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Community (Local) Literature: Local Authors

A sampling of local author websites & blogs.

• Kelli Russell Agodon
• Peter Bagge
• Matt Briggs
• Karen Fisher
• Jeannine Hall Gailey
• Jeanne Heuving
• Ursula K. LeGuin
• Neil Low A UW Bothell alum!
• Maureen McQuerry
• Richelle Mead
• Paul Nelson
• Jennie Shortridge
• Garth Stein

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• Last Updated: Sep 19, 2023 10:56 AM
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Literature Review

What is a Literature Review?

It is…. a systematic and critical analysis of the literature on a specific topic. It describes trends, quality, relationships, inconsistencies and gaps in the research; and it details how the works enhance your understanding of the topic at large.

It is NOT…. simply an annotated bibliography that summarizes and/or assesses each article. There is not one, correct way to approach and write a literature review. It can be a stand-alone paper or part of a thesis/dissertation. Format and requirements can vary between disciplines, purpose and intended audience.

A literature review is an overview of existing literature (books, articles, dissertations, conference proceedings, and other sources) in a particular scholarly area. With a lit review, you will:

• Gather information about your topic, including the sources used by others who have previously conducted research
• Find out if your specific research question has already been answered
• Find out what areas or perspectives have not yet been covered by others on your topic
• Analyze and evaluate existing information

The literature review will assist you in considering the validity and scope of your research question so that you can do the necessary revision and fine tuning to it. It provides the foundation to formulate and present strong arguments to justify your chosen research topic.

• How to Write a Literature Review  (University of California, Santa Cruz)

Check out these books from the library for further guidance:

• Després, Carole. "The meaning of home: literature review and directions for future research and theoretical development." Journal of architectural and planning research 8, no.2, (Summer 1991): 96-155.
• Steiner, Frederick R. "Philadelphia, the holy experiment: A literature review and analysis." Ekistics , 49, (1982): 298-305.

Reckoning with Authorities

As you are developing your Lit Review, part of your objective is to identify the leading authorities within the field or who address your topic or theme. Some tips for identifying the scholars:

Old Fashioned Method:

• Keep notes on footnotes and names as you read articles, books, blogs, exhibition catalogs, etc. Are there names or works that everyone references? Use the catalog to track these reference down.
• Consider looking for state of the field articles often found either in a discipline's primary journal or in conference proceedings - keynote speakers.
• Look for book reviews.

Publication Metrics:

• These resources include information about the frequency of citations for an article/author.
• These resources are not specifically for Architecture or Planning. Remember therefore to be critical and careful about the assumptions you make with regard to the results!

The Web of Science platform currently also provides temporary access to several databases that are not part of the Core Collection, including Biosis Citation Index, Data Citation Index, and Zoological Record.

Use this link to access Google Scholar, and see our Google Scholar Guide for information on using this resource.

If you encounter a warning about the security certificate when using the FindIt@UT tool in Google Scholar, you can learn more about that using this guide .

• Last Updated: Jul 15, 2024 12:42 PM
• URL: https://guides.lib.utexas.edu/crp

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1 Place, Regional Culture, and Regional Literature

• Published: August 2008
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This chapter considers what exactly a place is and how people make one. It focuses on cultural expressions of place, both in the more passive form of regional culture and in the more assertive form of regionalism. It then turns to literature and the aesthetic structure of literary regionalism, rooted in classical pastoral and encountered most often in the contemporary regional mystery. Examples of these genres will flesh out the understanding of how regional literature operates and why its appeal is so strong.

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What is local literature?  

Insight from top 4 papers, source papers (4).

Related Questions

Integrating local literature into a library system involves various best practices highlighted in the research papers. These practices include adhering to established norms and guidelines for local studies activities, despite challenges and gaps in implementation . Additionally, collaborating with regional libraries to collectively work on preserving and promoting local documents can enhance the accessibility and impact of local literature . Local literature, with its regional, historical, and universal features, not only provides valuable historical experiences for economic development but also serves as a rich resource for academic research and teaching in local universities . Furthermore, public libraries play a crucial role in promoting human rights by ensuring equal access to information for all individuals, regardless of their background or circumstances . By combining these practices, libraries can effectively integrate local literature into their systems, enriching their collections and supporting community engagement.

Foreign literature has significantly influenced local cultures in various ways. For instance, in modern China, the works of Shakespeare and Milton have played a crucial role in shaping Chinese literature and culture. Additionally, contemporary Chinese writer Wang Anyi's novelette "Baotown" has been influenced by foreign literary trends, such as Tolstoy's "Resurrection" and Márquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude," showcasing the impact of foreign literature on local perspectives and writing styles. This interaction between foreign and local literary works demonstrates how external influences can contribute to the evolution and enrichment of indigenous cultures, highlighting the importance of cultural exchange and adaptation in the global literary landscape.

Local literature, as depicted in the provided research contexts, encompasses various dimensions and purposes. It serves as a cultural asset reflecting social conditions and historical experiences . Furthermore, local literature plays a crucial role in educational settings by empowering regional culture and providing a basis for literacy development . The implementation of local literature in schools is seen as a means to preserve cultural identity amidst globalization's influence . Additionally, local literature offers a rich source of material for teaching, research, and enhancing local economic development . Overall, local literature is not only a tool for literary education but also a means of fostering cultural pride, enhancing literacy skills, and supporting regional development initiatives.

Local literature plays a crucial role in shaping cultural identity and fostering social cohesion within a community. It serves as a reflection of society's life, offering orientation, identity, and solidarity. By incorporating local literature into education, efforts are made to empower culture against the influence of globalization. In the Malaysian context, literature in English has been recognized as a significant tool for understanding the nation's realities and promoting inter-ethnic relationships, thus aiding in nation-building. Furthermore, narratives of local characters contribute to community belonging and identity formation, transcending social positions and highlighting the multi-voiced nature of identities within a community. Overall, local literature not only preserves cultural heritage but also strengthens the bonds among community members, fostering a sense of belonging and shared identity.

The best local literature about reading comprehension is not explicitly mentioned in the abstracts provided. However, there are references to the importance of literacy skills in everyday life and education, as well as the development of literacy materials based on local literature . These materials can be used to promote literacy culture and moral messages in elementary-level education . While there is no specific mention of a particular local literature text for reading comprehension, it is suggested that literacy practices should be viewed as social practices, and that comprehension is achieved through enculturation and social interaction . Therefore, it is recommended to explore local literary texts that align with the cultural and educational context to enhance reading comprehension skills.

Trending Questions

"Godan," a novel by Premchand, skillfully portrays the socio-economic conditions of rural India by highlighting the normalized violence, poverty, and gender discrimination prevalent in villages . The story is set in a poverty-ridden village in Uttar Pradesh, showcasing the struggles of individuals from different social strata, victimized by powerful oppressive social institutions and self-inflicted violence due to societal malpractices . Additionally, the narrative sheds light on the challenges faced by the agrarian population, social and gender discrimination, and other indicators of development in rural India, reflecting the harsh realities of rural life . Furthermore, the study of rural areas in India emphasizes the need for development initiatives like the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana to improve the quality of life, infrastructure, and amenities in villages, ultimately aiming to reduce migration to urban areas .

Cultural dimensions play a crucial role in shaping the design and implementation of interdisciplinary research projects in medical settings. Studies emphasize the impact of cultural factors on project management performance outcomes, highlighting how individualism, masculinity, and uncertainty avoidance can influence project dynamics and control . Additionally, incorporating culturally relevant variables in research protocols is essential to understand how cultural subsets affect healthcare provider-client interactions, emphasizing the need for culturally sensitive approaches in medical research . Furthermore, the integration of indigenous knowledge and practices in research methodologies, as seen in the example from Aotearoa New Zealand, showcases the importance of cultural responsiveness in enhancing research protocols and fostering deeper connections with participants, ultimately leading to more meaningful and in-depth inquiries in healthcare research settings .

Security operatives in Uganda face the challenge of balancing national security concerns with the protection of human rights. Research indicates that the media plays a significant role in shaping security sector reforms in Uganda, with radio and television having a positive impact on security sector performance . However, obstacles such as limited access to information, bureaucratic red tape, and political violence hinder the media's ability to fully contribute to security sector reform . Additionally, reports highlight human rights violations in Uganda, emphasizing the need for security agencies to uphold human rights standards while ensuring national security . To achieve this balance, security operatives should focus on rebranding organizational culture, leadership, and structure to enhance effectiveness and address human rights concerns within the security sector .

The historical significance of the O PL 1904 in the state of Piauí lies in its impact on the distribution of dental radiology equipment, as studied by Silva and Silva Filho. Their research highlighted the disparities in equipment distribution across mesoregions in Piauí, noting non-compliance with health ordinances in some cities due to a lack of equipment, especially in densely populated areas . Additionally, the historical context of Piauí's territorial occupation by small farmers and investors from Bahia, influencing the state's urban network and political integrity, sheds light on the challenges faced in integrating the region . Furthermore, the research on the government of Alberto Silva emphasizes how discourses about governance contributed to shaping Piauiense identity and self-esteem, showcasing the interconnectedness of historical narratives with political representation and memory in the state .

To mitigate acquiescence bias in surveys, researchers can employ various strategies. One effective method is the use of balanced item parcels, which help counter acquiescent responding without the need to explicitly model method effects . Additionally, creating balanced scales by incorporating both positive and negative items can aid in controlling acquiescence bias, as demonstrated in studies utilizing Confirmatory Factor Analysis models . Another approach involves rewriting response options to directly align with the construct of interest, as seen in the American National Election Study, although the effectiveness of this method in improving data quality remains inconclusive . By implementing these strategies, researchers can minimize the impact of acquiescence bias and enhance the accuracy of survey results.

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• Knowledge Base

Methodology

• How to Write a Literature Review | Guide, Examples, & Templates

How to Write a Literature Review | Guide, Examples, & Templates

Published on January 2, 2023 by Shona McCombes . Revised on September 11, 2023.

What is a literature review? A literature review is a survey of scholarly sources on a specific topic. It provides an overview of current knowledge, allowing you to identify relevant theories, methods, and gaps in the existing research that you can later apply to your paper, thesis, or dissertation topic .

There are five key steps to writing a literature review:

• Search for relevant literature
• Evaluate sources
• Identify themes, debates, and gaps
• Outline the structure
• Write your literature review

A good literature review doesn’t just summarize sources—it analyzes, synthesizes , and critically evaluates to give a clear picture of the state of knowledge on the subject.

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Table of contents

What is the purpose of a literature review, examples of literature reviews, step 1 – search for relevant literature, step 2 – evaluate and select sources, step 3 – identify themes, debates, and gaps, step 4 – outline your literature review’s structure, step 5 – write your literature review, free lecture slides, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions, introduction.

• Quick Run-through
• Step 1 & 2

When you write a thesis , dissertation , or research paper , you will likely have to conduct a literature review to situate your research within existing knowledge. The literature review gives you a chance to:

• Demonstrate your familiarity with the topic and its scholarly context
• Develop a theoretical framework and methodology for your research
• Position your work in relation to other researchers and theorists
• Show how your research addresses a gap or contributes to a debate
• Evaluate the current state of research and demonstrate your knowledge of the scholarly debates around your topic.

Writing literature reviews is a particularly important skill if you want to apply for graduate school or pursue a career in research. We’ve written a step-by-step guide that you can follow below.

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Writing literature reviews can be quite challenging! A good starting point could be to look at some examples, depending on what kind of literature review you’d like to write.

• Example literature review #1: “Why Do People Migrate? A Review of the Theoretical Literature” ( Theoretical literature review about the development of economic migration theory from the 1950s to today.)
• Example literature review #2: “Literature review as a research methodology: An overview and guidelines” ( Methodological literature review about interdisciplinary knowledge acquisition and production.)
• Example literature review #3: “The Use of Technology in English Language Learning: A Literature Review” ( Thematic literature review about the effects of technology on language acquisition.)
• Example literature review #4: “Learners’ Listening Comprehension Difficulties in English Language Learning: A Literature Review” ( Chronological literature review about how the concept of listening skills has changed over time.)

