itsual Literature Review
Overview
A literature review synthesizes what is already known so new work is additive. It prioritizes relevance and quality over exhaustive citation counts.
When to Use
- Academic papers and theses
- Evidence grounding for strategy or policy
- Technology or market landscape baselines
- Identifying research gaps and debates
Core Practices
- Define scope, inclusion/exclusion criteria, and time bounds
- Search systematically across relevant databases and sources
- Screen for quality and relevance; don’t cite everything found
- Organize by themes, methods, or debates — not only by paper
- Call out consensus, conflicts, and gaps
- Keep a source log with why each item was included
Principles
- Synthesis > annotated bibliography
- Recent is not always better; seminal work matters
- Track what you searched so the review is reproducible
- Bias toward higher-quality evidence when claims are strong
Verification
- Scope and search strategy are documented
- Themes and gaps are clear to a reader
- Claims are tied to cited evidence