Literature Review Resources
- UCF Catalog SearchUCF Books/eBooks on Academic Writing
Systematic Approaches to a Successful Literature Review by ISBN: 9781473912458Publication Date: 2016-08-15
Writing Literature Reviews-5th Ed by Call Number: ARC General Collection H61.8 .G34 2013ISBN: 9781936523030Publication Date: 2013-05-01
Writing Your Doctoral Dissertation or Thesis Faster by ISBN: 9781452274157Publication Date: 2013-11-07- ISBN: 1280121041
Writing the Successful Thesis and Dissertation by Call Number: ARC General Collection LB2369 .C52 2007ISBN: 9780131735330Publication Date: 2006-12-21
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Literature Reviews
What is a literature review?
'Literature reviews' generally involve locating and selected topic-related sources and then discussing the selected sources in an academic paper.
- Narrative literature reviews are often required as course assignments. Students may be asked to locate 5-10 academic (peer-reviewed) sources based on their topic or research questions and to write a paper that discusses (synthesizes, paraphrases, and cites) the sources.
- Narrative literature reviews may also be used in theses or dissertations, but these types of reviews are typically more comprehensive and include a broader range of sources. Additionally, a thesis or dissertation literature review (or literature review chapter) may apply systematized approaches to ensure that searches capture both historical and current sources, and writers often evaluate the selected sources and identify gaps in the literature. This type of review is sometimes referred to as a systematized (narrative) review.
The following articles provides a more detailed overview of literature reviews.
Grant, M. J., & Booth, A. (2009). A typology of reviews: an analysis of 14 review types and associated methodologies. Health Information and Libraries Journal, 26(2), 91–108.
- Systematic reviews are additional category of literature reviews. Systematic reviews aim to be comprehensive and strive to gather all relevant sources. They also follow specific protocols, inclusion/exclusion criteria, and adhere to transparent and reproducible procedures for conducting searches and reporting evidence. Systematic reviews are commonly used to inform health-related interventions, policy decisions, and educational interventions. Systematic reviews often include a meta-analysis that utilizes statistical methods to analyze and evaluate individual research studies.
The Cochrane Handbook states that systematic reviews should be conducted by a team of researchers and "were developed out of a need to ensure that decisions affecting people’s lives can be informed by an up‐to‐date and a complete understanding of the relevant research evidence" (Lasserson, Thomas, & Higgins, 2019, 1.1 Why do a systematic review? section).
Higgins, J. P. T., Thomas, J., Chandler, J., Cumpston, M., Li, T., Page, M. J., & Welch, V. A. (Eds.). (2019). Cochrane handbook for systematic reviews of interventions (2nd ed.). The Cochrane Collaboration.
For additional information about systematic reviews, please see our Evidence Synthesis guide.