You can also check out our templates with literature review examples and sample outlines at the links below.

Download Word doc Download Google doc

Before you begin searching for literature, you need a clearly defined topic .

If you are writing the literature review section of a dissertation or research paper, you will search for literature related to your research problem and questions .

Make a list of keywords

Start by creating a list of keywords related to your research question. Include each of the key concepts or variables you’re interested in, and list any synonyms and related terms. You can add to this list as you discover new keywords in the process of your literature search.

• Social media, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, TikTok
• Body image, self-perception, self-esteem, mental health
• Generation Z, teenagers, adolescents, youth

Search for relevant sources

Use your keywords to begin searching for sources. Some useful databases to search for journals and articles include:

• Your university’s library catalogue
• Google Scholar
• Project Muse (humanities and social sciences)
• Medline (life sciences and biomedicine)
• EconLit (economics)
• Inspec (physics, engineering and computer science)

You can also use boolean operators to help narrow down your search.

Make sure to read the abstract to find out whether an article is relevant to your question. When you find a useful book or article, you can check the bibliography to find other relevant sources.

You likely won’t be able to read absolutely everything that has been written on your topic, so it will be necessary to evaluate which sources are most relevant to your research question.

For each publication, ask yourself:

• What question or problem is the author addressing?
• What are the key concepts and how are they defined?
• What are the key theories, models, and methods?
• Does the research use established frameworks or take an innovative approach?
• What are the results and conclusions of the study?
• How does the publication relate to other literature in the field? Does it confirm, add to, or challenge established knowledge?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of the research?

Make sure the sources you use are credible , and make sure you read any landmark studies and major theories in your field of research.

You can use our template to summarize and evaluate sources you’re thinking about using. Click on either button below to download.

Take notes and cite your sources

As you read, you should also begin the writing process. Take notes that you can later incorporate into the text of your literature review.

It is important to keep track of your sources with citations to avoid plagiarism . It can be helpful to make an annotated bibliography , where you compile full citation information and write a paragraph of summary and analysis for each source. This helps you remember what you read and saves time later in the process.

To begin organizing your literature review’s argument and structure, be sure you understand the connections and relationships between the sources you’ve read. Based on your reading and notes, you can look for:

• Trends and patterns (in theory, method or results): do certain approaches become more or less popular over time?
• Themes: what questions or concepts recur across the literature?
• Debates, conflicts and contradictions: where do sources disagree?
• Pivotal publications: are there any influential theories or studies that changed the direction of the field?
• Gaps: what is missing from the literature? Are there weaknesses that need to be addressed?

This step will help you work out the structure of your literature review and (if applicable) show how your own research will contribute to existing knowledge.

• Most research has focused on young women.
• There is an increasing interest in the visual aspects of social media.
• But there is still a lack of robust research on highly visual platforms like Instagram and Snapchat—this is a gap that you could address in your own research.

There are various approaches to organizing the body of a literature review. Depending on the length of your literature review, you can combine several of these strategies (for example, your overall structure might be thematic, but each theme is discussed chronologically).

Chronological

The simplest approach is to trace the development of the topic over time. However, if you choose this strategy, be careful to avoid simply listing and summarizing sources in order.

Try to analyze patterns, turning points and key debates that have shaped the direction of the field. Give your interpretation of how and why certain developments occurred.

If you have found some recurring central themes, you can organize your literature review into subsections that address different aspects of the topic.

For example, if you are reviewing literature about inequalities in migrant health outcomes, key themes might include healthcare policy, language barriers, cultural attitudes, legal status, and economic access.

Methodological

If you draw your sources from different disciplines or fields that use a variety of research methods , you might want to compare the results and conclusions that emerge from different approaches. For example:

• Look at what results have emerged in qualitative versus quantitative research
• Discuss how the topic has been approached by empirical versus theoretical scholarship
• Divide the literature into sociological, historical, and cultural sources

Theoretical

A literature review is often the foundation for a theoretical framework . You can use it to discuss various theories, models, and definitions of key concepts.

You might argue for the relevance of a specific theoretical approach, or combine various theoretical concepts to create a framework for your research.

Like any other academic text , your literature review should have an introduction , a main body, and a conclusion . What you include in each depends on the objective of your literature review.

The introduction should clearly establish the focus and purpose of the literature review.

Depending on the length of your literature review, you might want to divide the body into subsections. You can use a subheading for each theme, time period, or methodological approach.

As you write, you can follow these tips:

• Summarize and synthesize: give an overview of the main points of each source and combine them into a coherent whole
• Analyze and interpret: don’t just paraphrase other researchers — add your own interpretations where possible, discussing the significance of findings in relation to the literature as a whole
• Critically evaluate: mention the strengths and weaknesses of your sources
• Write in well-structured paragraphs: use transition words and topic sentences to draw connections, comparisons and contrasts

In the conclusion, you should summarize the key findings you have taken from the literature and emphasize their significance.

When you’ve finished writing and revising your literature review, don’t forget to proofread thoroughly before submitting. Not a language expert? Check out Scribbr’s professional proofreading services !

This article has been adapted into lecture slides that you can use to teach your students about writing a literature review.

Scribbr slides are free to use, customize, and distribute for educational purposes.

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If you want to know more about the research process , methodology , research bias , or statistics , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

• Sampling methods
• Simple random sampling
• Stratified sampling
• Cluster sampling
• Likert scales
• Reproducibility

 Statistics

• Null hypothesis
• Statistical power
• Probability distribution
• Effect size
• Poisson distribution

Research bias

• Optimism bias
• Cognitive bias
• Implicit bias
• Hawthorne effect
• Anchoring bias
• Explicit bias

A literature review is a survey of scholarly sources (such as books, journal articles, and theses) related to a specific topic or research question .

It is often written as part of a thesis, dissertation , or research paper , in order to situate your work in relation to existing knowledge.

There are several reasons to conduct a literature review at the beginning of a research project:

• To familiarize yourself with the current state of knowledge on your topic
• To ensure that you’re not just repeating what others have already done
• To identify gaps in knowledge and unresolved problems that your research can address
• To develop your theoretical framework and methodology
• To provide an overview of the key findings and debates on the topic

Writing the literature review shows your reader how your work relates to existing research and what new insights it will contribute.

The literature review usually comes near the beginning of your thesis or dissertation . After the introduction , it grounds your research in a scholarly field and leads directly to your theoretical framework or methodology .

A literature review is a survey of credible sources on a topic, often used in dissertations , theses, and research papers . Literature reviews give an overview of knowledge on a subject, helping you identify relevant theories and methods, as well as gaps in existing research. Literature reviews are set up similarly to other  academic texts , with an introduction , a main body, and a conclusion .

An  annotated bibliography is a list of  source references that has a short description (called an annotation ) for each of the sources. It is often assigned as part of the research process for a  paper .  

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• UConn Library
• Literature Review: The What, Why and How-to Guide
• Strategies to Find Sources

Literature Review: The What, Why and How-to Guide — Strategies to Find Sources

• Getting Started
• Introduction
• How to Pick a Topic
• Evaluating Sources & Lit. Reviews
• Tips for Writing Literature Reviews
• Writing Literature Review: Useful Sites
• Citation Resources
• Other Academic Writings

The Research Process

Planning : Before searching for articles or books, brainstorm to develop keywords that better describe your research question.

Searching : While searching, take note of what other keywords are used to describe your topic, and use them to conduct additional searches

     ♠ Most articles include a keyword section

     ♠ Key concepts may change names throughout time so make sure to check for variations

Organizing : Start organizing your results by categories/key concepts or any organizing principle that make sense for you . This will help you later when you are ready to analyze your findings

Analyzing : While reading, start making notes of key concepts and commonalities and disagreement among the research articles you find.

♠ Create a spreadsheet  to record what articles you are finding useful and why.

♠ Create fields to write summaries of articles or quotes for future citing and paraphrasing .

Writing : Synthesize your findings. Use your own voice to explain to your readers what you learned about the literature on your topic. What are its weaknesses and strengths? What is missing or ignored?

Repeat : At any given time of the process, you can go back to a previous step as necessary.

Advanced Searching

All databases have Help pages that explain the best way to search their product. When doing literature reviews, you will want to take advantage of these features since they can facilitate not only finding the articles that you really need but also controlling the number of results and how relevant they are for your search. The most common features available in the advanced search option of databases and library online catalogs are:

• Boolean Searching (AND, OR, NOT): Allows you to connect search terms in a way that can either limit or expand your search results 
• Proximity Searching (N/# or W/#): Allows you to search for two or more words that occur within a specified number of words (or fewer) of each other in the database
• Limiters/Filters : These are options that let you control what type of document you want to search: article type, date, language, publication, etc.
• Question mark (?) or a pound sign (#) for wildcard: Used for retrieving alternate spellings of a word: colo?r will retrieve both the American spelling "color" as well as the British spelling "colour." 
• Asterisk (*) for truncation: Used for retrieving multiple forms of a word: comput* retrieves computer, computers, computing, etc.

Want to keep track of updates to your searches? Create an account in the database to receive an alert when a new article is published that meets your search parameters!

• EBSCOhost Advanced Search Tutorial Tips for searching a platform that hosts many library databases
• Library's General Search Tips Check the Search tips to better used our library catalog and articles search system
• ProQuest Database Search Tips Tips for searching another platform that hosts library databases

There is no magic number regarding how many sources you are going to need for your literature review; it all depends on the topic and what type of the literature review you are doing:

► Are you working on an emerging topic? You are not likely to find many sources, which is good because you are trying to prove that this is a topic that needs more research. But, it is not enough to say that you found few or no articles on your topic in your field. You need to look broadly to other disciplines (also known as triangulation ) to see if your research topic has been studied from other perspectives as a way to validate the uniqueness of your research question.

► Are you working on something that has been studied extensively? Then you are going to find many sources and you will want to limit how far back you want to look. Use limiters to eliminate research that may be dated and opt to search for resources published within the last 5-10 years.

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Reviewing literature for research: Doing it the right way

Shital amin poojary.

Department of Dermatology, K J Somaiya Medical College, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Jimish Deepak Bagadia

In an era of information overload, it is important to know how to obtain the required information and also to ensure that it is reliable information. Hence, it is essential to understand how to perform a systematic literature search. This article focuses on reliable literature sources and how to make optimum use of these in dermatology and venereology.

INTRODUCTION

A thorough review of literature is not only essential for selecting research topics, but also enables the right applicability of a research project. Most importantly, a good literature search is the cornerstone of practice of evidence based medicine. Today, everything is available at the click of a mouse or at the tip of the fingertips (or the stylus). Google is often the Go-To search website, the supposed answer to all questions in the universe. However, the deluge of information available comes with its own set of problems; how much of it is actually reliable information? How much are the search results that the search string threw up actually relevant? Did we actually find what we were looking for? Lack of a systematic approach can lead to a literature review ending up as a time-consuming and at times frustrating process. Hence, whether it is for research projects, theses/dissertations, case studies/reports or mere wish to obtain information; knowing where to look, and more importantly, how to look, is of prime importance today.

Literature search

Fink has defined research literature review as a “systematic, explicit and reproducible method for identifying, evaluating, and synthesizing the existing body of completed and recorded work produced by researchers, scholars and practitioners.”[ 1 ]

Review of research literature can be summarized into a seven step process: (i) Selecting research questions/purpose of the literature review (ii) Selecting your sources (iii) Choosing search terms (iv) Running your search (v) Applying practical screening criteria (vi) Applying methodological screening criteria/quality appraisal (vii) Synthesizing the results.[ 1 ]

This article will primarily concentrate on refining techniques of literature search.

Sources for literature search are enumerated in Table 1 .

Sources for literature search

PubMed is currently the most widely used among these as it contains over 23 million citations for biomedical literature and has been made available free by National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), U.S. National Library of Medicine. However, the availability of free full text articles depends on the sources. Use of options such as advanced search, medical subject headings (MeSH) terms, free full text, PubMed tutorials, and single citation matcher makes the database extremely user-friendly [ Figure 1 ]. It can also be accessed on the go through mobiles using “PubMed Mobile.” One can also create own account in NCBI to save searches and to use certain PubMed tools.

