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Doing a Literature Review

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 February 2006

Jeffrey W. Knopf
Jeffrey W. Knopf
Affiliation:
Naval Postgraduate School
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Extract

Students entering a graduate program often encounter a new type of assignment that differs from the papers they had to write in high school or as college undergraduates: the literature review (also known as a critical review essay). Put briefly, a literature review summarizes and evaluates a body of writings about a specific topic. The need to conduct such reviews is by no means limited to graduate students; scholarly researchers generally carry out literature reviews throughout their research careers. In a world where the Internet has broadened the range of potentially relevant sources, however, doing a literature review can pose challenges even to an experienced researcher.In drafting this overview, I have incorporated some points made by Paul Pitman in a lecture delivered to students at the Naval Postgraduate School. I have also incorporated some suggestions contained in a handout prepared by John Odell for students in the School of International Relations at the University of Southern California.

Type
THE TEACHER
Information
PS: Political Science & Politics , Volume 39 , Issue 1 , January 2006 , pp. 127 - 132
Copyright
© 2006 The American Political Science Association

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