How can published literature reviews help my research?
Answer
A literature review is a thorough overview of a topic, so they have done a lot of the foundational research for you!
Literature reviews will likely include:
- Major themes and trends on the topic
- Major works and thinkers in the field
- A solid list of references that you can also explore
You can use these to quickly get an understanding of a topic, and launch your own in-depth research.
How can I find literature reviews?
One tip is to use "literature review" as a keyword. We recommend copying and pasting the following in one search box either in the Library Catalog or a research database:
"literature review" OR "review of the literature" OR meta-analysis OR overview OR "systematic review"
Then in a second search box, put keyword(s) relevant to your particular topic. Perhaps try one subtopic at a time and add keywords if you are getting several results.
