what is a literature review in criminology

CRJU U361 - Criminal Justice Research Methods: Literature Review

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What is a Literature Review?

A Literature Review is a systematic and comprehensive analysis of books, scholarly articles, and other sources relevant to a specific topic providing a base of knowledge on a topic. Literature reviews are designed to identify and critique the existing literature on a topic to justify your research by exposing gaps in current research. This investigation should provide a description, summary, and critical evaluation of works related to the research problem and should also add to the overall knowledge of the topic as well as demonstrating how your research will fit within a larger field of study. A literature review should offer a critical analysis of the current research on a topic and that analysis should direct your research objective. This should not be confused with a book review or an annotated bibliography both research tools but very different in purpose and scope. A Literature Review can be a stand-alone element or part of a larger end product, know your assignment. The key to a good Literature Review is to document your process.

Literature Review LibGuide

what is a literature review in criminology

To see the Full Literature Review Guide click here

There is SO much more information on the full LibGuide for Literature Reviews Please make sure to click over to that LibGuide for more examples, explanations, and hints.

Elements in a Literature Review

Elements in a Literature Review txt of infographic

Critical Evaluation

Process of a literature review.

The process of writing a literature review is not necessarily a linear process, you will often have to loop back and refine your topic, try new searches and altar your plans. The info graphic above illustrates this process. It also reminds you to continually keep track of your research by citing sources and creating a bibliography.

Know what the review is for; each assignment will offer the purpose for the review. For example, is it for “background”, or a “pro and con discussion”, "integration", “summarizing”, etc.
Create a “search plan”, decide where you will search for information, what type of information you will need.
Research - Preform Searches; choose sources and collect information to use in your paper. Make sure you cite the sources used.
Think - Analyze information in a systematic manner and begin your literature review (e.g., summarize, synthesize, etc.). Make sure you cite the sources used.
Complete - Write your paper, proof & revise and create your finished bibliography.

Literature Review Places to Look

Help from other universities.

Help and tips in writing a Review of Literature

Learn How to Write a Review of Literature - University of Wisconsin-Madison Writing Center Learn How to Write a Review of Literature - From the University of Wisconsin-Madison Writing Center.
Literature Reviews - UNC Chapel Hill Writing Center
The Literature Review: A Few Tips on Conducting It
Writing a Literature Review by Temple University
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What is a literature review?

Steps in doing a literature review.

Finding examples of Literature Reviews
Resources/Assistance
Literature review as a process: Planning and collecting your literature research
Literature review as a product: Organizing your writing

A literature review is a thorough overview and critical analysis of the research already conducted and published on a specific topic. A literature review can be a stand alone document written in order to explore the vast array of opinions, data, and voices concerning your topic of research. When writing for your thesis or dissertation, a literature review will be just one part of a much larger document, written to situate your research in the larger context of the topic itself. Diana Ridley in her text The Literature Review: A Step by Step Guide for Students explains that

"your research is a small piece in a complicated puzzle jigsaw puzzle; it does not stand alone. It is dependent on what others have done before and will contribute to an ongoing story or debate. Your reader therefore needs to know about the whole jigsaw puzzle and not simply the shade or shape for your particular piece. In a literature review, you are contextualizing; you are describing the bigger picture that provides the background and creates the space or gap for your research" (2008; pg. 5).

Thus, the literature review should be more than just a summary of the resources and include, for example, interpretations, comparisons, evaluation, and clarification, of the research already performed on the topic.

A literature review as both product and process

Ridley also explains that the term literature review describes both a final product and a process itself.

As Product:

As a noun, the literature review is part of the final draft of your stand alone document or part of your larger thesis or dissertation. It is the the piece of writing that allows the reader to know that you have engaged in deep research of your topic. It also allows you to build a dialogued with the research performed before yours, by offering an analysis of those works in relation to your own. This piece of writing will allow you to identify ideas, theories, terminology, or the timeline of thought about the topic as it has developed over time (Ridley, 2008, pg. 2). This piece of writing is where you are headed as you embark on the literature review process.

As Process:

As a verb, the literature review is a continuous activity which begins as soon as you have selected a topic and begun your research (Ridley, 2008, pg. 3). While reading and collecting data, you will keep track of your findings in some sort of a research log or citation management system of your choice. Every author or idea you collect is an opportunity to build a connection in the larger research conducted on the topic and might hold a place in your literature review.

1. Select a topic you can manage in the time frame you have to complete your project. Narrow down the topic if it is too broad and establish your research questions.

2. Plan and conduct your literature search. Use a variety of sources, focusing on those that cover actual research as opposed to opinion.

3. Organize and present your results. Arrange your review by ideas and summarize for the reader. Cite the resources you refer to in your project thoroughly and accurately.

See the pages on the left side to learn more about how you can do each of these steps.

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Conducting Literature Reviews

The APA definition of a literature review (from http://www.apa.org/databases/training/method-values.html ):

Survey of previously published literature on a particular topic to define and clarify a particular problem; summarize previous investigations; and to identify relations, contradictions, gaps, and inconsistencies in the literature, and suggest the next step in solving the problem.

Literature Reviews should:

Key concepts that are being researched
The areas that are ripe for more research—where the gaps and inconsistencies in the literature are
A critical analysis of research that has been previously conducted
Will include primary and secondary research
Be selective—you’ll review many sources, so pick the most important parts of the articles/books.
Introduction: Provides an overview of your topic, including the major problems and issues that have been studied.
Discussion of Methodologies: If there are different types of studies conducted, identifying what types of studies have been conducted is often provided.
Identification and Discussion of Studies: Provide overview of major studies conducted, and if there have been follow-up studies, identify whether this has supported or disproved results from prior studies.
Identification of Themes in Literature: If there has been different themes in the literature, these are also discussed in literature reviews. For example, if you were writing a review of treatment of OCD, cognitive-behavioral therapy and drug therapy would be themes to discuss.
Conclusion/Discussion—Summarize what you’ve found in your review of literature, and identify areas in need of further research or gaps in the literature.

Finding Literature Reviews in Psycinfo

Because literature reviews are a major part of research in psychology, Psycinfo allows you to easily limit to literature reviews. In the advanced search screen, you can select "literature review" as the methodology.

Now all you'll need to do is enter your search terms, and your results should show you many literature reviews conducted by professionals on your topic.

When you find an literature review article that is relevant to your topic, you should look at who the authors cite and who is citing the author, so that you can begin to use their research to help you locate sources and conduct your own literature review. The best way to do that is to use the "Cited References" and "Times Cited" links in Psycinfo, which is pictured below.

This article on procrastination has 423 references, and 48 other articles in psycinfo are citing this literature review. And, the citations are either available in full text or to request through ILL. Check out the article "The Nature of Procrastination" to see how these features work.

By searching for existing literature reviews, and then using the references of those literature reviews to begin your own literature search, you can efficiently gather the best research on a topic. You'll want to keep in mind that you'll need to summarize and analyze the articles you read, and won't be able to use every single article you choose.

You can use the search box below to get started.

More Help on Conducting Literature Reviews

Adelphi Library's tutorial, Conducting a Literature Review in Education and the Behavioral Sciences covers how to gather sources from library databases for your literature review.

The University of Toronto also provides "A Few Tips on Conducting a Literature Review" that offers some good advice and questions to ask when conducting a literature review.

Purdue University's Online Writing Lab (OWL) has several resources that discuss literature reviews:

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/666/01/

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/994/04/ (for grad students, but is still offers some good tips and advice for anyone writing a literature review)

Journal articles (covers more than 1,700 periodicals), chapters, books, dissertations and reports on psychology and related fields.