A "traditional" literature review provides an overview of the research findings on particular topics. A traditional literature is written by examining a body of published work, then writing a critical summary (an impressionistic overview) of the body of literature. The purpose of a literature review is make clear for a reader what the research collectively indicates with regard to a particular issue or question.
Literature reviews are vital documents for organizing and making accessible the major findings in an area of inquiry. Literature reviews are often used, for example, to inform policy and future research directions. Conducting reviews of literature is particularly important as a field of inquiry expands or changes.
How to write a literature review will be clearer to you once you understand what a literature review is. Literature reviews are papers which discuss published information (someone else’s ideas) in a specific subject area within a certain time period. A literature review will give new information combined with the old or it might give new information of old materials. It also advices the reader on what he should decide as relevant to his subject. A literature review can be taken up in isolation or it can be a part of a larger research study.
A literature review should include:
• An overview of the subject, issue or theory under consideration, along with the objectives of the literature review.
• Division of works under review into categories (e.g. those in support of a particular position, those against, and those offering alternative theses entirely).
• Explanation of how each work is similar to and how it varies from the others.
• Conclusions as to which pieces are best considered in their argument, are most convincing of their opinions, and make the greatest contribution to the understanding and development of their area of research.
So a literature review will consist of the a topic to be reviewed, objectives or scope of the reviewed topic and a clear overview of the entire topic. The review will consist of works by other writers and there should be a category which will divide the works according to their for or against views on the topic. Each work will have to be discussed and relevance to the topic to be pointed out, similarly the differences with the topic will also have to be explained. For each work by another author the writer will have to check for evidences for the author’s claims and also the author’s credentials will also have to be checked. The writer will have to keep in mind the author’s views and see whether they are open minded or prejudiced. How well the author can convince or persuade his reader is another aspect which the writer has to take note of.
So a literature review generally consists of an analysis of the works of other authors on that particular topic and a proper placing of each work in consideration to its value towards a better understanding of the topic.