In Literature Review and Research Design : A Guide to Effective Research Practice, author David Harris identifies three basic types of literature review that appear in scholarly writing (p. 139):
Summary Overview: "surveys different ideasfoundin some body of literature on a given subject. Reviews and summarizes what has been published by others on a subject without aspiring to provide any novel analytical insight."
Example: Textbooks, traditional review articles
Research Background: “provides background for a specific study by discussing the ideas that helped define the research questions. Its purpose is to explain the intellectual sources that inform a specific research project”.
Examples: Dissertations, theses and empirical studies (i.e. most research articles).
Research Study: “formal and methodical analysis of a body of literature that is an empirical research study in its own right."
Examples: Systematic reviews and meta-analyses
Adapted from Harris, David J. Literature Review and Research Design : A Guide to Effective Research Practice . 1st edition, Routledge, 2019
Source: Bizup, Joseph. “BEAM: A Rhetorical Vocabulary for Teaching Research-Based Writing.” Rhetoric Review 27.1 (2008): 72-86. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 4 February 2014.
BACKGROUND: Using a source to provide general information to explain the topic.
EXHIBIT: Using a source as evidence or examples to analyze.
ARGUMENT: Using a source to engage its argument. Most will be scholarly sources written by researchers and scholars. These are the sources you engage in conversation.
METHOD: Using a source's way of analyzing an issue to apply to your own issue, whether it's to borrow an approach, concept, idea, or method.