Psychology Graduate Workshop: Literature Reviews: Literature Reviews

Selected Resources

For titles in the UC system, use the UC-eLinks button to initiate a Reqest for the title.

Writing Literature Reviews: A Guide for Students of the Social and Behavioral Sciences
print, UC system
Conducting Research Literature Reviews: From the Internet to Paper
print, UC system
Doing a Literature Review in Health and Social Care: A Practical Guide
ebook, UC Merced
Systematic Approaches to a Successful Literature Review
print, UC system
Health Sciences Literature Review Made Easy: The Matrix Method

About the Literature Review

The Literature Review
Concise tips from Professor Nancy Rivenburgh at the University of Washington, The Graduate School
The Literature Review: A Few Tips on Conducting It
by Dena Taylor at the University of Toronto, Health Sciences Writing Centre

Literature Reviews: An Overview for Graduate Students

We have highlighted some sections which may be of particular interest.

Research is about telling a story -- a professor's prespective (2:12 - 3:08)
Different types of literature review -- e.g. in a thesis or dissertation (3:48 - 4:13)
So what's involved in reviewing the literature? (7:00 - 8:46)

* produced by NC State University Libraries (~10 minutes)

Literature Review Examples

Irwin, M. R. (2015). Why sleep is important for health: a psychoneuroimmunology perspective. Psychology, 66(1), 143.

Hofmann, W., Friese, M., & Wiers, R. W. (2008). Impulsive versus reflective influences on health behavior: A theoretical framework and empirical review. Health Psychology Review, 2(2), 111-137.

Finding Literature Reviews

Locating an in-depth review related to your topic of interest, can be a good first step to finding relevant information. Look for literature reviews limiters in various databases.

ScienceDirect/SciVerse
Advanced Search > Journals tab > Review article (found under Limit by document type)

Web of Science This link opens in a new window
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). Also includes Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI).
PsycINFO (ProQuest)
1806 - present. The PsycINFO database contains citations to articles in over 1,300 professional journals, conference proceedings, books, , and dissertations in psychology and related disciplines. Most citations include abstracts.
PubMed This link opens in a new window
1951 - present. Includes more than 22 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. Citations may include links to full-text content from PubMed Central and publisher web sites. Use Get it at UC to link to full text when not otherwise available.