PubMed home page showing location of different tools which can be used for an efficient literature search

Tips for efficient use of PubMed search:[ 2 , 3 , 4 ]

Use of field and Boolean operators

When one searches using key words, all articles containing the words show up, many of which may not be related to the topic. Hence, the use of operators while searching makes the search more specific and less cumbersome. Operators are of two types: Field operators and Boolean operators, the latter enabling us to combine more than one concept, thereby making the search highly accurate. A few key operators that can be used in PubMed are shown in Tables ​ Tables2 2 and ​ and3 3 and illustrated in Figures ​ Figures2 2 and ​ and3 3 .

Field operators used in PubMed search

Boolean operators used in PubMed search

PubMed search results page showing articles on donovanosis using the field operator [TIAB]; it shows all articles which have the keyword “donovanosis” in either title or abstract of the article

PubMed search using Boolean operators ‘AND’, ‘NOT’; To search for articles on treatment of lepra reaction other than steroids, after clicking the option ‘Advanced search’ on the home page, one can build the search using ‘AND’ option for treatment and ‘NOT’ option for steroids to omit articles on steroid treatment in lepra reaction

Use of medical subject headings terms

These are very specific and standardized terms used by indexers to describe every article in PubMed and are added to the record of every article. A search using MeSH will show all articles about the topic (or keywords), but will not show articles only containing these keywords (these articles may be about an entirely different topic, but still may contain your keywords in another context in any part of the article). This will make your search more specific. Within the topic, specific subheadings can be added to the search builder to refine your search [ Figure 4 ]. For example, MeSH terms for treatment are therapy and therapeutics.

PubMed search using medical subject headings (MeSH) terms for management of gonorrhea. Click on MeSH database ( Figure 1 ) →In the MeSH search box type gonorrhea and click search. Under the MeSH term gonorrhea, there will be a list of subheadings; therapy, prevention and control, click the relevant check boxes and add to search builder →Click on search →All articles on therapy, prevention and control of gonorrhea will be displayed. Below the subheadings, there are two options: (1) Restrict to medical subject headings (MeSH) major topic and (2) do not include MeSH terms found below this term in the MeSH hierarchy. These can be used to further refine the search results so that only articles which are majorly about treatment of gonorrhea will be displayed

Two additional options can be used to further refine MeSH searches. These are located below the subheadings for a MeSH term: (1) Restrict to MeSH major topic; checking this box will retrieve articles which are majorly about the search term and are therefore, more focused and (2) Do not include MeSH terms found below this term in the MeSH hierarchy. This option will again give you more focused articles as it excludes the lower specific terms [ Figure 4 ].

Similar feature is available with Cochrane library (also called MeSH), EMBASE (known as EMTREE) and PsycINFO (Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms).

Saving your searches

Any search that one has performed can be saved by using the ‘Send to’ option and can be saved as a simple word file [ Figure 5 ]. Alternatively, the ‘Save Search’ button (just below the search box) can be used. However, it is essential to set up an NCBI account and log in to NCBI for this. One can even choose to have E-mail updates of new articles in the topic of interest.

Saving PubMed searches. A simple option is to click on the dropdown box next to ‘Send to’ option and then choose among the options. It can be saved as a text or word file by choosing ‘File’ option. Another option is the “Save search” option below the search box but this will require logging into your National Center for Biotechnology Information account. This however allows you to set up alerts for E-mail updates for new articles

Single citation matcher

This is another important tool that helps to find the genuine original source of a particular research work (when few details are known about the title/author/publication date/place/journal) and cite the reference in the most correct manner [ Figure 6 ].

Single citation matcher: Click on “Single citation matcher” on PubMed Home page. Type available details of the required reference in the boxes to get the required citation

Full text articles

In any search clicking on the link “free full text” (if present) gives you free access to the article. In some instances, though the published article may not be available free, the author manuscript may be available free of charge. Furthermore, PubMed Central articles are available free of charge.

Managing filters

Filters can be used to refine a search according to type of article required or subjects of research. One can specify the type of article required such as clinical trial, reviews, free full text; these options are available on a typical search results page. Further specialized filters are available under “manage filters:” e.g., articles confined to certain age groups (properties option), “Links” to other databases, article specific to particular journals, etc. However, one needs to have an NCBI account and log in to access this option [ Figure 7 ].

Managing filters. Simple filters are available on the ‘search results’ page. One can choose type of article, e.g., clinical trial, reviews etc. Further options are available in the “Manage filters” option, but this requires logging into National Center for Biotechnology Information account

The Cochrane library

Although reviews are available in PubMed, for systematic reviews and meta-analysis, Cochrane library is a much better resource. The Cochrane library is a collection of full length systematic reviews, which can be accessed for free in India, thanks to Indian Council of Medical Research renewing the license up to 2016, benefitting users all over India. It is immensely helpful in finding detailed high quality research work done in a particular field/topic [ Figure 8 ].

Cochrane library is a useful resource for reliable, systematic reviews. One can choose the type of reviews required, including trials

An important tool that must be used while searching for research work is screening. Screening helps to improve the accuracy of search results. It is of two types: (1) Practical: To identify a broad range of potentially useful studies. Examples: Date of publication (last 5 years only; gives you most recent updates), participants or subjects (humans above 18 years), publication language (English only) (2) methodological: To identify best available studies (for example, excluding studies not involving control group or studies with only randomized control trials).

Selecting the right quality of literature is the key to successful research literature review. The quality can be estimated by what is known as “The Evidence Pyramid.” The level of evidence of references obtained from the aforementioned search tools are depicted in Figure 9 . Systematic reviews obtained from Cochrane library constitute level 1 evidence.

Evidence pyramid: Depicting the level of evidence of references obtained from the aforementioned search tools

Thus, a systematic literature review can help not only in setting up the basis of a good research with optimal use of available information, but also in practice of evidence-based medicine.

Source of Support: Nil.

Conflict of Interest: None declared.

Local Literature

A significant amount of literature is available on inventory systems. A majority of the findings are derived from experiences in the US, Japan and Western Europe. Some inventory systems however, can be affected by variations in local conditions such as infrastructure, customs, duties, and regulations. Hence, it is essential to view such systems in an international context. To frame this research, we will examine the literature on operations in NIC countries followed by an analysis of local conditions in Thailand. A number of articles are available that examine the inventory setups in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Korea (Amsden, 1989).

For example, Cheng (1988) and Hum and Ng (1995) examine the workings of Just In Time (JIT) systems in Hong Kong and Singapore, respectively. Other studies related to inventory management include facility location decisions (Sisodia, 1992; Nambiar, fielders, and Van Wassenhove, L. N, 1989; Mathews, 1997) and distributed systems. These studies indicate that Thailand is not as industrialized as the other NIC countries such as Singapore, and infrastructure shortcomings play an important role. Next, we will examine the literature on the quality of infrastructure in Thailand.

Infrastructure affects both the productivity and effectiveness of manufacturing companies. It has a direct impact on the distribution of raw materials, parts, and finished goods to customers. The few studies focused on Thailand have primarily addressed infrastructural problems in Thailand (Chalamwong, Chalongphob and Wattanalee, 1994; Chalamwong, 1993). In identifying the infrastructure-related problems, Yukio (1990) calls for the Thai government to pay closer attention to transportation systems in their effort to attract more Japanese and foreign investment.

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Sibunruang (1986) also points to infrastructural constraints having a bearing on the development of the Thai economy. The present government, however, does realizes the importance of infrastructure for the country's overall economy. In its efforts to improve infrastructure, the Thai government has privatized telecommunication service and has started seeking help from private local and foreign companies to cope with the road shortage. The government has also approved a number of projects for the construction of highways in and around Bangkok. Furthermore, the airports in Thailand are now better managed.

Although infrastructure remains a problem, there is a substantial pool of investors looking to open shop in Thailand. Information on production and inventory management practices in Thailand can help managers better understand and identify approaches that might be suitable for their companies' operations in that country. As noted earlier, no research on inventory management in Thailand has been undertaken and reported in the literature. The next section presents the methodology used in examining the types of inventory systems employed by foreign companies in Thailand.

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• USC Libraries
• Research Guides

Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper

• 5. The Literature Review
• Purpose of Guide
• Design Flaws to Avoid
• Independent and Dependent Variables
• Glossary of Research Terms
• Reading Research Effectively
• Narrowing a Topic Idea
• Broadening a Topic Idea
• Extending the Timeliness of a Topic Idea
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• Choosing a Title
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• Evaluating Sources
• Primary Sources
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A literature review surveys prior research published in books, scholarly articles, and any other sources relevant to a particular issue, area of research, or theory, and by so doing, provides a description, summary, and critical evaluation of these works in relation to the research problem being investigated. Literature reviews are designed to provide an overview of sources you have used in researching a particular topic and to demonstrate to your readers how your research fits within existing scholarship about the topic.

Fink, Arlene. Conducting Research Literature Reviews: From the Internet to Paper . Fourth edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 2014.

Importance of a Good Literature Review

A literature review may consist of simply a summary of key sources, but in the social sciences, a literature review usually has an organizational pattern and combines both summary and synthesis, often within specific conceptual categories . A summary is a recap of the important information of the source, but a synthesis is a re-organization, or a reshuffling, of that information in a way that informs how you are planning to investigate a research problem. The analytical features of a literature review might:

• Give a new interpretation of old material or combine new with old interpretations,
• Trace the intellectual progression of the field, including major debates,
• Depending on the situation, evaluate the sources and advise the reader on the most pertinent or relevant research, or
• Usually in the conclusion of a literature review, identify where gaps exist in how a problem has been researched to date.

Given this, the purpose of a literature review is to:

• Place each work in the context of its contribution to understanding the research problem being studied.
• Describe the relationship of each work to the others under consideration.
• Identify new ways to interpret prior research.
• Reveal any gaps that exist in the literature.
• Resolve conflicts amongst seemingly contradictory previous studies.
• Identify areas of prior scholarship to prevent duplication of effort.
• Point the way in fulfilling a need for additional research.
• Locate your own research within the context of existing literature [very important].

Fink, Arlene. Conducting Research Literature Reviews: From the Internet to Paper. 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2005; Hart, Chris. Doing a Literature Review: Releasing the Social Science Research Imagination . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1998; Jesson, Jill. Doing Your Literature Review: Traditional and Systematic Techniques . Los Angeles, CA: SAGE, 2011; Knopf, Jeffrey W. "Doing a Literature Review." PS: Political Science and Politics 39 (January 2006): 127-132; Ridley, Diana. The Literature Review: A Step-by-Step Guide for Students . 2nd ed. Los Angeles, CA: SAGE, 2012.

Types of Literature Reviews

It is important to think of knowledge in a given field as consisting of three layers. First, there are the primary studies that researchers conduct and publish. Second are the reviews of those studies that summarize and offer new interpretations built from and often extending beyond the primary studies. Third, there are the perceptions, conclusions, opinion, and interpretations that are shared informally among scholars that become part of the body of epistemological traditions within the field.

In composing a literature review, it is important to note that it is often this third layer of knowledge that is cited as "true" even though it often has only a loose relationship to the primary studies and secondary literature reviews. Given this, while literature reviews are designed to provide an overview and synthesis of pertinent sources you have explored, there are a number of approaches you could adopt depending upon the type of analysis underpinning your study.

Argumentative Review This form examines literature selectively in order to support or refute an argument, deeply embedded assumption, or philosophical problem already established in the literature. The purpose is to develop a body of literature that establishes a contrarian viewpoint. Given the value-laden nature of some social science research [e.g., educational reform; immigration control], argumentative approaches to analyzing the literature can be a legitimate and important form of discourse. However, note that they can also introduce problems of bias when they are used to make summary claims of the sort found in systematic reviews [see below].

Integrative Review Considered a form of research that reviews, critiques, and synthesizes representative literature on a topic in an integrated way such that new frameworks and perspectives on the topic are generated. The body of literature includes all studies that address related or identical hypotheses or research problems. A well-done integrative review meets the same standards as primary research in regard to clarity, rigor, and replication. This is the most common form of review in the social sciences.

