What is a literature search?

A literature search is a detailed and organised search, using a range of resources, to find journal articles, books and websites on a particular topic. A review of the literature is an important first step towards writing an essay or thesis, because it enables you to acquire a clearer understanding of your topic and its major concerns, and makes you aware of research that has already been done in your area of interest.
The ability to conduct a thorough literature search is one of the essential skills you will need as an English literature scholar.

How to use these pages

I have constructed sequences of web pages that will step you through the process of finding critical works on a literary topic, using the appropriate tools for each category of material that you might wish to locate: journal articles, books and websites.
The format is a series of linked images: just click anywhere on an image, or on the green arrow button, to go to the next page.

First year English studies students are expected to complete the Library Tutorial for Humanities and Social Sciences early in their course. The Tutorial will give you a basic grounding in library and bibliographic skills generally; my Literature search techniques pages will build on those skills to show you how to find material on literary topics.

Annotated bibliographies / Literature reviews

English students are often given an Annotated Bibliography exercise. This involves conducting a miniature literature search, annotating and evaluating the results of your search, and then arranging them in a mini-bibliography or works-cited list. My Literature search pages provide the information you need to successfully complete this. You might also want to read this useful outline on how to write annotated bibliographies (from the "writing laboratory" at Purdue University) and you can find an example of an annotated bibliography here.

Literature reviews are written in the form of an essay; they are formed around a central idea / thesis and describe and evaluate the sources of information published on a given topic (an annotated bibliography is simply a list of sources, accompanied by comments on each source.) More information can be found at this website (Academic guides: Writing: Literature review) and some sample literature reviews can be found at the end of this article. Alternatively, see Diana Ridley's book The literature review (2008)

Referencing

Your Introduction to English Handbook has information on annotation, referencing and arranging a bibliography; the English Discipline website has useful guides to Essay writing and Referencing.
You'll find lots more information on referencing and compiling a bibliography on the Essay writing page of my English resources website.

Let's get started !

My Literature search techniques help pages are in three separate sections; click on the appropriate Go button below when you are ready to begin.

How to find: Journal articles   |   Books   |  Websites

If you need help with Literature   searching, click the button

BACK TO MY ENGLISH LITERATURE RESOURCES WEBSITE TABLE OF CONTENTS

This page is maintained by Jennifer Osborn