POSC-410: Senior Honors Seminar

A literature review is a piece of writing that summarizes the current state of existing research on a specific topic. Literature reviews are often located within or immediately after the introduction section in a published article. Some journal articles are entire standalone literature reviews (review articles). 

Literature reviews help to bring readers up to speed on a specific topic. They also can help you as the writer by:

• Providing context for your own research
• Demonstrating your knowledge and understanding of the field of study
• Providing ideas for your own research
• Identifying methods which may be useful for your own research

Source: Brettle, A., & Koufogiannakis, D. (2018). Creating a meaningful literature review. In R. V. Small & M. A. Mardis (Eds.), Research methods for librarians and educators (pp. 21–36). Santa Barbara: CA: Libraries Unlimited.

​In order to develop a literature review, you must locate sources that substantively discuss your topic. In the review you should:

• Identify seminal research (noteworthy scholarship). 
• Develop themes or categories to organize the sources you find.
• Identify points where research findings have settled an issue and where disagreements still exist.
• Identify where "gaps" exist (ideas that are unexplored or under-explored). The gaps you identify should help to provide a justification for your own original research.

These journals publish full-length literature reviews.