Historical Review Few things rest in isolation from historical precedent. Historical literature reviews focus on examining research throughout a period of time, often starting with the first time an issue, concept, theory, phenomena emerged in the literature, then tracing its evolution within the scholarship of a discipline. The purpose is to place research in a historical context to show familiarity with state-of-the-art developments and to identify the likely directions for future research.

Methodological Review A review does not always focus on what someone said [findings], but how they came about saying what they say [method of analysis]. Reviewing methods of analysis provides a framework of understanding at different levels [i.e. those of theory, substantive fields, research approaches, and data collection and analysis techniques], how researchers draw upon a wide variety of knowledge ranging from the conceptual level to practical documents for use in fieldwork in the areas of ontological and epistemological consideration, quantitative and qualitative integration, sampling, interviewing, data collection, and data analysis. This approach helps highlight ethical issues which you should be aware of and consider as you go through your own study.

Systematic Review This form consists of an overview of existing evidence pertinent to a clearly formulated research question, which uses pre-specified and standardized methods to identify and critically appraise relevant research, and to collect, report, and analyze data from the studies that are included in the review. The goal is to deliberately document, critically evaluate, and summarize scientifically all of the research about a clearly defined research problem . Typically it focuses on a very specific empirical question, often posed in a cause-and-effect form, such as "To what extent does A contribute to B?" This type of literature review is primarily applied to examining prior research studies in clinical medicine and allied health fields, but it is increasingly being used in the social sciences.

Theoretical Review The purpose of this form is to examine the corpus of theory that has accumulated in regard to an issue, concept, theory, phenomena. The theoretical literature review helps to establish what theories already exist, the relationships between them, to what degree the existing theories have been investigated, and to develop new hypotheses to be tested. Often this form is used to help establish a lack of appropriate theories or reveal that current theories are inadequate for explaining new or emerging research problems. The unit of analysis can focus on a theoretical concept or a whole theory or framework.

NOTE: Most often the literature review will incorporate some combination of types. For example, a review that examines literature supporting or refuting an argument, assumption, or philosophical problem related to the research problem will also need to include writing supported by sources that establish the history of these arguments in the literature.

Baumeister, Roy F. and Mark R. Leary. "Writing Narrative Literature Reviews."  Review of General Psychology 1 (September 1997): 311-320; Mark R. Fink, Arlene. Conducting Research Literature Reviews: From the Internet to Paper . 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2005; Hart, Chris. Doing a Literature Review: Releasing the Social Science Research Imagination . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1998; Kennedy, Mary M. "Defining a Literature." Educational Researcher 36 (April 2007): 139-147; Petticrew, Mark and Helen Roberts. Systematic Reviews in the Social Sciences: A Practical Guide . Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 2006; Torracro, Richard. "Writing Integrative Literature Reviews: Guidelines and Examples." Human Resource Development Review 4 (September 2005): 356-367; Rocco, Tonette S. and Maria S. Plakhotnik. "Literature Reviews, Conceptual Frameworks, and Theoretical Frameworks: Terms, Functions, and Distinctions." Human Ressource Development Review 8 (March 2008): 120-130; Sutton, Anthea. Systematic Approaches to a Successful Literature Review . Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications, 2016.

Structure and Writing Style

I.  Thinking About Your Literature Review

The structure of a literature review should include the following in support of understanding the research problem :

• An overview of the subject, issue, or theory under consideration, along with the objectives of the literature review,
• Division of works under review into themes or categories [e.g. works that support a particular position, those against, and those offering alternative approaches entirely],
• An explanation of how each work is similar to and how it varies from the others,
• Conclusions as to which pieces are best considered in their argument, are most convincing of their opinions, and make the greatest contribution to the understanding and development of their area of research.

The critical evaluation of each work should consider :

• Provenance -- what are the author's credentials? Are the author's arguments supported by evidence [e.g. primary historical material, case studies, narratives, statistics, recent scientific findings]?
• Methodology -- were the techniques used to identify, gather, and analyze the data appropriate to addressing the research problem? Was the sample size appropriate? Were the results effectively interpreted and reported?
• Objectivity -- is the author's perspective even-handed or prejudicial? Is contrary data considered or is certain pertinent information ignored to prove the author's point?
• Persuasiveness -- which of the author's theses are most convincing or least convincing?
• Validity -- are the author's arguments and conclusions convincing? Does the work ultimately contribute in any significant way to an understanding of the subject?

II.  Development of the Literature Review

Four Basic Stages of Writing 1.  Problem formulation -- which topic or field is being examined and what are its component issues? 2.  Literature search -- finding materials relevant to the subject being explored. 3.  Data evaluation -- determining which literature makes a significant contribution to the understanding of the topic. 4.  Analysis and interpretation -- discussing the findings and conclusions of pertinent literature.

Consider the following issues before writing the literature review: Clarify If your assignment is not specific about what form your literature review should take, seek clarification from your professor by asking these questions: 1.  Roughly how many sources would be appropriate to include? 2.  What types of sources should I review (books, journal articles, websites; scholarly versus popular sources)? 3.  Should I summarize, synthesize, or critique sources by discussing a common theme or issue? 4.  Should I evaluate the sources in any way beyond evaluating how they relate to understanding the research problem? 5.  Should I provide subheadings and other background information, such as definitions and/or a history? Find Models Use the exercise of reviewing the literature to examine how authors in your discipline or area of interest have composed their literature review sections. Read them to get a sense of the types of themes you might want to look for in your own research or to identify ways to organize your final review. The bibliography or reference section of sources you've already read, such as required readings in the course syllabus, are also excellent entry points into your own research. Narrow the Topic The narrower your topic, the easier it will be to limit the number of sources you need to read in order to obtain a good survey of relevant resources. Your professor will probably not expect you to read everything that's available about the topic, but you'll make the act of reviewing easier if you first limit scope of the research problem. A good strategy is to begin by searching the USC Libraries Catalog for recent books about the topic and review the table of contents for chapters that focuses on specific issues. You can also review the indexes of books to find references to specific issues that can serve as the focus of your research. For example, a book surveying the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict may include a chapter on the role Egypt has played in mediating the conflict, or look in the index for the pages where Egypt is mentioned in the text. Consider Whether Your Sources are Current Some disciplines require that you use information that is as current as possible. This is particularly true in disciplines in medicine and the sciences where research conducted becomes obsolete very quickly as new discoveries are made. However, when writing a review in the social sciences, a survey of the history of the literature may be required. In other words, a complete understanding the research problem requires you to deliberately examine how knowledge and perspectives have changed over time. Sort through other current bibliographies or literature reviews in the field to get a sense of what your discipline expects. You can also use this method to explore what is considered by scholars to be a "hot topic" and what is not.

III.  Ways to Organize Your Literature Review

Chronology of Events If your review follows the chronological method, you could write about the materials according to when they were published. This approach should only be followed if a clear path of research building on previous research can be identified and that these trends follow a clear chronological order of development. For example, a literature review that focuses on continuing research about the emergence of German economic power after the fall of the Soviet Union. By Publication Order your sources by publication chronology, then, only if the order demonstrates a more important trend. For instance, you could order a review of literature on environmental studies of brown fields if the progression revealed, for example, a change in the soil collection practices of the researchers who wrote and/or conducted the studies. Thematic [“conceptual categories”] A thematic literature review is the most common approach to summarizing prior research in the social and behavioral sciences. Thematic reviews are organized around a topic or issue, rather than the progression of time, although the progression of time may still be incorporated into a thematic review. For example, a review of the Internet’s impact on American presidential politics could focus on the development of online political satire. While the study focuses on one topic, the Internet’s impact on American presidential politics, it would still be organized chronologically reflecting technological developments in media. The difference in this example between a "chronological" and a "thematic" approach is what is emphasized the most: themes related to the role of the Internet in presidential politics. Note that more authentic thematic reviews tend to break away from chronological order. A review organized in this manner would shift between time periods within each section according to the point being made. Methodological A methodological approach focuses on the methods utilized by the researcher. For the Internet in American presidential politics project, one methodological approach would be to look at cultural differences between the portrayal of American presidents on American, British, and French websites. Or the review might focus on the fundraising impact of the Internet on a particular political party. A methodological scope will influence either the types of documents in the review or the way in which these documents are discussed.

Other Sections of Your Literature Review Once you've decided on the organizational method for your literature review, the sections you need to include in the paper should be easy to figure out because they arise from your organizational strategy. In other words, a chronological review would have subsections for each vital time period; a thematic review would have subtopics based upon factors that relate to the theme or issue. However, sometimes you may need to add additional sections that are necessary for your study, but do not fit in the organizational strategy of the body. What other sections you include in the body is up to you. However, only include what is necessary for the reader to locate your study within the larger scholarship about the research problem.

Here are examples of other sections, usually in the form of a single paragraph, you may need to include depending on the type of review you write:

• Current Situation : Information necessary to understand the current topic or focus of the literature review.
• Sources Used : Describes the methods and resources [e.g., databases] you used to identify the literature you reviewed.
• History : The chronological progression of the field, the research literature, or an idea that is necessary to understand the literature review, if the body of the literature review is not already a chronology.
• Selection Methods : Criteria you used to select (and perhaps exclude) sources in your literature review. For instance, you might explain that your review includes only peer-reviewed [i.e., scholarly] sources.
• Standards : Description of the way in which you present your information.
• Questions for Further Research : What questions about the field has the review sparked? How will you further your research as a result of the review?

IV.  Writing Your Literature Review

Once you've settled on how to organize your literature review, you're ready to write each section. When writing your review, keep in mind these issues.

Use Evidence A literature review section is, in this sense, just like any other academic research paper. Your interpretation of the available sources must be backed up with evidence [citations] that demonstrates that what you are saying is valid. Be Selective Select only the most important points in each source to highlight in the review. The type of information you choose to mention should relate directly to the research problem, whether it is thematic, methodological, or chronological. Related items that provide additional information, but that are not key to understanding the research problem, can be included in a list of further readings . Use Quotes Sparingly Some short quotes are appropriate if you want to emphasize a point, or if what an author stated cannot be easily paraphrased. Sometimes you may need to quote certain terminology that was coined by the author, is not common knowledge, or taken directly from the study. Do not use extensive quotes as a substitute for using your own words in reviewing the literature. Summarize and Synthesize Remember to summarize and synthesize your sources within each thematic paragraph as well as throughout the review. Recapitulate important features of a research study, but then synthesize it by rephrasing the study's significance and relating it to your own work and the work of others. Keep Your Own Voice While the literature review presents others' ideas, your voice [the writer's] should remain front and center. For example, weave references to other sources into what you are writing but maintain your own voice by starting and ending the paragraph with your own ideas and wording. Use Caution When Paraphrasing When paraphrasing a source that is not your own, be sure to represent the author's information or opinions accurately and in your own words. Even when paraphrasing an author’s work, you still must provide a citation to that work.

V.  Common Mistakes to Avoid

These are the most common mistakes made in reviewing social science research literature.

• Sources in your literature review do not clearly relate to the research problem;
• You do not take sufficient time to define and identify the most relevant sources to use in the literature review related to the research problem;
• Relies exclusively on secondary analytical sources rather than including relevant primary research studies or data;
• Uncritically accepts another researcher's findings and interpretations as valid, rather than examining critically all aspects of the research design and analysis;
• Does not describe the search procedures that were used in identifying the literature to review;
• Reports isolated statistical results rather than synthesizing them in chi-squared or meta-analytic methods; and,
• Only includes research that validates assumptions and does not consider contrary findings and alternative interpretations found in the literature.

