Research a Literature Review

A literature review evaluates the relevance of research related to your topic and synthesizes current and historical research studies. Your sources should expand on the selected framework and include research methodology/design literature related to the topic.

Literature reviews are conducted to:

• Identify what research has been completed on the topic
• Synthesize information to gain a greater understanding of and become more knowledgeable about your topic
• Identify relationships between ideas and variables
• Establish context around the topic or problem
• Rationalize the significance of the problem

• Publication Date: Doctoral students must find current (last 5 years) and historical/foundational research. This research criteria is called "exhausting the literature." Depending on when you conduct your research, you may need to revisit your research later in the dissertation process to ensure that more recent research covering your topic has not been published. For example, if you’re working in late 2024, early 2019 may no longer fall within your five-year range. Double-check publication dates to avoid using outdated sources and ensure your research remains timely.
  • Search Tip: Use the Publication date filter to apply a specific date range to your search.
  • Library Hack: Set up search alerts for your topic to capture the most recent research. This will reduce the time you need to re-research current research later. Review our Toolkits for instructions on setting up search alerts.
• Location: Is there a specific location you are focusing on? Within the United States only? Rural versus urban? In what place has the type of research you are looking for occurred? If you're not finding information in your specific region, you may need to expand your geographic criteria from a specific city or town to a metropolitan area or region.
  • Search Tip: Some databases allow you to select a location to limit results. However, always conduct additional searches using the geographic place in your search query (i.e., "San Francisco," "northern California," or "western United States" as a search term.) This will capture relevant research in resources that may not have a geographic field to search.
• Research constraints: Are you interested in a specific population or methodology?
  • Search Tip: Add the terms to your search (i.e., "customer experience" AND leadership AND quantitative) to search for a methodology. When searching for qualitative research, consider including specific qualitative methods (i.e., "training and development" AND "Teaching assistants" AND (qualitative OR "case studies").
• Interdisciplinary fields: Consider any overlapping fields where this research could have also been conducted.
  • Search Tip: Use databases that, at first glance, may not be in your field of interest but may have related research. (i.e., research about the training and development of teaching assistants may be found in both education and business databases).
• Research developments and trends: Are there any notable controversies in your research field? Perhaps new technologies might have shifted problem questions.
  • Search Tip: Routinely review recent publications, particularly the discussion and future research sections, to identify areas of debate, emerging technologies, and limitations in current research. An easy way to stay on top of ongoing studies is to set up a search alert to notify you of new articles published about your topic.

Our team of research librarians is available to help you if you have a question or get stuck in your research. You can either submit your question to us through our email Ask Us service or schedule a one-on-one Teams video chat appointment with a librarian.

• The Reviewing the Literature section of the Sage Research Methods Project Planner walks you through the literature review process and answers questions about researching the literature.
• Use Ulrichsweb to identify peer-reviewed journals. Look for the referee shirt icon to indicate that the journal is peer-reviewed.
• Use the Tips for Effective Research Checklist to make sure you don't miss any steps in your research process.