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 an essential research skill that you will need throughout your university courses. It will also be useful as a life-long learning tool if you are planning a future career in linguistics.

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 linguistics 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.

Linguistics students are expected to complete the Library Tutorial for Humanities and Social Sciences early in their course; lecturers, tutors and Library staff will all assume that you have done the tutorial.
The Library Tutorial will give you a basic grounding in library and bibliographic skills generally; my Research skills: Literature search techniques pages will build on those skills to show you how to find material on specific media topics.

Referencing

Finding relevant resources on your topic is only part of the story; you also need to know how to incorporate the results of your research into your essays and assignments. There's plenty of information on how to approach this on the Essay writing page on my Linguistics resources website. You'll find especially useful the section on Creating a list of references and/or a bibliography.

Let's get started !

My Research skills: 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 search techniques, click the button

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This page was created and is maintained by Alan Keig