Literature Reviews

There are fourteen commonly discussed types of literature reviews, and even more combination or hybrid forms. This guide will focus on a few heavily used options.

Narrative reviews (NRs)

NRs, also called traditional lit reviews, are not primary empirical research, but they are highly valuable to make existing research better known and more useful. NRs are iterative by nature, meaning that as the author searches through sources, information and insights are uncovered that may reshape the original research question.

The author uses critical thinking and writing skills to inform the reader about the existing literature. The narrative voice in literature reviews is so strong that some literature review directions include advice to create a conversation between sources. Popular narrative reviews include:

• critical reviews,
• literature reviews with a theoretical or a conceptual framework, and
• systematized literature reviews.

Evidence synthesis reviews

Evidence synthesis is a phrase applied to scoping, systematic and other reviews that seek to gather all possible evidence to accurately understand and synthesize the literature, or to use the information in the gathered literature to answer a research question. These evidence-based reviews require adherence to guidelines and best practices in order to:

• reduce bias,
• be transparent,
• be comprehensive, and
• be reproducible.

While you will use iterative searching to help create your research question, and decide on a search strategy, final searches and the application of selection criteria are done in a systematic and sequential methodology. 

Learn more from our LibGuide on systematic reviews, or request a research consultation.

Critical reviews go beyond summary to include reflection and critique. They identify the most important contributions to the literature. The author then makes a contribution to the literature as well, using the foundation of those sources.

Here are examples of how purpose and scope may effect how a critical review is defined and implemented.

• English literature undergraduate student assignment - Students identify important concepts in an author's work and critique the effectiveness and relevance of their arguments. Students may present a theory about the author's concepts, or about their influence in the literature.
• Journal article in the social sciences -- An author reviews the literature to find the most influential arguments for a concept or process, The author interacts with the sources to suggest an addition to the concept or suggest a new process.

Sample review

This literature review won the 5th annual Psyche prize for Understanding and Reducing the Risk for suicide.

When using a framework, it's important to clearly understand the theory or concepts before you start to make connections with the body of literature. An author will continue to gather insights or questions about the theory or concept throughout the review process, but starting with a strong working knowledge makes tasks easier.

In a theoretical framework, the author selects an existing theory that provides an understanding of how things work, or how observations can be understood, and applies it to the review. The theory will guide what concepts or resources are relevant for your review. There should be a written section on the theory.

In a conceptual framework, the author determines the concepts that will be used and shows the relationship between them. Depending on your discipline, conceptual frameworks may be:

• a visual concept map or chart that explains relationships or processes and informs the review (defining and informative);
• concepts and variables connected in a causal relationship (constructive and connecting); or
• a rigorous argument for the importance of the concept, or success of the application of the concept in the studies reviewed (argumentative or assessing).

Tips:

• The framework shapes all aspects of the review, but is not the review. The response to your research question is the review.
• When you begin writing, make sure you give the readers a thorough picture of the theory, including any short-comings, or issues that relate to the research question.
• Make sure connections between the theory or concept, your question, and the literature are clear in your writing.

Need more guidance? See UCLA's Theoretical Framework guide or Sacred Heart Library's Theoretical Framework guide section.

A systematized review is a narrative literature review that incorporates some evidence synthesis elements; although, some may call it a hybrid method. There may be many reasons to do a systematized review. Here are just a few.

• You'd like to learn more about the evidence synthesis process.
• You are an individual author and don't have the team of three or more that best practice guidelines in evidence systhesis require.
• You want to add transparency and bias reduction techniques to your literature review but retain the traditional structure.
• The systematized process suits your research question.

Learn more from our LibGuide on systematic reviews, or request a research consultation.