Need help on writing your paper or have general research questions? Get 24/7 help from a librarian!
FALL 2023 HOURS
Monday | 8:00am - 9:00pm |
Tuesday | 8:00am - 5:00pm |
Wednesday | 8:00am - 9:00pm |
Thursday | 8:00am - 9:00pm |
Friday | 8:00am - 3:00pm |
Saturday | 4:00pm - 9:00pm |
Sunday | 4:00pm - 9:00pm |
** Hours vary during summer session, school breaks and exams. Please call or follow us on for updates!
Have a Question?
Call Us: 864-587-4208
Email Us: smclibrary@smcsc.edu
Use our "Have a Question or Comment?" Form
Definition:
A Literature Review surveys scholarly source materials that are relevant to a person's research thesis/problem and/or a particular issue or theory. It also provides a critical analysis that summarizes and synthesizes the source materials while also demonstrating how a person's research pertains to or fits within the larger discipline of study.
The author of a literature review first determines a question about existing research. At a basic level, the author wants to know what has been written on a particular research topic. After formulating a question, the author sets out to find the relevant research. For a traditional literature review, it is not necessary that the author find everything written on a particular topic. Instead, the author will select a representative sample of articles, and write a literature review that explains and examines the scope of research that exists on this topic.
Purpose:
Literature Reviews vary from discipline to discipline as well as across assignments, but generally a good literature review is designed to help you answer 2 questions:
Good literature reviews also: