LibGuides: Literature Review: Examples

Finding Literature Review Examples

Most of the scholarly sources you find for a paper you are writing will have a literature review. Scholarly articles typically have the following parts:

Abstract (Summary)
Introduction/Literature Review
Methods
Results/Discussion
Conclusion

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window Index to articles on a wide variety of topics, some available in full text.

You can find scholarly articles in the library's databases, like Academic Search Complete. Other databases are listed in our Databases A to Z list.

Example 1

Antennal olfactory responses of adult meadow spittlebug, Philaenus spumarius, to volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
In this article, the heading "Introduction" also includes the literature review. Each time a study is paraphrased in the article, you will see a number indicating where you can find citation information in the works cited at the end of the article. You can then look up that study if you'd like to know more.

Example 2

Exploring the effects of polls on public opinion
The literature review portion of this article doesn't have any heading at all. The first few paragraphs after the Abstract are the literature review. You will notice in-text citations in parentheses for studies mentioned in the article. These in-text citations will lead you to the full citation at the end of the article.