PLSC 400: Gender Discrimination and the Courts (Bowie)
What is a Literature Review?
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.
Literature Review Resources
- OneSearch This link opens in a new windowUse this discovery tool to search most of the University Libraries' collections, including books, journal articles, newspapers, dissertations, music, and video recordings. (Ex Libris)
- WorldCat.orgAccess to 1.4 billion items in libraries worldwide. You can search many libraries at once for an item and then locate it in a library nearby; find books, music, and videos to check out; link to "Ask a Librarian" and other services at your library.
- Political Science Complete This link opens in a new windowSearch for journal articles on topics related to political science, political theory, political behavior, public policy, law, international relations, comparative politics, and non-governmental organizations. (EBSCO)
- Index to Legal Periodicals and Books (Current and Retrospective) This link opens in a new window
Search for articles from legal journals, law reviews, yearbooks, and other publications from bar associations, universities, and governments. This database also includes citations of thousands of books. It is international in scope, also including information from Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, New Zealand, and Australia. (EBSCO)
- PAIS Index This link opens in a new windowSearch for journal articles, reports, and grey literature on topics related to the world's public affairs, public and social policies, international relations, and world politics. "PAIS" stands for "Public Affairs Information Service," and the content dates from the early 1900s-present. (ProQuest)
- Historical Abstracts with Full Text This link opens in a new windowSearch for journal articles on all aspects of world history (excluding the US and Canada) from 1450 to the present. (EBSCO)
- Humanities International Complete This link opens in a new windowSearch for journal articles on topics related to the humanities. (EBSCO)
- EconLit with Full Text This link opens in a new windowSearch for journal articles in all fields of economics, including the American Economic Association journals, working papers, and many non-English full-text journals in economics and finance. (EBSCO)
- Dissertations and Theses Global (ProQuest) This link opens in a new windowSearch for doctoral dissertations and masters theses from institutions around the world. (ProQuest)
- Open Dissertations This link opens in a new window
Search this open access database for theses and dissertations from 1933-present. (EBSCO)
- Social Sciences Citation Index This link opens in a new window
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)
- Google ScholarSearch across many disciplines and sources for peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts and articles, from academic publishers, professional societies, universities and other scholarly organizations. Can limit searches to specific disciplines.
Help Menu
- Library Catalog This link opens in a new windowSearch our library catalog (aka OneSearch) for all types of sources. It combines results from many of our databases. (Ex Libris)
- OneSearch This link opens in a new windowUse this discovery tool to search most of the University Libraries' collections, including books, journal articles, newspapers, dissertations, music, and video recordings. (Ex Libris)
Social Sciences Librarian
(804)-289-8262
Boatwright Library, Room #183
261 Richmond Way
Richmond, VA 23173