Cook, Kathleen E. and Elise Murowchick. “Do Literature Review Skills Transfer from One Course to Another?” Psychology Learning and Teaching 13 (March 2014): 3-11; Fink, Arlene. Conducting Research Literature Reviews: From the Internet to Paper . 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2005; Hart, Chris. Doing a Literature Review: Releasing the Social Science Research Imagination . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1998; Jesson, Jill. Doing Your Literature Review: Traditional and Systematic Techniques . London: SAGE, 2011; Literature Review Handout. Online Writing Center. Liberty University; Literature Reviews. The Writing Center. University of North Carolina; Onwuegbuzie, Anthony J. and Rebecca Frels. Seven Steps to a Comprehensive Literature Review: A Multimodal and Cultural Approach . Los Angeles, CA: SAGE, 2016; Ridley, Diana. The Literature Review: A Step-by-Step Guide for Students . 2nd ed. Los Angeles, CA: SAGE, 2012; Randolph, Justus J. “A Guide to Writing the Dissertation Literature Review." Practical Assessment, Research, and Evaluation. vol. 14, June 2009; Sutton, Anthea. Systematic Approaches to a Successful Literature Review . Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications, 2016; Taylor, Dena. The Literature Review: A Few Tips On Conducting It. University College Writing Centre. University of Toronto; Writing a Literature Review. Academic Skills Centre. University of Canberra.

Writing Tip

Break Out of Your Disciplinary Box!

Thinking interdisciplinarily about a research problem can be a rewarding exercise in applying new ideas, theories, or concepts to an old problem. For example, what might cultural anthropologists say about the continuing conflict in the Middle East? In what ways might geographers view the need for better distribution of social service agencies in large cities than how social workers might study the issue? You don’t want to substitute a thorough review of core research literature in your discipline for studies conducted in other fields of study. However, particularly in the social sciences, thinking about research problems from multiple vectors is a key strategy for finding new solutions to a problem or gaining a new perspective. Consult with a librarian about identifying research databases in other disciplines; almost every field of study has at least one comprehensive database devoted to indexing its research literature.

Frodeman, Robert. The Oxford Handbook of Interdisciplinarity . New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.

Another Writing Tip

Don't Just Review for Content!

While conducting a review of the literature, maximize the time you devote to writing this part of your paper by thinking broadly about what you should be looking for and evaluating. Review not just what scholars are saying, but how are they saying it. Some questions to ask:

• How are they organizing their ideas?
• What methods have they used to study the problem?
• What theories have been used to explain, predict, or understand their research problem?
• What sources have they cited to support their conclusions?
• How have they used non-textual elements [e.g., charts, graphs, figures, etc.] to illustrate key points?

When you begin to write your literature review section, you'll be glad you dug deeper into how the research was designed and constructed because it establishes a means for developing more substantial analysis and interpretation of the research problem.

Hart, Chris. Doing a Literature Review: Releasing the Social Science Research Imagination . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1 998.

Yet Another Writing Tip

When Do I Know I Can Stop Looking and Move On?

Here are several strategies you can utilize to assess whether you've thoroughly reviewed the literature:

• Look for repeating patterns in the research findings . If the same thing is being said, just by different people, then this likely demonstrates that the research problem has hit a conceptual dead end. At this point consider: Does your study extend current research?  Does it forge a new path? Or, does is merely add more of the same thing being said?
• Look at sources the authors cite to in their work . If you begin to see the same researchers cited again and again, then this is often an indication that no new ideas have been generated to address the research problem.
• Search Google Scholar to identify who has subsequently cited leading scholars already identified in your literature review [see next sub-tab]. This is called citation tracking and there are a number of sources that can help you identify who has cited whom, particularly scholars from outside of your discipline. Here again, if the same authors are being cited again and again, this may indicate no new literature has been written on the topic.

Onwuegbuzie, Anthony J. and Rebecca Frels. Seven Steps to a Comprehensive Literature Review: A Multimodal and Cultural Approach . Los Angeles, CA: Sage, 2016; Sutton, Anthea. Systematic Approaches to a Successful Literature Review . Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications, 2016.

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How to undertake a literature search: a step-by-step guide

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• 1 Literature Search Specialist, Library and Archive Service, Royal College of Nursing, London.
• PMID: 32279549
• DOI: 10.12968/bjon.2020.29.7.431

Undertaking a literature search can be a daunting prospect. Breaking the exercise down into smaller steps will make the process more manageable. This article suggests 10 steps that will help readers complete this task, from identifying key concepts to choosing databases for the search and saving the results and search strategy. It discusses each of the steps in a little more detail, with examples and suggestions on where to get help. This structured approach will help readers obtain a more focused set of results and, ultimately, save time and effort.

Keywords: Databases; Literature review; Literature search; Reference management software; Research questions; Search strategy.

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How to Write a Literature Review: Six Steps to Get You from Start to Finish

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Tanya Golash-Boza, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of California

February 03, 2022

Writing a literature review is often the most daunting part of writing an article, book, thesis, or dissertation. “The literature” seems (and often is) massive. I have found it helpful to be as systematic as possible when completing this gargantuan task.

Sonja Foss and William Walters* describe an efficient and effective way of writing a literature review. Their system provides an excellent guide for getting through the massive amounts of literature for any purpose: in a dissertation, an M.A. thesis, or preparing a research article for publication  in any field of study. Below is a  summary of the steps they outline as well as a step-by-step method for writing a literature review.

How to Write a Literature Review

Step One: Decide on your areas of research:

Before you begin to search for articles or books, decide beforehand what areas you are going to research. Make sure that you only get articles and books in those areas, even if you come across fascinating books in other areas. A literature review I am currently working on, for example, explores barriers to higher education for undocumented students.

Step Two: Search for the literature:

Conduct a comprehensive bibliographic search of books and articles in your area. Read the abstracts online and download and/or print those articles that pertain to your area of research. Find books in the library that are relevant and check them out. Set a specific time frame for how long you will search. It should not take more than two or three dedicated sessions.

Step Three: Find relevant excerpts in your books and articles:

Skim the contents of each book and article and look specifically for these five things:

1. Claims, conclusions, and findings about the constructs you are investigating

2. Definitions of terms

3. Calls for follow-up studies relevant to your project

4. Gaps you notice in the literature

5. Disagreement about the constructs you are investigating

When you find any of these five things, type the relevant excerpt directly into a Word document. Don’t summarize, as summarizing takes longer than simply typing the excerpt. Make sure to note the name of the author and the page number following each excerpt. Do this for each article and book that you have in your stack of literature. When you are done, print out your excerpts.

Step Four: Code the literature:

Get out a pair of scissors and cut each excerpt out. Now, sort the pieces of paper into similar topics. Figure out what the main themes are. Place each excerpt into a themed pile. Make sure each note goes into a pile. If there are excerpts that you can’t figure out where they belong, separate those and go over them again at the end to see if you need new categories. When you finish, place each stack of notes into an envelope labeled with the name of the theme.

Step Five: Create Your Conceptual Schema:

Type, in large font, the name of each of your coded themes. Print this out, and cut the titles into individual slips of paper. Take the slips of paper to a table or large workspace and figure out the best way to organize them. Are there ideas that go together or that are in dialogue with each other? Are there ideas that contradict each other? Move around the slips of paper until you come up with a way of organizing the codes that makes sense. Write the conceptual schema down before you forget or someone cleans up your slips of paper.

Step Six: Begin to Write Your Literature Review:

Choose any section of your conceptual schema to begin with. You can begin anywhere, because you already know the order. Find the envelope with the excerpts in them and lay them on the table in front of you. Figure out a mini-conceptual schema based on that theme by grouping together those excerpts that say the same thing. Use that mini-conceptual schema to write up your literature review based on the excerpts that you have in front of you. Don’t forget to include the citations as you write, so as not to lose track of who said what. Repeat this for each section of your literature review.

Once you complete these six steps, you will have a complete draft of your literature review. The great thing about this process is that it breaks down into manageable steps something that seems enormous: writing a literature review.

I think that Foss and Walter’s system for writing the literature review is ideal for a dissertation, because a Ph.D. candidate has already read widely in his or her field through graduate seminars and comprehensive exams.

It may be more challenging for M.A. students, unless you are already familiar with the literature. It is always hard to figure out how much you need to read for deep meaning, and how much you just need to know what others have said. That balance will depend on how much you already know.

For people writing literature reviews for articles or books, this system also could work, especially when you are writing in a field with which you are already familiar. The mere fact of having a system can make the literature review seem much less daunting, so I recommend this system for anyone who feels overwhelmed by the prospect of writing a literature review.

*Destination Dissertation: A Traveler's Guide to a Done Dissertation

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• Volume 3 , article number  96 , ( 2024 )

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• Marc T. Sager 1 &
• Anthony J. Petrosino 2  

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A sustainable transdisciplinary research network was established through a research practice partnership (RPP) between an urban farm, faculty and staff from a Historically Black College (HBC), and researchers at a medium-sized private university. We investigate student-worker resilience at this urban farm situated on the HBC campus, drawing on literature that explores tensions between informal learning environments and formal spaces, equitable food systems and farming systems, as well as the resilience of farm work, and which is grounded critical food systems education theory. Utilizing a participatory design approach, we conducted semi-structured interviews and deductively analyzed the data. The research questions guiding this paper are: (1) What topics of discussion are most important to the student-workers and staff working on an urban farm, (2) How do student-workers and college staff members perceive and experience resilience on an urban farm? We found that what participants on an urban farm discuss, relating to their experiences, include (1) how participants were eager to engage with the local community, (2) how participants demonstrated resilience while working on the urban farm, (3) how power dynamics played a pivotal role informing the direction of the urban farm, (4) how participants consider community access to healthy foods an important mission for the farm, (5) how the college acted as a power wielding entity, perpetuating its privilege over the farmers and the farm operations. These findings have the potential to enable community organizing spaces to promote resilience for their volunteers and workers, and for urban farms top partner with their community to promote the mission of increasing access to healthy and affordable food options.

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1 Introdutions

Transdisciplinary research aims to move beyond a single discipline in order to provide a better problem-solving perspective [ 50 , 70 ], as well as to move away from hegemonic disciplinary practices [ 42 , 72 ]. And to address changes in power dynamics, we must look at new mechanisms for marginalized communities and individuals to access systems of power [ 22 , 75 ]. One way to create more sustainable transdisciplinary research networks that facilitate the struggles of the oppressed is through establishing research practice partnerships (RPPs). We define RPPs as long-term collaborations between practitioners and researchers that support the accumulation of knowledge as they address practitioner- and policy-related questions of interest [ 18 , 27 ]. Penuel and Gallagher [ 56 ] have discussed processes for creating RPPs: (a) learning about potential partners, (b) building an infrastructure with tools and routines, (c) designing adaptively across levels and settings, (d) expanding joint work and relationships in partnerships, e) conducting research, and (f) sustaining partnerships. Drawing on these six steps, we describe one aspect of our efforts to collaboratively form an RPP involving a university-based urban farm Footnote 1 in the U.S. Southwest, with an overarching goal of our research to examine the structure, successes, and implications for future efforts that arise when a RPP is rooted within a larger organization.

This paper is in dialogue with the growing food justice movement in urban farm communities [ 13 , 77 ]. This paper is informed by critical research perspectives [ 22 , 58 , 75 ] with an aim to understand and uncover the social divisions affecting workers’ resilience throughout their time working at an urban farm. Further, critical food systems education can enhance our comprehension of urban farm workers' resilience by illuminating the factors that shape their experiences and opportunities within the urban agriculture landscape. This paper will utilize CFSE to guide analysis and contribute to the literature of the use of the theory in RPPs. To this end, we are interested in exploring one specific tension: how people think about the college as an organization in relation to the urban farm?

1.1 Tensions between informal learning environments and formal places

There is an ongoing interest in out-of-school and informal learning spaces in the learning process [ 6 , 7 , 64 , 81 ]. According to Rogoff and colleagues (2016), to be considered an informal learning environment the site must include interactive and meaningful activities, provide guidance to learners, consist of conversational talk, have ongoing involvement on building individual interest and choice, and honing participants’ existing skills, while developing new ideas (p. 358). However, there is research that supports the concept of tension between informal learning environments and larger formal places within which they are situated [ 10 , 33 , 36 ]. For example, a study of collaboration to establish an arts education program between a children’s museum, a community-based organization, and an urban school district, which indicated an unequal power dynamic among the partners [ 67 ]. Both the museum and the community-based organization were swayed by the school district, due to its large size and their dependence on the district for funding. Further, the community-based organization was under organizational structure and funding constraints, which contributed to the influence and tensions between them and the school district. The informal partners were “exposed to the risk that they may get pulled in directions that can stray from their core vision” [ 67 ], p. 279). Another tension often experienced by informal learning sites in formal spaces occurs when the formal spaces attempt to institutionalize the informal learning activities or initiatives [ 36 ].

