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Soc 390: Research Methods 1 -- Sociological Literature

What is a Literature Review?

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: 

This video provides a brief overview on how to write a literature review.