab in this guide!

Find Dissertations

Dissertations and Theses (Dissertation Abstracts) Full Text : indexes dissertations from over 1,000 North American, and selected European, graduate schools and universities from 1861 to the present. Full text for most of the dissertations added since 1997.

UC Berkeley dissertations : Search UC Library Search  by author. Also helpful to see dissertations written in your department which you can do by doing a subject search:

• subject:  university of california berkeley dept of psychology dissertations
• subject:  dissertations academic ucb psychology

Recent UC Berkeley dissertations are freely available online to anyone, anywhere with access to the internet. Also see  Find Dissertations and Theses  for other specialized sources.

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Literature Reviews (about this page)

Literature reviews/about this page:.

Literature reviews may be sections in a paper or full articles that categorized as literature reviews. This page on your course guide simply provides examples. For assignment clarification and details, always check with your instructor/professor to ensure you achieve the best outcome possible. I hope this helps gets you started!

Literature Review Guides

• Writing a Literature Review [Owl at Purdue website] A literature review is a document or section of a document that collects key sources on a topic and discusses those sources in conversation with each other (also called synthesis). ... A literature review can be a part of a research paper or scholarly article, usually falling after the introduction and before the research methods sections. In these cases, the lit review just needs to cover scholarship that is important to the issue you are writing about; sometimes it will also cover key sources that informed your research methodology....

Video: Writing a Literature Review Section by SJSU King Library

Writing a Literature Review Section from SJSU King Library on Vimeo .

A key part of any research paper is the literature review section. Learn how to research, structure and write this important part of your project

• Learn How to Write a Review of Literature A succinct description of the literature review process from The Writing Center at The University of Wisconsin-Madison.
• Writing the Literature Review, Part I [Video]  In this YouTube video, David Taylor at the University of Maryland University College gives a practical, clear explanation of the process. The sound isn't high quality, but his presentation is. 5:22 minutes.
• Writing the Literature Review, Part 2 This YouTube video is a continuation of the one above. 7:40 minutes.
• How to Evaluate Journal Articles A list of questions to ask when evaluating an article for a literature review, written by Naomi Lederer at the Colorado State University Libraries.
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What is a Literature Review?

A literature review is an essential component of every research project. It requires “re-viewing” what credible scholars in the field have said, done, and found in order to help you:

• Identify what is currently known in your area of interest
• Establish an empirical/ theoretical/ foundation for your research
• Identify potential gaps in knowledge that you might fill
• Develop viable research questions and hypotheses
• Determine appropriate methodologies
• Decide upon the scope of your research
• Demonstrate the importance of your research to the field
• VCU Libraries Guide: How to Write a Literature Review

Helpful Tools for Literature Reviews

• Academic Phrasebank Examples of common phrases used in literature reviews and reports of research findings. The items in the Academic Phrasebank are mostly content neutral and generic in nature; in using them, therefore, you are not stealing other people’s ideas and this does not constitute plagiarism.
• How to Read a Journal Article Tips and tricks to make reading and understanding social science journal articles easier from ICPSR.

As you read, you'll encounter various ideas, disagreements, methods, and perspectives which can be hard to organize in a meaningful way. Because you'll be reading a number of resources, a synthesis matrix helps you record the main points of each source and document how sources relate to each other.

• Writing a Literature Review & Using a Synthesis Matrix
• Excel Matrix Customize columns to fit your needs
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"the literature" and "the review" (virginia commonwealth university).

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• Review of Literature The Writing Center @ Univeristy of Wisconsin - Madison
• Tools for Preparing Literature Reviews George Washington University
• Write a Literature Review University Library, UC Santa Cruz

Your SOC Librarian

1. Introduction

Not to be confused with a book review, a  literature review  surveys scholarly articles, books and other sources (e.g. dissertations, conference proceedings) relevant to a particular issue, area of research, or theory, providing a description, summary, and critical evaluation of each work. The purpose is to offer an overview of significant literature published on a topic.

