The Literature Review
Your literature review may be a whole paper, or it may be one part of a larger whole.
Generally, compiling a review of the literature begins by defining a narrow topic and collecting all of the relevant literature, or sources, on that topic.
In writing about your sources, you might:
- observe trends and themes;
- draw conclusions;
- consider and discuss larger issues, not the details of a specific article, except to the extent that you compare and contrast articles and describe their similarities and differences; and look for problems and their solutions.
A literature review is an assignment that involves a lot of thinking and considering. Thinking and considering take time. A good literature review uses the best articles, and this limitation also requires time. The best advice is START EARLY!
View the Tutorials
Websites on Literature Reviews
- The Literature Review: A Few Tips On Conducting It
- Literature Reviews (describes differences between literature review, integrative review, systematic review)
- Write a Literature Review
SUNY Poly Books on Literature Reviews
- Doing a Literature Review in Health and Social Care: A Practical Guide (Ebook)
- Succeeding with Your Literature Review: a Handbook for Students (Ebook)
- Literature Reviews Made Easy: a Quick Guide to Success (Ebook)
- Conducting research literature reviews: From the Internet to paper Q 180.55 .M4 F56 2005
- The literature review: A step-by-step guide for students LB 2369 .R525 2008
- Dissertations and theses from start to finish BF 76.5 .C645 2006
SUNY Poly Library Databases
Psycinfo--Extensive representation of Psychology related literature.
