Review articles are always useful in your research, since basically, someone else has already done a lot of your work for you. A review article consists of lots of primary literature (original research) synthesized into a summary. A review article is always a good source of additional bibliographic resources (look at the end of the review article to find lots of articles related to your topic).

Here is how to find review articles in some of the more common databases used in the Sciences:

• Annual Reviews
Series on different topics, including Astronomy, Plant Physiology, Cell Biology and much more. Good source of lengthy review articles, with LOTS of references at the end of each article. Look on Tripod for URL for online, or call number for print.

• Cambridge Scientific Abstracts
Select a subject area to search. To limit to review articles, you should select ADVANCED SEARCH. Select a subject area then continue to advanced search screen. Build your search strategy, by using the pulldown menus and typing in your search terms. Save one of the search boxes so you can limit to review articles. How? From the pull-down menu select Publication Type (PT=). Type in review in the window, then be sure to AND it with your other searches.

Example:

Keywords (KW=) apoptosis or cell death
Publication Type (PT=) review

• Chemical Abstracts (SciFinder Scholar)
Type in AND REVIEW in your search statement. Once you get a list of citations, select the microscope icon to get more details about the article. The abstract will identify it as a REVIEW article. (There is no live link to this database because you must access it through the Swat server)

• Expanded Academic Index
Limit to REFEREED PUBLICATIONS (this will eliminate the non-academic publications in this index). Type in the term(s) you wish to search, then add 'AND REVIEW'. Example: (cell death or apoptosis) AND review

• INSPEC
Type word(s) in search box, and run search. Type review in search box, and run search. Scroll down to bottom half of screen. Check the boxes you want to combine, then click on the Combined Checked button.

• MathSciNet (Math Reviews on the Web)
I have to confess: I couldn't find a way to limit searches to just review articles. It seems like EVERYTHING is a review in Math Reviews...

• PsychInfo
Type word(s) in search box, and run search. Type review in search box, and run search. Scroll down to bottom half of screen. Check the boxes you want to combine, then click on the Combined Checked button.

• PubMed
Type the search term(s) in the box at the top of the page. Before you run the search, select the 'LIMITS'option right below the search box. Select the pulldown menu called "Publication Types" and select Review. Then click on the GO button to run the search.

• Web of Science
Select FULL search from the first screen, then select GENERAL search. Type in the topic(s), authors, etc. you wish to search. Scroll to the bottom of the screen to the Set Limits & Sort Option. The middle box contains different document types - the default is ALL DOCUMENT TYPES. Scroll down until you get to review and highlight it to select.

http://www.swarthmore.edu/Library/cornell/reviewhowto.htm

Created 10.15.01 Last updated 7.11.01 mes