This document provides an overview of conducting a literature review. It covers bibliographic managers like Zotero and EndNote, searching techniques using keywords, databases, and search fields. Tips are provided for effective searching, including using census labels, setting alerts, and always searching within databases. The document advises focusing literature review summaries on findings, discussion and results rather than introductions or opinions. Common citation errors are identified and how to fix them, such as capitalization issues and missing page numbers. Contact information is provided for the honors librarian for any additional questions.

1. Honors 496
Research
Literature Review

2. Today we will cover
Literature Review
Zotero
Recap of search techniques
Specialized Research
Google Scholar
Writing a Lit Review

3. Literature Review
Tips and Tricks
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4. Burning
Questions

5. BIBLIOGRAPHIC MANAGERS
ZOTERO
ENDNOTE

6. What are the main issues.
Think of terms and variables that
characterize your thesis topic.
Think about what discipline
would research your topic.

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9. AND
OR
“A”
CONNECT DIFFERENT VARIABLES
SEARCH FOR SYNONYMS
SHIFT + 8 LOOKS FOR ROOT WORDS
FOR PHRASE OR NAME SEARCHING
SEARCHING

10. “virtual bod*” and female*
gam* and representation* and women
Grand theft and sex*

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13. Searches: title, abstract,
subjects and in some cases
the full text of the record
Keywords
Default fields
Subject
Descriptor
Searches: only the subject
line-This makes your
searches more specific
and better defined

15. Tips
• Start with the Census labels
• Stay away from current terms
• LOOK at how the database defines
your ethnic group
• If specific country of origin search
with and without “americans”

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18. Tips
• Turn on “library links”
• Set Alerts
• Always use WITH
databases not instead
of them

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22. The library emails you
the PDF of the
requested article in less
than 72 hours
BeachReach.

23. Tips for writing
Literature
Review

24. Literature Review
FOCUS on the meat of the article not their lit
reviews: Findings, Discussion, Results….Avoid
any sentences in the paper that cite someone
else! use sentences written by the author you are
reading.
No personal stories- or really cool
introductions- no OPINION and no
arguing the “obvious” point of view-
there is no BIAS in lit reviews
Make sure that you are not neglecting key
studies in the field. Make sure your sources are
relevant both on topic and timeliness. ITS OK TO
HAVE ARTICLES THAT DO NOT AGREE WITH
YOU. Address them and see why they may not
match the findings of other research (different
population, different variables, different analysis
etc.)
This is NOT a
book report- you
need to synthesize
your articles-
arrange them by
concept or theme
or similarities-
differences- Some
articles may be
mentioned in
more than one
section. One
section may only
have one relevant
article. don't
forget to mention
any limitations
and future
research that
should be done on
your topic!

25. Ctrl + T *
Creates paragraphs
with hanging indents
in Microsoft Word.
Command for Mac
*

26. Common Citation Errors.
1. Part of the citation is in ALL CAPS
2. Every Word Of The Article Title Is Capitalized (APA only)
3. The journal title is not italicized
4. The ending page number for your article is missing
5. There is no hanging indent
Before

27. Fixing the Errors.
1. Change any words that are all caps
2. Make the appropriate words lower case (APA)
3. Italicize the Journal Title
4. Look at the PDF of your document and find the
ending page number
5. Create a hanging indent
After
Revised APA Citation

28. Burning
Questions

29. Tiffini Travis
Honors Librarian
tiffini.travis@csulb.edu