Literature Review is....

Literature review can be defined and described as follows, 

According to University of Canberra (2013) the world "literature" covers all the material published on a specific subject, such as: books, journals, newspapers, government reports, theses etc.

University of Nottingham Academic Support (1998) stated that literature review carries to your reader the existing knowledge and ideas on your research topic, and the strengths and weaknesses of these texts / trials / studies.

“A literature review is an evaluative report of studies found in the literature related 

to your selected area. The review should describe, summarize, evaluate and clarify 

this literature” (University of Queens Library, 2005)

Few basic purposes of the literature review is stated by University of Queens Library (2005) as follows;

• Provide a context for the research  
• Justify the research  
• Ensure the research hasn't been done before   
• Show where the research fits into the existing body of knowledge  
• Enable the researcher to learn from previous theory on the subject  

In conclusion, literature review is one of the most important sections in a research papers according to above information, Before writing the literature review the information or data found should filtered and sorted accordingly, and then a particular structure should be followed when writing. Literature review is more like a foundation before conducting a research

References

Canberra.edu.au (2013) Writing a Literature Review : Academic Skills Centre : University of Canberra. [online] Available at: http://www.canberra.edu.au/studyskills/writing/literature [Accessed: 25 Nov 2013].

University of Nottingham Academic Support (1998) Doing a literature review: Using your working bibliography to structure a  literature review. [online] Available at: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/studentservices/documents/adviceondoingaliteraturereview.pdf [Accessed: 25 Nov 2013].

University of Queens Library (2005) Purpose of the Literature Review. [online] Available at: http://library.queensu.ca/webedu/grad/Purpose_of_the_Literature_Review.pdf [[Accessed: 25 Nov 2013].