Literature Reviews: An Overview
What is a literature review? What purpose does it serve in research? What should you expect when writing one?
Literature Reviews: An Overview for Graduate Students by North Carolina State University Libraries is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
Ask for Help!
Your subject librarian is an expert in searching the literature. We can help you
- Find published research, data, and other information relevant to your topic.
- Develop strategies for staying current in your field.
- Search the literature in other disciplines related to your topic.
Contact your subject librarian or request a consultation.
Did you know?
- Many databases provide alerts that automatically send email notifications for new citations related to your research interests.
- You can be notified when an article is cited.
- You can have tables of content of newly published journal issues sent to your email or RSS feed.
Note: These notifications often provide article links that are not set up to work for off-campus access. See our Off-Campus User Guide for ways to access our subscriptions.
As your subject librarian for help in setting up alerts that provide results that are both relevant and manageable.
Want More Advice?
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Doing a Literature ReviewKnopff, Jeffrey W. "Doing a Literature Review." PS: Political Science and Politics, 39 (January 2006): 127-132.
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Literature Review HandoutThis guide to conducting a literature review was created by the Writing Center at the University of North Carolina--Chapel Hill.