This document provides an overview of how to conduct a literature review. It discusses the purpose of a literature review in setting the scene and rationale for proposed research. Key steps covered include defining search topics and keywords, using specialized databases and sources to find relevant journal articles, and evaluating sources based on currency, authority, relevance and purpose. The document encourages exploring a variety of databases and refining searches to efficiently find high-quality sources. Assistance resources for literature searches are also outlined.

1. Literature
Searching:
Finding the
evidence
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What will we be doing today?
• What is a literature review?
• What makes a good search?
• Using specialist sources to find journal articles
• Evaluating and critiquing what you find
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Why research?
• Solve problems
• Underpin practice (does it work? Is it worth it?)
• Overview of existing knowledge, theory
• Identify gaps in knowledge
• Gather ideas about possible methods etc. for your study –
how you could collect and analyse the data.
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Finding the evidence
• For your
• Research proposal and presentation
And next year’s dissertation....
A literature review:
- Sets the scene
- Helps develop the rationale for your proposed research
- Outlines key themes, gaps in knowledge, limitations of
existing studies
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Finding resources
myUniHub > My Study > My Library
Select Summon
Login to
MyUniHub

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Activity 1: Explore
“Home advantage in sport”
• Using the search engine assigned to you (Summon or
Google Scholar):
1) Carry out a search on this topic
2) Select a journal article (the best you can find)
3) Access the full text (PDF) of the article
• Be prepared to explain how you found it and why you
chose it.
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What makes a good article?
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The CARP test
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C A R P
• Currency - How old is the information? When
was it last updated?
• Authority - Who is the author / site creator?
What is their background? Is the article published
in a scholarly/peer reviewed journal?
• Relevance - Is this what I need? Will it answer
my question? Is it at the appropriate level?
• Purpose - What is the purpose of the information
e.g. financial gain, propaganda, academic, etc.
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What makes a good search?
Think about:
• Areas of interest
• Keywords
• Scope of subject - limits?
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Fundamental
movement
skills
• Movement skills
• Skill acquisition
• Skill development
• Skill proficiency
• Motor skills / ability
Children
Adolescents
• Child*
• Adolescen*
• Youth
• Teenage*
Physical
Education
• PE
• School sport
Physical
activity levels
• Exercise
• Sports
participation
• Enjoyment / fun etc
Does targeting
fundamental
movement skills in
PE improve
physical activity
levels in children &
adolescents?
Specific
skills
• Gender?
• Age groups?

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Over to you...
Using the worksheet:
• Briefly summarise your topic in the first box
If you don’t have one, try “Effects of fatigue in team sports”
• Narrow it down to some key words
• List any synonyms, alternative spellings or related topics

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Where to search?

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Beyond Summon – other places to
search
• Databases
— Sport Discus
— Medline / PubMed – good for rehab and physiology topics
— PsycInfo – for psychology topics
— MyUniHub > My Study > My Library > Databases
• Google Scholar
• Individual journals specific to your topic
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Google Scholar – lots of useful features
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Author’s profile
– check for
other research
on the same
topic
Papers that
have
referenced
this one
The same paper on
other websites –
sometimes good for
getting full text
Full text from
Middlesex and
other sources
BUT…
- Limited ability to combine different keywords
- Older articles can appear first in results – use the date limits!

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Activity 3: exploring further
Using your keywords and the help sheets, try your search on
Sport Discus and Summon/Google Scholar
Looking at your search results:
• How many results do you get? (Compare with the other
databases)
• What kind of articles are they?
• Are your results from a range of journals?
• Can you refine your results further?
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Need further help?
• Librarians available in the Study Hub (library 1st floor)
Monday-Friday 9-5
• LET academic writing support 12-3, Study Hub
• 1-1 appointments bookable via your library subject guide
• Jo Wilson j.r.wilson@mdx.ac.uk
• https://unihelp.mdx.ac.uk/askalibrarian
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