What is a literature review?

• Literature reviews examine and evaluate the

scholarly literature on a topic.
• A literature review is conducted in the
beginning stages of your research and is
written either as a stand-alone document or as
part of a larger piece of work (e.g. as a chapter
in a thesis).
The purpose of a literature review is to:
• provide context for your research hypothesis or
question
• ensure your research is original (i.e. not already
published)
• identify where your research fits into the existing
body of literature
• highlight the strengths and weaknesses in any
previous relevant research
• make recommendations for further research.
 A good literature review is:
• focused. It's relevant to your research and meets
the purpose of a literature review as
outlined above. It doesn't need to include
everything you've read.
• analytical. It's focused on ideas and relationships
between ideas, rather than just the authors.
• critical. It makes comparisons between different
concepts/theories. Your own interpretation and
evaluation need to be evident.
 examples of literature reviews
• You can find examples of literature reviews in journals, and in theses (usually
found in the second chapter).
• Journals
– Most databases allow you to limit searches to 'review articles'.
– Review articles are a great place to start your literature review.
• Review articles:
– are written by experts in the field
– provide a synthesis of the research literature
– provide an overview of the research topic
– detail developments in the research and identify future directions
– highlight where the gaps in the research exist
– identify the main authors in the field
– include an extensive bibliography
– are generally highly cited.
• Digital theses
• Print theses
• Embargoed and restricted theses
 What is Google Scholar?
• Google is great for finding information,
although sometimes we end up getting more
results than we need or the results are not
scholarly.
• Google Scholar searches for scholarly articles.
• Search Help
– Get the most out of Google Scholar with some helpful tips on searches, email alerts,
citation export, and more.
• Finding recent papers
– Your search results are normally sorted by relevance, not by date. To find newer articles,
try the following options in the left sidebar:
– click "Since Year" to show only recently published papers, sorted by relevance;
– click "Sort by date" to show just the new additions, sorted by date;
– click the envelope icon to have new results periodically delivered by email.
• Locating the full text of an article
– Abstracts are freely available for most of the articles. Alas, reading the entire article may
require a subscription. Here're a few things to try:
– click a library link, e.g., "FindIt@Harvard", to the right of the search result;
– click a link labeled [PDF] to the right of the search result;
– click "All versions" under the search result and check out the alternative sources;
– click "Related articles" or "Cited by" under the search result to explore similar articles.
– If you're affiliated with a university, but don't see links such as "FindIt@Harvard", please
check with your local library about the best way to access their online subscriptions. You
may need to do search from a computer on campus, or to configure your browser to use a
library proxy.
 Getting better answers
• If you're new to the subject, it may be helpful to pick up the
terminology from secondary sources. E.g., a Wikipedia article for
"overweight" might suggest a Scholar search for "pediatric
hyperalimentation".
• If the search results are too specific for your needs, check out what
they're citing in their "References" sections. Referenced works are
often more general in nature.
• Similarly, if the search results are too basic for you, click "Cited by" to
see newer papers that referenced them. These newer papers will often
be more specific.
• Explore! There's rarely a single answer to a research question. Click
"Related articles" or "Cited by" to see closely related work, or search
for author's name and see what else they have written.
 How to search on Google
• Start with the basics
• Search using your voice
• Find quick answers
• For many searches, Google will do the work for you and show an
answer to your question in the search results. Some features, like
information about sports teams, aren't available in all regions. 
• Weather: Search weather to see the weather in your location or add
a city name, like weather seattle, to find weather for a certain place.
• Dictionary: Put define in front of any word to see its definition. 
• Calculations: Enter a math equation like 3*9123, or solve complex
graphing equations.
• Unit conversions: Enter any conversion, like 3 dollars in euros.
• Sports: Search for the name of your team to see a schedule, game
scores and more. 
• Quick facts: Search for the name of a celebrity, location, movie, or
song to find related information. 
 Expert Search tips
• Common search techniques
• Search social media
Put @ in front of a word to search social media. For
example: @twitter.
• Search for a price
Put $ in front of a number. For example: camera $400.
• Search hashtags
Put # in front of a word. For example: #throwbackthursday
• Exclude words from your search
Put - in front of a word you want to leave out. For
example, jaguar speed -car
• Search for an exact match
Put a word or phrase inside quotes. For example, "tallest building".
• Search within a range of numbers
Put .. between two numbers. For example, camera $50..$100.
• Combine searches
Put "OR" between each search query. For example, marathon OR
race.
• Search for a specific site
Put "site:" in front of a site or domain. For
example, site:youtube.com or site:.gov.
• Search for related sites
Put "related:" in front of a web address you already know. For
example, related:time.com.
• See Google’s cached version of a site
Put "cache:" in front of the site address.
 Search with an image on Google

• On your computer, go to a web browser.

• Go to Google Images.
• Click Search by image .
• Click Upload a file.
• Select an image.
• Click Open or Choose.
• Drag & drop an image
– On your computer, go to a web browser.
– Go to Google Images.
– On your computer, find the file with the image you want to search with.
– Click the image.
– Hold down the mouse, drag the image, and then drop it into the search box.
• Search with a URL
– On your computer, go to a web browser and access the website with the image you want to use.
– To copy the URL, right-click on the image and click Copy image address.
– Go to Google Images.
– Click Search by image   Paste image link.
– In the text box, paste the URL and click Search.
– Tip: Browsers don't save the URLs you search within your browsing history. Google may store the
URLs to make our products and services better.
• Search with an image from a website
– On your computer, go to the Chrome browser.
– Go to the website with the image you want to use.
– Right-click the image.
– Click Search Image with Google Lens to display results in a sidebar.
• Search with an image from search results
– On your computer, go to Google Images.
– Search for an image.
– Click the image.
– At the top right, click Search inside image .