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• How to Write a Literature Review | Guide, Examples, & Templates

How to Write a Literature Review | Guide, Examples, & Templates

Published on January 2, 2023 by Shona McCombes . Revised on September 11, 2023.

What is a literature review? A literature review is a survey of scholarly sources on a specific topic. It provides an overview of current knowledge, allowing you to identify relevant theories, methods, and gaps in the existing research that you can later apply to your paper, thesis, or dissertation topic .

There are five key steps to writing a literature review:

• Search for relevant literature
• Evaluate sources
• Identify themes, debates, and gaps
• Outline the structure
• Write your literature review

A good literature review doesn’t just summarize sources—it analyzes, synthesizes , and critically evaluates to give a clear picture of the state of knowledge on the subject.

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Table of contents

What is the purpose of a literature review, examples of literature reviews, step 1 – search for relevant literature, step 2 – evaluate and select sources, step 3 – identify themes, debates, and gaps, step 4 – outline your literature review’s structure, step 5 – write your literature review, free lecture slides, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions, introduction.

• Quick Run-through
• Step 1 & 2

When you write a thesis , dissertation , or research paper , you will likely have to conduct a literature review to situate your research within existing knowledge. The literature review gives you a chance to:

• Demonstrate your familiarity with the topic and its scholarly context
• Develop a theoretical framework and methodology for your research
• Position your work in relation to other researchers and theorists
• Show how your research addresses a gap or contributes to a debate
• Evaluate the current state of research and demonstrate your knowledge of the scholarly debates around your topic.

Writing literature reviews is a particularly important skill if you want to apply for graduate school or pursue a career in research. We’ve written a step-by-step guide that you can follow below.

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See an example

Writing literature reviews can be quite challenging! A good starting point could be to look at some examples, depending on what kind of literature review you’d like to write.

• Example literature review #1: “Why Do People Migrate? A Review of the Theoretical Literature” ( Theoretical literature review about the development of economic migration theory from the 1950s to today.)
• Example literature review #2: “Literature review as a research methodology: An overview and guidelines” ( Methodological literature review about interdisciplinary knowledge acquisition and production.)
• Example literature review #3: “The Use of Technology in English Language Learning: A Literature Review” ( Thematic literature review about the effects of technology on language acquisition.)
• Example literature review #4: “Learners’ Listening Comprehension Difficulties in English Language Learning: A Literature Review” ( Chronological literature review about how the concept of listening skills has changed over time.)

You can also check out our templates with literature review examples and sample outlines at the links below.

Download Word doc Download Google doc

Before you begin searching for literature, you need a clearly defined topic .

If you are writing the literature review section of a dissertation or research paper, you will search for literature related to your research problem and questions .

Make a list of keywords

Start by creating a list of keywords related to your research question. Include each of the key concepts or variables you’re interested in, and list any synonyms and related terms. You can add to this list as you discover new keywords in the process of your literature search.

• Social media, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, TikTok
• Body image, self-perception, self-esteem, mental health
• Generation Z, teenagers, adolescents, youth

Search for relevant sources

Use your keywords to begin searching for sources. Some useful databases to search for journals and articles include:

• Your university’s library catalogue
• Google Scholar
• Project Muse (humanities and social sciences)
• Medline (life sciences and biomedicine)
• EconLit (economics)
• Inspec (physics, engineering and computer science)

You can also use boolean operators to help narrow down your search.

Make sure to read the abstract to find out whether an article is relevant to your question. When you find a useful book or article, you can check the bibliography to find other relevant sources.

You likely won’t be able to read absolutely everything that has been written on your topic, so it will be necessary to evaluate which sources are most relevant to your research question.

For each publication, ask yourself:

• What question or problem is the author addressing?
• What are the key concepts and how are they defined?
• What are the key theories, models, and methods?
• Does the research use established frameworks or take an innovative approach?
• What are the results and conclusions of the study?
• How does the publication relate to other literature in the field? Does it confirm, add to, or challenge established knowledge?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of the research?

Make sure the sources you use are credible , and make sure you read any landmark studies and major theories in your field of research.

You can use our template to summarize and evaluate sources you’re thinking about using. Click on either button below to download.

Take notes and cite your sources

As you read, you should also begin the writing process. Take notes that you can later incorporate into the text of your literature review.

It is important to keep track of your sources with citations to avoid plagiarism . It can be helpful to make an annotated bibliography , where you compile full citation information and write a paragraph of summary and analysis for each source. This helps you remember what you read and saves time later in the process.

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To begin organizing your literature review’s argument and structure, be sure you understand the connections and relationships between the sources you’ve read. Based on your reading and notes, you can look for:

• Trends and patterns (in theory, method or results): do certain approaches become more or less popular over time?
• Themes: what questions or concepts recur across the literature?
• Debates, conflicts and contradictions: where do sources disagree?
• Pivotal publications: are there any influential theories or studies that changed the direction of the field?
• Gaps: what is missing from the literature? Are there weaknesses that need to be addressed?

This step will help you work out the structure of your literature review and (if applicable) show how your own research will contribute to existing knowledge.

• Most research has focused on young women.
• There is an increasing interest in the visual aspects of social media.
• But there is still a lack of robust research on highly visual platforms like Instagram and Snapchat—this is a gap that you could address in your own research.

There are various approaches to organizing the body of a literature review. Depending on the length of your literature review, you can combine several of these strategies (for example, your overall structure might be thematic, but each theme is discussed chronologically).

Chronological

The simplest approach is to trace the development of the topic over time. However, if you choose this strategy, be careful to avoid simply listing and summarizing sources in order.

Try to analyze patterns, turning points and key debates that have shaped the direction of the field. Give your interpretation of how and why certain developments occurred.

If you have found some recurring central themes, you can organize your literature review into subsections that address different aspects of the topic.

For example, if you are reviewing literature about inequalities in migrant health outcomes, key themes might include healthcare policy, language barriers, cultural attitudes, legal status, and economic access.

Methodological

If you draw your sources from different disciplines or fields that use a variety of research methods , you might want to compare the results and conclusions that emerge from different approaches. For example:

• Look at what results have emerged in qualitative versus quantitative research
• Discuss how the topic has been approached by empirical versus theoretical scholarship
• Divide the literature into sociological, historical, and cultural sources

Theoretical

A literature review is often the foundation for a theoretical framework . You can use it to discuss various theories, models, and definitions of key concepts.

You might argue for the relevance of a specific theoretical approach, or combine various theoretical concepts to create a framework for your research.

Like any other academic text , your literature review should have an introduction , a main body, and a conclusion . What you include in each depends on the objective of your literature review.

The introduction should clearly establish the focus and purpose of the literature review.

Depending on the length of your literature review, you might want to divide the body into subsections. You can use a subheading for each theme, time period, or methodological approach.

As you write, you can follow these tips:

• Summarize and synthesize: give an overview of the main points of each source and combine them into a coherent whole
• Analyze and interpret: don’t just paraphrase other researchers — add your own interpretations where possible, discussing the significance of findings in relation to the literature as a whole
• Critically evaluate: mention the strengths and weaknesses of your sources
• Write in well-structured paragraphs: use transition words and topic sentences to draw connections, comparisons and contrasts

In the conclusion, you should summarize the key findings you have taken from the literature and emphasize their significance.

When you’ve finished writing and revising your literature review, don’t forget to proofread thoroughly before submitting. Not a language expert? Check out Scribbr’s professional proofreading services !

This article has been adapted into lecture slides that you can use to teach your students about writing a literature review.

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If you want to know more about the research process , methodology , research bias , or statistics , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

• Sampling methods
• Simple random sampling
• Stratified sampling
• Cluster sampling
• Likert scales
• Reproducibility

 Statistics

• Null hypothesis
• Statistical power
• Probability distribution
• Effect size
• Poisson distribution

Research bias

• Optimism bias
• Cognitive bias
• Implicit bias
• Hawthorne effect
• Anchoring bias
• Explicit bias

A literature review is a survey of scholarly sources (such as books, journal articles, and theses) related to a specific topic or research question .

It is often written as part of a thesis, dissertation , or research paper , in order to situate your work in relation to existing knowledge.

There are several reasons to conduct a literature review at the beginning of a research project:

• To familiarize yourself with the current state of knowledge on your topic
• To ensure that you’re not just repeating what others have already done
• To identify gaps in knowledge and unresolved problems that your research can address
• To develop your theoretical framework and methodology
• To provide an overview of the key findings and debates on the topic

Writing the literature review shows your reader how your work relates to existing research and what new insights it will contribute.

The literature review usually comes near the beginning of your thesis or dissertation . After the introduction , it grounds your research in a scholarly field and leads directly to your theoretical framework or methodology .

A literature review is a survey of credible sources on a topic, often used in dissertations , theses, and research papers . Literature reviews give an overview of knowledge on a subject, helping you identify relevant theories and methods, as well as gaps in existing research. Literature reviews are set up similarly to other  academic texts , with an introduction , a main body, and a conclusion .

An  annotated bibliography is a list of  source references that has a short description (called an annotation ) for each of the sources. It is often assigned as part of the research process for a  paper .  

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Lau F, Kuziemsky C, editors. Handbook of eHealth Evaluation: An Evidence-based Approach [Internet]. Victoria (BC): University of Victoria; 2017 Feb 27.

Handbook of eHealth Evaluation: An Evidence-based Approach [Internet].

Chapter 9 methods for literature reviews.

Guy Paré and Spyros Kitsiou .

9.1. Introduction

Literature reviews play a critical role in scholarship because science remains, first and foremost, a cumulative endeavour ( vom Brocke et al., 2009 ). As in any academic discipline, rigorous knowledge syntheses are becoming indispensable in keeping up with an exponentially growing eHealth literature, assisting practitioners, academics, and graduate students in finding, evaluating, and synthesizing the contents of many empirical and conceptual papers. Among other methods, literature reviews are essential for: (a) identifying what has been written on a subject or topic; (b) determining the extent to which a specific research area reveals any interpretable trends or patterns; (c) aggregating empirical findings related to a narrow research question to support evidence-based practice; (d) generating new frameworks and theories; and (e) identifying topics or questions requiring more investigation ( Paré, Trudel, Jaana, & Kitsiou, 2015 ).

Literature reviews can take two major forms. The most prevalent one is the “literature review” or “background” section within a journal paper or a chapter in a graduate thesis. This section synthesizes the extant literature and usually identifies the gaps in knowledge that the empirical study addresses ( Sylvester, Tate, & Johnstone, 2013 ). It may also provide a theoretical foundation for the proposed study, substantiate the presence of the research problem, justify the research as one that contributes something new to the cumulated knowledge, or validate the methods and approaches for the proposed study ( Hart, 1998 ; Levy & Ellis, 2006 ).

The second form of literature review, which is the focus of this chapter, constitutes an original and valuable work of research in and of itself ( Paré et al., 2015 ). Rather than providing a base for a researcher’s own work, it creates a solid starting point for all members of the community interested in a particular area or topic ( Mulrow, 1987 ). The so-called “review article” is a journal-length paper which has an overarching purpose to synthesize the literature in a field, without collecting or analyzing any primary data ( Green, Johnson, & Adams, 2006 ).

When appropriately conducted, review articles represent powerful information sources for practitioners looking for state-of-the art evidence to guide their decision-making and work practices ( Paré et al., 2015 ). Further, high-quality reviews become frequently cited pieces of work which researchers seek out as a first clear outline of the literature when undertaking empirical studies ( Cooper, 1988 ; Rowe, 2014 ). Scholars who track and gauge the impact of articles have found that review papers are cited and downloaded more often than any other type of published article ( Cronin, Ryan, & Coughlan, 2008 ; Montori, Wilczynski, Morgan, Haynes, & Hedges, 2003 ; Patsopoulos, Analatos, & Ioannidis, 2005 ). The reason for their popularity may be the fact that reading the review enables one to have an overview, if not a detailed knowledge of the area in question, as well as references to the most useful primary sources ( Cronin et al., 2008 ). Although they are not easy to conduct, the commitment to complete a review article provides a tremendous service to one’s academic community ( Paré et al., 2015 ; Petticrew & Roberts, 2006 ). Most, if not all, peer-reviewed journals in the fields of medical informatics publish review articles of some type.

