Search for literature reviews that capture current understandings of topics, including what is well-supported and what is controversial. These articles also set the topic in historical context, highlight the direction of future research, and outline the general significance of the research to society. Subjects are wide-ranging from the science to law to social sciences to politics. (Annual Reviews)
Books:
Scholarly literature databases:
Search for peer-reviewed articles in geography, geology and ecology. (Elsevier)
Search for journal articles in all fields of economics, including the American Economic Association journals, working papers, and many non-English journals in economics and finance. (ProQuest)
Dissertations:
Citation tracking:
Search an index of journal articles in the social sciences. This database is part of the Web of Science platform and can also be used to track, evaluate, and compare journals and articles. Tools included are the number of citations, the journal's impact factor, and other metrics. (Clarivate)
Literature reviews enable a researcher to learn about (and explain) the research already done on a topic or issue. It allows for one to learn what other researchers are doing in a particular field of study, which is used as evidence of a supporting argument in new research.
Literature reviews are also an excellent source for determining how other researchers have designed their projects, definitions of terms or problems, and hypotheses that have already been tested.
A wide variety of resources can be included in a literature review, such as: books, journal articles, news articles, working papers, conference proceedings, websites and reports. These resources provide overviews of a topic, history of approaches to a problem, descriptions of research methods, and the bibliographies used to create them.