This document defines literature reviews and outlines their common purposes and products. It discusses two major divisions of literature reviews - those that introduce original research, and those that only collect and summarize existing literature. For the second type, the four most common products are comprehensive assessments of a knowledge domain, quantitative/qualitative assessments of current research, summaries of other reviews, and critical reviews. The intent and desired end product determines how comprehensive the literature review should be.

1. LITERATURE REVIEWS:
PURPOSE & PRODUCTS

2. Definition:
• Literature Review:
• There are several types of literature reviews and each has specific purposes
and end productsa
• For the present purposes, we will consider two major divisions:
• Those that introduce or frame some original research to be presented
• Those that only collect and summarize or analyze the body of existing literature
a For more information see Grant & Booth, “A typology of reviews: An analysis of 14 review types and associated
methodologies,” Health Information and Libraries Journal, 26 (2009).

3. Four Common Products of 2nd Major Division:
• Comprehensive Assessment of Knowledge Domain:
• Takes an exhaustive look at the literature
• Quantitative/Qualitative Assessment of Current Research:
• May use sampling techniques to look at a representative subset of the
literature, or may use a complete set of the literature
• Summary of other Reviews:
• This looks only at reviews and synthesizes multiple reviews together to
reduce large amounts of information to a more digestible amount
• Critical Review:
• Looks at the most influential sources in the domain
The intent of the review and its end product dictates how comprehensive the literature review should be

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