Research Guides: BIOL 410 A & CHEM 410: Seminar Fall 2025 Literature Search Assignment: Creating a Literature Review

What is a Literature Review?

A literature review is a structured summary and analysis of existing research on a specific topic. Importantly, a literature review synthesizes key findings from multiple sources, identifies patterns and gaps in the existing research, and shows how different studies relate to one another. It helps you and your reader understand what’s already known, what’s still being debated, and where your own research lies in the scholarly conversation. A well written literature review acts a map of the academic conversation around your topic and shows where others have been and where you might go next.

Why conduct a literature review?

The reason for conducting a literature review is to:

Understand the topic	What has been written about your topic? What is the evidence for your topic? What methods, key concepts, and theories relate to your topic? Are there current gaps in knowledge or new questions to be asked?
Update readers	Bring your reader up to date Further your reader's understanding of the topic
Demonstrate your knowledge	Provide evidence of... - your knowledge on the topic's theory - your understanding of the research process - your ability to critically evaluate and analyze information - that you're up to date on the literature

Credit, Duke Libraries, CC-BY-NC-SA

Steps to conducting a Literature Review

Define your question
Narrow the focus of your research by turning your topic into a specific, researchable question that guides your search.
Plan your search
Decide which databases, tools, and keywords you'll use, and consider strategies like citation chasing or concept mapping to expand your search.
Search relevant literature
Use your chosen tools to find scholarly sources that address your research question, including journal articles, books, and grey literature.
Organize your results
Keep track of what you’ve found using a research log, citation manager, or spreadsheet to sort sources by theme, relevance, or methodology.
Synthesize your findings
Analyze and connect your findings by identifying patterns, gaps, debates, and relationships between studies. not just summarizing them.
Write your review
Structure your writing to present a clear narrative of the existing research, showing how it informs your topic and where your work fits in.

Creating a Literature Review

Purdue Owl - Writing a Literature Review
A General Overview of what a literature review is and how to write it.