What is a literature Review?
Literature reviews periodically integrate the findings on a topic. They summarize studies and try to makes sense of the pattern of findings. They draw conclusions about what is known, what is not, and what should be. They are often a good place to begin studying the research on something. Meta-analyses are quantitative literature reviews, combining statistical findings across very different studies.
from: Dr. Hal S. Kopeikin's Introduction to Experimental Psychology class at UC Santa Barbara.
How do I find a literature review?
There is no consensus among the article databases for what subject headings are used to denote review articles. The most popular is, unsurprisingly, "literature review(s)". The easiest way to search, then, is to do a subject search and then narrow it down with the keyword "review". It will sometimes pull up book reviews, but that can't be helped.
Here are a few other terms you can use:
- "review article"
- "literature"
- "bibliography"
- "meta analysis of data"
Where can I find more information about writing and locating literature reviews?
- See Academic writing: What is a literature review? for tips for writing a lit review.
- Literature reviews for graduate students, a starting point for graduate students, particularly in the social and behavioral sciences.
- Literature reviews in the applied sciences
- Media literature review guide: How to conduct a literature review of news sources
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