nounsprepositions
I'm always confused by this and can't find it anywhere. Here's an example of what I mean: (literature here in context of academic literature, such as journals, proceedings, etc.)
In the literature …
or
On the literature …
Another one:
… an overview on the advances of …
or
… an overview in the advances of …
Someone care to say which ones are correct and why?
What a neat, thoughtful question. In my writings, I've only ever used therefore, thereby, and therein (with the expression "Therein lies the problem.") I think it's the same for many other average Joes :) I wouldn't consider someone who employs the other ones when talking "insane," just quite quaint (in a good way).
Google Ngram colourfully conveys that, while most its siblings have been steadily obsolescing for the past three centuries, thereby stablized to a comfy plateau in the mid-19th century and only in the last decade does it show a minimal amount of decline.
Thereof used to be quite a favour among writers but is now even less common than thereto, which itself is pretty rare but had seen a resurgence in use in the '50s.
It's only logical to compare this cohort to their vis-à-vis: The "here-" adverbs. Even the most popular hereafter has always been much less prevalent than even thereof. (Note the extra zero to right of the decimal point on the y-axis.) The Here Family is even more formal and archaic, as a whole, than the Theres.
So you were right-on in your assumptions. Last productive since centuries ago, (t)here + prep. are now very limited constructions. They're once-thriving dynasties that mostly came into existence in between the 9th and 11th centuries, just before Old English began to evolve into Chaucer's Middle English.
The last progenies to the families were therefrom (1250s), hereat (1550s) and herefrom (1590s), which all practically died out a couple of centuries after invented, as people started to slice these concise words into separate and more flexible units or simply opted for other prepositions altogether, as indicated by the Oxford Engl. Dict. Moribound, they survive on linguistic respirators such as officialese and legalisms.
You haven't provided enough context to say definitively, but if the phrase is a heading or title, no article is needed. Article “a” would be incorrect (although one might say “A maximum of variability and openness”). Article “the” would be clumsy. Note, if you are describing a software product, variability is not a positive feature. Also, some may prefer maximal to maximum.
Best Answer
Literature
Words are contained in sentences. Meaning resides within sentences. Sentences are within paragraphs. Paragraphs are in articles or in chapters in books. articles, books and other writings make up literature.
If something was on literature it would be external to it. "Essays on the Literature of Sao Tome and Principe."
Overview
This is a conjunction of over and view suggesting the view from a high place where one can look over nearby obstacles to see the whole surrounding context. It uses, as a metaphor, the visual meaning of view (rather than it's meaning as a synonym of opinion for example)
We most often use of with view so this carries across to overview. Sometimes we use into with view but this isn't appropriate here because an overview isn't concerned with looking primarily at detail inside something.