Final answer:
A literature review is a systematic examination and interpretation of existing studies on a topic, informing further work. It involves analyzing the contexts, reading other literary critics' work, and examining the details of a literary work.
Step-by-step explanation:
A literature review is a systematic examination and interpretation of the existing studies on a topic to inform further work. It involves identifying and studying all the relevant literature in order to build on prior knowledge and position one's own research. Sociological researchers pay attention to three aspects of research in the literature they examine: examining the contexts in which the works were produced, reading widely in the work of other literary critics, and analyzing the language and details of a work of literature.