The links below provide information about resources and services available to graduate students through ZSR Library.
If you've never done a literature review before, you're not alone. As an assignment, literature reviews are a unique and challenging way to learn how to search for and make sense of the current research on a topic and to build your skills in communicating using the language of your discipline. Literature reviews serve an extremely important purpose for scholars in any field: they synthesize the research, identify gaps, disagreements, and inconsistencies, and expose scholars to papers they hadn't yet encountered.
The librarians at Williams College have put together a wonderful and comprehensive self-guided tutorial:
Literature Review: A Self-Guided Tutorial from Williams CollegeAs you begin your research, we recommend reviewing these resources for conducting a structured literature review. Even if you are not performing a full systematic review, drafting a detailed plan of your study before you begin any type of literature review ensures reproducibility and transparency and reduces bias.
To find articles in scholarly journals, start by going to the Find a Database page and use "Find by Subject." Your best bets for Counseling include PsycINFO and ERIC.
Tips & Tricks for Finding Tests & Measures:
Resources for Finding Tests & Measures:
Tests in Print XGrey literature is literature that does not go through the traditional scholarly publishing process, but is produced by governments, academia, NGOs and IGOs, think tanks, and other groups where publishing is not the primary purpose of the organization. Examples of grey literature include: dissertations, theses, working papers, government reports, policy documents, conference presentations and abstracts, pre-prints, and more. Unlike scholarship produced through traditional venues, grey literature tends to be widely dispersed and may require a different search strategy. For help locating grey literature, contact your librarian!
Do you know Zotero? This powerful citation manager helps you keep up with everything you find during the research process, then it helps you cite your sources in-text as you write your paper and generates a bibliography at the end. Interested in learning more? Check out our Zotero guide to work through a self-guided tutorial, watch our Zotero tutorials on YouTube, or make a virtual appointment to get more help!
