Literature Review

This week in class we are writing our literature review chapter. Now some of you readers might be asking what exactly is a literature review. That was my first question after reading this weeks assignment.

Wikipedia (my trusty old friend) defines a literature review as: a body of text that aims to review the critical points of current knowledge and or methodological approaches on a particular topic. Literature reviews are secondary sources, and as such, do not report any new or original experimental work.

The ex-chair of the arts administration at SCAD (a master at thesis and dissertation writing) defines a literature review in her own way: "the term literature in literature review refers to any collection of material on a topic. The “review” part of a literature review describes, synthesizes, and perhaps, re-interprets the materials on the topic. The literature review should do more than simply summarize the information in a source—it should compare and contrast, reorganize, and reconsider the information from a variety of sources."

Still confused? I still was a little confused. I found that by just starting to write about the sources I had read got me to thinking about how the sources connected. This in the most simplest way is what a literature review is. Finding the connections in the interpretations of the literature read on the subject.

By completing the assignment for this week I learned several things.

1. What a literature review is
2. How to write a literature
3. I learned that the easiest way for me to start a writing assignment I am unsure about the best way to begin is to just dive right into it.

For further reading on what a literature review is check out these university's web pages on the subject:

http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/ReviewofLiterature.html

http://www.library.ncat.edu/ref/guides/literaturereview03.htm

http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/specific-types-of-writing/literature-review