Rather than your opinion, the literature review:
- Discusses published information in a particular subject area.
- Is an account of what has been published on a topic by accredited scholars and
researchers (peer-reviewed texts). - Sometimes discusses information in a particular subject area within a narrow time period (see this post).
- Is expected to be more than just a simple summary of the sources.
- Usually has an organizational pattern and combines both summary and synthesis.
- Summarises and synthesises the arguments and ideas of others without adding new contributions.
- Can be a handy guide to a particular topic or set of topics.