which statement best describes a well written literature review

Literature Reviews: Introduction

• Library Basics
• 1. Choose Your Topic
• How to Find Books
• Types of Clinical Study Designs
• Types of Literature
• 3. Search the Literature
• 4. Read & Analyze the Literature
• 5. Write the Review
• Keeping Track of Information
• Style Guides
• Books, Tutorials & Examples

What IS a Literature Review?

A literature review does not present an original argument . The purpose is to offer an overview of what is known about the topic and to evaluate the strength of the evidence on that topic . It usually contains a summary, a synthesis, or an analysis of the key arguments in the existing literature. The literature may come from books, articles, reports, or other formats.  Sources may even contradict each other.  A literature review also helps distinguish what research has been done and identify what needs further research

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Literature Review vs. Research Paper vs. Annotated Bibliography

A literature review :

• Shares experts' various thoughts, ideas and viewpoints about a topic within your field
• Summarizes arguments from various sources pointing out strengths and weaknesses of their arguments
• Sources may contradict each other

A research paper :

• Presents a single thought, idea or argument about a topic
• Explains or argues an idea using research that supports a single conclusion
• Sources used generally support each other

An annotated bibliography :

• Lists citations to books, articles, and documents with each citation followed by a brief descriptive and evaluative paragraph.  See Purdue OWL for further information.

What is it That You Review?

You will review...

• The current status of the knowledge or research about a topic, question or field
• The theoretical approach(es) used in studying this particular topic or question
• The data collection tools and procedures used and their implications on the body of knowledge
• The future direction(s) on a topic in terms of theory, methodology, questions for further study, and so on

Types of Literature Reviews

Traditional or narrative literature review

• Critiques and summarizes a body of literature
• Draws conclusions about the topic
• Identifies gaps or inconsistencies in a body of knowledge
• Requires a sufficiently focused research question

Systematic literature review

• More rigorous and well-defined approach
• Comprehensive
• Published and unpublished studies relating to a particular subject area
• Details the time frame within which the literature was selected
• Details the methods used to evaluate and synthesize findings of the studies in question

Meta-analysis

• A form of systematic review (reductive)
• Takes findings from several studies on the same subject and analyzes them using standardized statistical procedures
• Integrates findings from a large body of quantitative findings to enhance under-standing (study=unit of analysis)
• Draws conclusions and detect patterns and relationships

From the University of Toledo .

Steps in the Literature Review

Ask a librarian, health professions librarian.

Thanks to these folks for background info and LibGuides templates.

Boston College University Libraries

Bowie State University

Doing a Literature Review in Health and Social Care:  A Practical Guide .  By Helen Aveyard.

Writing narrative literature reviews for peer-reviewed journals: secrets of the trade.  Green B, Johnson C, Adams A.  Journal Of Chiropractic Medicine . September 2006;5(3):101-117.

University of the Pacific Research Guide

Victoria University Research Guide

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• Last Updated: Aug 16, 2024 4:01 PM
• URL: https://research.library.gsu.edu/litrev