The literature review and the review article

Beverly Yuen Thompson

Chapter 1 in How To Write an Academic Journal Article in the Social Sciences, 2026, pp 18-31 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Chapter one defines the literature review section of a paper, as well as a critical review article, and their distinction. Most social science articles include literature reviews surveying the published scholarship to define the landscape of the topic via scientific publication. The paper's topic may bring together an unusual pairing of scholarship areas, which may shed new light on the research question at hand. This chapter distinguishes between the different parts of the literature review and its organizational structure. The second part of the chapter defines the review article and its different categories. Review articles provide a rigorous and robust assessment of a sub-discipline that answers research questions and contains a methodology for selecting the articles under review. In the case of a review article, the author is making an argument about a field of study based on an assessment of a particular selection of publications.

Keywords: Literature review; Review article; Academic sources (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035366620
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