The main objectives of this chapter are fourfold: (a) to provide an overview of the major steps and activities involved in conducting a stand-alone literature review; (b) to describe and contrast the different types of review articles that can contribute to the eHealth knowledge base; (c) to illustrate each review type with one or two examples from the eHealth literature; and (d) to provide a series of recommendations for prospective authors of review articles in this domain.

9.2. Overview of the Literature Review Process and Steps

As explained in Templier and Paré (2015) , there are six generic steps involved in conducting a review article:

• formulating the research question(s) and objective(s),
• searching the extant literature,
• screening for inclusion,
• assessing the quality of primary studies,
• extracting data, and
• analyzing data.

Although these steps are presented here in sequential order, one must keep in mind that the review process can be iterative and that many activities can be initiated during the planning stage and later refined during subsequent phases ( Finfgeld-Connett & Johnson, 2013 ; Kitchenham & Charters, 2007 ).

Formulating the research question(s) and objective(s): As a first step, members of the review team must appropriately justify the need for the review itself ( Petticrew & Roberts, 2006 ), identify the review’s main objective(s) ( Okoli & Schabram, 2010 ), and define the concepts or variables at the heart of their synthesis ( Cooper & Hedges, 2009 ; Webster & Watson, 2002 ). Importantly, they also need to articulate the research question(s) they propose to investigate ( Kitchenham & Charters, 2007 ). In this regard, we concur with Jesson, Matheson, and Lacey (2011) that clearly articulated research questions are key ingredients that guide the entire review methodology; they underscore the type of information that is needed, inform the search for and selection of relevant literature, and guide or orient the subsequent analysis. Searching the extant literature: The next step consists of searching the literature and making decisions about the suitability of material to be considered in the review ( Cooper, 1988 ). There exist three main coverage strategies. First, exhaustive coverage means an effort is made to be as comprehensive as possible in order to ensure that all relevant studies, published and unpublished, are included in the review and, thus, conclusions are based on this all-inclusive knowledge base. The second type of coverage consists of presenting materials that are representative of most other works in a given field or area. Often authors who adopt this strategy will search for relevant articles in a small number of top-tier journals in a field ( Paré et al., 2015 ). In the third strategy, the review team concentrates on prior works that have been central or pivotal to a particular topic. This may include empirical studies or conceptual papers that initiated a line of investigation, changed how problems or questions were framed, introduced new methods or concepts, or engendered important debate ( Cooper, 1988 ). Screening for inclusion: The following step consists of evaluating the applicability of the material identified in the preceding step ( Levy & Ellis, 2006 ; vom Brocke et al., 2009 ). Once a group of potential studies has been identified, members of the review team must screen them to determine their relevance ( Petticrew & Roberts, 2006 ). A set of predetermined rules provides a basis for including or excluding certain studies. This exercise requires a significant investment on the part of researchers, who must ensure enhanced objectivity and avoid biases or mistakes. As discussed later in this chapter, for certain types of reviews there must be at least two independent reviewers involved in the screening process and a procedure to resolve disagreements must also be in place ( Liberati et al., 2009 ; Shea et al., 2009 ). Assessing the quality of primary studies: In addition to screening material for inclusion, members of the review team may need to assess the scientific quality of the selected studies, that is, appraise the rigour of the research design and methods. Such formal assessment, which is usually conducted independently by at least two coders, helps members of the review team refine which studies to include in the final sample, determine whether or not the differences in quality may affect their conclusions, or guide how they analyze the data and interpret the findings ( Petticrew & Roberts, 2006 ). Ascribing quality scores to each primary study or considering through domain-based evaluations which study components have or have not been designed and executed appropriately makes it possible to reflect on the extent to which the selected study addresses possible biases and maximizes validity ( Shea et al., 2009 ). Extracting data: The following step involves gathering or extracting applicable information from each primary study included in the sample and deciding what is relevant to the problem of interest ( Cooper & Hedges, 2009 ). Indeed, the type of data that should be recorded mainly depends on the initial research questions ( Okoli & Schabram, 2010 ). However, important information may also be gathered about how, when, where and by whom the primary study was conducted, the research design and methods, or qualitative/quantitative results ( Cooper & Hedges, 2009 ). Analyzing and synthesizing data : As a final step, members of the review team must collate, summarize, aggregate, organize, and compare the evidence extracted from the included studies. The extracted data must be presented in a meaningful way that suggests a new contribution to the extant literature ( Jesson et al., 2011 ). Webster and Watson (2002) warn researchers that literature reviews should be much more than lists of papers and should provide a coherent lens to make sense of extant knowledge on a given topic. There exist several methods and techniques for synthesizing quantitative (e.g., frequency analysis, meta-analysis) and qualitative (e.g., grounded theory, narrative analysis, meta-ethnography) evidence ( Dixon-Woods, Agarwal, Jones, Young, & Sutton, 2005 ; Thomas & Harden, 2008 ).

9.3. Types of Review Articles and Brief Illustrations

EHealth researchers have at their disposal a number of approaches and methods for making sense out of existing literature, all with the purpose of casting current research findings into historical contexts or explaining contradictions that might exist among a set of primary research studies conducted on a particular topic. Our classification scheme is largely inspired from Paré and colleagues’ (2015) typology. Below we present and illustrate those review types that we feel are central to the growth and development of the eHealth domain.

9.3.1. Narrative Reviews

The narrative review is the “traditional” way of reviewing the extant literature and is skewed towards a qualitative interpretation of prior knowledge ( Sylvester et al., 2013 ). Put simply, a narrative review attempts to summarize or synthesize what has been written on a particular topic but does not seek generalization or cumulative knowledge from what is reviewed ( Davies, 2000 ; Green et al., 2006 ). Instead, the review team often undertakes the task of accumulating and synthesizing the literature to demonstrate the value of a particular point of view ( Baumeister & Leary, 1997 ). As such, reviewers may selectively ignore or limit the attention paid to certain studies in order to make a point. In this rather unsystematic approach, the selection of information from primary articles is subjective, lacks explicit criteria for inclusion and can lead to biased interpretations or inferences ( Green et al., 2006 ). There are several narrative reviews in the particular eHealth domain, as in all fields, which follow such an unstructured approach ( Silva et al., 2015 ; Paul et al., 2015 ).

Despite these criticisms, this type of review can be very useful in gathering together a volume of literature in a specific subject area and synthesizing it. As mentioned above, its primary purpose is to provide the reader with a comprehensive background for understanding current knowledge and highlighting the significance of new research ( Cronin et al., 2008 ). Faculty like to use narrative reviews in the classroom because they are often more up to date than textbooks, provide a single source for students to reference, and expose students to peer-reviewed literature ( Green et al., 2006 ). For researchers, narrative reviews can inspire research ideas by identifying gaps or inconsistencies in a body of knowledge, thus helping researchers to determine research questions or formulate hypotheses. Importantly, narrative reviews can also be used as educational articles to bring practitioners up to date with certain topics of issues ( Green et al., 2006 ).

Recently, there have been several efforts to introduce more rigour in narrative reviews that will elucidate common pitfalls and bring changes into their publication standards. Information systems researchers, among others, have contributed to advancing knowledge on how to structure a “traditional” review. For instance, Levy and Ellis (2006) proposed a generic framework for conducting such reviews. Their model follows the systematic data processing approach comprised of three steps, namely: (a) literature search and screening; (b) data extraction and analysis; and (c) writing the literature review. They provide detailed and very helpful instructions on how to conduct each step of the review process. As another methodological contribution, vom Brocke et al. (2009) offered a series of guidelines for conducting literature reviews, with a particular focus on how to search and extract the relevant body of knowledge. Last, Bandara, Miskon, and Fielt (2011) proposed a structured, predefined and tool-supported method to identify primary studies within a feasible scope, extract relevant content from identified articles, synthesize and analyze the findings, and effectively write and present the results of the literature review. We highly recommend that prospective authors of narrative reviews consult these useful sources before embarking on their work.

Darlow and Wen (2015) provide a good example of a highly structured narrative review in the eHealth field. These authors synthesized published articles that describe the development process of mobile health ( m-health ) interventions for patients’ cancer care self-management. As in most narrative reviews, the scope of the research questions being investigated is broad: (a) how development of these systems are carried out; (b) which methods are used to investigate these systems; and (c) what conclusions can be drawn as a result of the development of these systems. To provide clear answers to these questions, a literature search was conducted on six electronic databases and Google Scholar . The search was performed using several terms and free text words, combining them in an appropriate manner. Four inclusion and three exclusion criteria were utilized during the screening process. Both authors independently reviewed each of the identified articles to determine eligibility and extract study information. A flow diagram shows the number of studies identified, screened, and included or excluded at each stage of study selection. In terms of contributions, this review provides a series of practical recommendations for m-health intervention development.

9.3.2. Descriptive or Mapping Reviews

The primary goal of a descriptive review is to determine the extent to which a body of knowledge in a particular research topic reveals any interpretable pattern or trend with respect to pre-existing propositions, theories, methodologies or findings ( King & He, 2005 ; Paré et al., 2015 ). In contrast with narrative reviews, descriptive reviews follow a systematic and transparent procedure, including searching, screening and classifying studies ( Petersen, Vakkalanka, & Kuzniarz, 2015 ). Indeed, structured search methods are used to form a representative sample of a larger group of published works ( Paré et al., 2015 ). Further, authors of descriptive reviews extract from each study certain characteristics of interest, such as publication year, research methods, data collection techniques, and direction or strength of research outcomes (e.g., positive, negative, or non-significant) in the form of frequency analysis to produce quantitative results ( Sylvester et al., 2013 ). In essence, each study included in a descriptive review is treated as the unit of analysis and the published literature as a whole provides a database from which the authors attempt to identify any interpretable trends or draw overall conclusions about the merits of existing conceptualizations, propositions, methods or findings ( Paré et al., 2015 ). In doing so, a descriptive review may claim that its findings represent the state of the art in a particular domain ( King & He, 2005 ).

In the fields of health sciences and medical informatics, reviews that focus on examining the range, nature and evolution of a topic area are described by Anderson, Allen, Peckham, and Goodwin (2008) as mapping reviews . Like descriptive reviews, the research questions are generic and usually relate to publication patterns and trends. There is no preconceived plan to systematically review all of the literature although this can be done. Instead, researchers often present studies that are representative of most works published in a particular area and they consider a specific time frame to be mapped.

An example of this approach in the eHealth domain is offered by DeShazo, Lavallie, and Wolf (2009). The purpose of this descriptive or mapping review was to characterize publication trends in the medical informatics literature over a 20-year period (1987 to 2006). To achieve this ambitious objective, the authors performed a bibliometric analysis of medical informatics citations indexed in medline using publication trends, journal frequencies, impact factors, Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) term frequencies, and characteristics of citations. Findings revealed that there were over 77,000 medical informatics articles published during the covered period in numerous journals and that the average annual growth rate was 12%. The MeSH term analysis also suggested a strong interdisciplinary trend. Finally, average impact scores increased over time with two notable growth periods. Overall, patterns in research outputs that seem to characterize the historic trends and current components of the field of medical informatics suggest it may be a maturing discipline (DeShazo et al., 2009).

9.3.3. Scoping Reviews

Scoping reviews attempt to provide an initial indication of the potential size and nature of the extant literature on an emergent topic (Arksey & O’Malley, 2005; Daudt, van Mossel, & Scott, 2013 ; Levac, Colquhoun, & O’Brien, 2010). A scoping review may be conducted to examine the extent, range and nature of research activities in a particular area, determine the value of undertaking a full systematic review (discussed next), or identify research gaps in the extant literature ( Paré et al., 2015 ). In line with their main objective, scoping reviews usually conclude with the presentation of a detailed research agenda for future works along with potential implications for both practice and research.

Unlike narrative and descriptive reviews, the whole point of scoping the field is to be as comprehensive as possible, including grey literature (Arksey & O’Malley, 2005). Inclusion and exclusion criteria must be established to help researchers eliminate studies that are not aligned with the research questions. It is also recommended that at least two independent coders review abstracts yielded from the search strategy and then the full articles for study selection ( Daudt et al., 2013 ). The synthesized evidence from content or thematic analysis is relatively easy to present in tabular form (Arksey & O’Malley, 2005; Thomas & Harden, 2008 ).

