Political Science: Conducting a Literature Review
What is a Literature Review?
"A literature review is an account of what has been published on a topic by accredited scholars and researchers. [...] 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."
From Yale University Library "The Literature Review: A Few Tips on Writing It," http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/specific-types-of-writing/literature-review)
Literature Review Help
Courtesy of the University of North Carolina State University Libraries
- Annual Reviews This link opens in a new windowCritical reviews of current research in biomedical, life, physical, and social sciences disciplines. More InfoPartial Full-Text UB ONLY
Useful Guides for Doing One
- The Literature Review: A Few Tips on Conducting it (University of Toronto)
- Organizing Your Social Science Research Paper: 5. The Literature Review (USC Libraries)
- How to Write a Literature Review
- Review of the Literature
- Literature Reviews (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
How to Conduct a Literature Review in Political Science
- Literature Reviews (Political Science) (Yale University Library)
- Literature Review (Michigan State University)
- Literature Review (CQ University Library)
How to Read a Research Article
- How to Read a Scientific Paper (Elsevier)
- The Art of Reading Research Papers (Simon Fraser University)
More on Doing a Literature Review
- Jeffrey W. Knopf, "Doing a Literature Review," PS: Political Science & Politics 1 (January 2006): pp. 127-132.
- Iain McMenamin, "Process and Text: Teaching Students to Review the Literature," PS: Political Science & Politics 1 (January 2006): pp. 133-135.