Hi all,

Please don't all laugh at me but I was wondering what is the difference between a literature review and a literature survey?

Thanks!

There is no difference. IMO literature survey is perhaps more commonly employed as a term in the USA, but I've read it in British journals as well.

I second that. It's an American term for literature review. I actually have quite a few 'literature surveys' in my papers collection - and they're identical to literature reviews.

u are right guys...to an extent i think. ex if you read in an article or somewhere that Dr A using method X measured glucose concentration in a diabetic patient to be say 30mM while Dr B using method Y,in same patient had 8mM. If you report this as such then thats a SURVEY( more or less retelling), but if u say Dr A's result was 30 while Dr B's was 8 [and add that]; the discrepancy could be DUE TO specificity/accuracy of the different methods etc-that now is CRITIQUING- a RE-view.

[This is an extract of my class room notes,....] [As told by Prof.Dr.Amudavalli Ph.D.]

Literature survey is something when you look at a literature[publications]in a surface level or a bird's eye view, or an ariel view. It includes the survey of place people and publications is context of Research. It is a phase where the researcher tries to know of what are all the literatures related to his/her area of interest. And the relevant literatures are short-listed. And in general, a literature survey guides or helps the researcher to define/find out/identify a problem.
Whereas a literature review is going into the depth of the literatures surveyed. It is a process of re-examining, evaluating or assessing the short-listed literatures [literature survey phase]. Review of literatures gives a clarity & better understanding of the research/project, etc.

Thank You.