One of the most highly cited scoping reviews in the eHealth domain was published by Archer, Fevrier-Thomas, Lokker, McKibbon, and Straus (2011) . These authors reviewed the existing literature on personal health record ( phr ) systems including design, functionality, implementation, applications, outcomes, and benefits. Seven databases were searched from 1985 to March 2010. Several search terms relating to phr s were used during this process. Two authors independently screened titles and abstracts to determine inclusion status. A second screen of full-text articles, again by two independent members of the research team, ensured that the studies described phr s. All in all, 130 articles met the criteria and their data were extracted manually into a database. The authors concluded that although there is a large amount of survey, observational, cohort/panel, and anecdotal evidence of phr benefits and satisfaction for patients, more research is needed to evaluate the results of phr implementations. Their in-depth analysis of the literature signalled that there is little solid evidence from randomized controlled trials or other studies through the use of phr s. Hence, they suggested that more research is needed that addresses the current lack of understanding of optimal functionality and usability of these systems, and how they can play a beneficial role in supporting patient self-management ( Archer et al., 2011 ).

9.3.4. Forms of Aggregative Reviews

Healthcare providers, practitioners, and policy-makers are nowadays overwhelmed with large volumes of information, including research-based evidence from numerous clinical trials and evaluation studies, assessing the effectiveness of health information technologies and interventions ( Ammenwerth & de Keizer, 2004 ; Deshazo et al., 2009 ). It is unrealistic to expect that all these disparate actors will have the time, skills, and necessary resources to identify the available evidence in the area of their expertise and consider it when making decisions. Systematic reviews that involve the rigorous application of scientific strategies aimed at limiting subjectivity and bias (i.e., systematic and random errors) can respond to this challenge.

Systematic reviews attempt to aggregate, appraise, and synthesize in a single source all empirical evidence that meet a set of previously specified eligibility criteria in order to answer a clearly formulated and often narrow research question on a particular topic of interest to support evidence-based practice ( Liberati et al., 2009 ). They adhere closely to explicit scientific principles ( Liberati et al., 2009 ) and rigorous methodological guidelines (Higgins & Green, 2008) aimed at reducing random and systematic errors that can lead to deviations from the truth in results or inferences. The use of explicit methods allows systematic reviews to aggregate a large body of research evidence, assess whether effects or relationships are in the same direction and of the same general magnitude, explain possible inconsistencies between study results, and determine the strength of the overall evidence for every outcome of interest based on the quality of included studies and the general consistency among them ( Cook, Mulrow, & Haynes, 1997 ). The main procedures of a systematic review involve:

• Formulating a review question and developing a search strategy based on explicit inclusion criteria for the identification of eligible studies (usually described in the context of a detailed review protocol).
• Searching for eligible studies using multiple databases and information sources, including grey literature sources, without any language restrictions.
• Selecting studies, extracting data, and assessing risk of bias in a duplicate manner using two independent reviewers to avoid random or systematic errors in the process.
• Analyzing data using quantitative or qualitative methods.
• Presenting results in summary of findings tables.
• Interpreting results and drawing conclusions.

Many systematic reviews, but not all, use statistical methods to combine the results of independent studies into a single quantitative estimate or summary effect size. Known as meta-analyses , these reviews use specific data extraction and statistical techniques (e.g., network, frequentist, or Bayesian meta-analyses) to calculate from each study by outcome of interest an effect size along with a confidence interval that reflects the degree of uncertainty behind the point estimate of effect ( Borenstein, Hedges, Higgins, & Rothstein, 2009 ; Deeks, Higgins, & Altman, 2008 ). Subsequently, they use fixed or random-effects analysis models to combine the results of the included studies, assess statistical heterogeneity, and calculate a weighted average of the effect estimates from the different studies, taking into account their sample sizes. The summary effect size is a value that reflects the average magnitude of the intervention effect for a particular outcome of interest or, more generally, the strength of a relationship between two variables across all studies included in the systematic review. By statistically combining data from multiple studies, meta-analyses can create more precise and reliable estimates of intervention effects than those derived from individual studies alone, when these are examined independently as discrete sources of information.

The review by Gurol-Urganci, de Jongh, Vodopivec-Jamsek, Atun, and Car (2013) on the effects of mobile phone messaging reminders for attendance at healthcare appointments is an illustrative example of a high-quality systematic review with meta-analysis. Missed appointments are a major cause of inefficiency in healthcare delivery with substantial monetary costs to health systems. These authors sought to assess whether mobile phone-based appointment reminders delivered through Short Message Service ( sms ) or Multimedia Messaging Service ( mms ) are effective in improving rates of patient attendance and reducing overall costs. To this end, they conducted a comprehensive search on multiple databases using highly sensitive search strategies without language or publication-type restrictions to identify all rct s that are eligible for inclusion. In order to minimize the risk of omitting eligible studies not captured by the original search, they supplemented all electronic searches with manual screening of trial registers and references contained in the included studies. Study selection, data extraction, and risk of bias assessments were performed inde­­pen­dently by two coders using standardized methods to ensure consistency and to eliminate potential errors. Findings from eight rct s involving 6,615 participants were pooled into meta-analyses to calculate the magnitude of effects that mobile text message reminders have on the rate of attendance at healthcare appointments compared to no reminders and phone call reminders.

Meta-analyses are regarded as powerful tools for deriving meaningful conclusions. However, there are situations in which it is neither reasonable nor appropriate to pool studies together using meta-analytic methods simply because there is extensive clinical heterogeneity between the included studies or variation in measurement tools, comparisons, or outcomes of interest. In these cases, systematic reviews can use qualitative synthesis methods such as vote counting, content analysis, classification schemes and tabulations, as an alternative approach to narratively synthesize the results of the independent studies included in the review. This form of review is known as qualitative systematic review.

A rigorous example of one such review in the eHealth domain is presented by Mickan, Atherton, Roberts, Heneghan, and Tilson (2014) on the use of handheld computers by healthcare professionals and their impact on access to information and clinical decision-making. In line with the methodological guide­lines for systematic reviews, these authors: (a) developed and registered with prospero ( www.crd.york.ac.uk/ prospero / ) an a priori review protocol; (b) conducted comprehensive searches for eligible studies using multiple databases and other supplementary strategies (e.g., forward searches); and (c) subsequently carried out study selection, data extraction, and risk of bias assessments in a duplicate manner to eliminate potential errors in the review process. Heterogeneity between the included studies in terms of reported outcomes and measures precluded the use of meta-analytic methods. To this end, the authors resorted to using narrative analysis and synthesis to describe the effectiveness of handheld computers on accessing information for clinical knowledge, adherence to safety and clinical quality guidelines, and diagnostic decision-making.

In recent years, the number of systematic reviews in the field of health informatics has increased considerably. Systematic reviews with discordant findings can cause great confusion and make it difficult for decision-makers to interpret the review-level evidence ( Moher, 2013 ). Therefore, there is a growing need for appraisal and synthesis of prior systematic reviews to ensure that decision-making is constantly informed by the best available accumulated evidence. Umbrella reviews , also known as overviews of systematic reviews, are tertiary types of evidence synthesis that aim to accomplish this; that is, they aim to compare and contrast findings from multiple systematic reviews and meta-analyses ( Becker & Oxman, 2008 ). Umbrella reviews generally adhere to the same principles and rigorous methodological guidelines used in systematic reviews. However, the unit of analysis in umbrella reviews is the systematic review rather than the primary study ( Becker & Oxman, 2008 ). Unlike systematic reviews that have a narrow focus of inquiry, umbrella reviews focus on broader research topics for which there are several potential interventions ( Smith, Devane, Begley, & Clarke, 2011 ). A recent umbrella review on the effects of home telemonitoring interventions for patients with heart failure critically appraised, compared, and synthesized evidence from 15 systematic reviews to investigate which types of home telemonitoring technologies and forms of interventions are more effective in reducing mortality and hospital admissions ( Kitsiou, Paré, & Jaana, 2015 ).

9.3.5. Realist Reviews

Realist reviews are theory-driven interpretative reviews developed to inform, enhance, or supplement conventional systematic reviews by making sense of heterogeneous evidence about complex interventions applied in diverse contexts in a way that informs policy decision-making ( Greenhalgh, Wong, Westhorp, & Pawson, 2011 ). They originated from criticisms of positivist systematic reviews which centre on their “simplistic” underlying assumptions ( Oates, 2011 ). As explained above, systematic reviews seek to identify causation. Such logic is appropriate for fields like medicine and education where findings of randomized controlled trials can be aggregated to see whether a new treatment or intervention does improve outcomes. However, many argue that it is not possible to establish such direct causal links between interventions and outcomes in fields such as social policy, management, and information systems where for any intervention there is unlikely to be a regular or consistent outcome ( Oates, 2011 ; Pawson, 2006 ; Rousseau, Manning, & Denyer, 2008 ).

To circumvent these limitations, Pawson, Greenhalgh, Harvey, and Walshe (2005) have proposed a new approach for synthesizing knowledge that seeks to unpack the mechanism of how “complex interventions” work in particular contexts. The basic research question — what works? — which is usually associated with systematic reviews changes to: what is it about this intervention that works, for whom, in what circumstances, in what respects and why? Realist reviews have no particular preference for either quantitative or qualitative evidence. As a theory-building approach, a realist review usually starts by articulating likely underlying mechanisms and then scrutinizes available evidence to find out whether and where these mechanisms are applicable ( Shepperd et al., 2009 ). Primary studies found in the extant literature are viewed as case studies which can test and modify the initial theories ( Rousseau et al., 2008 ).

The main objective pursued in the realist review conducted by Otte-Trojel, de Bont, Rundall, and van de Klundert (2014) was to examine how patient portals contribute to health service delivery and patient outcomes. The specific goals were to investigate how outcomes are produced and, most importantly, how variations in outcomes can be explained. The research team started with an exploratory review of background documents and research studies to identify ways in which patient portals may contribute to health service delivery and patient outcomes. The authors identified six main ways which represent “educated guesses” to be tested against the data in the evaluation studies. These studies were identified through a formal and systematic search in four databases between 2003 and 2013. Two members of the research team selected the articles using a pre-established list of inclusion and exclusion criteria and following a two-step procedure. The authors then extracted data from the selected articles and created several tables, one for each outcome category. They organized information to bring forward those mechanisms where patient portals contribute to outcomes and the variation in outcomes across different contexts.

9.3.6. Critical Reviews

Lastly, critical reviews aim to provide a critical evaluation and interpretive analysis of existing literature on a particular topic of interest to reveal strengths, weaknesses, contradictions, controversies, inconsistencies, and/or other important issues with respect to theories, hypotheses, research methods or results ( Baumeister & Leary, 1997 ; Kirkevold, 1997 ). Unlike other review types, critical reviews attempt to take a reflective account of the research that has been done in a particular area of interest, and assess its credibility by using appraisal instruments or critical interpretive methods. In this way, critical reviews attempt to constructively inform other scholars about the weaknesses of prior research and strengthen knowledge development by giving focus and direction to studies for further improvement ( Kirkevold, 1997 ).

Kitsiou, Paré, and Jaana (2013) provide an example of a critical review that assessed the methodological quality of prior systematic reviews of home telemonitoring studies for chronic patients. The authors conducted a comprehensive search on multiple databases to identify eligible reviews and subsequently used a validated instrument to conduct an in-depth quality appraisal. Results indicate that the majority of systematic reviews in this particular area suffer from important methodological flaws and biases that impair their internal validity and limit their usefulness for clinical and decision-making purposes. To this end, they provide a number of recommendations to strengthen knowledge development towards improving the design and execution of future reviews on home telemonitoring.

9.4. Summary

Table 9.1 outlines the main types of literature reviews that were described in the previous sub-sections and summarizes the main characteristics that distinguish one review type from another. It also includes key references to methodological guidelines and useful sources that can be used by eHealth scholars and researchers for planning and developing reviews.

Typology of Literature Reviews (adapted from Paré et al., 2015).

