A literature review synthesizes important scholarship relevant to a topic, from books, journal articles, conference proceedings, and other sources. The "lit. review" establishes credibility by demonstrating that the authors are knowledgeable of previous research in the field. In a lit review, the author critically appraises the literature, draws conclusions, and shares their opinion of the relevant published literature.
A typical literature review accomplishes many of the following:
- Rationalizes the significance of the research question
- Establishes the context of the topic
- Traces intellectual progression of research in the field
- Summarizes, discusses, and analyses previously published research on the topic
- Defines subject vocabulary
- Identifies main methodologies and research techniques that have been used
- Relates ideas and theory to applications/practices
- Places the current work within the context of earlier related research
- Distinguishes what has been done from what needs to be done
