Literature Reviews

What is a Literature Review?

A Literature Review

• investigates and appraises material that has been written on a particular topic
• can serve as a framework for an ensuing study or piece of research, such as a thesis
• raises questions and identifies areas to be explored.

This guide will:

• show you the basic elements of a literature review
• show you how to search the literature and read critically
• show you how to write a literature review
• provide a list of books and other published resources on writing literature reviews

The University of Melbourne's Academic Skills has published an online guide and video, giving good summaries of writing a literature review.

What is the Purpose of a Literature Review?

A Literature Review

• provides a synthesis and examination of a particular research problem
• identifies gaps in a field of research that may warrant further examination

The function and format of your literature review will depend on your academic level:

• Undergraduate assignment
• Masters dissertation
• PhD thesis

Your review could be

• essentially descriptive and topic focused;
• analytical and summative; OR
• an analytical synthesis covering all known literature on the problem

The Annotated Bibliography

• An Annotated Bibliography is a list of references on a particular subject, each with a short paragraph that summarises, evaluates and critiques the source.
• While there are elements common to both, an Annotated Bibliography's requirements are different from a Literature Review's.

There are a few online resources that can assist with the writing of an annotated bibliography:

• Library Guide - How to prepare an annotated bibliography.
• Academic Skills - Writing an annotated bibliography: A first step in reviewing the literature.
• Video - The Annotated Bibliography. There is also an online tutorial which explains why an annotated bibliography is an integral part of the research process.

The Systematic Review

A Systematic Review is a rigorous type of review that follows strict guidelines and methodologies, and often uses a set framework. See the Library's Systematic Review guide for details

Keeping Track of Reading Materials: Reference Management

Manage your references by using a Reference Management Program

You can use a reference management program to:

• store bibliographic records (details of books, chapters, journal articles, websites, conference papers, theses, reports, etc) and attachments (such as PDF files, images, links and personal notes)
• automatically generate citations and bibliographies in your word document, in a number of standard referencing formats (eg Harvard, APA, Chicago)
• search and retrieve bibliographic records from databases and catalogues
• retrieve articles by querying the University Find It @ UniMelb system for web locations

There are a number of reference management programs available

The most popular are:

               EndNote                                                                        Zotero                                                             Mendeley

For further help and more detailed information, go to the Options for managing references guide.