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ECON 231: The Economics of Inequality: Literature Review and Research

Professor Katie Gutierrez

What is a Literature Review?

A literature review is a systemic review of previous research related to or informing your problem. The goal of a lit review is to provide a picture of the scholarly research landscape on your topic and to put your work in conversation with this existing research. Questions you might ask yourself as you begin your literature review are:

  • How have other researchers approached this problem?
  • What data have they used?
  • What analysis have they done?

As you continue in the process, you might begin to think about:

  • How a piece of research relates to other sources you have found
  • How all of the sources work together to form a picture of economic thought on your topic

Using a Synthesis Matrix

Start in the Libraries

The Library catalog is a great place to start your research. Our search function allows you to comb through our physical and digital offerings, including our robust collection of academic journals. 

Search the Library Catalog

Find books, articles, & more

Databases to Begin With

Finding Related Research

Once you find a few good papers, you might want to do some citation searching to get a sense of the how that article is related to the ones it cites and the ones that cite it.

Below, you'll find our guide on citation searching and a few helpful tools to get you started.

Using the Library Catalog

Run Time: 2:06

Choosing a Database

Run Time: 2:39