Find Literature Reviews
Article-length literature reviews can help you become familiar with the published research in a particular discipline or sub-discipline. Some journals are devoted to publishing this type of work, while many other journals will include this type of article alongside other research articles.
Contact Anne Zald or your liaison librarian for assistance.
- Annual Reviews This link opens in a new windowThe Annual Reviews provide substantially researched articles written by recognized scholars in a wide variety of disciplines that summarize the major research literature in the field. These are often a good place to start your research and to keep informed about recent developments.
- Oxford Bibliographies This link opens in a new windowOffers annotated bibliographies of the most important books and articles on specific topics in a growing range of subject areas. Particularly useful for anyone beginning research. Not true literature reviews but a helpful starting place for topics new to you.
Article length Literature Reviews can be published in any academic journal. Search strategies for identifying Literature Review articles vary from database to database.
1. In the Advanced Search option of the database, is there a Document Type filter that can be used to limit the results of your keyword search?
2. Is a Thesaurus provided by the database?
If 'literature review' is a searchable subject term, combine it with topical keywords or additional thesaurus terms related to your topic.
3. Some databases provide Indexes rather than a Thesaurus. Select the SUBJECT Index and search for the term 'literature review'. Combine with terms that describe your topic.
Ensuring that your literature review incorporates a wide range of views by diverse scholars in your discipline is an ongoing challenge. Neither the publishing industry, nor the peer review process itself, is free of the biases of systemic racism, or the societal biases oppressing those of non-majority gender or sexual identities, or those with differing physical abilities. One strategy is to use library databases that specifically incorporate publications serving diverse communities when searching for literature. Examples include Ethnic Newswatch and the Gender Studies Database. These databases and more are linked from:
- Gender & Sexuality Studies Research Guide
- African American Studies Research Guide
- Asian American Studies Research Guide
- Latina/o Studies Research Guide
- Native American Studies Research Guide
- among others - Complete List of Research Guides
Additional strategies discussed elsewhere on this guide can help reduce this bias including:
- Identify specific scholars who have shared their identity, then follow their social media -- consult with peers, faculty advisors or guest speakers for suggestions.
- Identify relevant conferences, organization websites, podcasts, or social media feeds to follow
- Cited Reference Searching using the publications of scholars who have shared their identity as key works
- Are there journals in your field not yet indexed in library databases? Track their new issues using Alerts (if offered by the publisher website); Advanced Searching in Google Scholar allows you to specify publication title in your search which may help identify new articles / issues published by these journals. Your subject librarian can assist you with identifying whether or not a journal is indexed.
There are efforts to highlight the expertise or published work of diverse scholars such as:
- Cite Black Women Collective
- Cite Black Authors
- Female Experts - Reflect Reality -- intended to build greater representation for women’s voices in the media as expert sources
- Diverse Databases - experts in various fields from Editors of Color
- NPR Diverse Sources Database - another source for identifying experts in a range of subject areas to consult for news reporting; many will be academics
- Discipline-specific networks such as:
- People of Color Also Know Stuff - focused on experts in Political Science
- Women Also Know Stuff - promotes the work of women in political science
- Diverse Sources - a searchable database of underrepresented experts in the areas of science, health and the environment
And efforts to improve the visibility, accessibility, and quality of journals published outside the dominant Western, often English-language, channels of scholarship.
Please share your successful strategies and helpful resources so they can be added to this guide to help others!!
My thanks to Brie Baumert, Gould Library, Carleton College, whose work on
Inclusive Searching identified many of the resources linked here.
Different Types of Literature Reviews
The definitions provided here were found in Sage Research Methods.
Literature review:
Narrative review is a synonym of Literature review
A literature review is a descriptive and/or analytic summary of the existing material relating to some topic or area of study. The term also refers to the process of producing such a review.
Integrative literature review:
A form of research that that generates new knowledge about the reviewed topic. Relevant literature is reviewed, critiqued, and synthesized in such a way that new frameworks and perspectives on the topic can be generated.
Meta-analysis:
Statistical methods for formally contrasting and combining results from different studies in the hope of identifying patterns or other interesting relationships among study results.
Scoping review:
A review used to determine the scope or coverage of a body of literature on a given topic, and to provide a general overview of that topic. In contrast to a systematic review, which generally starts with a clearly defined question, this approach allows for a more general exploration of the related literature.
Systematic review:
A systematic review is a review of the literature that is conducted in a methodical manner based on a prespecified protocol and with the aim of synthesizing the retrieved information often by means of a meta-analysis
Writing a Literature Review
- Writing a Literature Review (Purdue OWL)
Concise guidance from Purdue's Online Writing Lab (OWL).
Conducting your literature review by Call Number: EBookPublication Date: 2020This guide to conducting literature reviews includes strategies for defining the research question, using search tools and managing citations, and ensuring an unbiased summary of existing research.
Doing a Literature Review, 2nd edition by Call Number: Core Reference - 2 North H62 .H2566 2018Publication Date: 2018The ultimate guide to the "what," "how," and "why" of literature reviewing.
Writing the Literature Review by Call Number: Core Reference - 2 North LB2369 .E289 2019Publication Date: 2018This accessible text provides a roadmap for producing a high-quality literature review.
- Sage Research Methods Core This link opens in a new windowSAGE Research Methods supports research at all levels by providing material to guide users through every step of the research process.
SAGE Research Methods is the ultimate methods library with more than 1000 books, reference works, journal articles, and instructional videos by world-leading academics from across the social sciences, including the largest collection of qualitative methods books available online from any scholarly publisher. – Publisher