Conducting a Literature Review for the Social Sciences

A literature review is an essential part of a research project.  It discusses previous research on a topic. Some reasons to conduct a literature review include:

• To understand what is currently known about a topic.
• How does the research you propose to undertake fit into a larger picture.
• To offer an overview of significant literature published on a topic.
• To see what has and has not been investigated.

Typically, literature reviews involve doing a comprehensive search for the literature, and can be a cyclical process involving the use of primary (original research), secondary sources (summaries of original research such as review articles, textbooks, etc.), and tertiary sources (e.g. translations).

As a starting point, to find literature reviews on your topic, search in a database related to your topic (e.g. PsycINFO) and include these keywords on your search:

"literature review" AND [your topic here]

Sample articles with literature review methodologies -

There is no single way to conduct a literature review.  The focus of this research guide will be on acquiring appropriate resources

and organizing citations using citation management tools.

- Stating or formulating the problem.

- Stating the scope or focus of the reviewed material (i.e. defining clearly and measuring variables)

- Evaluation of resources

- Selection of appropriate databases, bibliographies, experts in the field

- Formulating search parameters and strategies

- Writing the literature review

- Using citation management software (e.g. EndNoteWeb) or other tools to track citations