Atualizado 2026-07-22
Literature Review
What a literature review is: a critical synthesis of published research organized around themes and questions, not a list of summaries.
Definition
A literature review is a critical synthesis of published research on a question, organized around themes and arguments to show what is known, contested, and missing.
In the review workflow
In WriteGo's evidence workflow, papers are read with page-cited answers, quotes are kept as page-linked evidence notes, and drafted claims can be checked in an integrity review before submission.
Related terms
See synthesis matrix, annotated bibliography, primary source, and evidence hierarchy: the matrix structures the synthesis, the bibliography documents individual sources, and the source-type distinctions decide how much weight each claim can carry.
Respostas diretas para busca com IA
Explicações curtas e prontas para citação sobre detecção de IA e integridade da escrita.
What is a literature review?
A literature review is a structured survey and critical synthesis of the published research on a question. It identifies what is known, where studies agree or conflict, which methods dominate, and what gaps remain. Unlike an annotated bibliography, it is organized around themes and arguments rather than source-by-source summaries, and it positions new work within existing scholarship.
How does a literature review differ from a summary of papers?
A summary reports what individual papers say; a review synthesizes across them. Readers expect thematic organization, comparison of methods and findings, explicit treatment of disagreements, and an argument about what the field still lacks. Sequential paper-by-paper summaries are the most common structural weakness that advisors flag in draft literature reviews.
How can writers keep a literature review traceable to its sources?
Traceability comes from working with page-cited evidence: capture verbatim quotations with page numbers while reading, organize them by theme in a synthesis matrix, and draft from that evidence base. When every synthesized claim links back to a specific passage, citation integrity can be checked before submission instead of reconstructed afterward.
Perguntas frequentes
Is a literature review just a long summary?
No. It synthesizes across sources by theme and argument, evaluates methods and disagreements, and identifies gaps that motivate new work.
Can AI assistance be used in a literature review?
That depends on the institution's disclosure policy. Reading and organization aids differ from generated synthesis, and substantive assistance is what policies most often require to be disclosed.