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Scholarly, Peer-Reviewed Articles
Scholarly, peer-reviewed articles will make up the majority of the sources in your literature review. You can find scholarly sources in library databases. A database is a searchable collection of scholarly articles from hundreds of peer-reviewed journals. Recommended databases for your mini-literature review on a health topic are below. Hover over each database link for more information on what it contains.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
A systematic review is an article that gathers all available research on a topic and summarizes the evidence. A meta-analysis is similar, but uses statistical methods to summarize the results of all the studies on a topic and come to the best possible answer based on available data. You can find systematic reviews and meta-analyses in most databases and in Google Scholar by simply adding these terms to your search. You can also search specifically for systematic reviews and meta-analyses using the two databases linked below.
After you search, make sure you select the Cochrane Reviews tab to only see review results
Technical Reports
A technical report is very similar to a scholarly research article. It reports on the results of a project and provides conclusions of the research. However, technical reports are not peer-reviewed and thus not published in scholarly journals. Instead, you'll most often find technical reports on government or industry websites. Try searching Google for your topic plus the term "technical report" to get started, or search on a government agency website that is relevant to your topic. The resources below will also help you locate technical reports.
Reputable Organizations
Try searching your topic on Google followed by site:.org. This will bring up results for organization websites only. How do you know an organization is reputable, though? Make sure you Google the organization to see what you can find out about them on Wikipedia or another website.