A qualitative summary of the evidence on a general topic or specific question using informal or subjective methods to collect and interpret studies.
A literature review helps the author:
Understand the scope, history, and present state of knowledge of a specific topic
Understand application of research concepts such as statistical tests and methodological choices
Create a research project that complements the existing research or fills in gaps
Identify sources of information or data that might be useful to you
A literature review helps the reader:
Understand how your research project fits into the existing knowledge and research in a field
Understand that a topic is important/relevant to the world
Evaluate the state of research on the topic.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Pharmacy Research by Based on a guide created by Amy Chatfield, Norris Medical Library, University of Southern California.