As shown in Table 9.1 , each review type addresses different kinds of research questions or objectives, which subsequently define and dictate the methods and approaches that need to be used to achieve the overarching goal(s) of the review. For example, in the case of narrative reviews, there is greater flexibility in searching and synthesizing articles ( Green et al., 2006 ). Researchers are often relatively free to use a diversity of approaches to search, identify, and select relevant scientific articles, describe their operational characteristics, present how the individual studies fit together, and formulate conclusions. On the other hand, systematic reviews are characterized by their high level of systematicity, rigour, and use of explicit methods, based on an “a priori” review plan that aims to minimize bias in the analysis and synthesis process (Higgins & Green, 2008). Some reviews are exploratory in nature (e.g., scoping/mapping reviews), whereas others may be conducted to discover patterns (e.g., descriptive reviews) or involve a synthesis approach that may include the critical analysis of prior research ( Paré et al., 2015 ). Hence, in order to select the most appropriate type of review, it is critical to know before embarking on a review project, why the research synthesis is conducted and what type of methods are best aligned with the pursued goals.

9.5. Concluding Remarks

In light of the increased use of evidence-based practice and research generating stronger evidence ( Grady et al., 2011 ; Lyden et al., 2013 ), review articles have become essential tools for summarizing, synthesizing, integrating or critically appraising prior knowledge in the eHealth field. As mentioned earlier, when rigorously conducted review articles represent powerful information sources for eHealth scholars and practitioners looking for state-of-the-art evidence. The typology of literature reviews we used herein will allow eHealth researchers, graduate students and practitioners to gain a better understanding of the similarities and differences between review types.

We must stress that this classification scheme does not privilege any specific type of review as being of higher quality than another ( Paré et al., 2015 ). As explained above, each type of review has its own strengths and limitations. Having said that, we realize that the methodological rigour of any review — be it qualitative, quantitative or mixed — is a critical aspect that should be considered seriously by prospective authors. In the present context, the notion of rigour refers to the reliability and validity of the review process described in section 9.2. For one thing, reliability is related to the reproducibility of the review process and steps, which is facilitated by a comprehensive documentation of the literature search process, extraction, coding and analysis performed in the review. Whether the search is comprehensive or not, whether it involves a methodical approach for data extraction and synthesis or not, it is important that the review documents in an explicit and transparent manner the steps and approach that were used in the process of its development. Next, validity characterizes the degree to which the review process was conducted appropriately. It goes beyond documentation and reflects decisions related to the selection of the sources, the search terms used, the period of time covered, the articles selected in the search, and the application of backward and forward searches ( vom Brocke et al., 2009 ). In short, the rigour of any review article is reflected by the explicitness of its methods (i.e., transparency) and the soundness of the approach used. We refer those interested in the concepts of rigour and quality to the work of Templier and Paré (2015) which offers a detailed set of methodological guidelines for conducting and evaluating various types of review articles.

To conclude, our main objective in this chapter was to demystify the various types of literature reviews that are central to the continuous development of the eHealth field. It is our hope that our descriptive account will serve as a valuable source for those conducting, evaluating or using reviews in this important and growing domain.

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• Cite this Page Paré G, Kitsiou S. Chapter 9 Methods for Literature Reviews. In: Lau F, Kuziemsky C, editors. Handbook of eHealth Evaluation: An Evidence-based Approach [Internet]. Victoria (BC): University of Victoria; 2017 Feb 27.
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What is a literature review?

A literature review is an integrated analysis -- not just a summary-- of scholarly writings and other relevant evidence related directly to your research question.  That is, it represents a synthesis of the evidence that provides background information on your topic and shows a association between the evidence and your research question.

A literature review may be a stand alone work or the introduction to a larger research paper, depending on the assignment.  Rely heavily on the guidelines your instructor has given you.

Why is it important?

A literature review is important because it:

• Explains the background of research on a topic.
• Demonstrates why a topic is significant to a subject area.
• Discovers relationships between research studies/ideas.
• Identifies major themes, concepts, and researchers on a topic.
• Identifies critical gaps and points of disagreement.
• Discusses further research questions that logically come out of the previous studies.

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APA Style Blog - for those harder to find answers

1. Choose a topic. Define your research question.

Your literature review should be guided by your central research question.  The literature represents background and research developments related to a specific research question, interpreted and analyzed by you in a synthesized way.

• Make sure your research question is not too broad or too narrow.  Is it manageable?
• Begin writing down terms that are related to your question. These will be useful for searches later.
• If you have the opportunity, discuss your topic with your professor and your class mates.

2. Decide on the scope of your review

How many studies do you need to look at? How comprehensive should it be? How many years should it cover? 

• This may depend on your assignment.  How many sources does the assignment require?

3. Select the databases you will use to conduct your searches.

Make a list of the databases you will search. 

Where to find databases:

• use the tabs on this guide
• Find other databases in the Nursing Information Resources web page
• More on the Medical Library web page
• ... and more on the Yale University Library web page

4. Conduct your searches to find the evidence. Keep track of your searches.

• Use the key words in your question, as well as synonyms for those words, as terms in your search. Use the database tutorials for help.
• Save the searches in the databases. This saves time when you want to redo, or modify, the searches. It is also helpful to use as a guide is the searches are not finding any useful results.
• Review the abstracts of research studies carefully. This will save you time.
• Use the bibliographies and references of research studies you find to locate others.
• Check with your professor, or a subject expert in the field, if you are missing any key works in the field.
• Ask your librarian for help at any time.
• Use a citation manager, such as EndNote as the repository for your citations. See the EndNote tutorials for help.

Review the literature

Some questions to help you analyze the research:

• What was the research question of the study you are reviewing? What were the authors trying to discover?
• Was the research funded by a source that could influence the findings?
• What were the research methodologies? Analyze its literature review, the samples and variables used, the results, and the conclusions.
• Does the research seem to be complete? Could it have been conducted more soundly? What further questions does it raise?
• If there are conflicting studies, why do you think that is?
• How are the authors viewed in the field? Has this study been cited? If so, how has it been analyzed?

Tips: 

• Review the abstracts carefully.  
• Keep careful notes so that you may track your thought processes during the research process.
• Create a matrix of the studies for easy analysis, and synthesis, across all of the studies.
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How to write a superb literature review

Andy Tay is a freelance writer based in Singapore.

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Literature reviews are important resources for scientists. They provide historical context for a field while offering opinions on its future trajectory. Creating them can provide inspiration for one’s own research, as well as some practice in writing. But few scientists are trained in how to write a review — or in what constitutes an excellent one. Even picking the appropriate software to use can be an involved decision (see ‘Tools and techniques’). So Nature asked editors and working scientists with well-cited reviews for their tips.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-03422-x

Interviews have been edited for length and clarity.

Updates & Corrections

Correction 09 December 2020 : An earlier version of the tables in this article included some incorrect details about the programs Zotero, Endnote and Manubot. These have now been corrected.

Hsing, I.-M., Xu, Y. & Zhao, W. Electroanalysis 19 , 755–768 (2007).

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Ledesma, H. A. et al. Nature Nanotechnol. 14 , 645–657 (2019).

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Choi, Y. & Lee, S. Y. Nature Rev. Chem . https://doi.org/10.1038/s41570-020-00221-w (2020).

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What is a Literature Review?

A literature or narrative review is a comprehensive review and analysis of the published literature on a specific topic or research question. The literature that is reviewed contains: books, articles, academic articles, conference proceedings, association papers, and dissertations. It contains the most pertinent studies and points to important past and current research and practices. It provides background and context, and shows how your research will contribute to the field. 

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Source: Grant, Maria J., and Andrew Booth. “A Typology of Reviews: An Analysis of 14 Review Types and Associated Methodologies.” Health Information & Libraries Journal, vol. 26, no. 2, June 2009, pp. 91–108. Wiley Online Library, doi:10.1111/j.1471-1842.2009.00848.x.

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A literature review is a comprehensive summary of previous research on a topic. The literature review surveys scholarly articles, books, and other sources relevant to a particular area of research.  The review should enumerate, describe, summarize, objectively evaluate and clarify this previous research.  It should give a theoretical base for the research and help you (the author) determine the nature of your research.  The literature review acknowledges the work of previous researchers, and in so doing, assures the reader that your work has been well conceived.  It is assumed that by mentioning a previous work in the field of study, that the author has read, evaluated, and assimiliated that work into the work at hand.

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A lit. review is a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the principal research about the topic being studied. The review helps form the intellectual framework for the study. The review need not be exhaustive; the objective is not to list as many relevant books, articles, reports as possible. However, the review should contain the most pertinent studies and point to important past and current research and practices in the field.

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Use of Libraries, Literature Search and Review

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Walliman, N. (2011). Your research project: Designing and planning your work . Sage Publications Ltd.

Bell, J. (2010). Doing your research project: A guide for first-time researchers in education and social science (5th ed.). Open University Press.

Baker, S. (1999). Finding and searching information sources. In Doing your research project: A guide for first-time researchers in education and social science (Ch. 5, 3rd ed.). Open University Press.

Thiel, D. V. (2014). Research methods for engineers . Cambridge University Press.

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Ajimotokan, H.A. (2023). Use of Libraries, Literature Search and Review. In: Research Techniques. SpringerBriefs in Applied Sciences and Technology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13109-7_3

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Introduction to library research.

• Types of Periodicals
• How to Tell If It's Peer-reviewed
• The Peer Review Process

Video: Scholarly Vs. Non-Scholarly Sources

• Popular Magazine vs. Scholarly Journal: Handout
• Google Scholar
• Finding Books and Articles
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• Reference: Dictionaries and Encyclopedias
• Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Sources
• Primary Materials and Statistics
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What is a periodical?   A periodical is anything that comes out periodically. Magazines, newspapers, and journals are all periodicals. They may come out daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly or annually, but new issues are released on a fixed schedule. While this legacy fades with the dominance of 24/7 production in the digital age, periodicity still plays an important role in scholarly publication.

Who is the audience?   Magazines, newspapers, trade journals, and academic journals are intended for different audiences.

Distinguishing content on the internet:  The stylistic cues that make it relatively easy to distinguish different types of content vanish when presented on the web. It's easy to tell the difference between an analog newspaper and scholarly journal. They look and feel very different from each other. When using information from the internet it is important to develop the skills to critically analyze the information you're presented with, rather than rely on stylistic cues to determine the quality of information you're consuming.

How to Tell if an Article is Peer Reviewed

• Journals: How to Locate Top Journals in Your Discipline So many scholarly journals! How can you tell which ones are the best?

The Peer Review Process 

• Peer-Review Chart (pdf)

Check out this video from Virginia Commonwealth University VCU Libraries on the differences between scholarly and non-scholarly sources.

Here is a handout which may help you distinguish academic/scholarly journals from popular magazines.

• Distinguishing Magazines and Scholarly Journals A brief guide to help tell the difference between magazines and journals.
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Information Literacy: 14. Types of Periodicals

• Goals & Objectives
• 00. Virtual Tour Library
• 01. Develop a Topic
• 02. Generate Search Terms
• 03. Evaluate Resources
• 04. Fight Misinformation
• 05. Plagiarism
• 06. Incorporating Sources
• 07. Peer-Review
• 08. What are Databases?
• 09. Artificial Intelligence (AI) (Redirect)
• 10. Library Catalogs
• 11. Interlibrary Loan
• 12. Popular vs. Scholarly
• 13. Primary & Secondary Sources
• 14. Types of Periodicals
• 15. Anatomy of a Scientific Scholarly Article
• 16. Grey Literature
• 17. Internet Search Tips
• 18. Research Consultations
• 19. Following Citations
• 20. Citation Styles (APA, MLA, Chicago...)
• 21. Annotated Bibliographies
• 22. Open Educational Resources
• 23. Data Management
• 24. Google Scholar
• 25. Copyright
• Learning Outcomes
• Reflecting on IL
• Types of Periodicals Chart

Main Types of Periodical

Scholarly and research journals.

Scholarly and research articles often report original research or review the works of others in deep and lengthy analysis of issues related to discipline.  They are peer-reviewed which is also known as "refereed." Scholars are kept up-to-date in their fields of study through scholarly and research journals, and since they are written by and for researchers, they can use very technical terminology related to their respective studies and therefore  can be difficult to understand. 

