A literature review is ... a careful examination of the literature pertaining to your specific research question or study. It highlights gaps in the field and addresses how your thesis fills those gaps.
A literature review is not ... a summary of the items you have found during your search, or an annotated bibliography. It is generally not an historical review of all of the literature in your specific area.
Remember, literature reviews are iterative, not linear, so you'll most likely find yourself revisiting each of these steps multiple times as you complete your literature review.
Click on the steps below for more information.
Step 1. Define your project.
From your broad topic, refine your research question by describing the focus and scope of your thesis. Be specific. Brainstorm related ideas and fields. Choose your methodology or methodologies.
Develop a working list of keywords using one of the handouts on this page, and refer to it often. This list of keywords will expand and evolve as you continue your research.
Step 2. Do preliminary research.
If you're just starting out in the field, look for books first. Try the library catalog, but also go to WorldCat, which has items worldwide. If you find something at another library that looks promising, request it via Interlibrary Loan.
To gather articles, go to the library databases with your list of keywords and related fields. Start with databases in your field, but be sure to look at databases in related fields. Import appropriate articles directly to Zotero or RefWorks. Explore and note the keywords assigned to the best articles, and use those for subsequent searches. Keep a Research Log to refer back to throughout the writing process. Read and critically evaluate these sources, making quick notes in Zotero or RefWorks.
Step 3. Refine your focus and take a deeper dive into the research.
Step 4. Group and synthesize the literature.
Identify schools of thought and experiment with the organization of your literature review. You don't have to include everything you have found during the course of your literature review in the chapter, but include enough so your reader understands the history of the field (or fields related to your thesis) and how your work relates to that history. Make sure you are analyzing the scholarship, not simply describing it. (For more information, see
Developing your literature review.)
Step 5. Place the literature in context as you write the chapter.
Determine where your thesis fits within the literature as a whole. How does your work fill the holes you've identified in the scholarship thus far? As you write your chapter, make this point clear to your reader. Be ready to rewrite your literature review as you progress through your thesis. There may be references you did not include in your first draft that become more important to include as your complete your study.
