Resources for Literature Reviews

According to Marrelli (2005), “A literature review is the identification, reading, summarization, and evaluation of previously published articles, books, reports, or Internet entries on a particular topic. Sometimes the review may also encompass unpublished documents such as dissertations, manuals, or personal correspondence. A field's literature is the record of earlier work in that field (Barzun & Graff, 1977), which forms the foundation on which all future work in the field is based (Borg & Gall, 1979).”

   A.  Tools for finding where to search 

These tools will identify databases and sources that are typically used for research in specific disciplines/subjects.  

1. Subject Research Guides, Mundt Library

Path from Library home page: Click on “Subject Research Guides” in the Get Help section of the Library’s home page.  Direct link: http://www.departments.dsu.edu/library/instruct.html#Guides
Description:  Each subject guide describes key research tools for a specific subject or discipline.  

2. Databases by Subject, Mundt Library

Path from Library home page: Click on “Databases by Subject” in the Get Articles section of the Library’s home page. Direct link: http://www.departments.dsu.edu/library/subject.html
Description:  This browseable list arranges the library’s databases and other research tools by subject (or discipline), type of resource (e.g. dissertations), and special audiences. 

3. Research guides (web-based) for the disciplines

Path: Search Google.
Description: Guides will help you identify literature sources (databases, etc.) for your discipline. The Mundt Library will not have all of the sources that you find.
Search tips:  Example for Google search: 
                  +”research guide” +”information systems”

Some examples of research guide sites: 

JISC Resource Guides  http://www.jisc.ac.uk/index.cfm?name=resguides

UMass Amherst Research by Subject: http://www.library.umass.edu/subject/

Oregon State U Subject Research Guides: http://osulibrary.oregonstate.edu/research/srg/

Harvard Research Guides: http://lib.harvard.edu/research/subject_guides.html

 4. Research guides and bibliographies (in print) for the disciplines

Path from Library home page: To search for items in the Mundt Library and other libraries in South Dakota -- Click on “Library Catalog” in the Find Books & More section of the Library home page.  Direct link: http://www.departments.dsu.edu/library/libcat.htm
Description: A bibliography or research guide for a discipline will list and describe databases and other resources that are essential for finding the literature of the discipline.
Search tips:  To search in the Library Catalog, combine the word “bibliography” and the name of the discipline, e.g.:
                     bibliograph* and business

Some examples of discipline bibliographies:

Dillon, Martin and Shannon Graff Hysell, eds. 2004. ARBA In-Depth: Economics and Business. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.

Hart, Chris. 2001. Doing a Literature Search: a Comprehensive Guide for the Social Sciences. London: Sage Publications.

Moss, Rita W. 2004. Strauss’s Handbook of Business Information. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.

 B. Help with literature reviews

These sources will help you write a literature review and/or search the literature of a specific discipline/subject. 

1. Librarians, Mundt Library

Path from Library home page: Click on “Ask a Librarian” in the Get Help section of the Library’s home page. Direct link: http://www.departments.dsu.edu/library/asklib.html
Or call Todd Quinn (6-5845) or Risë “Reesa” Smith (6-7128).
Description: Librarians can help you identify databases for research, can help you searching the databases, can suggest other resources that are not on the subject guides, etc.  

2. Research methods books for the disciplines.

Path from Library home page:
a.  To search for items in the Mundt Library and other libraries in South Dakota -- Click on “Library Catalog” in the Find Books & More section of the Library home page.  
b.  To search for items in other libraries in the U.S. & the world --Click on “more” in the Find Books & More section of the Library home page and click on the link to “more library catalogs.”  One of the choices is WorldCat, a database that let’s you search thousands of libraries, primarily in the U.S. and Canada.
Description: Books on research methods often include a chapter on writing literature reviews and/or searching the literature of the discipline. 
Search tips:  To find them, search in the Library Catalog by combining the word “research” with the name of the discipline, e.g., research and social sciences. To improve results, change the “type of search” drop-down menu in the Library Catalog to subject word/s.
Search  example.  Change type of search to subject word/s and type in the search box:
            education* and research
[Note: the asterisk at the end of “education” is a wildcard character. The search will retrieve any word that begins with the letters education so will retrieve education and educational.]