The sources of information used in scholarly research literature are very important, so footnotes and bibliographies, (also known as  reference lists) will be listed either within the article's text or at the end of the document.  These lists can provide extensive documentation for additional information, which make this type of literature the preferred method of scholarly research communication.  Publishers are often scholarly presses at universities or professional research organizations.  They typically include an abstract that summarizes their work.  The journals include few or no glossy advertisements, and most images are typically in the form of charts, tables, formulas, and images directly related to their specific work.  Scholarly and research literature as a whole is neutral and factual in its findings; scholars are not supposed to be biased in their work.

Examples: American Historical Review; Behavioral Ecology; Cell; Journal of Educational Research; Plasma Physics; Lancet ; and Social Psychology Quarterly.

Popular Magazines

Popular magazines articles are often short articles that provide a general overview of a topic.  The articles are not peer-reviewed, nor do they provide much in-depth information.  They tend to cover current events, hot topics, and interviews. These magazines are typically produced to create a profit and produced by commercial publishers. Because of this, they are geared towards a wide range of readers, and the use of technical terminology is minimal.  They are easy to read and understand, and they are typically entertaining and "flashy."  The writing may be full of opinion; it may present just one side of the story or be heavily biased on a topic.  Popular magazines are used as primary sources of information for analysis of popular culture. 

Journalists and freelance writers are often the authors, and they rarely cite any of their information sources.  Tracking down information regarding popular culture can be challenging.  The articles frequently incorporate many images that are visually attractive. Full color ads and pictures of all sorts are sprinkled throughout these publications. 

Examples: Time; Newsweek; Sports Illustrated; Readers Digest

Professional, Trade and Industry Journals

Professional, trade and industry journals consist of statistical information, forecasts, and current trends.  They often include company, organization, and biographical information, employment and career info, and news and products in a specific field.  They are written for practitioners. 

The authors are usually practitioners in the field, or journalists with subject expertise.  The articles are not typically peer-reviewed .  They use professional terminology, so they may be difficult to understand.  Occasionally citations and brief bibliographies are included for further investigation.  Professional and trade associations are usually the main publishers, but they may also be produced by commercial publishers for profit .  Photographs, charts, tables, glossy advertisements, and all types of illustrations are normally included. 

Examples: RN (Registered Nurse); Science Teacher; Restaurants and Institutions; American Libraries

Journals of Commentary and Opinion

These publications offer commentaries on social and political issues. They provide some in-depth analyses and political viewpoints, and they can act as a voice of activist organizations. Speeches, interviews; and book reviews may be included. Written for a general educated audience they are easy to read. The authors vary extremely, from academics to journalists to representatives of various groups. They occasionally uses citations or provide short bibliographies. Created by commercial publishers or non-profit organizations, they have a wide variety of appearances. Some have no graphics, while others are filled with them.

Examples: Mother Jones; Atlantic; National Review; New Republic

Newspapers are primary sources about events. They provide current information (local, regional, and global), hard news, classified ads, editorials, and speeches. Written for a general educated audience, they are easy to read. The authors are professional journalists, who work for commercial publishers. Rarely do the articles cite any sources. Newspapers include pictures, charts, and advertisements of all sorts.

Examples: New York Times; Washington Post; Christian Science Monitor; Wall Street Journal

• << Previous: 13. Primary & Secondary Sources
• Next: 15. Anatomy of a Scientific Scholarly Article >>
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MLA Works Cited Page: Periodicals

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Periodicals include magazines, newspapers, and scholarly journals. Works cited entries for periodical sources include three main elements—the author of the article, the title of the article, and information about the magazine, newspaper, or journal. MLA uses the generic term “container” to refer to any print or digital venue (a website or print journal, for example) in which an essay or article may be included.

Below is the generic citation for periodicals using the MLA style. Use this as guidance if you are trying to cite a type of source not described on this page, omitting any information that does not apply:

Author. Title. Title of container (self contained if book), Other contributors (translators or editors), Version (edition), Number (vol. and/or no.), Publisher, Publisher Date, Location (pp.). 2nd container’s title, Other contributors, Version, Number, Publisher, Pub date, Location (pp.).

Article in a Magazine

Cite by listing the article's author, putting the title of the article in quotations marks, and italicizing the periodical title. Follow with the date of publication. Remember to abbreviate the month. The basic format is as follows:

Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Periodical , Day Month Year, pages.

Poniewozik, James. "TV Makes a Too-Close Call." Time, 20 Nov. 2000, pp. 70-71.

Buchman, Dana. "A Special Education." Good Housekeeping, Mar. 2006, pp. 143-48.

Article in a Newspaper

Cite a newspaper article as you would a magazine article, but note the different pagination in most newspapers. If there is more than one edition available for that date (as in an early and late edition of a newspaper), identify the edition after the newspaper title.

Brubaker, Bill. "New Health Center Targets County's Uninsured Patients." Washington Post, 24 May 2007, p. LZ01.

Krugman, Andrew. "Fear of Eating." New York Times, late ed.,  21 May 2007, p. A1.

If the newspaper is a less well-known or local publication, include the city name in brackets after the title of the newspaper.

Behre, Robert. "Presidential Hopefuls Get Final Crack at Core of S.C. Democrats." Post and Courier [Charleston, SC],29 Apr. 2007, p. A11.

Trembacki, Paul. "Brees Hopes to Win Heisman for Team." Purdue Exponent [West Lafayette, IN], 5 Dec. 2000, p. 20.

To cite a review, include the title of the review (if available), then the phrase, “Review of” and provide the title of the work (in italics for books, plays, and films; in quotation marks for articles, poems, and short stories). Finally, provide performance and/or publication information.

Review Author. "Title of Review (if there is one)." Review of Performance Title, by Author/Director/Artist. Title of Periodical, Day Month Year, page.

Seitz, Matt Zoller. "Life in the Sprawling Suburbs, If You Can Really Call It Living." Review of Radiant City , directed by Gary Burns and Jim Brown. New York Times, 30 May 2007, p. E1.

Weiller, K. H. Review of Sport, Rhetoric, and Gender: Historical Perspectives and Media Representations , edited by Linda K. Fuller. Choice, Apr. 2007, p. 1377.

An Editorial & Letter to the Editor

Cite as you would any article in a periodical, but include the designators "Editorial" or "Letter" to identify the type of work it is.

"Of Mines and Men." Editorial. Wall Street Journal, eastern edition, 24 Oct. 2003, p. A14.

Hamer, John. Letter. American Journalism Review, Dec. 2006/Jan. 2007, p. 7.

Anonymous Articles

Cite the article’s title first, then finish the citation as you would any other for that kind of periodical.

"Business: Global Warming's Boom Town; Tourism in Greenland." The Economist , 26 May 2007, p. 82.

"Aging; Women Expect to Care for Aging Parents but Seldom Prepare." Women's Health Weekly, 10 May 2007, p. 18.

An Article in a Scholarly Journal

A scholarly journal can be thought of as a container, as are collections of short stories or poems, a television series, or even a website. A container can be thought of as anything that contains other pieces of work. In this case, cite the author and title of article as you normally would. Then, put the title of the journal in italics. Include the volume number (“vol.”) and issue number (“no.”) when possible, separated by commas. Finally, add the year and page numbers.

Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Journal , Volume, Issue, Year, pages.

Bagchi, Alaknanda. "Conflicting Nationalisms: The Voice of the Subaltern in Mahasweta Devi's Bashai Tudu ." Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature, vol. 15, no. 1, 1996, pp. 41-50.

Duvall, John N. "The (Super)Marketplace of Images: Television as Unmediated Mediation in DeLillo's White Noise ." Arizona Quarterly , vol. 50, no. 3, 1994, pp. 127-53.

An Article in a Special Issue of a Scholarly Journal

When an article appears in a special issue of a journal, cite the name of the special issue in the entry’s title space, in italics. Add the descriptor “special issue of” and include the name of the journal, also in italics, followed by the rest of the information required for a standard scholarly journal citation.

Web entries should follow a similar format, and should include a DOI (if available), otherwise include a URL or permalink.

Burgess, Anthony. "Politics in the Novels of Graham Greene." Literature and Society, special issue of Journal of Contemporary History, vol. 2, no. 2, 1967, pp. 93-99.

Case, Sue-Ellen. “Eve's Apple, or Women's Narrative Bytes.” Technocriticism and Hypernarrative, special issue of Modern Fiction Studies, vol. 43, no. 3, 1997, pp. 631-50. Project Muse , doi:10.1353/mfs.1997.0056.

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MLA Directory of Periodicals

The  MLA Directory of Periodicals  provides detailed information on over 25,000 journals and book series that cover literature, literary theory, dramatic arts, folklore, language, linguistics, pedagogy, rhetoric and composition, and the history of printing and publishing. Articles published in works listed in the directory are indexed in the  MLA International Bibliography .

The directory is a valuable resource for scholars seeking outlets to publish their work as well as for librarians working to identify periodical publications that best meet their institutions’ needs.

The  MLA Directory of Periodicals  is available as an online database included with subscriptions to the MLA International Bibliography  through all its vendors. MLA members can search the directory free of charge through the MLA website.

Who Uses the Directory

• Scholars and students seeking to submit their work for publication   use the  Directory of Periodicals to identify the journals and series most likely to consider their work. The directory includes essential information such as topics covered, editorial policies, contact information, and submission guidelines. As they explore new areas of interest, researchers can uncover relevant publications by subject searching in the directory.  
• Scholars and students  also use the directory to find more information about unfamiliar resources they discover in their libraries or see cited by fellow students or researchers.
• Librarians   use the  MLA Directory of Periodicals  to identify materials that best support their faculty members, students, and curricula.

What’s in the Directory

Each journal or series entry provides detailed information, including:

• Publication details,   such as publisher, sponsoring organization, ISSN, frequency, and year of first publication
• Editorial policies , such as scope, including subject terms assigned by the directory editor; peer review; average number of readers per manuscript; publication language or languages; acceptance of book reviews, brief notes, abstracts, and advertising; copyright policy; and charges associated with publication 
• Contact details for editors,   including e-mail addresses, phone numbers, fax numbers, and mailing addresses for manuscripts
• Submission requirements,   including recommended style and format for article submission, article length, and blind-submission requirements 
• Electronic availability , including URLs for article submission and links to open-access online content where available
• Subscription information  with full subscription contact information, distributors, subscription rates, and circulation numbers
• Useful statistics,   such as the average number of manuscripts of various types submitted to a journal each year and the number published, time from submission to decision, and time from decision to publication

This information is gathered by the MLA staff or provided by the editors of the publications represented in the listings. 

All versions of the  Directory of Periodicals  are searchable by keyword and by specific fields and provide robust advanced search and filtering options. Libraries that subscribe to WorldCat can link directly to their library holdings from directory entries.

Submission Guidelines

Editors and publishers of journals or series not currently included in the  Directory of Periodicals  are invited to send a sample print or PDF copy of the journal or series to the editor of the directory. Please send a URL if the journal is only available online. 

Sample journals may be sent by mail (preferred) or by e-mail. E-mail:   [email protected] Phone:  646 576-5085 Mail:   MLA Directory of Periodicals , 85 Broad Street, New York, NY 10004

Types of publications included in the  MLA   Directory of Periodicals

• Any regularly published print or online journals available to universities and libraries that regularly include articles on language, linguistics, folklore, pedagogy, or film
• Any series that publishes books on language, linguistics, folklore, pedagogy, or film, regardless of the frequency of the series

Requirements for e-journals and other serial online publications

• Be examined by an indexer
• Relate to language and literature
• Identify the editor and editorial board
• Have a stated editorial policy
• Identify the publisher and/or sponsoring organization
• Provide for archiving of past issues (i.e., provide for continuing access)
• Publish new content periodically
• State any author fees on the publication’s website

Electronic serials generally have an ISSN, CODEN, or digital object identifier and are sponsored by an academic organization or institution.

To ensure complete coverage in the MLA International Bibliography , editors or publishers should have a system of informing the MLA when a new issue is published.

The MLA, at its sole discretion, reserves the right to refuse to include a publication in the MLA Directory of Periodicals for any reason.

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Finding Periodical Articles

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HOLLIS HathiTrust General and Popular Periodicals Specialized Indexes Information on Periodicals

Sources of historical (secondary source) articles are listed on the Secondary Sources page .  Below are listed sources for general and popular periodicals (magazines) and for academic disciplines, the professions and labor .

