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McNair Scholars

What's a Literature Review?

A literature review surveys scholarly articles, books and other sources (e.g. dissertations, conference proceedings) relevant to a particular issue, area of research, or theory, providing a description, summary, and critical evaluation of each work. The purpose is to offer an overview of significant literature published on a topic. For further information, take a look at the California State University, Chico's guide to literature reviews.

A good literature review will be well focused on the specific research question. The sources used will be currrent, relevant, authoratative, accurate, and from an unbiased perspective.

Literature Review Video

Helpful Books

Literature Reviews: An Overview for Graduate Students

Eleanor Smith (Content development, scripting), Kim Duckett (Screencasting, editing), Sarah Bankston (Narration), Dr. John Classen (Scripting, narration), Andreas Orphanides (Web development), & Susan Baker (Graphics, animation, and web design)

Licensed under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0.