Research Guides: Urban Planning &amp; Development: Literature Review & Writing

Writing a Literature Review

Writing your UPD capstone may be a larger research writing project than you have undertaken in the past. It can be intimidating, but there are many sources in the Library & on Campus to help you!

Still trying to wrap your head around the idea of a literature review? Check out these sources:

Guide to Literature Review resources created by SLU Librarian Jane Gillespie
An in-depth look at the literature review from The Writing Center at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

The Literature review is an important part of a dissertation or thesis. Looking at dissertations & theses in your area of study can help by giving concrete, real world examples of a literature review. Use the SLU Libraries database Dissertations & Theses to find dissertations from all over the U.S. in every discipline.

Citation Searching

Look backward.
What sources has a particular author cited?

Look forward.
What authors have cited a particular source?

The following tools will help you find out both!

Web of Science This link opens in a new window
1990-present. WOS consists of three databases: Arts & Humanities Citation Index, Social Sciences Citation Index, and Science Citation Index Expanded, all of which are citation indexes. Together these index thousands of scholarly research journals from hundreds of disciplines. Do a Cited Reference search or a Topic search....more.
Scopus This link opens in a new window
Some 1823-present. Search one of the largest abstract and citation databases for scholarly materials on science, engineering, technology, and medicine along with an increasing number of social sciences and humanities. Similar to Web of Science…..more.
Google Scholar @ SLU This link opens in a new window
Google Scholar is the most comprehensive of the citation search tools, but also likely to include non-scholarly sources in those citation listings. An essential place to check, but carefully review citations found here to make sure they are from a published source. See more for off campus access through Google Scholar….more.