Finding Book Reviews

To find region-specific periodical indexes see: Finding Articles in General and Popular Periodicals (North America and Western Europe) Finding Periodical Articles and Book Reviews on Africa Finding Periodical Articles and Book Reviews on South and Southeast Asia East Asian Studies Research Guide: 4. Journal Literature Finding Periodical Articles and Book Reviews on Latin America Slavic and Eurasian Studies: A Research Guide

Th e  HOLLIS Catalog+Articles database searches the HOLLIS Library Catalog plus a very large collection of online resources.  Numerous collections of e-journals are searched, but are searched independently of the subject-based periodical indexes.  HOLLIS is not a substitute for searching the periodical indexes, which offer special searching features and coverage of paper format articles.  The HOLLIS Catalog+Articles search is excellent for interdisciplinary searching and finding material in unexpected places.

Personalize reorders the articles in your search results with articles from a chosen discipline at the top.  Select Resource Type: Articles.  Hit Personalize (at the top of the Results list) and select your discipline(s). 

In HathiTrust  Advanced Full Text Search, you can put your search terms (article text or title words) in one search box as a full text search and place the title of a journal of interest in the other. Or in the second box you can put a Library of Congress Subject Term , adjusting the search box menu to Subject rather than Title, and limiting to Format: Journal.

More general periodical indexes are listed in  Finding Articles in General and Popular Periodicals (North America and Western Europe) .

Academic Search Premier (largely 1980s- ) is the usual index of first resort for general periodical searches. It indexes over 3000 journals in most fields plus many general interest periodicals. Full text is available for many of the periodicals. Includes Time full text back to 1923. Book reviews are included. A few periodicals have indexing back to the 1970s.

Alternative press index (1969- ) indexes the alternative/radical periodical literature. Book reviews are included. HOLLIS Record  (Online and Print)

The online version, Alt-Press Watch, covers 1995 to the present, with a few periodicals covered from the 1980s, and Off Our Backs from 1970. Annotations: a directory of periodicals listed in the Alternative Press Index is also available online as The Alternative Press Center's Online Directory . Print version:  HOLLIS Record

American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collection  (1691-1877)

American Periodicals Series Online (1740-1900) offers full text of about 1100 American periodicals. Includes several scientific and medical journals including the American Journal of Science and the Medical Repository. In cases where a periodical started before 1900, coverage is included until 1940.

British Periodicals (1681-1920) offers full text for several hundred British periodicals. List of included periodicals .

Ethnic NewsWatch (1959- ) is a full text database of the newspapers, magazines, and journals of the ethnic, minority and native press.

Fortune Magazine  (1930-2002) includes front and back covers as well as advertisements and all articles

Google Magazines has full text of many 20th century magazines, including Life (1936-1972).  List of Magazines included . Full text searchable . Search a magazine title in Google Books Advanced Search : Title  Return books with the title; shift from All Content to Magazines

Harper's Magazine Online offers the full text of Harper's Magazine (1850-1899).

HarpWeek (1857-1912) offers full text of Harper's Weekly .

MasterFILE Premier (1980- ), designed for school and public library use, indexes more popular magazines than Academic Search Premier. A few magazines indexed back to circa. 1900.  Includes full-text Saturday Evening Post back to 1931.

Nation Archives (1865- ) includes full text of complete run of The Nation . Annual update lags behind 1 year.

Newsweek Archive (1933-2012)

Nineteenth Century in Print: The Making of America in Books and Periodicals: Periodicals offers over 30 Nineteenth Century American periodicals digitized and full-text searchable. Some of the titles currently have only short runs available.

Nineteenth Century Masterfile includes several Nineteenth Century periodical indexes together with many separate indexes to individual periodicals. The most important index included is Poole's index to periodical literature (1802-1906) which indexes 479 American and English periodicals. In the print version, articles are indexed by subject, not author. Fiction, poetry, plays are listed by title. Book reviews are listed under subject; reviews of fiction, poetry, plays are listed under the author of the work. Online version offers numerous links to full text in HathiTrust. Print version of Poole's index: LOCATION: Widener: RR 663. 5 Library has: 6 v. in 7

Opinion Archives offers a full text, as well as author/title, search of full runs of the following opinion periodicals: American Spectator (1972- ) - Commentary – (1945- ) Commonweal (1924) - Dissent (1954- ) - Harpers Magazine (1850- ) - Moment (1975- )- NACLA (1966- ) - Nation (1965- ) - National Review (1955- ) - New Leader (1924- ) - New Republic (1914- ) - New York Review (1963- ) - New Yorker (1925- ) - Orion Magazine (1982- ) - Progressive (1909- )- Washington Monthly (1969- ) - Weekly Standard (1995- )

The political orientation of several of these magazine, together with that of several others, is specified in the News and Opinion section of the biennial Magazines for L ibraries (1969- ).

A history of American magazines, by Frank Luther Mott. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1938-1968, 5 v. FindIt@Harvard --V. 1. 1741-1850 -- v. 2. 1850-1865 -- v. 3. 1865-1885 -- v. 4. 1885-1905 -- v. 5. Sketches of 21 magazines, 1905-1930, with a cumulative index to the five volumes.

Periodicals Index Online indexes contents of over 6000 journals in the humanities and social sciences, from their first issues to 1995. About 750 of these are full text. Covers journals from North America, the United Kingdom, and the rest of the English-speaking world and journals in other European languages including French, German, Italian and Spanish. Includes the complete table of contents for each issue of each journal.

• Basic Search searches the full text of those journals with full text, together with the citations of the non-full text journals.
• In Advanced search, adjust the menu to Anywhere except full text to search citations only.

Reader's Guide Retrospective (WilsonWeb)  (1890-1982), online version of the  Readers' guide to periodical literature, indexes many American popular periodicals. Print version: Readers' guide to periodical literature (1900- ) HOLLIS Record

RSAP Resources for Research: Periodicals (Research Society for American Periodicals) provides links to collections of 18th, 19th, and 20th century full-text periodicals.

Saturday Evening Post -- Internet Archive , 1829-2014 -- MasterFILE Premier , 1931-  --SEP Archives , 1821-

Saturday Review (1925-1986)

Time magazine.  Browse at their site. You can easily search in Academic Search Premier by putting your search terms in one box and adjusting another to Journal name: Time. Limit by year.

U. S. News and World Report , 1948-  .  (merger of U. S. News (1933-1947) and World Report (1946-1947)) Internet Archive full text (U.S. News Weekly + Special Issues 1933-2015)

Web of Science Citation Indexes  allow citation searching, that is, starting with an article of interest and finding more recent articles that have cited it. Covers: science, 1900- ; social science, 1900- ; arts/humanities, 1975- .  More information .

Women's Magazine Archive (1846-2005) includes: Better Homes and Gardens (1922-2005) - Chatelaine (1928-2005) - Good Housekeeping (1885-2005) - Ladies' Home Journal (1883-2005) - Parents (1926-2005) - Redbook (1903-2005). More sources for women's magazines .

Additional sources may be found in research guides on a wide variety of subjects and regions, many of which list sources for periodical articles.

Listed here is a selection of the major indexes

General Humanities and Social Sciences Literature

Alternative/Radical Press

Anthropology

Art/Architecture

Business and Trade

Criminology

Environment

Film, Mass Media

Gender Studies

Labor Articles

Minority Studies/Race Relations

Political Science/Public Policy

• Science, Technology, Medicine

Sociology/Social Welfare

Allgemeine Bibliographie der Staats- und Rechtswissenschaften (1868-1914) is a serial bibliography of law, political science, and economics, divided by nationality with detailed subject index. Law School  |  K38 .A45 HathiTrust version

Periodicals Index Online indexes contents of thousands of journals in the humanities and social sciences, from their first issues to 1995. Covers journals from North America, the United Kingdom, and the rest of the English-speaking world and journals in other European languages including French, German, Italian and Spanish. Includes the complete table of contents for each issue of each journal. Includes book reviews.

JSTOR offers full-text of complete runs (up to about 5 years ago) of over 1900 journals. Allows simultaneous or individual searching, full-text searching optional, of many historical journals. Included journals are listed under discipline on the Advanced Search page. Harvard does not have access to the JSTOR full text books.

Alternative press index (1969- ) indexes the alternative/radical periodical literature. Book reviews are included. HOLLIS Record  (Online and Print)

The online version, Alt-Press Watch, covers 1995 to the present, with a few periodicals covered from the 1980s, and Off Our Backs from 1970.

Annotations: a directory of periodicals listed in the Alternative Press Index is also available online as  The Alternative Press Center's Online Directory .

Independent voices : an open access collection of an Alternative Press

Anthropology Plus  (late 1800s-present) --Searches the major literature, including journals, in anthropology and related fields

AnthroSource (Late 19th century – ) offers searchable full-text of 28 journals and newsletters published by the American Anthropological Association. Some text drawn from JSTOR. Included journals are also indexed in Anthropology Plus, but Anthrosource allows full text searching. Newsletters in Anthrosource are generally not indexed in Anthropology Plus

International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (1951- ) includes: International bibliography of anthropology

JSTOR  allows simultaneous or individual searching, full-text searching optional, of many anthropological and archaeological journals from their inceptions to about 5 years ago. List of included journals available in Advanced Search.

See History of Art & Architecture guide

Business Premium Collection (1971-; a few back to the 1920s) indexes academic management, marketing, and general business journals. Open Change Databases at top to see the databases included within Business Premium Collection

Business Source Complete (early 20th century- )

American city business journals (1990s- )

Industrial arts index  (1913-57) indexes English-language applied science, technical, trade, and management literature: the literature of practice. HOLLIS Record HathiTrust version  (Full text 1913-1922)

See the Library Research Guide for the Warren Center (Crime)

Economic Literature

EconLit (1969- ) indexes articles from over 525 journals. Since 1987 includes books and dissertations. Earlier years available in print in Index to Economic Journals (1886- ) and Index of economic articles in collective volumes (1960- )

International bibliography of economics  (1953- ), included in  International Bibliography of the Social Sciences , is a bibliography of periodical articles, books, essays in books, and government publications.

Economist Historical Archive (1843-2004).

Education Source  (1929- ) indexes articles of at least one column length from more than 535 English-language journals and yearbooks worldwide. Records of books (1995- ) are included. Includes book reviews.

ERIC (1966- ) includes published and unpublished reports and other sources from RIE (Resources in Education) and periodical articles from CIJE (Current Index to Journals in Education). No book reviews.

Bibliography of education . In: Educational review, 1899-1906. LOCATION: Gutman Education: Per L11.S35

Bibliography of education and its successors are available full text in HathiTrust . Advanced Full Text search with Bibliography of education as this exact phrase in lower box Continued by: Bibliography of education , 1907-1912 (United States Bureau of Education Bulletin). LOCATION: Gutman Education: Z5811.B86 Continued by: Record of current educational publications , 1912-Jan/Mar 1932. (U. S. Office of Education). LOCATION: Gutman Education: L111.A62 LOCATION: Gutman Education: L111.A6 no.15

British education index , 1954- . LOCATION: Gutman Education: Ref Index Z5813.B7 (1954-83, 1985-94)

JSTOR offers full-text of complete runs (up to about 5 years ago) of numerous education journals. Allows simultaneous or individual searching, full-text searching optional, of many educational journals. List of included journals .

Primary Search  (1984- ) offers indexing and full text (1989- ) for nearly 100 elementary school level children's magazines.

Library Research Guide for the History of Science

History of Mass Communication in America: An Internet Bibliography

Communication abstracts   (Largely1970s- ; some earlier)

Entertainment Industry Magazine Archive (1880–2000) covers film, broadcasting, popular music and theatre.

Film index international , 1930- . Lists articles on films, including documentary films, short subjects, and made-for-TV movies, as well as feature films. Includes information on over 90,000 films.

Film & Television Literature Index , 1914- ; mainly 1980- ) international coverage on all aspects of television and film.

FIAF International FilmArchive Database  (1972- ) contains:

• Directory of film/TV documentation collections
• Bibliography of Latin American cinema
• International index to film periodicals
• International index to television periodicals

GenderWatch (1974- ) provides full text of scholarly journals, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, regional publications, books, booklets and pamphlets, conference proceedings, and government, non-governmental organization, and special reports.

