Video recording detailing how to develop a search query from KeyWords.
What is a review of the literature?A literature review is an account of what has been published on a topic by accredited scholars and researchers. Occasionally you will be asked to write one as a separate assignment (sometimes in the form of an annotated bibliography), but more often it is part of the introduction to an essay, research report and/or proposal, or thesis. In writing the literature review, your purpose is to convey to your reader what knowledge and ideas have been established on a topic, and what their strengths and weaknesses are. As a piece of writing, the literature review must be defined by a guiding concept (e.g., your research objective, the problem or issue you are discussing, or your argumentative thesis). It is not just a descriptive list of the material available, or a set of summaries.
*Written by Dena Taylor, Health Sciences Writing Centre (University of Toronto)
Identifyng the key search concepts
Identifying related terms to the key search concepts
Using standard search structures to broaden and narrow your search results
While there is not ONE right way to do a search, the strategies identified on this page will improve your results!
Boolean searching involves adding or subtracting terms to your search to either broaden or narrow your search. It uses three terms (AND, OR, NOT) to tell the search engine or database whether to include or eliminate certain terms.
Quotation Marks can be used to identify Phrases.
By using quotations marks, you can tell the computer to only bring back pages with the terms you typed in the exact order you typed them.
"climate change"
Instead of
climate AND change
"expansive soil"
Instead of
expansive AND soil
"green chemistry"
Instead of
green AND chemistry
Truncation allows you to search various forms of a word by finding alternative endings. The characher (*) is placed at the end of the first few letters of a search term or at the end of its root.
Ethic* retrieves
Ethics
Ethical
Ethically
Computers usually perform AND and NOT searches first, then the OR searches but like in a math equation you can force the computer to perform the OR search first with Nesting. Nesting uses parenthesis () to encase the OR search string forcing the computer to complete the OR search first then move on to the AND or NOT search.
("Climate Change" OR "Global Warming") AND "expansive soil"
So it first creates a large pool with the OR search then limits down the results with the AND or NOT search.
Take Notes!
Do the same search more than once! In the same database and in additional databases.
Do additional searches on different search terms. Remember your literature will not just be resources exactly on your topic. Similar topics, similar techniques, and even vastly different techniques may prove useful to your argument.
Notice Author Names, Journal Titles, Databases, of ANY sources that look promising. (Remember, the databases help you with this!)
Use the References of a source to help you find additional sources! If you need help going from a citation to a source in hand, ASK!!
Notice any REPEAT References within your sources. If more than one paper cites the same article, it's important!
Use the Cited BY, or Times Cited in this Database to find more current articles than the one you found.
Learn to set up Alerts. You can set up Alerts for Specific Journals, Specific Articles, and also Search Alerts!