2. Components

Similar to primary research, development of the literature review requires four stages:

• Problem formulation—which topic or field is being examined and what are its component issues?
• Literature search—finding materials relevant to the subject being explored
• Data evaluation—determining which literature makes a significant contribution to the understanding of the topic
• Analysis and interpretation—discussing the findings and conclusions of pertinent literature

Literature reviews should comprise the following elements:

• An overview of the subject, issue or theory under consideration, along with the objectives of the literature review
• Division of works 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 work is similar to and how it varies from the others
• Conclusions as to which pieces 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

In assessing each piece, consideration should be given to:

• Provenance—What are the author's credentials? Are the author's arguments supported by evidence (e.g. primary historical material, case studies, narratives, statistics, recent scientific findings)?
• Objectivity—Is the author's perspective even-handed or prejudicial? Is contrary data considered or is certain pertinent information ignored to prove the author's point?
• Persuasiveness—Which of the author's theses are most/least convincing?
• Value—Are the author's arguments and conclusions convincing? Does the work ultimately contribute in any significant way to an understanding of the subject?

  3. Definition and Use/Purpose

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.

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What is a Literature Review?

A literature review is a “critical analysis of a segment of a published body of knowledge through summary, classification, and comparison of prior research studies, reviews of literature, and theoretical articles” (University of Wisconsin Writing Center).

Do not confuse a literature review with an annotated bibliography.

Information for this page is taken from the Thompson Writing Program .

• The introduction should explain why you are writing the review (“so what/who cares?”) and make some central claims about the current state of the literature (e.g. trends, debates, gaps, etc.).
• Organize the body of the paper by common denominators among sources, such as methodologies, conclusions, philosophical approaches, or possibly chronology (assuming topical subsections)
• The conclusion should summarize significant contributions to the field, situate the reviewed literature in the larger context of the discipline, point out flaws or gaps in the research, and/or suggest future areas of study.
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What is a literature review?

A literature review is an explanation of what has been published on a subject by recognized researchers. Occasionally you will be asked to write one as a separate assignment (sometimes in the form of an annotated bibliography, but more often it is part of the introduction to a   research report, essay, thesis or dissertation.) Critical literature reviews help to write your literature review more effectively: A literature review must do these things: a. be organized around and related directly to the thesis or research question you are developing b. synthesize results into a summary of what is and is not known c. identify areas of controversy in the literature d. formulate questions that need further research Before writing literature review ask yourself questions like these:

1. What is the specific thesis, problem, or research question that my review of literature helps to define?

2. What type of literature review am I conducting? Am I looking at issues of theory? methodology? policy? quantitative research (e.g. on the effectiveness of a new procedure)? qualitative research (e.g., studies )?

3. What is the scope of my literature review? What types of publications am I using (e.g., journals, books, government documents, popular media)? What discipline am I working in (e.g., management , organizational behavior, 

marketing)?

4. How good was my information seeking? Has my search been wide enough to ensure I've found all the relevant material? Has it been narrow enough to exclude irrelevant material? Is the number of sources I've used appropriate for the length of my paper?

5. Have I critically analyzed the literature I use? Do I follow through a set of concepts and questions, comparing items to each other in the ways they deal with them? Instead of just listing and summarizing items, do I assess them, discussing strengths and weaknesses?

6. Have I cited and discussed studies contrary to my perspective?

7. Will the reader find my literature review relevant, appropriate, and useful?

Tips on writing a literature review (Hart 1998)

Lit Review Tips

Search for the most recent articles that deal with your topic; many of them will summarize the prior literature in the area, saving you valuable time. Remember to attribute even if you paraphrase!

Literature reviews can be overwhelming. You can't find everything. Just find the literature that gets discussed the most or is most relevant to your topic.

The goal of the literature review is to show that you understand the 'bigger picture' and can put your research and recommendations in context of others working in the field.

Need help writing a literature review?

Writing Literature Reviews : A Guide for Students of the Social and Behavioral Sciences by Jose L. Galvan.

Library North 2nd floor

H 61.8 G34 2014

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How to use Scientific Articles in a Literature Review

Video explanations of a literature review, what is a literature review, types of literature reviews.

• Ten Simple Rules for Writing a Literature Review

"A literature review is an account of what has been published on a topic by accredited scholars and researchers. Occasionally you will be asked to write one as a separate assignment, ..., but more often it is part of the introduction to an essay, research report, or thesis. In writing the literature review, your purpose is to convey to your reader what knowledge and ideas have been established on a topic, and what their strengths and weaknesses are. As a piece of writing, the literature review must be defined by a guiding concept (e.g., your research objective, the problem or issue you are discussing, or your argumentative thesis). It is not just a descriptive list of the material available, or a set of summaries."

