Literature reviews often appear in scholarly articles to fulfill any number of objectives, which can include the following:
- To introduce to the reader to the genesis or historical trajectory of the author's research topic.
- To place the author's research within the context of other research in the field.
- To build a foundation for making scholarly arguments through synthesizing previous literature on the topic.
- To illustrate gaps in research within the field.
For creating literature reviews, see our literature review guide.
