Note: You can access Parts 2 and 3 of this series from the end of this video.
A literature review is a piece of writing that describes, summarises and evaluates existing information on your topic. It is a critical analysis of the strengths and weaknesses and the theoretical basis of current knowledge.
The literature review highlights relationships, or lack thereof, between resources and helps you identify gaps within the literature. It is designed to find out how much we know about a particular topic according to the research that has been conducted so far.
This guide will assist undergraduate and postgraduate students and researchers with completing this process.
Need to do a standalone literature review which is a single assessment piece. It is used to explore a topic in detail and depth.
Need to do a literature review as part of a larger body of work which may be included in theses and dissertations, research articles or research proposals. It is usually used as the justification to support the need for you to do your research and outline the overarching theoretical framework you will use.
It is something that:
It is not:
The reasons or purpose(s) for doing literature reviews is to:
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