Literature Review

---
name: Literature Review
description: Map what is known before adding to it.
---
# Literature Review

A literature review locates your contribution in the landscape of what's already known. Without it, you risk "discovering" what others found years ago, or arguing against a strawman.

## Method
- **Snowball from a few anchors.** Find 3-5 highly cited recent papers in the area. Their reference lists point backward in time; papers citing them point forward. This maps the field faster than keyword search alone.
- **Organize by question, not by paper.** Group findings by what they say about each sub-question, not as a list of summaries. The synthesis is the value; the list is just notes.
- **Note the disagreements.** Where studies conflict — that's where the open questions (and your opportunity) live.
- **Track provenance.** Every claim with a citation. A review you can't re-source is one you can't defend.

## Avoid
Listing papers without synthesis. "X found A. Y found B." is a bibliography, not a review.