A taxonomy of literature reviews in education and psychology is presented, categorizing them by focus, goal, perspective, coverage, organization, and audience. The taxonomy is illustrated using seven winners of the American Educational Research Association's Research Review Award. Data on the reliability of taxonomy codings is presented, and survey results provide baseline data on the frequency of different types of reviews in the literature. The taxonomy helps in assessing the quality of literature reviews and provides general standards for evaluating them. Literature reviews are increasingly important in defining knowledge for social scientists. The use of the term "literature review" has expanded in the 1980s. The growing prominence of reviews is due to increased personnel and information in these disciplines. Social scientists are overwhelmed with information and rely on narrowing specializations and literature reviews to stay updated. Expanding literatures require collecting, evaluating, and synthesizing scholarship to bring coherence to problem areas. The enhanced role of literature reviews requires careful scrutiny. Previous evaluations have focused mainly on integrating empirical research, but less than one-fifth of reviews aim to exhaustively synthesize research. The paper aims to correct this omission by defining "literature review" and offering a taxonomy for classifying reviews. The taxonomy is illustrated using past winners of the AERA's Research Review Award. Data on intercoder reliability is presented, and the taxonomy is used to describe existing reviews. A taxonomy of reviews is needed to assess their quality. Previous discussions of evaluating reviews have been abstract, with limited concrete standards. A general taxonomy allows for broader and more systematic distinctions between superior and inferior works. The taxonomy can also help editors and funding agencies communicate their needs to potential authors.A taxonomy of literature reviews in education and psychology is presented, categorizing them by focus, goal, perspective, coverage, organization, and audience. The taxonomy is illustrated using seven winners of the American Educational Research Association's Research Review Award. Data on the reliability of taxonomy codings is presented, and survey results provide baseline data on the frequency of different types of reviews in the literature. The taxonomy helps in assessing the quality of literature reviews and provides general standards for evaluating them. Literature reviews are increasingly important in defining knowledge for social scientists. The use of the term "literature review" has expanded in the 1980s. The growing prominence of reviews is due to increased personnel and information in these disciplines. Social scientists are overwhelmed with information and rely on narrowing specializations and literature reviews to stay updated. Expanding literatures require collecting, evaluating, and synthesizing scholarship to bring coherence to problem areas. The enhanced role of literature reviews requires careful scrutiny. Previous evaluations have focused mainly on integrating empirical research, but less than one-fifth of reviews aim to exhaustively synthesize research. The paper aims to correct this omission by defining "literature review" and offering a taxonomy for classifying reviews. The taxonomy is illustrated using past winners of the AERA's Research Review Award. Data on intercoder reliability is presented, and the taxonomy is used to describe existing reviews. A taxonomy of reviews is needed to assess their quality. Previous discussions of evaluating reviews have been abstract, with limited concrete standards. A general taxonomy allows for broader and more systematic distinctions between superior and inferior works. The taxonomy can also help editors and funding agencies communicate their needs to potential authors.