1.2 Equitable food and farming systems

When considering equitable food and farming systems, food justice and food sovereignty are at the forefront [ 45 ]. Food justice is the “grassroots movement that is predicated upon the critique of the racial and class-based inequalities in the food system” [ 45 ], p. 243). At the intersection of race, privilege, and access to quality food and food spaces, food justice addresses the critical question of how society can reduce the inequities that exist within communities and incorporate the reduced inequities within existing school curricula and community and norms [ 45 , 83 ]. For example, food hubs, such as urban farms, have been found to be focused on providing access to healthy and affordable produce in areas that often lack direct affordable access to healthy foods [ 39 ]. Providing access to healthy and affordable produce in areas that often lack direct affordable access is a glaring example of addressing systemic inequity and injustice in our society, as it underscores the disparities in basic necessities such as nutritious food. Sbicca [ 69 ] describes how food justice organizations challenge colonialism, neo-liberal policies, and racial discrimination to push for a more equitable food system.

In the U.S., agriculture and farming have been dominated primarily by land-owning White men, with historical tensions between White and Black/Latinx farm workers [ 38 , 49 , 60 , 65 ]. Furthermore, the existing food movement is overtly White and middle class, and often rejects cultural historicities of communities of color [ 4 , 37 , 49 , 58 ] However, there is a current movement to reclaim and decolonize the food system [ 48 ]. For example, Meyers [ 48 ] describes how the Freedom Farmers’ Market in Oakland, California “became a model for disenfranchised peoples to take control of their own food system” (p. 151). In addition to Black-owned and operated farmers’ markets, Sweeney and colleagues (2015) discuss the importance of supplementary place-based strategies and interventions (i.e., economic programs, community partnerships, etc.) to build equitable, inclusive, and transformative food systems. Transformative food systems prioritize sustainability, equity, and health, reshaping the way we produce, distribute, and consume food to create a more resilient and inclusive global food landscape [ 71 ]. It is imperative to collaborate with and support people of color-owned farming and food operations to empower organizations in “problem-solving, building social capital, and gaining a more complete view” of transformative food systems [ 73 ], p. 112). One aspect of understanding and facilitating transformative food systems is to study the resilience of farm workers.

1.3 Critical food systems education

We utilized critical food systems education as our analytical framework for deductively coding the research participant interview transcripts [ 68 ]. Critical food systems education (CFSE, Fig.  1 ) has four tenets which present a vision for food policy to become more equitable in marginalized communities [ 17 , 45 ]. The first tenet is the crtical food pedagogy at the university and collegiate levels, which analyzes the systems approach to the interdisciplinary ideology of food systems education [ 5 , 9 , 29 , 45 , 53 , 54 ].

Critical food systems education (CFSE). Derived from Meek and Tarlau [ 45 ]

The second tenet of critical food system education theory is food justice, the “grassroots movement that is predicated upon the critique of the racial and class-based inequalities in the food system” [ 45 ], p. 134). At the intersection of race, privilege, and access to food and food spaces, food justice addresses the critical question of how society can reduce the inequities within specific neighborhoods and incorporate them within our existing community norms [ 26 , 45 , 80 , 83 ].

The third tenet is agroecology, a growing theme within food system education [ 32 , 45 ]. While agroecology is both a science and a set of practices, utilizing innovative agricultural production methods to maximize outputs [ 40 , 45 , 53 , 79 , 80 ], the specific socioecological aspect of agroecology was formed to resist the power of corporate farms and lobbyists that dictate agricultural policy [ 16 , 30 , 35 , 45 ]. This diverse movement can allow more political momentum for change in agricultural policy (Jurow et al. 2016).

The fourth tenet of critical food system education theory is food sovereignty, which aims for local food centers to cultivate sustainable practices while emphasizing the educational and agricultural politics in play [ 45 , 46 , 55 , 66 ]. Food sovereignty is a comprehensive approach to food and agriculture that centers around empowering communities and individuals. It champions local food centers, fostering sustainable agricultural practices, while also emphasizing the importance of education and political engagement. This movement advocates for the right of people to control their own food systems, prioritizing local, environmentally sustainable practices, and challenging policies that favor large corporations. Food sovereignty seeks to create equitable, community-driven food systems that ensure food security, cultural relevance, and environmental sustainability [ 45 , 55 , 66 ]. Composed of several components, critical food systems education draws on education, agriculture, and political movements to advance theory and practice in food systems research [ 45 , 47 , 59 ].

2 Research design

We utilized participatory design research (PDR) [ 8 , 11 , 74 , 84 ] because PDR incorporates structural critiques of the hegemonic hierarchies of power [ 8 ] and is guided by the following principles: sustained open dialogue about the topic of interest, simultaneously positioning each person involved as learner and authority, promoting collaborative cycles of data collection and analysis to direct the work, and eliminating individual and cultural deficits, which only diminishes participation as opposed to supporting encouraging epistemic authority [ 11 ], p. 234). These guiding principles of PDR help to explain how to address systemic changes, rather than reproducing inequitable research practices [ 11 ].

2.1 Formation of the research practice partnership

The first author, a former science educator and interested in agriculture, established a professional relationship with a local urban farm. Through continuous relationship building and following the Penuel and Gallagher framework (2017), this professional relationship is in the process of moving beyond a research site and network to a RPP, to cultivate a sustaining research relationship with a focus on student learning, urban farming practices, community development, and food justice [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. The RPP consists of graduate students and established researchers at a School of Education and a Historically Black College (HBC), where the farm is located. Partners at the HBC include both academics (i.e., college staff and faculty participating in research activities) and non-academics (i.e., farm director and student workers).

The partners in this evolving RPP are working on four broad areas to foster regenerative and sustainable farming and food systems: environmental-related improvements, organic food production, community development and food justice, and developing knowledgeable and resilient student-workers. Ecologically, the location of the farm has been subject to past environmental hazards, such as high levels of lead and chromium, so it is a priority to improve and restore soil health. Because the farm is currently in the process of achieving organic agriculture certification, it is imperative to pay close attention to organic best practices Footnote 2 (i.e., minimizing soil disturbance, using certified organic seeds or seedlings, avoiding synthetic fertilizers or pesticides) to prioritize sustainability. We define sustainability as prioritizing the long-term well-being of the environment, human health, and the overall ecosystem with the goal of creating a resilient and regenerative agricultural system [ 14 , 31 ]. The community where the urban farm is situated is considered a food desert, a federally specified area with few to no convenient options for securing affordable and healthy foods [ 61 ]. Although food deserts are often assumed to be remediable by building grocery stores [ 62 ], recent studies dispute the idea of labeling communities as food deserts, as it assumes that the residents lack the social capital to fight against or provide solutions to their oppression [ 12 , 19 , 62 , 82 ] The farm has an exclusive mission to address the lack of food access within the community. Many urban farms and community gardens are established with the specific goal of improving food access in areas that lack easy access to fresh and healthy foods [ 12 , 61 ].

Through following principles of community outreach and social advocacy [ 15 , 25 , 43 , 51 ], the farm has been able to educate community members about the importance of healthy foods and provide access to fresh and healthy foods, to further improve food access for its community. The farm’s outreach helps identify the specific needs and preferences of the community, while advocacy works to create systemic changes that can have a lasting impact on food access. Together, these principles can contribute to a more equitable and sustainable solution to the food desert problem, ensuring that all residents have access to fresh, healthy food options.

One goal of the urban farm and the partnership is to ensure that student-workers are learning both farm system knowledge as well as soft skills (i.e., resilience) to set them up for success after graduating. We define resilience as the personal resources “enabling people to thrive in the face of adversity” [ 21 ], p. 479). To support resilience, the farm aims to act as a support network for the student-workers as they navigate collegiate life and farm work.

2.2 Context of the urban farm

The HBC is a work-study college in an urban setting. In the early 2010s, the college converted one of its sport fields into a four-acre urban farm which continues to grow seasonal vegetables. The farm was started due to the college and surrounding community being designated as a food desert. To combat this status, the farm has taken an asset-based approach [ 44 ] (e.g., fostering inclusive participation from the community and leveraging existing activities, resources, and investments within the community) to food justice with their mission:

To transform the health and well-being of under-resourced communities in [the] southern [part of the city] by providing fresh, healthy, affordable food options and by educating and empowering future generations to take better care of themselves, their environments, and their communities. [ 28 ] Footnote 3 )

Decolonizing food spaces and urban farming is an aspect of food justice, as conventional farming is rooted in hegemonic ideologies of colonialism and Eurocentrism [ 9 , 13 ]. Urban farms and community gardens allow participants to reclaim their cultural ideals and beliefs, as well as reduce dependency on the industrialized farming system that often neglects historically marginalized communities [ 4 , 13 , 41 , 48 , 62 , 69 ] The community members involved with the urban farm and the RPP are local benefactors of the farm—representatives of local food banks and community centers. The research problem and questions were jointly identified by the key stakeholders, who took a participatory design approach by listening, specifying problems of practice, mapping systems, and identifying shared values [ 8 , 56 ]. The key stakeholders during this process included the authors, the farm manager, and assistant farm manager. The research questions were formalized using interviews and discussions between stakeholders, as well as equitable food systems literature.

2.3 Participants

There were three levels of participants: staff members of the college, current student-workers at the urban farm, and former student-workers. Participants ranged in age from 20 to 55 years old. Six of the participants identified as Black, one identified as Latina, and one identified as White. The students were a mix of traditional and non-traditional students at the college, and were majoring in either business or communications.

Three participants (Nancy, Dan, and Kelley Footnote 4 ) in the study were college staff members. Two participants worked directly on the farm, and the third staff member was a high-ranking college official, wearing many hats for the institution. The two participants that work on the farm managed day-to-day operations, oversaw student-workers, and established a network with consumers and community members. The three current student-workers were Michael, Jane, and Audrey, from sophomore and junior years. The two former student-workers we interviewed were Nina and Alyssa. All eight of these participants have either changed roles within the college or have left to pursue positions outside the college.

2.4 Data collection and analysis

The authors co-constructed the interview protocols with the farm director and assistant farm director (Appendix A). Semi-structured interviews were the basis of our data collection. We chose semi-structured interviews to allow for open-ended responses and flexibility, as to not limit responses. Since this is an RPP, the site was interested in reviewing how to increase student-worker retention at the farm to foster a transdisciplinary agriculture and food systems learning environment. Questions from the interview protocol (Appendix A), included ideas about the participants’ background with the specific urban farm and agriculture, in general, their experience working on the urban farm, and their perceptions as to why their peers choose to leave or stay with the farm for their work placement. However, reviewing the data, we found that developing resilience was a strong component to student-worker retention. We examined the data to identify recurring themes which contributed to student-worker resilience and that would suggest implications for urban farms, communities, and informal learning environments [ 58 ].

The authors developed a codebook (Table  1 ) supported by the literature, analytical framework, and participatory design research. The codebook consisted of the four tenets of the critical food systems education framework, and within each tenet, or dimension, we identified the relevant areas of interest in order to apply a critical lens to understand the data. As disagreements among coders occurred, we modified our codebook and definitions until consensus was reached. These discussions between the authors helped to refine our codebook and ensure that we were equally calibrated in their use [ 78 ]. The data was then deductively analyzed by the first author using the codebook, then the second author recoded five of the interviews [ 68 ]. We reached an inter-coder reliability of 97.5% [ 52 , 68 ].

In this section, we share the key findings related to the research question. We share the findings by the CFSE dimension. Notably Agroecology is not discussed in the findings, as they were not the primary focus of the interviews. We also discuss the total frequencies of topics discuss (see Fig.  2 ).

Frequency of codes

3.1 Critical food pedagogy

3.1.1 engagement.

