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Lesson Eight Writing Literature Review What is literature The literature here refers to works deal with your topic of interest. While such information may be obtained from a variety of sources, including books, journal articles, dissertations, conference reports, etc., the focus is on scholarly published materials. What is literature review A literature review is a compilation of previous research and writing on a particular topic. It provides a critical analysis of this research and writing through summary, classification, comparison and evaluation. In a literature review, your central focus is examining and evaluating what has been said before on a topic, and establishing the relevance of this information to your own research. You may also identify what has not been said in the literature on a subject. You may also need to discuss the methodologies that have been used in the literature and how these relate to your chosen method. The purpose of literature review A literature review may constitute an essential chapter of a thesis, or may be a self-contained review of writings on a subject. In either case, its purpose is to: Place each work in the context of its contribution to the understanding of the subject under review. Describe the relationship of each work to the others under consideration. Identify new ways to interpret, and present any gaps in previous research. Resolve conflicts among seemingly contradictory previous studies. Identify areas of prior scholarship to prevent duplication of effort. Point the way forward for further research. Place ones original work (in the case of theses) in the context of existing literature. Components of the literature review Similar to primary research, development of the literature review requires four stages: Problem formulation — which topic or field is being examined and what are its component issues? Literature search — finding materials relevant to the sub