Conducting a literature review involves finding, reading, and summarizing the existing body of research on your topic or area of interest. This is how scholars figure out what to research: by knowing what other researchers have already published, they can be sure their work is addressing a gap in the research or building on the existing research.
I recommend that you explore a few different types of resources:
1. Books: When you find a book on your topic, the introduction will likely have what you need. If not, scan the table of contents for topics of interest.
The library has nearly half a million ebooks available digitally, not to mention the 170,000+ print books in our building and the 36 million+ items you can borrow through I-Share. You have options!
2. Journal Articles: Consider which discipline(s) care about your topic, then search in a subject-specific database from the library. Check out the descriptions below to find the right database for you:
From an EbscoHost database,
Otherwise, please fill out this Article Request Form.
Questions? Contact Diane Wingert at 618.374.5074 or diane.wingert@principia.edu
This work by Principia College Library is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International