Literature Reviews

What are literature reviews:

Sometimes a research project, and sometimes part of a larger project of research, a literature review:

• identifies and appraises the material that has been written on a particular topic
• discards anything irrelevant and looks critically at peripheral works
• describes, summarises, and clarifies the relevant literature
• raises questions and identifies areas to be explored
• can serve as a framework for an ensuing study or piece of research, such as a thesis

The stages of a literature review:

• Annotated bibliography –
  • is a list of citations of research sources (books, journal articles, websites etc) on a topic
  • includes a brief summary and analysis or evaluation of each citation = the annotation

• Narrative or traditional literature review –
  • is an overview of the significant literature on a topic
  • typically includes a critical analysis of each work included
  • demonstrates the reviewers knowledge of the topic

• Literature review (Systematic) –
  • a critical assessment of all research studies on a particular research question
  • has specific criteria for systematically collecting and evaluating the literature
  • includes a synthesis of the findings of the included studies

• Systematic quantitative literature review –
  • This method developed by Griffith University's School of Environment bridges the gap between traditional narrative review methods and meta-analyses to enable student's to produce results that are reliable, quantifiable and reproducible.

Understanding the literature review process - a video overview (9 minutes)