How to do a literature review?

Contents of the presentation
Creating an efficient search strategy
Finding books
Finding journal articles
A word about bibliographies and citations

Creating a search strategy
step by step
Get familiar with your topic:
Use dictionaries and encyclopedias to understanding the main concepts and theories in the area
Define a research question that is not too broad and is realistic.
Discuss it with your professor!

Creating a search strategy
step by step
Identify your main search keywords
Each important concept or aspect of your research should have its keyword
Find synonyms or related terms for each keyword

Boolean operators: AND

Boolean operators: OR

Create a search “equation”
AND
AND
OR
OR
OR
OR
OR

Finding books
Books can be located through the library catalogue
Books address broad topics
Useful to acquire theory or methodology

How to find articles
Articles appear in several types of periodicals. Can you name a few?
Newspapers
Magazines
Trade or association journals
Peer-reviewed or academic journals

Scholarly journal articles
Peer-reviewed are also called scientific, academic or scholarly
Articles are sent to a number of academic reviewers (peers)
These articles address very specific topics
Most present research results
They have lengthy reference lists
They make multiple citations
Sometimes use footnotes

What about Google Scholar?
Good content in the scientific fields
Not so good for social sciences
Search functions are limited compared to databases