Psychology

A literature review is how you join the conversation on your topic. It...

• You are an informed researcher/applicant
• Situates your work within the knowledge base (theory & practice) of your field
• Supports your research idea/proposal or identifies a gap needing further research
• Provides ideas for research design; for example, quantitative or qualitative approaches or instruments to use
• Provides credibility to grant proposals

"derived from or denoting experimentation or systematic observations as the basis for conclusions or determinations, as opposed to speculative, theoretical, or exclusively reason-based approaches"

Other types of publications you will encounter:

• Book - generally monographs or edited books
  • Monograph - scholarly, single volume that treats one topic in depth; often has a single author
  • Edited book - typically a collection of chapters written by different authors on the same subject. There's usually an editor who has put the whole book together
• Dissertation - usually written as a requirement for a Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy) degree. Often very lengthy and on a specific topic or research project.
• Thesis - a shorter work typically written as a requirement for a master's degree.
• Conference proceeding - a published collection of papers presented at a conference. Conference papers often report very recent or ongoing research; sometimes feedback is obtained from the audience.