Some examples of research methods books:

Knight, Peter T.  2002. Small-scale Research: Pragmatic Inquiry in Social Science and the Caring Professions. London: SAGE Publications.
[Note: Table 1.3 on page 14 shows the elements of a literature review.]

McMillan, James H. 2000. Educational Research: Fundamentals for the Consumer.  New York: Addison Wesley Longman.

3. Articles and books about literature reviews.

Path: search for articles about literature reviews in the databases identified in section A. Search for books in the Library Catalog.
Search tips: Search for the phrase: literature review*

Or: writing and literature review*
Or combine “literature review/s” with a specific subject, e.g.:
literature review* and geograph*

Examples:

Galvan, Jose L. 1999. Writing Literature Reviews: A Guide for Students of the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Los Angeles: Pyrczak Publishing.

Kellsey, Charlene. 2005. “Writing the literature review: Tips for academic librarians.” College & Research Libraries News 66: 526. In Proquest Research Library [database online]. Cited 25 September 2005.   [Full article is available in print in the Library.]

Marrelli, Anne F. 2005. “The performance technologist's toolbox: Literature reviews.” Performance Improvement 44: 40-44. In Proquest Research Library [database online]. Cited 25 September 2005. Available online from Karl E. Mundt Library.

Torraco, Richard J. 2005. “Writing integrative literature reviews: Guidelines and examples.” Human Resource Development Review  4: 356-368. In Proquest Research Library [database online]. Cited 25 September 2005. Abstract available from Karl E. Mundt Library.  [Request full article from the Library through Interlibrary Loan]

Wink, Diane. 2002. “Writing to get published." Nephrology Nursing Journal
29(5): 461-467. In EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier. Cited 3 October 2005. Available from Karl E. Mundt Library.

Webster, Jane and Richard T. Watson. 2002. “Analyzing the past to prepare for the future: Writing a literature review.”  MIS Quarterly 26(2): xiii-xxiii. In EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier. Cited 3 October 2005. Available from Karl E. Mundt Library.

        4. Web guides/tutorials on writing literature reviews.

How to write a literature review.  15 November 2005 University of California, Santa Cruz. Cited 15 November 2007.

C.  Evaluating information

These sources explain how to evaluate information.

1. Evaluating Information Sources, Mundt Library
http://www.departments.dsu.edu/library/evaluat.html

2. Evaluating Magazines & Journals, Mundt Library
http://www.departments.dsu.edu/library/jrlstabl.html

3. Examples of other sources:

Girden, Ellen R. 2001. Evaluating Research Articles: From Start to Finish. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.          [Location in Library:  MAIN COLLECTION : Q180.55.E9 G57 2001]

McMillan, James H. and Jon F Wergin. 2002. Understanding and Evaluating Educational Research. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. (Merrill Prentice Hall).            
[Location in Library: TEACHER RESOURCE CENTER : LB1028 .M366 2002]

D.  Writing, Citing, Presenting & Publishing Guides

These are examples of publication manuals of professional organizations and other sources that help with organization, style, format, and publication. 

1. Scholarly Communication Toolkit (Association of College & Research Libraries) -- "faculty and researchers typically sign away all rights to their scholarship in exchange for publication." Learn about author control and negotiating with publishers to unbundle your rights.

2. Publication Manuals -- Examples:   

American Institute of Physics.  AIP Style Manual, 4th ed. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1990. [viewed 28 September 2005]. Available from http://www.aip.org/pubservs/style.html.

