How to do a Literature Review   Tags: degree, graduate, how_to, literature, master's, projects, research, review, students, theses, thesis  

Many graduate students have a pretty good idea of the topics they wish to explore when they begin their research methodology class in preparation for writing their graduate thesis or project at CSUS.  Less clear is what is required to do a comprehensive literature review in their field of study, which makes up Chapter Two of the thesis.

In the simplest terms, a review of the literature is a carefully considered synthesis of what is known and not known about a topic and related areas by the scholars in a particular field of study.  Emphasis is on scholarly resources, (professional or peer reviewed journals and books), rather than what appears in the popular press.  It is often described as a bibliographic essay, and should identify established ideas and knowledge.  It must also focus on the particular problem or issue chosen for the thesis topic and identify the various strengths and weaknesses of the studies read.  It is not just an annotated bibliography. It should analyze, contrast and compare the ideas reflected in the sources, not just summarize them.

The process of completing a literature review will expand the researcher’s knowledge about the topic and help to identify areas of controversy and fruitful areas for possible research.  Through it, the major scholars in the field can be identified, and articles, books, government documents and online resources that will prove most useful to the research project can be located.

It is important therefore to do preliminary research before the actual thesis statement is discussed and approved by a thesis advisor.  It is also important to determine which style manual is required.   A list of useful Writing Guides can be found under Library Guides by Subject on the home page.  The Office of Graduate Studies has forms linked to their web site (see below).   Some academic departments have additional guidelines for their graduate students and provide workshops and forms to help get started.

Coursework leading up to the thesis provides the best opportunity to explore topics of interest.  Discussion with fellow students and with faculty advisors is also useful.  Graduate students can often build a file of articles that might lead to a thesis topic while writing other papers.

• Choose the right Vocabulary.  Create a Brainstorm list – keywords and subject heading that relate to the topic.  This list will grow as new sources reveal additional terms or controlled vocabulary that are used by the Library of Congress Classification System by or indexes and abstracting services.   Many indexes and online databases maintain their own list of subject headings, often called a Thesaurus of Descriptors.  Learning how to identify the appropriate terms to describe a topic is the key to finding the best material. It's always a good idea to stop by the Reference Desk and ask for help with this.

• Make friends (and a research appointment) with a librarian.  A list of Subject Specialists is on the Library home page. Most under-graduate students can do adequate searching in databases to get enough information for 5-10 page papers, but graduate students are expected to become expert searchers and find the definitive research materials to support their thesis statements. Librarians with subject expertise in your field of study are available for individual research appoints and can show you how to take advantage of all the special features that our research databases provide. Many databases now include programs that will convert the citations found in a database into the correct style format required by your department, such as APA, MLA, Chicago or Turabian. Make sure the librarian shows you these short-cuts and also how books from this library can be found in WorldCat which also has citation software.

• Download and learn how to use EndNote.  We have a site license for EndNote (see blelow) a bibliographic software that can manage and format your citations and download them directly from various databases that you have searched.

•  Consult a special encyclopedia for an overview.  Each discipline has its own specialized reference tools.  Check the Research Guides on the Library homepage to see if a librarian has prepared a guide.  Search EUREKA under a discipline with the subheading “—Dictionaries”  will showcase some of the most useful sources e.g., “History --Dictionaries” or “Social Services --- Dictionaries”.

•  Search what we have here first.  Use EUREKA to locate books, media, etc.  To look for other CSUS theses related to a topic, limit a keyword search to: Location: CSUS Theses.  All CSUS theses since 1997 are listed by department name.  Find them by doing a title search under “CSUS thesis” with the department name as a subheading, e.g., ”CSUS thesis (History (Public History))” or “CSUS thesis (Social Work)”.

•  Find articles from appropriate databases.  Use the Database and Article Searching page to identify databases recommended by discipline.  Choose advanced searching mode  and limit searches to scholarly or peer reviewed articles whenever the option appears.  Read the Help screens.  These few minutes will pay off richly in better search results.

• Check out Government Documents.  The U.S. government is the largest publisher in the world.  CSUS is a partial depository of both state and federal documents.  The California State Library downtown has all depository items.

•  Find statistics!  Start with the Statistical Abstract of the United States, HA 202, (online link below) or combine your search with the subheading, “-- statistics.” in EUREKA.

• Identify the major scholars in your field – use the Social Sciences Citation Index database to determine which articles are cited most often using your indexing terms.  It is a complicated system, so ask a librarian to help you search. Some databases, such as   PsycInfo, now allow searching within the" Reference" or bibliography field, so users can determine if certain authors are being cited by others.

• Determine if there’s a dissertation related to your topic.  Many databases include dissertations from other universities and often permit searching limited to this type of publication. Citations and abstracts are searchable online through Dissertations and Theses Full Text (see below) with coverage back to 1637. Full text is available in pdf for the most recent years.  For older years you may have to try interlibrary loan or deal with the commercial service DAI. Dissertation Abstracts International produced by UMI.  CSUS also has the paper Comprehensive Dissertation Index which covers American dissertations back to 1861.  Once a useful dissertation is identified, it may be purchased through University Microforms International, either online at the link listed above or by calling 1 (800) 521-0600.  Most universities do not lend their dissertations through Interlibrary Loan.

• Find what other libraries have – Use the Catalog of the CSU Libraries. Try MELVYL the Catalog of the University of California Libraries, or WorldCat , which contains over 50 million records with material dating back to the 11th century.   You will be expected to search widely for materials in your specialty.

• Use our Interlibrary Service to borrow books, journals and other research material the CSUS Library may not own. From the library home page click on My Library Accounts to create an ILIAD password to allow you to borrow books and/or articles from other libraries through the Iliad system and to create an account in EUREKA so that you can place holds on books and renew them online.

• Join a  Listserv – Network with other researchers in your field, using email discussion groups.

• How do I know when I've finished?  A true scholar is never done reading and researching in his or her field. The simple answer is that this question is decided between a graduate student and the thesis advisor.  Once all the things suggested above have been accomplished, the components of Chapter Two will be ready.