Studies on Women and Gender Abstracts (1995-)

LGBT Life with Full Text indexes magazines, academic journals, news sources, gray literature, and books that deal with gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender concerns.

The Gerritsen collection :women's history online, 1543-1945 includes books, pamphlets, and periodicals.  Full text searchable.

Inventory of marriage and family literature , 1973-1994. 18 v. Widener | Soc 5205.5

Continues: International bibliography of research in marriage and the family . Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. 2 v. CONTENTS: v. 1, 1900-1964; v. 2, 1965-1972. Widener | Soc 5205.4 F (F means it is oversize and at the end of the Soc’s)

Women's Studies International (1972- ) accesses a variety of women's studies databases.

Digitized labor journals/directories/proceedings in Labor History Links

Labor History: Digitized Labor Publications  (U. Maryland)

The Online Books Page: Labor Unions

Labor Periodicals  (Internet Archive)

These specialized print indexes are largely in the Harvard Depository. The link leads to the HOLLIS record. Scroll down for Depository request links. In some cases we do not have the full run.

University of Michigan index to labor union periodicals (1961-1965) and Michigan index to labor union periodicals (1966-1968).

Trade union publications: the official journals, convention proceedings, and constitutions of international unions and federations, 1850-1941 --Vol 1. Lists unions by industry with information on history and publications. --Vols. 2-3. Subject index of labor periodicals.

Index to labor articles , 1927-1953 (Labor Research Department, Rand School of Social Science). Continues: Index to labor periodicals , 1926-1927.

Work related abstracts , 1973-1992. Continues: Employment relations abstracts , 1959-1972 which continues: Labor-personnel index , 1950-1958. Looseleaf format. Articles grouped my major topics, subject index pages in front of volume.

See  Library Research Guide for History 97g: "What is Legal History?"

Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature: ABELL (1920- ) includes book reviews of literary works as well as literary criticism.

MLA International Bibliography (1926- )

Air University Library Index to Military Periodicals [title varies] (1949- ) indexes 75 international English language military and aeronautical periodicals. Guide with links to online HOLLIS Record

Index to contemporary military articles of the World War II era, 1939-1949 , by Benjamin R. Beede. Westport, Conn. : Praeger, 2005, 455 p. HOLLIS Record

Race Relations Abstracts  (1975-Present)

Philosophy/Ethics

Philosopher's Index provides bibliographic information and abstracts for articles and books on philosophy published since 1940.

Resources of First Resort

CIAO (Columbia International Affairs Online) (1991- ) includes articles, books, conference proceedings, working papers, etc.

International bibliography of political science (1953- ), included in International Bibliography of the Social Sciences , is a bibliography of periodical articles, books, essays in books, and government publications.

JSTOR includes the full text of 119 political science journals from their date of inception to about 5 years ago. Use Advanced search to limit to Political Science journals.

PAIS (Public Affairs Information Service) (1915- ) indexes international public and social policy literature. Includes journal articles, books, book chapters in edited volumes, conference proceedings, government documents, etc.

Worldwide Political Science Abstracts (1975- )

Additional Resources

Alternative press index (1969- ) is available online as Alt-Press Watch (1995- ) indexes the alternative/radical periodical literature. Includes book reviews. Alternative Press Center's Online Directory lists periodicals in the Alternative Press Index . For earlier coverage: LOCATION: Andover-Harv. Theol: Ref. AI3.A4 Consult Braun Room. LOCATION: Gutman Education: Per PN4888.U5 A27 (1969-1971) LOCATION: Widener: RR 663.8 Latest 10 years WID-LC HN90.R3 A48x Earlier

Bibliographie courante d'articles de périodiques postérieurs 1944 sur les problèmes politiques, économiques et sociaux . 1968. 17 v. LOCATION:Widener: WID-LC AI7.F59x 1968 F LOCATION: Widener: WID-LC AI7.F6F (Supplément, 1969-1981) --Articles grouped by country, then subject.

Bulletin analytique de documentation politique, economique et sociale contemporaine , 1946- LOCATION: Law School: 4 66 (missing 1985, 1987, 1988, 1994) LOCATION: Widener: B 425.56 (1949-1998) --Worldwide coverage, abstracts in French. Subject classed list with author index.

C.R.I.S.: the combined retrospective index set to journals in political science , 1886-1974 LOCATION: Law School: ILS RR JA1.A1 Z992x 1977 Library has: v.1-8 LOCATION: Widener: WID-LC JA1.A1 Z992 1977x Library has: 8 v. --Over 115,000 articles from over 200 English-language journals arranged by subject. Journal code numbers in the entries are explained on the end-papers.

Military and Government Collection (largely 1980s- ).covers periodicals, many with full text, on military, foreign affairs, national security, intelligence, etc. Considerable earlier indexing (Congressional Digest back to 1922).

ProQuest Government Periodicals Index (1988- ).

Index to periodical articles ... in the Library of the Royal Institute of International Affairs , 1950-1989.

1950-1964. LOCATION: Widener: H 9.64.5 Library has: 2 v. 1965-1972. LOCATION: Widener: H 9.64.6 1973-1978. LOCATION: Widener: H 9. 64.7 F 1979-1989. LOCATION: Microforms (Lamont): Microfiche W 4007 Microfiche Library has: 50 microfiche. INDEX Microfiche W 4007 = Guide --Unannotated references grouped by subject classification (guide in front), subject and geographical indexes.

Indexes to independent Socialist periodicals . LOCATION: Widener: Soc 708.11 no.4

Indexes: Anvil, 1949-60; Labor Action, 1949-58; The New International, 1934-58; Student Partisan, 1947-50.

Left Index Online (1982- , a few earlier) Promptly indexes Marxist, radical, and leftist articles. No newsletters or newspapers.

PARLIT Database (1992- ) includes citations for books and articles on parliamentary law and practice.

Theories of political processes: a bibliographic guide to the journal literature, 1965-1995 , by G. G. Brunk. LOCATION: Widener: WID-LC JA71.Z99 B78 1997x --Arranged by subject, with author and subject indexes.

United States political science documents , 1975-91. LOCATION: Littauer: RR Z 7165.U5.U5x LOCATION: Widener: WID-LC JA66.Z99 U54x --Abstracts about 150 U.S. political and public policy journals.

Continues: Political science, government & public policy series. Annual supplement . 1967 -79. LOCATION: Widener: WID-LC JA66.Z99 U64x Suppl which continues: Political science, government, and public policy: an annotated and intensively indexed compilation of significant books, pamphlets, and articles, selected and processed by the Universal Reference System . LOCATION: Widener: WID-LC JA71.Z99 U54x 1967 Vol. 1 = 2d ed. Library has: 10 v. --Indexed bibliography of selected older works, with a preponderance of 20th century and current publications. v.1 International affairs --  v.2 Legislative process, representation, and decision-making  --  v.3 Bibliography of bibliographies in political science, government and public policy --  v.4 Administrative management  --  v.5 Current events and problems of modern society  --  v.6 Public opinion, mass behavior, and political psychology  --  v.7 Law, jurisprudence, and judicial process  --  v.8 Economic regulation  --  v.9 Public policy and the management of science  --  v.10 Comparative government and cultures.

ATLA Religion index (1949- ) indexes articles, covering over 500 journals, essays in books, and book reviews (1949- ), with Protestant emphasis but some coverage of Catholic, Jewish, and other religious literature. Includes archeological literature of religious significance. Incorporates the print publications: Religion index 1: periodicals (1977- ), Religion index 2: multi-author works (1976- ), Index to book reviews in religion (1986- ), Index to religious periodical literature (1949-76), and Methodist reviews index (1818-1885).

Catholic periodical and literature index (1930- ; online version: 1981- ) indexes about 200 periodicals and lists books. Includes book reviews and Papal documents. Covers, mainly, British, Canadian, Irish, and U.S. publications. Print version: LOCATION: Andover-Harv. Theol: Ref. AI3.C32 LOCATION: WID-LC AI3.C32

Continues: Guide to Catholic literature, 1888-1967. LOCATION: Andover-Harv. Theol: Ref. Z7837.G9 LOCATION: Widener: WID-LC BX1751.2.Z99 G85x

Christian periodical index (1956- ; online version 1976- , limited earlier coverage) indexes over 120, largely U.S. evangelical and fundamentalist periodicals. Includes book and media reviews. There are author, subject, book review, and book title indexes. Print version (1956- ): Location : Andover-Harv. Theol Ref. Z7753 .C5 (1956-1975)

Index Islamicus (1906- ) indexes articles, essays in books, and books (beginning in 1976) in Western languages on the Muslim world. Covers both Islamic countries and Muslim minorities. Includes pre-Islamic Arabian history and non-Muslim Turkic peoples, past and present. Inclusion of book reviews begins in 1993. Newspapers (and other periodicals published more than once monthly), gray literature, and government publications are not included. Print version: LOCATION: Andover-Harv. Theol: Ref. DS44.I37 LOCATION: Fine Arts: Reading Room RFA 31.60.7 LOCATION: Law School: Islamic Reference DS 44.Z99 Q34 LOCATION: Widener: RR 4881.11

Index to Jewish periodicals (1963- ; online version: 1988- ) indexes over 100 English-language general and scholarly periodicals. Includes book reviews. List of periodicals indexed . Print version: LOCATION: Andover-Harv. Theol: Ref. Z6367.I5 LOCATION: Widener: WID-LC DS112.Z99 I54x Earlier LOCATION: Widener: RR 4875.15 (Latest 10 years)

Library Research Guide for the History of Science  (General)  --  By Discipline

Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts: ASSIA (largely 1987- )

International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (1951- ) includes: International bibliography of sociology

C.R.I.S.: the combined retrospective index set to journals in sociology, 1895-1974 . Widener  |  RR4702.12 (Loker Reading Room)

Social Services Abstracts (1980- (Social Service Review back to 1927))

Abstracts for social workers  (1965-1977). HOLLIS Record

Continued by: Social work research & abstracts (1977-1993). HOLLIS Record

Continued by: Social work abstracts (1994- ) Online Version  (1998- March, 2011)- HOLLIS Record

Sociological Abstracts (1952-)

Urban Studies Abstracts (1973 - )

LA84 Foundation Library Digital Archive Periodicals and Series  (depending on the periodical, 1883-2009) Also Official Olympic Reports and other books

Unbound Widener current journals are kept in the Widener Periodicals Reading Room (1st floor, West side). Selected journals are kept alphabetically by title in the Periodicals Reading Room. Remaining journals (the majority) are kept in the Periodicals Reading Room Stacks alphabetically by title.

For journals not at Harvard, holdings in the Boston area can be identified using WorldCat in Harvard Libraries. You may need to consult the holding library's online catalog (accessible in Massachusetts Library and Information Network to ascertain specific holdings. Harvard's periodicals are all represented in HOLLIS Catalog.

Where an Find It @ Harvard icon appears next to a citation in a periodical index, you can click Find It @ Harvard and be taken to a menu screen offering a link to full text, if available, and to an automatic HOLLIS search for the periodical in print form. Occasionally Find It @ Harvard is unaware of the existence of an electronic journal, in which case the electronic form may show on the HOLLIS record under Networked Resource. Sometimes the Find It @ Harvard occurs on the results list (e.g., Academic Search Premier), sometimes only on the full record (e.g., Web of Science).

Elektronische Zeitschriftenbibliothek (EZB) is a very comprehensive searchable list of free and subscription online journals arranged by discipline and by title

A guide to Periodical Directories with Subject Access and/or Circulation Statistics is available.

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Harvard University Digital Accessibility Policy

Omega Constellation

Terrance Hayes Won't Be Pinned Down

National poetry month, the brink of destruction.

Poems of Lovesickness

When Metaphor Gets Literal

National magazine award winner, from the archives, literary criticism in american periodicals.

The Common Reader

Letter to a young poet, street haunting: a london adventure.

Scholarship and Literary Criticism

Reading and Misreading

Antique medical slides, candy darling’s “newspaper” centerfold, mylar balloons on horse island, the story wars.

The Auteur of Fatherhood

The Front House

It is shocking to me now to consider myself at twenty-three, show­ing up unannounced at a famous poet’s door.

Dana Levin Lessons of the Line

Our Spring 2024 Issue

Gender wars.