The participants discussed a range of topics relating to working on the farm (Fig.  2 ). The most frequently voiced topic was engagement (69 occasions, mentioned by all eight participants), which was coded in the data when students and staff discussed opportunities of engagement with the community to achieve long-term and sustainable outcomes, such as through monthly volunteer events, farming and nutrition education programs, and community-based farmers’ markets. Given the unique context of the farm, participants were eager to discuss how the student-workers and staff were engaging with the community. For example, Kelley said that her “goal here [at the farm] was to teach people, students, and [the] community” that “you can grow in the ground, you can grow in your pot. You can grow in some water.” Kelley’s statement highlights her overarching objective within the farming community, by expressing her intention to serve as an educator and facilitator in this community setting. By stating that her “goal here [at the farm]" is to "teach people, students, and [the] community," she underscores the importance of knowledge dissemination and skill development as central components of her engagement strategy.

The phrase “you can grow in the ground, you can grow in your pot, you can grow in some water” underscores the inclusivity and versatility of her approach. This statement implies a commitment to diversity in agricultural practices, emphasizing that growth is possible through various methods and environments. It suggests an intention to engage community members with diverse backgrounds, skills, and resources, ensuring that everyone can participate and benefit from the farming experience. Furthermore, the use of the term “community” suggests that Kelley’s engagement goes beyond mere teaching of the students she works with; it involves building a sense of belonging and collaboration among those involved. Her focus on students indicates an investment in the next generation, promoting sustainable practices and knowledge transfer.

Overall, Kelley’s statement aligns with a community engagement approach that emphasizes education, inclusivity, and collaboration, aiming to empower individuals and strengthen the sense of community within the farming context. Such an approach is valuable for a peer-reviewed journal article examining the role of community engagement in sustainable agriculture and learning experiences.

3.2 Food sovereignty

3.2.1 power.

The third most common topic, power (53 occurrences, mentioned by all eight participants, but most notably by the staff members), we define as both power dynamics involving discourse, body language, and movements, and influence on workers beyond job duties/roles by external people and organizations [ 8 ]. This urban farm is in an uncommon position, compared to other urban farms, as it is situated within a college, specifically an HBC. Thus, there are multiple levels of power at play: the college exerting its power to influence the direction of the farm, the staff in a position of power on the farm and toward the students as workers (see Fig.  3 ). For example, a student, Michael, describes his experience which suggests the disconnect between the college, the staff, and the students:

[The] HBC should come up with a plan, I feel like it is a gap between the students and the staff, but just it’s a break between the younger us and the older them, and I think that it’s a gap. I feel like the gap is when the older folks will tell them: “Oh yeah, y’all go out there, y’all do this y’all do that.” But the students are like, “But what about this and what about that.” We don’t have a rebuttal for the staff, because after we hear them, they just forget about the students and that’s why the students leave, because it’s like a cliff-hanger.

Levels of power within the college farm

Michael’s frustration suggests the divide between student experiences and that of both the expectations from the college and staff. Furthermore, from the farm staff perspective, Dan stated that “it’s difficult to know who to bring” up any issues to, at the college level. Dan has tried to make suggestions; however, “it may or may not make it to the next level depending on if it’s their priority.” The college leadership that oversees the farm is often so overwhelmed, “that new ideas don’t really get a lot of attention. It kind of gets swept to the side, so it kind of becomes demotivating after a while.” Furthermore, Dan states that there is a lack of clear leadership organization at the college level, that there are “so many leaders that it’s hard to know which one you should present to, for it to have any kind of impact, and historically it hasn’t really gone anywhere when I’ve tried.” Dan’s example reiterates the unequal power dynamics and expectations attributed to position (i.e., farm staff, college staff, student-worker) and age group.

3.3 Food justice

3.3.1 resilience.

We found that resilience was a crucial component for researchers understanding the farm’s dilemma regarding student-worker retention and workers overcoming the dilemma. Student-workers’ second most frequently discussed topic (58 occasions, mentioned by all eight participants) related to resilience, overcoming challenges that arise on the farm, challenges which are consistent for both the student-workers and the staff members. The participants discussed a range of challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic, weather-related problems, strenuous farm labor, learning difficulties, and struggling for a sense of purpose. During the pandemic the college went to a remote modality, causing the student-workers previously working on the farm to immediately resign from the farm for the duration. The farm director and assistant farm director continued their work duties to meet the community’s needs, which had significantly increased due to the demands of COVID-19 restrictions and work placements. Jane describes her time transitioning back onto the farm after leaving the farm mid-March of 2020:

What I’ve seen in the past five months that I’ve been on the farm—and this has been heavily affected by COVID—is that there’s not a lot of student-workers or staff on the farm, so there’s a lot of pressure on each individual worker. At times, it can feel like there’s always a lot of work. We never get enough done. There’s always something to do.

Jane, as well as her peers, have felt mounting pressure to keep the farm running to provide continued support for the community. Both Kelley and Dan described the increase in need for healthy food, due to lack of access in the neighborhood. Despite the struggles with staffing the farm during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the few student-workers were able to provide an outlet to the community by delivering fresh vegetables to community members and hosted farmers’ markets at the college.

As the farm is in the U.S. Southwest, weather was consistently brought up as a challenge for student-workers. Both Michael and Audrey stated that intense summer heat and unforeseeable winter storms impact work. Michael states that his peers do not like to be “outside, and that nobody wants to be out [at the farm] eight hours of the day” when “it’s hot and people can get heat strokes.” Audrey and Jane share this sentiment: “some people just don’t like being outside, some people maybe hate bugs and getting their hands dirty.” An additional challenge is that the urban farm is a labor-intensive work site. Most student-workers have very minimal experience with farming or agriculture, so it comes as a surprise experience what it means to be a farmer. Audrey observed that the student-workers who failed to stay “probably thought they were just going to come to the farm, and they were going to harvest some things and do this and do that, but it’s hard work.” Audrey said that to be “blindsided by the extra work” at the start of their time at the farm leads to “a feeling of shock.” However, all three current students stated what it takes to overcome this “feeling of shock”: being “dedicated to [the farm]” as well as “teaching students the basics [of farming], then putting them in the field, to make them feel more comfortable.”

One way that the student-workers and staff recommend encouraging the student-workers to buy into the mission of the farm is through a vocational aspect to formal learning. Dan proposes to “tie in [the work on the farm] with some sort of agriculture degree or something within farming, career-wise” to promote and bridge the gap between scientific practices and the skills of the farm. Dan describes the twenty-first century skills learned at the farm: “work ethic, time management, problem-solving, being able to help students”; students could also “brainstorm ways to address unique farm problems and teach those critical-thinking skills.” Audrey found value in the farm experiences as well: she “feels that the farm has given me a lot of opportunities. It has helped me with my speech. I’ve gotten to know people. It’s helping me to learn how to grow things, and I think everybody should learn that.” Learning the basic science and skills of farming, as well as skills of communication, critical thinking, technology, and digital literacy can help the student-workers value continuing placement at the farm. However, Kelley and Dan note that to retain quality student-workers, they must find purpose in farm work. Dan believes that most of the student-workers that come through the farm have “a lack of purpose…[they] are just coming in to check a box.” While this is Dan’s perspective on some student-workers he has met, Kelley describes her passion for farming and for giving back to the community:

Most people I know, including my friends, think that I have absolutely lost my mind, but I have gained my mind, and they need to gain theirs and see that there’s rewards to being a farmer. As a matter of fact, if there were no farmers, nobody would eat, not even them. I just think the college should make it more enticing and more educational just so the students know it’s not as bad as it looks. It could be something great.

Kelley placed value on the farm and supporting the community. She has found her purpose and strives to instill this purpose in her student-workers.

3.3.2 Access

The next most frequent coded topic was access (47 occurrences, mentioned by seven of the participants), which we define as discussions or observations about such ideas as food deserts, availability of and ease of obtaining healthy/nutritious foods, and food insecurity [ 63 ]. As stated in the farm mission statement (p. 9), access was one of the goals of the farm. For example, Kelley said that she is “concerned about the overall health of the community” and wants to foster an “interest in eating better and learning how to live better” through farming and agriculture education. Through education and outreach, Kelley and the farm have advocated for their community and donated culturally relevant crops to increase awareness of and access to healthier foods. However, it is important to note that the farm staff and student-workers understand that donating healthy foods to community members is not a long-term resolution to food insecurity, but rather a short-term, immediate application to helping the community.

3.3.3 Privilege

Privilege was the next most common topic (45 occurrences, mentioned by all eight participants), which we define as discussions or observations relating to the social, economic, political, and psychological unearned advantages that privileged groups hold at the expense of more marginalized groups []. For the purpose of this study, most privilege observed was the college leveraging itself as an entity wielding power over the farm, farm staff, and the community. For example, the college oversees the work placements of students and dictates who is eligible to receive food by negotiating contracts with organizations across the metropolitan area. This is an example of privilege because the college’s control over work placements and access to food demonstrates a position of power and authority that can disproportionately benefit certain students while potentially disadvantaging others based on their backgrounds or circumstances. Those with connections or resources may have an advantage in securing favorable work placements and food options, illustrating the inherent privilege in such control. Nancy mentioned that often the college negatively “positioned the on-campus farm as a punishment [for student-workers]. You’re going out there, you’re working in the field, it’s grunt work, it’s drudgery.” Furthermore, working on the farm can be dangerous due to the heat. With the college taking this stand, the farm is being devalued, which is supported by Nina’s perspective:

I see what the college’s vision is and what their overall goal is for the school and what they utilize the farm for and essentially use it for their needs, to make sure their vision comes full circle and comes to fruition. So, the college never really sees the potential or the possibilities and opportunities the farm can have, because it doesn’t correlate with their own vision.

The college's negative portrayal of on-campus farm work as punitive and undesirable, coupled with their apparent disregard for the farm’s potential and opportunities, has a detrimental impact on the farm’s operations and its resilience. It diminishes the farm’s reputation and potentially discourages student-workers from engaging in meaningful agricultural experiences. This attitude also limits the farm’s ability to fulfill its broader educational and community-building potential, highlighting the privilege of the college in defining the value and purpose of such initiatives to serve its own goals. Alyssa supports Nina, stating that she “thinks that the students would love [the farm] more if they were able to see more of an investment from the college itself. To make the farm look nice,’o make it look colorful.” Both Nina and Alyssa were able to recognize the college’s exploitation of the farm to advance its mission and public image without providing substantial financial support or social capital, which exemplifies privilege. This lack of genuine investment hinders the farm’s ability to serve as an effective informal learning site, as it struggles to offer meaningful educational experiences and resources to students and the community. Moreover, within a research practice partnership, this dynamic undermines the equitable collaboration that should exist, highlighting the college’s privileged position in benefiting from the partnership without reciprocating support for the farm’s sustainability and growth.

The remaining codes were discussed or observed less than 35 times. However, notably, race was only explicitly mentioned once; Kelley stated that she was at the farm “to teach some of our Black and Brown students how to eat better.” Kelley’s position as farm staff led her to want to make a difference in her students’ lives and support them through their collegiate journey. Her dedication highlights the farm’s role in fostering positive learning experiences and promoting well-being among students. Additionally, when situated within a research practice partnership, the farm's educational mission aligns with broader goals of community engagement and empowerment, reinforcing its significance as a valuable resource in addressing health disparities and supporting students’ collegiate journeys.

However, the student-workers and farm staff interview responses included their implicit ideas of race through their lived experiences. For example, Audrey suggests that students “feel as if [the farm] is a bottom-of-the barrel position” and Michael notes that the farm has “negative perceptions” across campus. These observations can be perceived as alluding to farming having a tumultuous history in Black/African American and Latinx/Hispanic cultures. As part of a White male-dominated industry, this urban farm is in a unique position to reclaim and reform farming to best suit its community’s needs. For example, Dan talks about how he hopes to see the student farm workers have an “interest in learning how to garden for themselves”, additionally the students are “curious… about farming and where food comes from”. The farm’s emphasis on teaching students, particularly from minoritized backgrounds, about gardening and farming represents a significant step towards reclaiming and reforming a historically tumultuous industry. By empowering students with knowledge about agriculture and food sources, the farm helps bridge the gap between these communities and their cultural heritage, fostering a sense of ownership and self-sufficiency. This unique position highlights the farm’s potential to not only educate but also empower marginalized groups and redefine the narrative around farming within these communities.

