PPS 3200: Research Methods for Public Policy Analysis

A literature review presents and evaluates previous scholarship on a topic.  Sometimes in the article introduction, sometimes, this is separate section of the article. 

A good literature review should be as comprehensive as necessary to identify all of the major works and debates on your research subject.  

Subject-specific Databases - search in databases specific to your discipline of study to find more sources in your field. For example, Sociological Abstracts specializes in Sociology and will have more coverage of the sociology literature than an interdisciplinary, all-purpose database such as ProQuest.  You should also search in more than one place (i.e. multiple databases and the library search) since no one search tool covers everything.  For example, if your topic involves education, consider also searching an education database, such as Education Fulltext.

Here are ideas about finding places to search.

Databases A-Z - Once you've identified disciplines or information types, consult the Databases A-Z list by subject.  A Research Guide for a specific subject may also have some suggestions.

Library Search Tool - The Library Search Tool also searches a variety of databases for books and journal articles at once. However, it does not search everything, so be sure to also look at disciplinary databases.

Google Scholar -  also search for your topic in Google Scholar.  If you have a relevant source, consider searching the title in Google Scholar and using the “Cited By” link and the “Related Articles” to locate more literature.  

Citation Tracing Backward (Bibliography Mining) - use the list of works cited from a relevant source to learn more about a topic from the works cited or to see if important works are missing.  This is a way to look for relevant sources published prior to the one in hand.  A database may have a direct link to all the works cited, such as the example below; otherwise, you may need to look at each work cited manually. The database Web of Science has links to references, as do ProQuest databases.

Citation Tracing Forward (Cited Reference Searching)  -This finds newer sources that cite a particular article, book chapter, etc.  It also uncovers newer research on a topic.

Citation management software (or bibliographic management software) allows you to create your own personal library of references to books, articles and documents. References can include citation information (author, title, publisher, etc.) as well as annotations, graphics, and even copies of the documents themselves.

The software works with Microsoft Word and other word processors to automatically add references to your paper and format your bibliography in the proper style (MLA, APA, Chicago Style, etc.).

Learn more about the following citation management software packages on this guide:

• EndNote (Desktop & Online Version)
• Mendeley
• Zotero

As you look for and evaluate scholarly sources, you may see the ProQuest Research Assistant, which is an AI tool.  A few things to consider.

The ProQuest Research Assistant uses a Large Language Mode (LLM)/Chat GPT on the data from the database(s).

LLMs are trained on vast amounts of data to predict the next word in a sentence.  The responses can be helpful but AI tools don't know your research context, what you have read, what your knowledge of the topic is, etc. 

Even if the LLM draws on "good data sources," it still has risks of inaccuracies and hallucination.  Verify any citation  generated by the AI tool; use the Library Search tool or contact me.

For a document's "Key Takeaways," the ProQuest Research Assistant uses the same perspective as the original document.  Therefore, it might not note overlaps, contradictions, agreements, etc. with other scholarly sources.  Research does not happen in a vacuum but is part of a larger "conversation" where authors debate, refute, support, and extend research, theories, and claims.  Consider other perspectives and voices in your search/evaluation of a scholarly source; develop your own "key takeaways."  To a novice or developing researcher, AI can generate output that looks legitimate, but the tool can miss little things that only a seasoned researcher would notice.

See more about ProQuest Research Assistant

Sources consulted:

Coursera courses offered by Jules White:  Generative AI Primer, Trustworthy Generative AI

Sociology 3242: AI and Social Systems syllabus, courtesy of Vanderbilt Professor Jenny Davis