A literature review is a written summary of the existing published research on a topic. A literature review can be brief (a section in a larger article) or it can be an entire article unto itself. The purpose of a literature review is to provide an overview of the current knowledge on a topic, and/or to provide a context for new research.
To find literature reviews:
- Scholarly publications (especially peer reviewed articles) will always include at least a brief literature review in their introduction and discussion sections.
- Theses and dissertations should include a detailed literature review. Once you find one, look through its headings. Literature reviews are typically located at the beginning. Some examples of headings that include a literature review might be:
- Background
- Introduction
- Literature Review
- Overview
- Survey of the Literature
- Review of the Literature
- To find comprehensive, article-length literature reviews in the library's databases:
- Use keywords to narrow your search to literature reviews. For example:
- motor learning AND literature review
- motor learning AND systematic review
- A few databases will let you limit your search to literature reviews only. You'll typically find this "document type" or "publication type" option in the database's advanced search options.
Here are examples from two popular databases (EBSCO and ProQuest):
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EBSCO
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ProQuest
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