Scholarly Publishing

Two recent definitions of a literature review: 

. . . "a written document that presents a logically argued case founded on a comprehensive understanding of the current state of knowledge about a topic of study. This case establishes a convincing thesis to answer the study"s question." (P. 4)
     Machi, Lawrence A., and Brenda T. McEvoy. 2009. The literature review: six steps to success. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Corwin Press.

. . . "an interpretation of a selection of published and/or unpublished documents available from various sources on a specific topic that optimally involves summarization, analysis, evaluation, and synthesis of documents." (P. 173)
     Onwuegbuzie, A.J., Collins, K.M.T., Leech, N.L., Dellinger, A.B., & Jiao, Q.G. 2010. A meta-framework for conducting mixed research syntheses for stress and coping and beyond. In G.S. Gates, W.H. Gmelch, & M. Wolverton (Series Eds.) & K.M.T. Collins, A.J. Onwuegbuzie, & Q.G. Jiao (Vol. Eds.), Toward a broader understanding of stress and coping: Mixed methods approaches (pp. 169-212). The Research on Stress and Coping in Education. Series: Vol. 5. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

How to Conduct a Literature Review
Robin Featherstone, Alberta Research Centre for Health Evidence, Department of Pediatrics, University of Alberta

The Literature Review: A Few Tips On Conducting It
Dena Taylor, University of Toronto Health Sciences Writing Centre  

The Literature Review: A Research Journey
Gutman Library, Harvard University Graduate School of Education 

Literature Review: Conducting & Writing: Steps for Conducting a Lit Review
University of West Florida

Literature Reviews
The Writing Center, University of North Carolina College of Arts & Sciences

Write a Literature Review
University of California, Santa Cruz Library

Google Scholar
A search engine providing access to both freely available and subscription based resources including articles, theses, books, preprints, abstracts, conference proceedings and technical reports.

UC Library Search
Search UC Library Search for books, dissertations, articles and more from all UC campuses and beyond. 

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses A&I    
1861-present.Lists most U.S. dissertations, and many dissertations and master's theses from Canada, Great Britain and continental Europe. Abstracts included 1980-present. Includes full text for all UC dissertations, at no charge, 1997 - present. British and Continental European dissertations covered 1988 - present. Masters theses listed selectively from 1988.

Web of Science    
Provides access to multiple science and social science databases: Arts & Humanities Citation Index (1975 - present), Social Sciences Citation Index (1956 - present), Science Citation Index (1900 - present), Conference Proceedings Citation Index-Science (1990 - present), and Conference Proceedings Citation Index-Social Science & Humanities (1990 - present).

What’s a “Review Article?”

Not to be confused with a “peer reviewed journal,” Review articles are an attempt by one or more writers to sum up the current state of the research on a particular topic. Ideally, the writer searches for everything relevant to the topic, and then sorts it all out into a coherent view of the “state of the art” as it now stands. Review Articles will teach you about::

• the main people working in a field
• recent major advances and discoveries
• significant gaps in the research
• current debates
• ideas of where research might go next

Review Articles are virtual gold mines if you want to find out what the key articles are for a given topic. If you read and thoroughly digest a good review article, you should be able to “talk the talk” about a given topic. Unlike research articles, review articles are good places to get a basic idea about a topic.

Source: University of Texas Libraries