Library FAQ

Academic communities refer to what has been written on a topic as the literature on the topic. A literature review is a comprehensive evaluation of the important research that has been done on the topic and should provide an overview of the current knowledge on a topic, and/or provide context for new research.

A literature review is NOT just a summary. Even though summarizing the existing research is an important part of a literature review, even more important is the discussion and analysis of the existing research findings.

Check out these sites for more help understanding literature reviews:

• How to ... Write a Literature Review, UC Santa Cruz Library
• The Literature Review: A few tips on conducting it, University of Toronto
• Writing a Literature Review, Purdue Online Writing Lab

Below are tips for finding literature reviews:

• Using one of CSUSM's library databases, use keywords to narrow your search to literature reviews.  For example:
  • “child development” AND literature review 

• A few databases will let you limit your search to literature reviews only. You'll typically find this “methodology,” "document type," or "publication type" option in the database's advanced search options.

• Below are examples on how to do this in two popular databases: ​

PsychINFO

ProQuest

• If you find a good research article about your topic, look at the list of references at the end of it. You might see citation information for a literature review which you can then look up in a library database or Google Scholar @ CSUSM.