Review articles summarise the progress or current state of a particular topic.  They are a place to start if you are beginning to study a field, to discover aspects that you may have missed or misunderstood, or if you need an overview.

They do not occur in all subjects or on all topics so a researcher is very fortunate if a review article exists on the same topic as their own research 

Some databases enable your results to limit to Review articles or you can add "literature review" to your other search terms. 

• Scopus  – Refine by  Document Type – Review
• PsycINFO – Select Review from the Methodology menu.
• SciFinderⁿ – Run the search, then in the left-hand panel choose Filter by > Document type > Review
• Compendex (in Engineering Village) limit by “Treatment Type” –  “General Review”

Kerry Gilmour  

Phone: +6433693933

UC subscribes to the Annual Reviews Database which contains review literature for 44 different subjects.