- Taylor, D. (n.d). The literature review: A few tips on conducting it. Retrieved from  http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/specific-types-of-writing/literature-review

What are the goals of creating a Literature Review?

• To develop a theory or evaluate an existing theory
• To summarize the historical or existing state of a research topic
• Identify a problem in a field of research 

- Baumeister, R.F. & Leary, M.R. (1997). Writing narrative literature reviews. Review of General Psychology , 1 (3), 311-320.

What kinds of literature reviews are written?

Systematic review - "The authors of a systematic review use a specific procedure to search the research literature, select the studies to include in their review, and critically evaluate the studies they find." (p. 139)

- Nelson, L.K. (2013). Research in Communication Sciences and Disorders . San Diego, CA: Plural Publishing.

Meta-analysis - "Meta-analysis is a method of reviewing resarch findings in a quantitative fashion by transforming the data from individual studies into what is called an effect size and then pooling and analyzing this information. The basic goal in meta-analysis is to explain why different outcomes have occured in different studies." (p. 197)

-Roberts, M.C. & Ilardi, S.S. (2003). Handbook of Research Methods in Clinical Psychology . Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub.

Meta-synthesis - " Qualitative meta-synthesis is a type of qualitative study that uses as data the findings from other qualitative studies linked by the same or related topic." (p.312)

-Zimmer, L. (2006). Qualitative meta-synthesis: A question of dialoguing with texts. Journal of Advanced Nursing , 53 (3), 311-318. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2648.2006.03721.x

From University of Connecticut Library

Traditional or Narrative

• Provides background for understanding current knowledge
• Critiques, summarizes and draws conclusions from a body of knowledge
• Identifies gaps or inconsistencies to be filled or corrected through further research and study
• Helps to refine the topic and research question
• Carries the flaw of becoming less useful as more information becomes available
• Identifies, appraises and synthesizes available evidence in order to answer a specified research question
• Applies a more rigorous approach that details the time frame of selected literature and method of critique and analysis
• Uses explicit and well-defined methods in order to minimize bias and increase reliability
• Includes as comprehensive an amount of studies as possible that includes both published and unpublished findings, such as "grey literature"

Meta-Analysis

• Systematically locates, appraises and synthesizes data from a large body of findings using statistical analysis and techniques
• Similar to a systematic review in that it integrates the findings of a large body of knowledge
• Attempts to correct flaws of traditional or narrative reviews by allowing researchers to synthesize a greater amount of studies
• Integrates and draws conclusions on research findings and seeks to detect broad patterns and relationships between studies

Meta-Synthesis

• Attempts to bring together, juxtapose, re-analyze and combine findings from multiple qualitiative studies using non-statistical techniques
• Seeks to discover or provide new interpretations, conceptions or theoretical developments
• Combines multiple studies to identify common key themes and elements
• May use findings from phenomenological, grounded theory or ethnographic studies

Borenstein, M.H., Viggins, L.V. & Julian, P.T. (2009). Introduction to Meta-Analysis. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley

Cronin, P., Ryan, F. & Coughlan, M. (2008). Undertaking a literature review: A step-by-step approach . British Journal of Nursing, 17 (1), 38-43.

Glasziou, P. (2001). Systematic Reviews in Health Care : A Practical Guide. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Mays, C., Popay, N. & Jennie (2007).  Synthesising Qualitative and Quantitative Health Research : A Guide to Methods . Great Britain: Open University Press.

From Bow Valley College Library

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Soc 001: introductory sociology.

• Literature Reviews: Strategies for Writing
• Fake News and Evaluating Sources

Literature Reviews

What is a Literature Review? The literature review is a critical look at the existing research that is significant to the work that you are carrying out. This overview identifies prominent research trends in addition to assessing the overall strengths and weaknesses of the existing research.

Purpose of the Literature Review

• To provide background information about a research topic.
• To establish the importance of a topic.
• To demonstrate familiarity with a topic/problem.
• To “carve out a space” for further work and allow you to position yourself in a scholarly conversation.

Characteristics of an effective literature review In addition to fulfilling the purposes outlined above, an effective literature review provides a critical overview of existing research by

• Outlining important research trends.
• Assessing strengths and weaknesses (of individual studies as well the existing research as a whole).
• Identifying potential gaps in knowledge.
• Establishing a need for current and/or future research projects.

