Conducting a Literature Review

There are a number of different citation managers available for you to use to keep track of the articles you are using for your literature review.

• EndNote is one of the more commonly used options for citation management. EndNote Basic is the free web version, and you can set up an account here.
• RefWorks
• Mendeley
• Zotero

It is important to keep track of your searches and results as you conduct a literature review - it makes it easier to retrieve and cite sources throughout the process.

There are a few ways to do this:

• In most databases, you can set up an individual account that will allow you to save searches and results beyond your search session. For example, in PubMed you can set up a MyNCBI account.
• Use a citation manager like EndNote Basic to track relevant results.
• Use a literature search tracking log, like the one from Georgia State University, that tracks subject headings, databases searched, and how many results were found from a search.

RSS feeds are offered by journals and databases to to provide updates on new articles and tables of contents. Feeds are more flexible than emails but do require a "feed reader" software. Some web browser have a feed reader, like Safari.

Popular feed readers:

• Feedly
• Reeder (Mac/iOS)
• The Old Reader