Activity: Learn about Literature Reviews

As mentioned earlier in this module, literature reviews are one of the key ways that scholars can establish the larger framing of their research. They typically involve doing a careful scan of information relevant to a research topic (the "literature"), and then presenting a careful and contextualized summary of the most relevant results of that activity (the "review.")

Related concepts include:

  • Literature reviews in articles. Many academic articles include a "literature review" or "review of the literature" section. This section formally summarizes relevant literature for the reader, and prepares them to better understand the authors' topic, influences, and approach.
  • Standalone literature reviews. In some fields, literature review is so important a scholarly activity that such reviews appear as standalone publications. These works help keep readers updated on key developments in popular research areas, and may be repeated annually. 
  • Systematic reviews. A systematic review is a specific type of literature review, most common in the health sciences, which uses systematic methods to thoroughly collect, synthesize, and evaluate research in a given area. For instance, systematic reviews look not only at journal articles, but also theses/dissertations, abstracts/conference proceedings, and other grey literature sources. 

It is not uncommon for graduate students to be required to conduct a literature review as part of their academic coursework. Consequently, it can be helpful to exposure yourself early on to examples of literature reviews, and to see if literature reviews already exist for research topics similar to your own.

Activity: Find or Read a Literature Review

Think of a research topic or area that you're looking forward to learning more about this year.

  • What are 1-4 keywords that describe that topic or area?

Using one of the databases below, search for your keywords plus the quoted phrase “literature review” or "systematic review,” or limit your keyword search to the document type “review.”

Scan the results for potentially relevant articles that contain literature reviews, or for standalone reviews related to your field. If results are not forthcoming, try a different database listed -- or one of your choosing from your area's research guides.

 

An example search for an literature review in the Web of Science database

Some subject areas have specialized literature review publications that you can browse:

Bonus Tip

  • Having trouble finding standalone literature reviews? Trying searching for results with "review" in the title only.

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