4 Discussion

In this section, we will discuss the five most prominent topics arising from the interviews with participants by CFSE dimension. Each of these themes provides critical insights into the dynamics and challenges faced by the urban farm and its stakeholders. Furthermore, we will focus on the resilience of student-workers as a central aspect of their experiences and discuss the implications of these findings for the farm's sustainability and mission. Our findings help deepen understanding of how urban farmers perceive their experiences. As the urban farm is situated within the HBC, both the farm and the college are uniquely positioned at the intersection of race and food justice, demonstrating the transdisciplinary nature of this research [ 4 , 42 , 72 , 80 ].

4.1 Critical food pedagogy

The theme of engagement emerged as the most frequently discussed topic among participants, reflecting the central role of community involvement and interaction within the urban farm [ 71 ]. Kelley’s passionate commitment to teaching and serving as an educator highlights the significance of engagement as a core principle of the farm’s mission. Her statement exemplifies an inclusive approach, emphasizing that growth and learning are accessible to all, regardless of background or resources. This approach fosters a sense of belonging and collaboration within the community and emphasizes the importance of knowledge dissemination and skill development. Kelley’s emphasis on teaching not only students but also the broader community underscores the farm's role as a platform for education and empowerment. This aligns with the ideals of community engagement, inclusivity, and collaboration, contributing to the development of sustainable agricultural practices and knowledge transfer [ 25 , 31 , 34 , 44 , 51 , 71 , 77 ].

4.2 Food justice

Resilience emerged as the second most common topic, and was the focus of the second half of the findings, reflecting the shared challenges faced by both student-workers and farm staff. The discussion of resilience is crucial for understanding how the urban farm workers overcame obstacles that arose in their work on the farm [ 23 , 24 , 57 ]. Resilience, in this context, manifests in various dimensions—temporal, spatial, and human [ 20 , 57 ]. The challenges they faced encompassed a wide range, spanning from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic to weather-related difficulties, strenuous labor, and learning curve challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic presented a unique temporal challenge, requiring the farm to adapt rapidly to remote working while still meeting the increased demands from the community [ 23 ]. Student-workers, in particular, felt the pressure to maintain the farm's operations and support the community during this challenging time, showcasing their resilience on a human level [ 23 , 24 ]. Weather-related challenges, such as extreme heat and unforeseeable winter storms, added a spatial layer of difficulty to the work environment, further testing their adaptability [ 57 ]. These challenges underscore the physical demands of farming and the need for dedication and adaptability on both temporal and spatial fronts [ 20 , 57 ]. The observation that some student-workers initially underestimated the level of effort required for farm work highlights the importance of setting realistic expectations, emphasizing the need for resilience in facing these educational and practical challenges, both in the short term and over the course of their work on the urban farm [ 23 , 24 ]. The farm staff recognized the need to bridge the gap between formal education and practical skills, emphasizing the value of learning, thus contributing to the students' resilience in their future endeavors [ 34 ].

Access emerged as a crucial topic, aligning with the farm's mission to address food deserts, promote healthy eating, and reduce food insecurity. Kelley’s commitment to the community's overall health through farming and agriculture education exemplifies the farm's dedication to increasing awareness and access to nutritious foods. However, the study emphasizes that donating healthy foods, while essential, is a short-term solution to food insecurity [ 61 , 62 ]. The theme of access highlights the farm's role in addressing community health disparities and the need for sustainable solutions beyond immediate donations [ 45 , 46 , 55 , 66 ]. This theme is relevant for discussions related to community engagement and the impact of informal learning environments on addressing broader societal issues [ 39 , 69 ].

The theme of privilege exposes the college’s position of power and influence over the farm, staff, and the community. The college’s control over work placements and access to food resources demonstrates the inherent privilege in such control, potentially benefiting certain students while disadvantaging others based on their backgrounds. The negative portrayal of farm work by the college and the lack of investment in the farm’s growth further exemplify this privilege [ 39 , 73 ]. This theme underscores the challenges faced by research practice partnerships when power imbalances exist, as the privileged party may prioritize its goals over the sustainability and growth of the partnership [ 14 , 22 , 27 ]. The concept of privilege is highly relevant for discussions on equity and collaboration within informal learning environments [ 36 , 67 ].

While the main themes dominated the discussions, race emerged less frequently in explicit terms but was implicitly addressed in the experiences shared by student-workers and staff. The farm's unique position to reclaim and reform farming practices within marginalized communities, particularly Black/African American and Latinx/Hispanic cultures, highlights its potential impact on cultural heritage and empowerment [ 49 ]. This unique perspective can be valuable in discussions related to diversity, equity, and cultural sensitivity within informal learning environments [ 58 ]. Kelley was the only participant to explicitly discuss race. Seven of the eight participants self-identify as Black/African-American or Latina, and what they discussed was not separated from their racial identities. However, the students and staff at the urban farm are bringing in their Black lived experiences [ 3 , 76 ] and racial identity [ 38 , 60 ] to access urban farming [ 45 , 73 ] through engagement as an act of food justice.

4.3 Food sovereignty

The data suggest that the farm is being constrained and is only coerced toward ensuring a profitable business model, as opposed to supporting the residents within the food desert; although the college is well-intentioned in promoting the urban farm from a college-wide philanthropic standpoint, there is minimal consideration of the farm’s founding mission. Due to the complex nature of this relationship, an RPP is a fruitful way to study the tensions and power dynamics between the farm and the college campus it is situated within [ 10 , 33 , 36 ]. These dynamics can create disconnects and challenges in communication and decision-making [ 22 , 75 ]. Student-worker Michael's frustration reflects the perceived gap between the college's expectations, the staff’s perspectives, and the students' experiences. The farm's staff, represented by Dan, also faced challenges in navigating the college's bureaucracy and making their suggestions heard. These dynamics highlight the complexities of power and authority within the urban farm setting.

This urban farm is also a prime example of reclaiming farming spaces [ 4 , 80 ], due to its unique location and its collaboration with the HBC. This study illustrates that once the student-workers and staff overcome their challenges at the farm, they are able to work towards building a more equitable and inclusive food system by supporting and empowering Black and underrepresented student-workers [ 4 , 37 , 38 , 48 , 73 , 80 ]. However, functioning as an informal learning environment situated within a college campus has led to tensions between the mission of the farm and the goals of the institution. Michael and Dan have discussed how the college limits the operation of the farm, which is consistent with the tensions between informal learning environments and formal spaces discussed in the literature [ 36 , 67 ].

5 Limitations, implications, and conclusion

In light of the promising findings from this study, further research should be conducted to deepen our understanding of the topics of discussions of urban farm workers. It would be beneficial to conduct this research within at another urban farm with a different culture, to see if or how the topics of conversations are different. Finally, this study is not without limitations. We had quite a small sample size and only at a single urban farm. Future research should consider a greater number of participants so as to better grasp the topics of discussion of urban farmers. As this study was situated at a specific place at a specific point in time, caution should be taken in generalizing these findings. In particular, this urban farm is situated on an HBC campus with a work-study program, which provides an additional layer of complexity and impacts the nature of the student-workers at an urban farm in this study. However, the codebook we developed may prove to be useful across urban farms. Additional studies that further explore how resilience develops at different types of urban farms is needed in order to draw conclusions about the resilience of student-workers.

Furthermore, research practice partnerships are crucial in this context, as they allow for a reciprocal exchange of knowledge between academic researchers and the urban farm community [ 18 , 27 ]. These partnerships bridge the gap between theory and practice, enabling researchers to gain insights from the lived experiences of student-workers and community members. This collaborative approach enhances the sustainability of the urban farm, as it ensures that research and academic efforts are aligned with the farm's goals and the needs of the community it serves.

In conclusion, the themes of engagement, resilience, power, access, and privilege, when viewed through research practice partnerships, offer a holistic understanding of the urban farm's dynamics. This understanding is not only vital for the farm's sustainability and growth but also holds broader implications for addressing issues of community engagement, equity, and empowerment. These findings should serve as a valuable resource for academic researchers, educators, and policymakers interested in the complex interplay between sustainable agriculture, community engagement, and learning experiences within unique institutional contexts. By recognizing the importance of these elements and fostering collaboration, we can work towards creating more inclusive, resilient, and impactful educational environments and urban farming initiatives.

Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available to protect the participants identities but are available from the corresponding authors on reasonable request.

For the purpose of this paper, urban farming is an agricultural practice with a focus on maximizing production yields and selling produce in an urban area, compared to urban or community gardening, which is the growing of crops primarily for personal or interest-based purposes.

We recognize that organic practices are not always viable for all farms. Organic farming is also not the only avenue for pursuing sustainability.

For confidentiality and anonymity, the reference has been anonymized.

All names are pseudonyms chosen by the participants.

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Appendix A. Interview protocols

Interview protocol: current student workers

Note to interviewers This interview is intended to be semi-structured. This means you are welcome to ask follow-up questions, probe what the participant says, add additional questions as possible topics of interest arise, etc. You do not need to ask every question listed in the interview protocol, mainly if the participant has already answered a question in response to another prompt.

Introduction to interview to share with the participant

Thank you for agreeing to participate in this study interview. As we continue to think about how student workers can stay motivated and increase retention for the farm, I would like your insight to help guide our work. This case study will aim to understand student workers’ motivation to increase retention at an HBC’s urban farm in the southwest US. At this stage in the research, motivation is defined as the “inner force that drives individuals to accomplish personal and organizational goals” (Lindner, 1998). Is it okay if I audio-record our conversation?

Interview protocol: staff workers

Thank you for agreeing to participate in this study interview. As we continue to think about how student workers can stay motivated and increase retention for the farm, I would like your insight to help guide our work. This case study will aim to understand student workers’ motivation to increase retention at an HBC’s urban farm in the southwest US. At this stage in the research, motivation is defined as the “inner force that drives individuals to accomplish personal and organizational goals” (Lindner, 1998).

Can I audio-record our conversation?

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Sager, M.T., Petrosino, A.J. “They just forget about the students”: Growing resilient urban farmers with a research practice partnership. Discov Educ 3 , 96 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s44217-024-00196-6

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Green Jobs and Career Pathways: An Arranged Marriage in Service to a 21st-Century Workforce Development System

Publication info, description.

This qualitative study examines the early start-up experiences of two U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration energy training partnership grant recipients, Vermont Green and Renewable Northwest (ReNW) of Oregon, applying different career pathways models. The paper explores the proposition that green job career pathways will modernize the education system and build new opportunity structures into the labor market. It begins with a review of the literature on green jobs, exploring the number of ways green jobs are defined, the dynamics of the green jobs labor market, and the debates and implications for government policy and intervention into the green economy. This paper also includes a historical review of the career pathways model and an analysis of the literature on how the model is used by practitioners to improve education and job training programs and develop new curricula, skills certifications and credentials. Findings about applying the career pathways model to prepare workers for green jobs from the two grant recipients included in the study are noted. For each grant studied, the paper also explains how the early start-up of each partnership was affected by the context of each case; whether and how stakeholders experienced a need to make systemic changes; and the numerous challenges each faced. The findings affirm and challenge propositions about green jobs career pathways in the literature and provide lessons for policy and practice. For instance, the experiences of both the Vermont Green and ReNW grantees affirm that green jobs are skilled jobs that require skills in short supply and offer meaningful work with advancement opportunities. At the same time, the experiences of the grants challenge that green jobs have low barriers to entry or that there are shortages of workers in the core industries that are becoming green. In another case, the experiences of both Vermont Green and ReNW affirm that the green industry can be unstable, creating an uncertainty in the number of workers and types of skills needed. At the time of the interviews with Vermont Green, solutions to this challenge were still in development. ReNW’s strategy is to sync the supply and demand sides of local green jobs by holding listening panels for employers and workers.

Other reports developed for the 2009 ETA Research Papers Program include:

ETAOP 2012-11: Job Content and Skill Requirements in an Era of Accelerated Diffusion of Innovation: Modeling Skills at the Detailed Work Activity (DWA) Level for Operational Decision Support

ETAOP 2012-12: The Employment Service in Rural North Carolina: Insights from the “Great Recession”