Lterature reviews
Literature reviews have multiple purposes and can take many forms. General guidance is below.
Often in healthcare and other fields, a systematic literature is expected. If so, see our specific guide:
- Systematic literature searchingYou might be an undergraduate who wants to improve the quality of their searches, a postgraduate deciding on a dissertation topic, or a PhD student conducting a systematic literature review as part of your thesis. Or, you might be a member of staff conducting systematic search as part of your academic work, grant application, or Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) programme. This guide is your practical companion, offering insights and strategies to navigate the intricacies of systematic searching work.
Selected titles to help you write a literature review
Tools to help you focus your topic
There are several tools available to help researchers formulate a robust research question or hypothesis. These may be helpful in refining your topic and developing a search strategy for your assignments.
Tools for:
Search strategy elements
Your search strategy incorporates all the decisions made while selecting items for your literature review.
Themes and keywords
- What are the separate elements of your topic/search?
- Which are the principal key words or search terms for each element?
- Are there obvious alternative search terms that should be included? For example, 'international' could also be described as 'global' or 'worldwide'.
Your initial searches on the topic will help you ascertain relevant search terms.
Item types
- Which types of material are you including in your review? This can be restricted to research articles or encompass policy papers, textbooks, reports, conference presentations, blogs and more.
Resources
- Which bibliographic resources are most relevant to your topic, and the types of material identified above? Options include bibliographic databases and Google Scholar (journal and research papers); the library's OneSearch (books, exemplars and more), Google or other general search engines (policy papers, blogs ...).See Specialist Resources for links to CINAHL and other bibliographic services.
Additional selection criteria
- Which other factors will determine your selection of individual items? For example:
- Does a specific date range for publication apply?
- Are you only interested in a specific scenario or environment?
- Are you focusing on a specific population?
Please remember:
- Your decision making will be influenced, in part, by the restricted nature of your assignment and related timescale.
- You will be accessing and reading multiple items for each assignment. Some of these will be relevant throughout our programme, or in other contexts. See the Keeping Track of your Sources page on this guide for advice on noting details methodically.
Research resources
Research methods
- UWS Library - Dissertation SupportOur dedicated guide with help and support for each step of the dissertation process, including an introduction to literature reviews.
- UWS Library - Research SupportUWS Library provides a selection of resources and support options to facilitate the research journey.
- SAGE Research Methods This link opens in a new windowe-books, case studies, videos and data sets supporting the development of research skills
- Open Research Library This link opens in a new windowThe Open Research Library is a hosting platform for peer-reviewed, open access, scholarly monographs. Its aims is to include all OA book content worldwide on one platform for user-friendly discovery with a seamless experience.
Open access resources
- CORE This link opens in a new windowCORE is claimed to be a platform providing access to the world’s largest collection of open access research papers. Its mission is to facilitate free unrestricted access to research for all.
- Open Access ButtonSearch engine enabling free access to the full text of scholarly articles in compliance with copyright restrictions.
Systematic reviews
- Cochrane Library This link opens in a new windowThe Cochrane Library (ISSN 1465-1858) is a collection of databases, such as: Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR), Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Cochrane Clinical Answers (CCAs) and a number of special collections. They contain different types of high-quality, independent evidence to inform healthcare decision-making.
- TRIP Medical DatabaseTRIP is a clinical search engine designed to allow users to quickly and easily find and use high-quality research evidence to support their practice and/or care.
Full text not available?
If the article, or book, is not available, see possible External and Open Access options.
Still no success?
Library staff may be able to obtain a copy for you - see our Inter Library Loan guide for details.
- UWS Library - Inter Library loans (ILLs)Our dedicated guide to help you make requests for access to books and journal articles held in the British Library or other (mainly UK) Library collections.