Are you gearing up to do specialized research for a grant proposal or your own scholarly work? Learn what a literature review is and how to develop one using University Libraries.

1. Literature Reviews
Professor Kathleen Keating
kkeating@unm.edu

2.  Outline for this “Literature Review” session
 Define a Literature Review
 Identify resources to search for Literature Reviews
 How to begin the process of collecting material for the development
of a Literature Review

3. What is a Literature Review?
Definition: The process of reading, analyzing,
evaluating, and summarizing scholarly materials
about a specific topic.
Use: The results of a literature review may be complied
in a report or they may serve as a part of a research
article, thesis, or grant proposal.

4. Literature Reviews
State-of-the-Art Assessment
 (1) Written for
specialists
 (2) Exhaustive
bibliography

5. Purpose of the literature review
 To show that you are a scholar
 To demonstrate how your research will contribute to the existing
knowledge
 To show your skills in
 Information seeking: that you know and can find the pertinent materials in your field
 Critical appraisal: that you can evaluate the relevance/significance of your studies in
your field

6. Grant Proposals
 If the grant requires a  The literature review section of a grant
proposal is similar to that of an empirical
background review of the article, but it is often much shorter. Given
literature and/or a discussion of space limitations, it is important to only
discuss literature that is directly relevant to
theory, be sure you are very your research topic. The literature review
thorough. It is not uncommon should demonstrate that this work has not been
done before, or if previously conducted, had
that one or more of the reviewers serious flaws or employed a different
on the grant will be subject population (Herek, 1995). You should describe
matter experts in that field and how your work will overcome previous
limitations and should capitalize on the
will expect to see familiar and strengths of past research. Be sure to critically
relative works cited in the evaluate the literature and include literature
that tells more than one side of the story.
literature review. Describe the corresponding literature in the
 http://www.esri.com/grants/abou same order that you listed your research
questions and hypotheses.
t/grant_application_writing.html  http://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer
/getArticle.cfm?id=1415

7. Vocabulary
 “Literature Reviews”  Look at Advanced
 “Literature Review*” Search Options in
 “Literature Survey” databases:
 “Systematic Review”  Limit
 Review  Add to a search box
 Meta Analysis

8. Resources to Find Literature Reviews
 Scholarly Literature
 Annual Reviews of…(Journals)
 Congressional Hearings
 Congressional Committee Prints
 Congressional Research Service
reports
 Doctoral dissertations
 Masters Theses
 Online catalogs, LIBROS, WorldCat

9. Since 1932, Annual Reviews has offered
Annual Reviews

 comprehensive, timely collections of
critical reviews written by leading
Electronic Journal scientists. Annual Reviews volumes are
published each year for 40 focused
& Archives disciplines within the Biomedical, Life,
 Pathway: http://elibarary.unm.edu, select Physical, and Social Sciences, including
Databases tab, from the alphabetical list, Economics
select A for Annual Reviews. You will
be prompted to supply your UNM NetID
and password.

10. Scholarly Literature
 Web of Science: Access to the  PsycINFO (Methodology:
worlds leading scholarly Literature Review – Systematic Review)
literature in the sciences, social  ERIC, Education
sciences, arts, humanities.
(Literature reviews or literature surveys) Resources Information
 Science Citation Index Center (Thesaurus Descriptor)
Social Sciences Citation Index

 Library, Information
 Arts & Humanities Citation Index
Science & Technology
Abstracts
 Library and Information
Science Abstracts (LISA)
Document type: Journal Article,
Literature Review
 Google Scholar

11. U.S. Congress
 Congressional Hearings,
Prints, and Congressional
Research Service
 Database: ProQuest
Congressional

12. Doctoral Dissertations/Masters Theses
 Database: Digital Dissertations
 LoboVault
 Google
 Google Scholar

13. Medicine/Health Care
Literature Review Vocabulary
 Databases:  Literature Reviews
 PubMed  Systematic Review
 Cochrane  Meta-analysis
 DynaMed  Review

14. Steps to writing a literature review
 Clarify
 How many sources? What types of sources? Will you summarize,
synthesize, or critique your sources? Will you evaluate your sources?
 Find models
 Narrow your topic
 Current sources
 Pathway: http://elibrary.unm.edu Databases Tab,
 Research Guides http://libguides.unm.edu/
 Consult experts

15. Strategies for writing
 Find a focus & construct a working thesis
statement
 Consider organization
 Chronological, publication, trend
 Thematic
 Methodological
 Methods and/or Standards

16. Begin Composing
 Use evidence
 Be selective
 Use quotes sparingly
 Summarize and synthesize
 Keep your own voice
 Use caution when paraphrasing
 Revise, revise, revise

17. Other resources
 Grant Proposal Writing: Elements for Success
http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/pdf/efop/efo31072.pdf (See Literature Review)
 Lit Review synthesis matrix http://coe.unm.edu/uploads/docs/writing-studio/Lit
%20review%20synthesis%20matrix.pdf
 LIBROS – Online Catalog http://libros.unm.edu/search~S7 Search for “Literature
Reviews” in Keyword search

18. Questions?