Steps of the Literature Review Process

1) Planning: identify the focus, type, scope and discipline of the review you intend to write. 2) Reading and Research: collect and read current research on your topic. Select only those sources that are most relevant to your project. 3) Analyzing: summarize, synthesize, critique, and compare your sources in order to assess the field of research as a whole. 4) Drafting: develop a thesis or claim to make about the existing research and decide how to organize your material. 5) Revising: revise and finalize the structural, stylistic, and grammatical issues of your paper.

This process is not always a linear process; depending on the size and scope of your literature review, you may find yourself returning to some of these steps repeatedly as you continue to focus your project.

These steps adapted from the full workshop offered by the Graduate Writing Center at Penn State. 

Literature Review Format

 Introduction

• Provide an overview of the topic, theme, or issue.
• Identify your specific area of focus.
• Describe your methodology and rationale. How did you decide which sources to include and which to exclude? Why? How is your review organized?
• Briefly discuss the overall trends in the published scholarship in this area.
•  Establish your reason for writing the review.
•  Find the best organizational method for your review.
•  Summarize sources by providing the most relevant information.
•  Respectfully and objectively critique and evaluate the studies.
•  Use direct quotations sparingly and only if appropriate.

 Conclusion

•  Summarize the major findings of the sources that you reviewed, remembering to keep the focus on your topic.
•  Evaluate the current state of scholarship in this area (ex. flaws or gaps in the research, inconsistencies in findings) 
•  Identify any areas for further research.
•  Conclude by making a connection between your topic and some larger area of study such as the discipline. 
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About Literature Reviews

Resources: how to write a literature review, templates for organizing your notes.

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• Get Help This link opens in a new window

A Literature Review...

A literature review discusses published information in a particular subject area. A literature review combines summary and synthesis of research on a particular topic and is an examination and interpretation of the existing scholarly literature on that topic. It can be thought of as a summary of the answers to your research question. Some of the following questions may help as you evaluate the literature on your topic:

• What are the major themes in the existing research on your topic?
• Are there any debates in the literature, such that scholars taking opposing sides in their research?
• Are there any gaps in the extant literature, such that there are questions that are not sufficiently answered?
• What is the state of the research on this topic and how does it all fit together?

How to write a literature review

• Literature reviews (The Writing Center at UNC-Chapel Hill)
• Literature Reviews (OWL Purdue)
• The Literature Review (USC)
• Research Prospectus
• The Literature Review: Six Steps to Success

Samples -  Literature Review

• Search for Literature Reviews (Find Good Models)

Because literature reviews convey so much information in a condensed space, it is crucial to organize your review in a way that helps readers make sense of the studies you are reporting on. Two common approaches to literature reviews are chronological —ordering studies from oldest to most recent—and topical —grouping studies by subject or theme.

How are you going to organize the literature?

• Organizing Your Sources
• Topical grouping studies by subject or theme
• Chronological ordering studies from oldest to most recent
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Want to create or adapt books like this? Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices.

The Literature Review

Learning Objectives

• Describe a literature review and explain its purpose;
• Describe the steps in undertaking a literature review
• Demonstrate how to write a literature review
• Identify acceptable sources to include in your literature review;
• List of the five ‘C’s of writing a literature review.
• Compare a literature review, an essay and an annotated bibliography.
• Explain the importance of APA referencing and list some of the sources for getting assistance with APA referencing.

In this chapter, we will focus on writing a literature review. As part of this focus we concentrate on four key aspects, as follows: 1) explaining the purpose behind a literature review and where it fits in the research process; 2) explaining how a literature review is different from an essay and an annotated bibliography, 3) describing the special aspects that distinguish a literature review from other styles of academic writing, and 4) explaining how to conduct a literature review and why it is important to review previous research studies. If you have never written a literature review, and even if you have, this chapter will provide valuable information for you.  Understanding how to write a literature review is important because it is quite likely that you will have to do another one at some point in your academic and/or professional career.

An Introduction to Research Methods in Sociology Copyright © 2019 by Valerie A. Sheppard is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Sociology: Literature Review

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What is a Literature Review?

"A literature review is a document or section of a document that collects key sources on a topic and discusses those sources in conversation with each other (also called synthesis ). The lit review is an important genre in many disciplines, not just literature (i.e., the study of works of literature such as novels and plays). When we say “literature review” or refer to “the literature,” we are talking about the research ( scholarship ) in a given field. You will often see the terms “the research,” “the scholarship,” and “the literature” used mostly interchangeably."

