how to obtain references for a literature review?

 References for literature review 

References to literature review means to obtain references to other works in the process of conducting the literature review. literature review References are one of the most important aspects of any academic research and poor or lack of literature review References will not only diminish your marks, but such practices may also be perceived as plagiarism and disciplinary actions may follow. 

 Literature review References Examples 

Books

Books are primary references for literature review. While old Books might have outdated information, even old Books are used for historical studies or data collection. There are Books available about any subject that ranges from books dealing with mythology to books dealing with history to science and math. The wide range of subjects available in Books allows for finding data about any specific subject in support of the literature review. One of the main weaknesses with collecting data from a book is locating the necessary data and time constraints. Books are available for free reading and researching from libraries around the country.

Dissertations and Thesis

Thesis or Dissertations are an interpretation of a question or subject in the literature review, not the subject itself. A Thesis or Dissertations is the result of a lengthy thinking process.  Once you do this thinking, you will probably have a “working Thesis or Dissertations” that presents a basic or main idea and an argument that you think you can support with evidence. Both the argument and your Thesis or Dissertations are likely to need adjustment along the way. A well-crafted Thesis or Dissertations reflects well-crafted ideas.

How do I know if my Thesis or Dissertations is strong?

•        Do I answer the question? Re-reading the question prompt after constructing a working Thesis or Dissertations can help you fix an argument that misses the focus of the question.

•        Is my Thesis statement specific enough? Thesis or Dissertations statements that are too vague often do not have a strong argument.

•        Does my Thesis or Dissertation pass the “So what?” test? If a reader’s first response is likely to  be “So what?” then you need to clarify, to forge a relationship, or to connect to a larger issue.

•        Does my essay support my Thesis or Dissertation specifically and without wandering? If your Thesis and the body of your essay do not seem to go together, one of them has to change. It’s okay to change your working Thesis to reflect things you have figured out in the course of writing your paper. Remember, always reassess and revise your writing as necessary.

•        Does my Thesis pass the “how and why?” test? If a reader’s first response is “how?” or “why?” your Thesis may be too open-ended and lack guidance for the reader. See what you can add to give the reader a better take on your position right from the beginning.

Journal Articles

Journal articles are also one of the most important sources for references, where journal articles are valid and reliable references.

Newspaper Articles

Include the full date where you would otherwise use just the year. Do not include a retrieval date for periodical sources found on Websites. When the actual website of the Articles requires membership, give the homepage or landing page URL. Note that for citations, you should include only the year.

Webpage on a Website

• Provide as specific a date as is available on the webpage. This might be a year only; a year and month; or a year, month, and day.
• Italicize the title of a webpage.
• When the author of the webpage and the publisher of the website are the same, omit the publisher name to avoid repetition.
• When contents of a page are meant to be updated over time but are not archived, include a retrieval date in the reference.
• Use the webpage on a website format for Articles from news Websites such as CNN and HuffPost. Use the newspaper Articles category for Articles from newspaper Websites such as The New York Times or The Washington Post.
• Create a reference to an Online Educational Research (OER) Commons page only when the materials are available for download directly (i.e., the materials are on the page and/or can be downloaded as PDFs or other files). When the “View Resource” button of an OER instead directs you to another website, create a reference to the specific webpage on that website where the materials can be retrieved.
• Do not create a reference or in-text citation for a whole website. To mention a website in general, and not any particular information on that site, provide the name of the website in the text and include the URL in parenthesis. For example, you might mention that you used a website to create a survey.

 Watch: Collecting References from an Important Literature Review 

With greetings: Al - Manara Consulting to help researchers and graduate students