Geography

A literature review is a critical assessment of the literature pertaining to a particular topic or subject.  It is a 'systematic, explicit, and reproducible method for identifying, evaluating and synthesising the existing body of completed and recorded work produced by researchers, scholars, and practitioners'  Fink, (2005).

What's its purpose?

• justify your research
• provide context for your research
• identify new ways, to interpret and highlight gaps in previous research
• ensure that the research has not been done before
• signpost a way forward for further research
• show where the research fits into the existing literature
• highlight flaws in previous research