From Purdue OWL's Lit Review webpage

Writing Resources

• Purdue OWL - Writing a Literature Review Defines what a literature review is, the contexts or different situations where one may be required, the segments of a lit review, and how it should be organized.
• University of Wisconsin Writing Center Includes a breakdown of the different parts of a lit review as well as some examples to view.
• University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Writing Center UNC Chapel Hill's Writing Center guide to composing the lit review. It highlights how a lit review differs from an academic paper and provides writing tips.

Writing a Literature Review

Starting Out

Typically a literature review will fall after the Introduction section of a paper, and before the Research Methods. In this scenario, a lit review will need to cover scholarly activity that is important to the topic you are writing on.

Alternatively, they can also be stand-alone assignments or publications. For a coursework assignment, a lit review may be assigned to assist students in familiarizing themselves to a specific topic in their subject or field, locate gaps in the research, or get a sense of the scholarly discussion surrounding the topic.

Sections of the Lit Review

Most reviews include a standard Introduction - Body - Conclusion format. However, if your literature is not stand-alone and is part of a larger paper, your introduction and conclusion will likely be very short, while the body will consist of most all of your written work.

When organizing you literature review, keep in mind the goal of the review. This will inform whether the organization will be

• Chronological - presenting the information over time as it develops. This will help familiarize the audience to the topic. If you choose to write in this manner try to avoid "listing" or purely summarizing your sources to your reader. Attempt to analyze any key debates, turning points, or patterns you have found in the literature.
• Thematic - if you locate patterns or themes with your lit review process, you can organize your paper into subsections that address those themes.
• Methodological - if during your research you draw from various disciplines and fields that use different search methods, you could section your lit review in a way that compares them. For example, "qualitative versus quantitative" or diving the research you located by 'sociological' or 'historical.
• Theoretical - for humanities articles the lit review is often the foundation for the theoretical framework. You could use this to discuss key concepts, models, and theories. You could even argue for a particular theoretical approach.

Information adapted from Purdue OWL's Writing Guide

Additional Writing Tips :

• Be sure that your research is thorough!
• Remember to create your annotated bibliography
• National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship grant A brief example with some written commentary.
• Eternity and Mortality in Spinoza's Ethics A several-page literature review at the beginning of a published, academic article about philosophy
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What is a literature review?

How do i write one, for more information.

The American Sociological Association Style Guide can be found on the first floor at REF HM 569 .A54 2019.

For a brief introduction to ASA, click here .

A literature review is used to show that you have read, evaluated, and comprehended the published research on a particular topic. A literature review is structured to show to your professors that you understand the work that has been done in the past on a topic, and will serve as a jumping off point for whatever research you are conducting.   It can either be a stand-alone document, or a section at the beginning of a research paper, master’s thesis, special project, or report. Writing a literature review will require you to locate published research on a topic, read those materials, and write a description and evaluation of the works.

STEP ONE: What is your topic?

What is your research project? You really can’t begin to write a literature review until you have determined what your own research is about. Determine the problem and the population you are studying.  

STEP TWO: Time to visit the library!

Search SouthernSearch  and relevant online databases, such as SocIndex and JSTOR, to locate previously published research on your subject. This will involve finding books, journal articles, dissertations and theses, and possibly reports from governmental agencies or independent organizations.   

STEP THREE: Read and think!

Read and critically evaluate each item that you have located.   What are the researcher’s credentials? What kind of methodology was used? Do you find the research to be objective? Do you find the conclusions persuasive?   How does the research contribute to your understanding of the issue that you are researching? Are the researchers saying the same things, or are they coming to different conclusions? What are the relationships between the articles? What has been said, and what has not been said? What are some areas for future research?   

STEP FOUR: Start writing!

You may want to sort the materials you have read based on their different themes, theoretical foundations, or varying conclusions. Then, for each article, describe the research that was done and the conclusions of the authors. Discuss how that particular work contributes to the understanding of the subject that you are working on.

Conducting Research Literature Reviews: From the Internet to Paper REF Q 180.55 .M4 F56 2005

Doing a Literature Review: Releasing the Social Science Research Imagination  STACKS H 62 .H2566 1998

Preparing Literature Reviews: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches  STACKS Q 180.55 .E9 P36 2008

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