Left to Right: Aida Almanza-Ferro, Lorin Flores, and (soon to be pictured!) Trisha Hernandez.
We are the librarians for College of Education and Human Development, and the College of Nursing. We look forward to working with you! To contact us or to make an appointment:
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Aida Almanza-Ferro | aida.almanza@tamucc.edu | 361-825-2356
Lorin Flores | lorin.flores@tamucc.edu | 361-825-2609
Trisha Hernandez | 361-825.2687
Librarians are available M-F, 8-5.
A literature review is a critical summary of what has been written about a specific topic. A literature review can stand alone or be included as part of a research article. This guide will point you to useful resources for understanding what a literature review is and how to create one. As always please reach out to your librarian for more help.
There are many resources available to help you understand what a literature review is and how to write one. Here are a few:
This paragraph from an example literature review demonstrates how to synthesize different sources without summarizing:
While the articles used in this research agree that women made many advances during the World War II period, it is crucial to realize that not all these changes were welcomed. In most cases women faced discrimination from just about everyone around them. Women in the workplace were often placed in positions of inferiority or treated as being less physically able to the same work the men did. Many women were often not trained because they were viewed as temporary employees who were only there for the duration of the war (Bruley, 2003, pp.221-222). Women were very rarely given equal pay as men, even though some of them did the same work. Women in the military faced not only mental abuse but also physical harm from their male counterparts. According to Cornelsen (2005) there were many instances where female aviators were injured or killed due to being made to fly ill-maintained aircrafts or aircrafts that had been sabotaged (p.114).
Note that the author in this example compares the two cited articles in their synthesis, explaining not only that the two are similar, but explaining how they are different.
This passage is taken from the handout linked below:
What's a keyword?
It's really important to distill your topic down into searchable keywords. You might need to change your keyword language or spelling, or use specific symbols or connecting words to combine keywords to get the best results.
Finding quality, scholarly sources
You'll be searching multiple online resources, all with different types (and access) to information. Typically you'll be looking in
Here are some categories and sources from broad to narrow to help you get started in terms of places to look:
APA CITATION RESOURCES ON THE WEB
The following two sites are good places to get guidance on APA citation style on the web.
The CASA Writing Center can help with any type of writing at all stages of the writing process!
The Writing Center can help:
Visit their website for location, hours and contact information.