Finding Literature Reviews
Literature reviews may already exist on some aspect of your topic so it can be useful to search in the library databases for them. However, while many databases do not permit one to limit to the specific document type of literature reviews, some do. It can be helpful to enter the particular search term(s) in the first search box and the the words "literature review" in the second box. Here is an example from EBSCOhost Academic Search Ultimate:
Google Scholar and OneSearch will also search for literature reviews when the term "literature review" is added to the search with AND. Be sure to sync your Google Scholar to the Saybrook library to quickly access resources.
Here is a sample search in OneSearch:
Here are selected other databases that might be searched for literature reviews:
- Annual Reviews Sciences Collection This link opens in a new window
Annual Reviews offers comprehensive, timely collections of critical reviews of primary research literature in the Biomedical, Life, Physical, and Social Sciences. Coverage of significant developments is provided in volumes for more than 40 focused disciplines within those broad areas, including psychology, medicine, nutrition, sociology, neuroscience and more.
- CINAHL Ultimate This link opens in a new windowCINAHL Ultimate is a comprehensive set of nursing & allied health indexing (also covers biomedicine, alternative/complementary medicine, and consumer health) with robust full-text coverage for most of their titles. It covers more than 50 nursing specialties and includes quick lessons, evidence-based care sheets, CEU modules and research instruments.
- ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global (Full-text) This link opens in a new windowThe database is the world's most comprehensive collection of dissertations and theses from around the world, spanning from 1743 to the present day and offering full text for graduate works added since 1997, along with selected full text for works written prior to 1997. It contains a significant amount of new international dissertations and theses both in citations and in full text.
- PsycInfo This link opens in a new window
The PsycINFO®, database, American Psychological Association’s (APA) renowned resource for abstracts of scholarly journal articles, book chapters, books, and dissertations, is the largest resource devoted to peer-reviewed literature in behavioral science and mental health. It contains over 3 million records and summaries dating as far back as the 1600s with one of the highest DOI matching rates in the publishing industry. Journal coverage, which spans from the 1800s to the present, includes international material selected from around 2,500 periodicals in dozens of languages.
- Web of Science (Core Collection) This link opens in a new window
A multidisciplinary database, with searchable author abstracts, covering the journal literature of the social sciences. Search results can be sorted in order of Times Cited to see the most important articles first. This is not a Full Text Database. Some items covered by this database are not currently available in full text but may be requested through inter-library loan.
Searching Effectively
Identify Search Terms
Analyze your topic or question:
- What are the main ideas?
- What concepts or theories have you already covered?
- Write down your main ideas, synonyms, related word, and phrases.
- If looking for particular types of research, use these as search terms (e.g., qualitative, quantitative, methodology, survey, trend, etc.)
Connect Search Terms
Boolean operators help to limit or expand your results.
- Use AND to get results that contain both or all keywords (e.g., genetics AND cloning.) This search is a way to limit because both terms must be in the results
- Use OR between words that mean the same thing (e.g., adolescent OR teenager.) This search will find results with either (or both) of the search words. It will expand results.
- Use NOT to provide results that contain the first keyword but not the second one (e.g., football NOT soccer.)
Use Search Tips and Techniques
Refer to the Searching Tips & Techniques section of the library website for search helpers.
Improve Search Results
Narrow and refined your search results in OneSearch and the library databases:
- year of publication or date range (for recent or historical research)
- document or source type (e.g. article, review or book)
- subject or keyword (for relevance); try repeating your search using the 'subject' headings or 'keywords' field to focus your search
- searching in particular fields, i.e. citation and abstract; explore the available dropdown menus to change the fields to be searched
Adapt, Track and Manage
Searching for information is a process and it takes multiple attempts to find what you need. Improve your results by changing search terms, experimenting, and trying again. Allow sufficient time for the process.
Keep track of the various searches you conduct.
Use a citation management tool such as RefWorks, Zotero, Mendeley or other program. See the Citation Managers guide to compare and choose which tool is best for your needs.