Define Literature Review In Research Paper

A literature review surveys scholarly articles, books and other sources relevant to a particular issue, area of research, or theory, and by so doing, providing a description, summary, and critical evaluation of these works.Literature reviews are designed to provide an overview of sources you have explored while researching a particular topic and to demonstrate to your readers how your research fits into the larger field of study.The basic components of a literature review include: An annotated bibliography is a list of your references with a summary of the content and the publication’s relationship to your research question.

A literature review surveys scholarly articles, books and other sources relevant to a particular issue, area of research, or theory, and by so doing, providing a description, summary, and critical evaluation of these works.Literature reviews are designed to provide an overview of sources you have explored while researching a particular topic and to demonstrate to your readers how your research fits into the larger field of study.The basic components of a literature review include: An annotated bibliography is a list of your references with a summary of the content and the publication’s relationship to your research question.

At postgraduate level literature reviews can be incorporated into an article, a research report or thesis.

At undergraduate level literature reviews can be a separate stand alone assessment.

In fact, many academic research papers will contain a literature review section.

What aspect of the study (either the argument or the sources) that is emphasized determines what type of document it is.

If you are writing a 10-page argument paper, you may have room to include 5-6 sources to review, because you will also be establishing your argument as well, but there’s no hard equation for how many or how much.

Use your judgment and most importantly, consult your instructor about expectations.

Likewise, a literature review can also have an "argument," but it is not as important as covering a number of sources.

In short, an academic research paper and a literature review contain some of the same elements.

You will need to critically analyse each source for how they contribute to the themes you are researching.

A literature review is more than a summary of the sources, it has an organizational pattern that combines both summary and synthesis.