Pharr-San Juan-Alamo Capstone Research Paper Template

Rachel Escamilla

PSJA Southwest Early College High School

Mr. Perez, Mrs. Williams

2/19/2018

What is a Literature Review?

Nowadays many students are unaware of what a literature review is and think of it as a waste of time for the same reason. According to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, “a literature review discusses published information in a particular subject area, and sometimes information in a particular subject area within a certain time period” (The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2018). In addition, a literature review can vary from government pamphlets to scholarly articles and be as simple as a summary of sources. To further support the definition of what a literature review is, according to the University of Minnesota Duluth, a literature review “focuses on a specific topic of interest to you and includes a critical analysis of the relationship among different works” (University of Minnesota Duluth, 2018).

When creating a literature review, you have to be aware of what to look out for when completing it. According to the Royal Literary Fund, a literature review has four main objectives. They claim that “it surveys the literature in your chosen area of study, it synthesizes the information in that literature into a summary, it critically analyses the information gathered by identifying gaps in current knowledge by showing limitations of theories and points of view, and by formulating areas for further research and reviewing areas of controversy and it represents the literature in an organized way” (Royal Literary Fund, 2018).

The purpose of a literature review goes beyond constituting an important piece of the literature or a dissertation. According to the University of California Santa Cruz a literature review serves for many purposes. Some of them includes to “identify new ways to interpret, and shed light on any gaps in previous research, point the way forward for further research, and to resolve conflicts amongst seemingly contradictory previous studies”University of California Santa Cruz, 2018).

In conclusion, upon understanding how to correctly write a literature review it will “demonstrate the depth and relevance of your reading, your understanding of where your research fits within your discipline, and scope for future research” (University of Australia, 2018).

References

Library Guides: Literature Review Tutorial: 8. Writing the literature review. (n.d.). Retrieved February 21, 2018, from

Library Guides: Write a Literature Review: Home. (n.d.). Retrieved February 21, 2018, from

Literature Reviews. (n.d.). Retrieved February 21, 2018, from

and-tools/literature-reviews/

Rallis, H. M. (n.d.). Guidelines for writing a literature review . Retrieved February 21, 2018,

from

What is a literature review? (n.d.). Retrieved February 21, 2018, from