Literature Review

The term literature review can be viewed as both what is read and the process that has been undertaken to produce the work in question. Broadly, it denotes the bringing together and summary or synthesis of previous published work. In the academic literature, the terms review, literature review, descriptive review, systematic review, and narrative review are often used. At times, such terminology denotes specific distinctions between different types of review, but on other occasions some of the terms are used interchangeably.

The term literature review covers a range of approaches. This entry first discusses literature reviews in education. It then describes narrative reviews and systematic reviews, before explaining two approaches commonly used in systematic reviews, meta-analysis, and metasynthesis.