A Literature Review: an article that summarized scholarly works relevant to a particular issue, area of research.

It provides a description, summary, and critical evaluation of each work. The purpose is to offer an overview of significant literature published on a topic and to explore a topic in-depth. 

Literature reviews should comprise the following elements:

• An overview of the subject or topic.
• An explanation and comparison of each source being examined.
• Conclusions as to which sources are best considered in their argument, are most convincing of their opinions and make the greatest contribution to the understanding and development of their area of research.

Writing Literature Reviews

Once you have identified and gathered an appropriate number of sources, analyze and organize them. 

1. Skim the articles to get a general idea and purpose for the writing. Record notes about what each source contains, and how it helps provide evidence for your topic.
2. Group the sources into categories.
3. Take more notes.  Look for key statistics, similarities, and differences. Identify major trends or patterns. Identify relationships. Look for gaps.
4. Develop an outline for your final review.