This page includes material from our excellent Literature Reviews research guide.
See that guide for much more information about writing lit reviews.
Conducting research literature reviews: From the Internet to paper by 
Doing your literature review: Traditional and systematic techniques by 
Evaluating research articles from start to finish by A literature review does not present an original argument, but instead is an overview or discussion of existing literature (scholarly writing) on a particular topic. The literature may come from books, articles, reports, or other formats.
It's a review because it usually contains a summary, synthesis, or analysis of the central arguments in the existing literature.
...an annotated bibliography.
...a research paper, although it is often part of one.
This video by NC State Libraries is an excellent explanation:
This guide is created by Jason Puckett and licensed by Georgia State University Library under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
You may reproduce any part of it for noncommercial purposes as long as credit is included. I encourage you to license your derivative works under Creative Commons as well to encourage sharing and reuse of educational materials.