Two Days Twelve Thousand Years Ago

Angel jacks.

Jars with Well-Fitting Lids

Rachel Cusk

In Utero and After

Nicholson Baker and I

Rosaura at dawn.

Litany for a Prolonged Dream

Banquo’s Ghost in Paterson

Memories Don’t Live Like People Do

Fady joudah.

Parents Just Don’t Understand—and That’s OK

In Search of Albertine

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The Two Men Who Wanted to Categorize ‘Every Living Thing’ on Earth

Jason Roberts tells the story of the scholars who tried to taxonomize the world.

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By Deborah Blum

Deborah Blum, the director of the Knight Science Journalism Program at M.I.T., is the author of “The Poison Squad: One Chemist’s Single-Minded Crusade for Food Safety at the Turn of the Twentieth Century.”

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EVERY LIVING THING: The Great and Deadly Race to Know All Life , by Jason Roberts

A professor asks a student to go on a plant-collecting trip, a perilous journey from Sweden to Suriname in 1754. The devoted student agrees, which means months tossed about on a wooden ship while chased by a simmering fever. When the student returns, he still shows hints of delirium, declaring that one of his specimens can produce a harvest of pearls, refusing to turn over any of his treasures to his mentor. What’s a plant-obsessed professor to do?

For Carl Linnaeus, this was easily answered. He went to Daniel Rolander’s home and, finding him away, smashed a window and broke in. Sadly, he found no pearl-bearing oyster plant or any other notable vegetation; merely one small herb which people in Suriname used to treat diarrhea. Linnaeus took it anyway. He then dismissed the young collector entirely, denying him compensation and pointedly naming a minuscule beetle “Aphanus rolandi.” (“Aphanus” means obscure, by the way.)

If this sketch of Linnaeus causes you to view the man as ruthless, a little unhinged and a lot meanspirited, well, that’s the point here. Jason Roberts, the author of “Every Living Thing,” is not a fan of the founding father of taxonomy, whom he rather hilariously describes as “a Swedish doctor with a diploma-mill medical degree and a flair for self-promotion.” But the snark is not merely entertainment — the portrait is central to the main thesis of Roberts’s engaging and thought-provoking book, one focused on the theatrical politics and often deeply troubling science that shape our definitions of life on Earth.

Roberts’s exploration centers on the competing work of Linnaeus and another scientific pioneer, the French mathematician and naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon. Of the two, Linnaeus is far better known today. Of course, Roberts notes, the Frenchman did not pursue fame as ardently as did his Swedish rival. Linnaeus cultivated admiration to a near-religious degree; he liked to describe even obscure students like Rolander as “apostles.” Buffon, in his time even more famous as a brilliant mathematician, scholar and theorist, preferred debate over adulation, dismissing public praise as “a vain and deceitful phantom.”

Their different approaches to stardom may partly explain why we remember one better than we do the other. But perhaps their most important difference — one that forms the central question of Roberts’s book — can be found in their sharply opposing ideas on how to best impose order on the planet’s tangle of species.

Linnaeus is justly given credit for applying logic and order to science, standardizing the names, definitions and classifications of research. But his directives were based on an often uncharitable and deeply biased worldview. He saw species, including humans, as needing to be ranked according to European values. Thus, Linnaeus is also credited with establishing racial categories for people.

He placed white Europeans firmly at the top. Homo sapiens Europaeus, as he called it, was blond, blue-eyed, “gentle, acute, inventive.” By contrast, Homo sapiens Afer was dark and, in Linnaeus’s definition, “slow, sly and careless”; Homo sapiens Americanus was red-skinned and short-tempered.

Buffon, far more generous by nature, rejected this racial hierarchy. “The dissimilarities are merely external,” he wrote in 1758, “the alterations of nature but superficial.” Living things were adaptable, he insisted, shaped by the environment. Charles Darwin, who pioneered the theory of evolution, would later call Buffon’s ideas, posed more than a century before the 1859 publication of “On the Origin of Species,” “laughably like my own.”

Roberts stands openly on the side of Buffon, rather than his “profoundly prejudiced” rival. He’s frustrated that human society and its scientific enterprise ignored the better ideas — and the better man. And he’s equally frustrated that after all this time we’ve yet to fully acknowledge Buffon’s contributions to our understanding. As time has proved him right, certainly on issues of race and evolution, Roberts asks, why are Linnaeus and his worldviews still so much better known — and better accepted by far too many?

The book traces some reasons — the anti-aristocratic fervor of the French Revolution in suppressing Buffon’s scholarship; the European colonialists who firmly elevated Linnaeus’s more convenient worldview. It wasn’t until the 20th century that scientists and historians began rediscovering the importance of the French scientist’s ideas. And that, Roberts believes, has been our loss in countless ways.

More than 250 years ago, Buffon proposed that we exist in a world full of ever-changing possibility, a place where our similarities matter as much as our differences. Perhaps it’s not too late, this book suggests, to be our better selves and yet hear him out.

EVERY LIVING THING : The Great and Deadly Race to Know All Life | By Jason Roberts | Random House | 422 pp. | $35

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Olivia Rodrigo’s Relatable Superstardom on the Guts Tour

By Amanda Petrusich

The opening moments of Olivia Rodrigo’s seventy-seven-date Guts World Tour—which began in February and arrived at Madison Square Garden for four sold-out nights in early April—feature a video of the pop star sprinting down a dumpy hallway, then rapping her knuckles on a purple door. Anyone attuned to Rodrigo’s musical disposition knows that whatever is waiting on the other side is probably not virtuous, exactly, but is almost certainly a good-ass time. Last Saturday, as her band slammed out the opening chords of the night’s first song, the punkish, frothing “Bad Idea Right?,” Rodrigo appeared onstage in a silver sequinned miniskirt with a matching bralette and black combat boots. The crowd was instantly united in a kind of lawless exuberance. The feeling in the room was: Let’s give ourselves something to regret in the morning!

Rodrigo, who recently turned twenty-one, is funnier and less fussy than the other pop stars in her echelon. She is not apolitical (she has invited abortion funds to set up information booths at Guts shows, and is donating a portion of the tour’s proceeds to a fund supporting women’s reproductive health), and she has not cultivated an image of sexlessness, piousness, or self-seriousness. She appears, instead, to revel in pleasure—even when she knows that whatever it is she’s thirsting after will probably get her into trouble.

Rodrigo’s best songs feature her clowning on herself—“Everything I do is tragic / Every guy I like is gay,” she sang while charging around the stage during a performance of “Ballad of a Homeschooled Girl,” a raucous song teeming with excellent one-liners—or meditating on a choice made in pursuit of fleeting bliss. That sort of thing might not seem radical—who among us has not muttered, “Fuck it, it’s fine,” and run directly toward the wrong person, as Rodrigo gleefully recounts doing—but, in an era in which a woman’s desire is still often thought of as inherently dangerous, Rodrigo’s unself-consciousness about what she wants can feel nearly revolutionary. She never projects superiority, and her relatability—perhaps the most powerful cultural currency of our time—doesn’t feel overly engineered. She knows that true yearning is always a little humiliating. “God, love’s fucking embarrassing,” she sang in the middle of “Love Is Embarrassing,” before turning one of the song’s more defeated proclamations—“How could I be so stupid?”—into a blithe punch line. This is another recurring theme of Rodrigo’s writing: the indignities of growing up when you have to learn everything the hard way.

The Guts tour is the first time that Rodrigo has consistently played arena-size venues. (For her last major tour, in 2022, she booked theatres and concert halls, telling Billboard she didn’t want to “skip steps” in her career.) Rodrigo was a Disney Channel star in the late twenty-tens, beginning when she was thirteen. She rose to global prominence in January of 2021, with the release of “Drivers License,” a gentle but devastating ballad about a relationship gone awry: “Guess you didn’t mean what you wrote in that song about me / ’Cause you said forever, now I drive alone past your street.”

The song, which Rodrigo co-wrote with the producer Daniel Nigro, destroyed an array of streaming records. Rodrigo’s first album, “Sour,” which arrived that May, débuted at No. 1, was nominated for seven Grammys, and eventually went quadruple platinum. She released “Guts” in September of 2023. Rodrigo’s voice is substantive—on her burlier songs, there are moments when she reminds me of Adele—but it contains a tiny tremble that gives her work heart. “The better a singer’s voice, the harder it is to believe what they’re saying,” David Byrne once noted; Rodrigo gets this, and never grasps for perfection. At M.S.G., she performed “Drivers License” seated at a piano, while fog rolled across the stage. “I still fucking love you, babe,” she wailed on the bridge. If she’s over the heartbreak now, it was hard to tell. In the crowd, people held one another and swayed.

Though tours of this magnitude tend to be impeccably coördinated, down to breaks for banter, Rodrigo was appealingly low-key and natural. The Guts show has five costume changes, which felt modest compared with Beyoncé’s Renaissance tour (nine) or Taylor Swift’s Eras (sixteen). At ninety minutes, it is also far shorter than both of those. Rodrigo, a stronger singer than dancer, avoids elaborate choreography, though she is preternaturally good at galloping across a stage, knees high, waving an arm around. A scrum of talented dancers sometimes followed behind her like a swarm of bees. It feels odd to call a run this ambitious “small”—and, to be fair, at one point Rodrigo sailed above the arena on a crescent moon—but I appreciated the sanity and the precision of its scope. Rodrigo’s performances are true to the arrangements on her records—she is not Bob Dylan on his Never Ending Tour, boldly reinventing a vast and varied catalogue—but the evening still felt spontaneous, even intimate. When she performed “Favorite Crime,” a wounded acoustic song from “Sour,” about (what else?) behaving badly while in the throes of love, she sat cross-legged on the stage with her guitarist. For a few minutes, the vibe felt more coffeehouse than world-tour.

The crowd was largely female and very young—a good portion was under twelve, I’d guess, and though I wasn’t quite expecting retirees, I was still startled by the median age, particularly considering the candor of Rodrigo’s lyrics and her jocular comfort with certain expletives. Her fans sang along the entire time, loudly and persistently enough that it was often impossible to hear Rodrigo. Midway through the show, she paused to ask, “Did anyone come with their mom or their dad tonight, maybe? I love going to concerts with my mom and dad! Hey, guys! Hey, sweet families!”

The kids were exquisitely dressed. A time comes in every grown person’s life in which the fashion of her adolescence becomes cool again. For anyone who came of age in the late nineties and still recalls the moment in which grunge (fading) and pop-punk (ascendant) had a brief but potent sartorial collision, the look of the Guts tour, both onstage and off, will feel deeply familiar. It’s X-Girl-era Kim Gordon meets Ashlee Simpson circa “Boyfriend”—high-school cheerleader, but make it goth. Last summer, I committed the grave mistake of rolling up to an Eras performance in Levi’s, Converse, and a T-shirt (in my defense, the concert was in New Jersey), and received myriad looks of pity from the crowd. “We must dress,” I texted my companion (male, thirty-two) before the Guts show. I picked out a vintage Marc Jacobs dress with a Peter Pan collar, and pulled my hair into a high ponytail tied with a black bow. He wore a Megadeth T-shirt. I am not sure we fully assimilated, but at least no one whispered “narc” when we walked by.

Though Rodrigo’s voice feels engineered for big, swooning ballads, she is also unusually good at the sort of bratty, frenetic delivery immortalized, in the early to mid-two-thousands, by such pop-punk acts as Avril Lavigne, Sum 41, and Blink-182. “I wanna get him back / I wanna make him really jealous / Wanna make him feel bad,” Rodrigo sings on “Get Him Back!,” a prickly song about hating and wanting someone at the same time. It was her final encore of the night, and she performed it wearing sparkly hot pants and a crop top with the phrase “And just like that . . .” scrawled across the front. (The previous night, in another allusion to “Sex and the City,” her shirt had read “Carrie Bradshaw AF.”) She sang the first verse through a red megaphone, her handheld microphone tucked into her waistband. “I wanna meet his mom,” she purred, her voice tender, vulnerable. A beat. “And tell her her son sucks!” (We contain multitudes.) Rodrigo held out the microphone to let the crowd take the song’s best lyric, and, in a kind of deranged unison, we stood and bellowed, “Maybe I can fix him!” ♦

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