 A literature review is essential to the research process because it helps you understand a research topic and develop your own perspective on the problem. A literature review is a survey of scholarly writings, or literature, on a topic such as content from peer-reviewed articles, books, theses, dissertations, and conference proceedings. As new researchers publish on a topic, they build on the literature that has come before them by expanding on those ideas with their own research and opinions. So, before you begin your own research, you need to understand what has come before you so that you can effectively move the topic forward. More importantly, you need to be able to identify loose ends in the literature so that you can determine what needs to be done next. You do this by reading the literature, determining central themes, connecting those themes to your own ideas, and analyzing the literature for areas of weakness. To conduct a lit review, you must first determine your topic, though you might need to revise or narrow your topic along the way. Ask yourself, what are you interested in? What is relevant to my studies or career? Then you find and analyze the literature. Make sure you're looking for sources from multiple perspectives. Remember a literature review is more than a summary of the literature, so make sure you critically analyze each work. What themes keep popping up? Are there works, books or articles that seem particularly influential in the field? This will help you uncover relationships, organize your literature review, and connect your own ideas. At this step, you also need to ask yourself, what are the strengths of the literature? Weaknesses? Are there disagreements? What's missing? This can help you find potential areas to conduct further research. As you begin to write your literature review, you will organize it by major topic or theme and summarize what influential research has been conducted on that theme. You will need to add your own voice by explaining the relationship amongst the research on the topic and adding your own analysis. This will ensure your literature review sets the stage for your own research and tells a unique story. If you need help conducting a literature review, remember you can always ask a librarian for help.