Search different spellings and plural/singular

An asterisk (*) or truncation symbols means I don't care how it ends  e.g. behav*

• In this example, the database would search "behavior" and "behaviour" in both their singular and plural forms

Search phrases

Use quotation marks " " to search for a particular phrase  e.g. "cognitive dissonance"

Proximity searching

Proximity searching lets you search for two words near each other e.g. ankle N2 sprain* will look for those words within two words of each other in any order

Using AND/OR

Avoid typing sentences into the search box. Always use AND or OR between different ideas:

• AND (if you want all the words to appear in your search results) e.g. "cognitive dissonance" AND shopping
• OR (if you don't care which word shows up) e.g. college OR university

What is a literature review?

It describes and evaluates the research that has been done in a particular area of research. 

• In general, a literature review should be a concise and comprehensive discussion of a narrow, well-defined research question.
• The goal is usually to identify relationships, contradictions, controversies, gaps and potential next steps in the research.

Why do it?

• Reviewing the literature on your topic gives your ideas for your research question
• It helps you understand the big picture and background to your topic so that you can identify where your proposed research fits in the existing body of knowledge.

What is it for?

• Providing a literature review as part of your research paper lets the reader know what literature you examined and what research is being drawn upon, and demonstrates your knowledge of the topic.
• A literature review demonstrates how and why your research question is important and worth asking.

Literature reviews should synthesize and compare studies that discuss different aspects of your topic, depending on your purpose (for example, you might compare experimental method, population studied, theoretical framework, etc.).