What is a literature review?
Use this handout to understand what a literature review does, how it is different from a summary, and how a source matrix can help you move from reading sources to drafting your review.
A literature review explains what researchers or writers have already said about a topic and shows how those sources connect to one another. Instead of listing one source at a time, a strong literature review synthesizes sources by identifying patterns, debates, trends, and gaps in the conversation.
A literature review is part of the research process. Researchers develop questions, locate information, and use that information to build understanding. Because a literature review uses published sources to answer questions, it is a form of secondary research.
There are many ways to write a literature review, depending on the type of paper and the field. A literature review can be a separate, stand-alone paper or a section of a paper.
Why write a literature review?
Students and researchers write literature reviews to provide background on a topic, define a research problem or gap, and show important trends, debates, or developments in the scholarship.
Literature review basics
Whether your literature review is selective or comprehensive, and whether it stands alone or appears inside a larger paper, it should do more than summarize sources. Most literature reviews synthesize sources, organize them around patterns or themes, and point out overlaps or gaps in the conversation.
- Synthesizing sources. That is, putting sources “into conversation” with each other.
- Organizing your review into patterns, trends, or themes.
- Highlighting overlaps among sources and “gaps” where further work is needed.
Before you begin writing, define the purpose of your literature review. Your purpose will help you decide which sources to include, what information to look for, and how to organize the review. Research questions or aims can help you stay focused as you read and take notes.
Next, determine the scope of your review. Some literature reviews are comprehensive, such as reviews that cover major developments across many years. Others are selective, such as reviews that focus on how researchers have used one method, theory, or concept.
Tips
- Create an annotated bibliography to summarize each source and record useful quotations, page numbers, methods, key terms, and main findings.
- Look for sub-topics by noticing patterns, repetitions, disagreements, or intersections across your sources and annotated bibliography.
- Create a research matrix like the one below to compare what each source says about each sub-topic.
- After you organize your research in a matrix, return to your research goals and information needs. You may need to keep researching, or you may be ready to start drafting.
Use a Matrix to Organize Your Sources
The matrix below shows one way to organize your sources so you can compare them, identify patterns, and develop themes for your literature review.
Let the matrix guide your draft. When you are ready to write, use the columns to identify possible sections or paragraphs. For example, one paragraph might put Sources D and B in conversation about Sub-topic 1. You may also find that the sub-topics become section headings for the literature review.
| Sources | Sub-topic 1 | Sub-topic 2 | Sub-topic 3 | Sub-topic 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Source A | N/A | Proposes … (p. 14-21) | Great background and examples of … (p. 17, 24, 30- 31) | Challenges the notion based upon … (p. 32-35) |
| Source B | Disagrees because of … (p. 227, 245) | Suggests the point that … (p. 225) | N/A | Supports and extends with examples of … (p. 246, 250-255) |
| Source C | Mostly agrees, with some variations of … (p. 123-130) | Explains and gives examples of … (p. 124, 127, 145, 150) | Offers contrasting examples … (p. 140-147) | Challenges most but accepts the part about … (p. 133-135) |
| Source D | Agrees completely and gives examples of … (p. 28, 33, 39- 40) | N/A | Another contrasting example of … (p. 35, 41-43) | N/A |