Council of Biology Editors. 1994. Scientific Style and Format: The CBE  Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers, 6th ed. New York: Cambridge University Press.
[Location in Library:  REFERENCE  T 11 .S386 1994]

Dodd, Janet S. The ACS style guide: A manual for authors and editors, 2^nd ed.  Washington, D.C.:  American Chemical Society, 1997.
[Location in Library:  Reference QD8.5 .A25]

Gibaldi, Joseph.  MLA style manual and guide to scholarly publishing, 2nd ed. New York: Modern Language Association of America, 1998. 
[Location in Library: REFERENCE PN147 .G444 1998.]

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. 2001. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.
[Location in Library:  REFERENCE  BF76.7 .P83 2001 ] 

3. Other Writing and Publication Guides – Examples 

Gibaldi, Joseph. 2003. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. New York: Modern Language Association of America.

Hailman, Jack P. and Karen B. Strier. 1997. Planning, Proposing, and Presenting Science Effectively: a Guide for Graduate Students and Researchers in the Behavioral Sciences and Biology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Neville,Tina M. 2002. Science and Technology Research: Writing Strategies for Students. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press.

Ogden, Thomas E. and Istael A. Goldberg. 1995. Research Proposals: A Guide to Success. New York: Raven Press.

Walker, Melissa Walker. 1997. Writing Research Papers: a Norton Guide. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.

 E.  Specific Research Methods & Statistics

The library contains a wide range of materials on specific methods in books and in articles. Search for articles in the discipline databases identified in section A.  Search for books in the Library Catalog. 

Examples (Find the locations of these items by searching the Library Catalog):

Bradburn, Norman, Seymour Sudman and Brian Wansink.  2004.  Asking Questions: the Definitive Guide to Questionnaire Design – for Market Research, Political Polls, and Social and Health Questionnaires. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Carey, Stephen S. 1998. A Beginner’s Guide to the Scientific Method. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing.

Clandinin, D. Jean and F. Michael Connelly. 2000. Narrative Inquiry: Experience and Story in Qualitative Research. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Greenbaum, Thomas L. 2000. Moderating Focus Groups: A Practical Guide for Group Facilitation. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

Hox, J.J. 2002. Multilevel Analysis: Techniques and Applications. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.   [Online book location:  NetLibrary database]

Kahane, Leo. H. 2001. Regression Basics. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

Kelley, D. Lynn. 1999. Measurement Made Accessible: A Research Approach Using Qualitative, Quantitative, & Quality Improvement Methods. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

Merriam, Sharan B. 1998. Qualitative Research and Case Study Applications in Education. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Salkind, Neil J. 2000. Statistics for People Who (Think They) Hate Statistics. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

Schonlau, Matthias. 2002. Conducting Research Surveys via e-mail and th web. Santa Monica, CA: Rand.  [online book location: NetLibrary database]

Stringer, Ernest T. 1999. Action Research. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

 F.  General Guides for Research 

These general guides to research introduce a process for researching the literature.

1. Graduate Student Research, Mundt Library

2. Other examples:

Badke, William B. 2000. Research Strategies: Finding Your Way through the Information Fog. San Jose, CA: Writers Club Press.

Hart, Chris. 2001. Doing a Literature Search: a Comprehensive Guide for the Social Sciences. London: Sage Publications.

Lane, Nancy, Margaret Chisholm and Carolyn Mateer. 2000. Techniques for Student Research. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc.

 

G.  Rights and Responsibilities of Researchers

These nationwide initiatives address important issues related to faculty research.

1. Scholarly Communication Toolkit - "Faculty and researchers typically sign away all rights to their scholarship in exchange for publication." Learn about unbundling your rights and "new alternatives for the dissemination of scholarly information."  Note, especially, links to author control and to alternative models for disseminating scholarship.

2. Responsible Conduct of Research

a. RCR [Responsible Conduct of Research] Education Resources 

b. On Being a Scientist: Responsible Conduct in Research. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1995.

3. Preparing Future Faculty - "a national movement to transform the way aspiring faculty members are prepared for their careers." 

© Content RLS: September 28, 2005; revised Nov 17, 2005.