Whether you are being asked to review academic literature for an assignment, thesis or as a standalone "systematic review", you need to know where to find authoritative resources, what the process involves and where to get support. A good starting point is your course handbook which outlines what type of review you are being asked to do and which referencing style to use. In general, the APA style is used in Psychology. Be aware of the different types of reviews and whether you are being asked to adopt a systematic approach to your searching and methodology (systematized review) or to carry out a full systematic review as exemplified in Cochrane Reviews. Always check with your supervisor, if in doubt. Take a look at some useful tutorials and resources under the Useful Links tab.
A useful resource on research methods and the research process, including literature reviews, is SAGE Research Methods which is available from our Databases and Ebooks page.
General Library supports include training throughout the year, online and print resources on literature reviews and one to one or small group sessions with subject librarians. Useful webpages on conducting reviews include general Literature Reviews and Systematic Literature Reviews. Please contact me for help using my email opposite. You should also take a look at the Student Learning and Development website for complementary resources in this area (e.g. time management, academic writing etc.)
Quick link to ebooks on doing literature reviews (requires College ID to access off-campus).
Some of the information on other institution's pages may be useful but please note that their links to local resources will not apply. Equivalent links to our main catalogue STELLA search and our databases are available under SEARCH COLLECTIONS on the Library homepage.
Video on systematic searching (Part 1) Part 2 (courtesy of Liz Dore, UL Library, 2019)
Video tutorial on Conducting a Systematic Review (Four part series) (courtesy Laurie Theeke)
Screening Tool: COVIDENCE (Select from Databases page on Library website
Covidence: accelerate your Systematic Review (Video tutorial from Carrie Price, Welsh Medical Library)
Covidence (official supports page incl. videos etc. )
The main referencing style used in Psychology is the American Psychological Association style or APA for short. This is a Harvard style system using author/date formatting. It is often called a parenthetical style with citations placed with parentheses or brackets. See our tutorial on referencing and plagiarism for more information.
If you decide to reference manually, the main Publication manual of the APA is available in the Library. There are print copies of the most recent 7th edition in the Library. There are particular websites which are useful for APA support:
Academic Writer Tutorial - basics of 7th edition APA style
University of South Caroline Aiken APA library support pages (7th ed)
Excelsior College APA support pages
Remember that in most databases you can use the cite feature within a record to copy the citation into your reference list. However, you will still need to manually create the intext citation within your document. See a quick clip here on how this works (EBSCO) (min 1:12 -1:52)
You may decide to use a reference manager software to automatically reference your material. Examples include Zotero, Mendeley, Refworks and Endnote. The Library supports Endnote. Please see our Endnote pages for download instructions and support information.
The Library tutorial on Endnote is available to view here
Additional links to proprietary guides from Endnote.com (Clarivate Analytics)
See these links to troubleshoot problems you may encounter using APA style in Endnote (courtesy of AUT university librarians).
Curtin Library Endnote pages are also very comprehensive.
EPPI Reviewer. This can be used for all types of reviews. Please note that the library does not subscribe to this tool.
