SOC 323: Social Research Methods I: Literature Review

A literature review:

• surveys all of the scholarship that has been written about a particular topic (your research question)
  
• provides a description, summary, and evaluation of each scholarly work
• synthesizes and organizes the previous research by comparing and contrasting the findings or methodology of those previous writings
  

• http://guides.library.ucsc.edu/write-a-literature-review
• http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/literature_review.html

The Literature Review portion of a scholarly article is usually close to the beginning. It often follows the introduction, or may be combined with the introduction. The writer may discuss his or her research question first, or may choose to explain it while surveying previous literature.

If you are lucky, there will be a section heading that includes "literature review".  If not, look for the section of the article with the most citations or footnotes.