Researching for your Literature Review

Presented by

Jenna Walsh

Liaison Librarian

for Applied Science @ Surrey

jmwalsh@sfu.ca | 778-782-7419

Today’s Schedule

• What is a literature review?• Literature searching

– Key Sources• Books• Journal Articles and Databases• Grey Literature• Theses

– Citation indexing

• Avoiding information overload– Citation management software– Awareness tools

• Getting Help

What is a Literature Review?

It is important to explore the field in which you are going to do your research and gain a thorough awareness and understanding of current work and perspectives in the area so that you can position your own research clearly on the academic map of knowledge creation.

Standing on the shoulders of giants…

Literature Search

A systematic and thorough search of all types of published literature in order to identify as many

items as possible that are relevant to a particular topic

Purposes of a Literature Search

1. Situate your work.

2. Focus your research.

3. Identify your approach & methodology.

4. Learn about previous work.

5. Identify key people, organizations & texts which are relevant to your research.

Where to search?

• At the beginning of your research, focus on reading key studies and scholarship as cited in encyclopedias and textbooks

• Mine bibliographies. Spend less time “hunting” for recent articles and more time “gathering”

Library Research at SFU

http://www.lib.sfu.ca/

Library Research Guide

Citation Indexing

• Citations are the formal, explicit linkage between papers that have particular points in common.

• A citation index is built around these linkages. It lists publications that have been cited and identifies the sources of the citations.

• You can find additional research on a subject just by knowing one piece of research that has been cited. VERY HELPFUL

ISI Web of Knowledge Citation Index

• Find out who cited a particular journal article and who was cited in a particular journal article. KEY TOOL.

• http://cufts2.lib.sfu.ca/CRDB/BVAS/resource/5662

ISI Journal Citation Reports Impact Factors

• Provides the impact factor (the relative importance of journals within a given field) and other citation data for 8,400 scholarly and technical journals worldwide.

• http://cufts2.lib.sfu.ca/CRDB/BVAS/resource/5662

Citation Management Software

Store your references online and format bibliographies instantlyAccess your account from anywhere in the world with an Internet connectionExport citations from a variety of article indexes and databases into your account

http://www.lib.sfu.ca/my-library/refworks

Student Learning Commons

http://learningcommons.sfu.ca/

Further help

• Library: contact your liaison librarian (Jenna) for problems big and small (eg, I can’t find this article, or I’m not finding any relevant articles on my topic)

• jmwalsh@sfu.ca

• http://www.lib.sfu.ca/help/ask-us/