A literature review provides an overview of previous research on a topic that critically evaluates, classifies, and compares what has already been published on a particular topic. It tells the story and history of your topic, as well as highlights emerging areas of study and poses questions about the gaps in the literature.
A lit review allows the author to synthesize and place context into the research and scholarly literature relevant to the topic. Most scholarly books and articles begin with a review or at least a short characterization of the literature as a way of laying the groundwork for the authors' thesis. For researchers, this can be a great way of identifying key papers on the topic.
4 Steps of a Lit Review
1) Developing a Topic
2) Searching the Literature
3) Narrowing the Scope
4) Synthesizing Prior Research.
Common questions students have:
Hot tip: JSTOR, using the advanced search that ticks the "Political Science" subfield box is an excellent place to start a literature review. With the subfield checked, you can search by keyword or by a term in the abstract and be good to go in terms of finding literature.
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