Research Guides @ Fordham: Applied Developmental Psychology Integrative Literature Review (ILR) Library Workshop: Start Here

Start Here

The purpose of this research guide is to provide Applied Developmental Psychology graduate students with information about integrative literature reviews (ILRs) in preparation for their comprehensive examination.

Use this guide to learn about what is expected when researching for and writing an ILR, what resources to use for researching, database and controlled vocabulary tutorials, and worksheets for creating your own vocabulary tables and search strings.

Applied Developmental Psychology (ADP) Integrative Literature Review (ILR) Library Workshop Handout
Handout from the workshop with a link to the Source Data Worksheet.

ADP ILR Rubric
Taken from ADP Comps Guidelines and Evaluation Forms, Section 4.6

Defining an Integrative Literature Review

An integrative literature review (ILR) is a broad summary of the literature available on a given topic.

ILRs combine a synthesis of both empirical (research based on evidence and data) and theoretical (research based on hypotheses) evidence.

Guides and Tutorials

Tutorials on APA Databases on EBSCO
The American Psychological Association's collection of tutorials on APA databases on EBSCO.
PubMed User Guide
An FAQ page on how to search within PubMed.
Learn About Medical Subject Headings (MESH)
Tutorials on how to use Medical Subject Headings, a controlled vocabulary, to improve your searching in PubMed.
Scopus Research Guide
Comprehensive research guide explaining the database's content, how to search within, its metrics, and more.
Scopus Tutorials
Video tutorials on how to search in Scopus. Includes how to search for documents and author information, how to use metrics, and how to search by organization or group.
ProQuest Platform Tutorials
ProQuest's guide to using their search platform. Includes information on basic and advanced searches, their thesaurus, and working with your search results.

Purpose of an Integrative Literature Review

Determining the scope of your integrative literature review (ILR) is the first step of the research process. ILRs often entail one or more of these elements:

Evaluating empirical support for a particular theory.
Identifying gaps in the literature and proposing avenues for future research.
Merging different areas of research.
Reviewing research methodologies.

Databases

PsycINFO (APA) This link opens in a new window
Abstracts and Indexing to serial and book literature in psychology since 1840. On EBSCOhost platform.
PubMed/MEDLINE This link opens in a new window
Over 27 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, online books, and other resources. MEDLINE is the primary component of PubMed. Citations may include links to full-text content in PubMed Central and publisher web sites. Records are indexed with NLM Medical Subject Headings (MeSH®). MEDLINE Citations are included in OneSearch. For more information, see NIH Resources Guide.
PubMed Central This link opens in a new window
Free full-text archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature at the U.S. National Institutes of Health's National Library of Medicine NLM.
Scopus This link opens in a new window
Abstract and citation database covering thousands of titles in Science, Social Sciences, Physical Sciences, Health Science, and Arts & Humanities going back to 1960.
Psychology Database This link opens in a new window
On ProQuest's platform. Provides abstracts and indexing of key psychology journals. Users get access to charts, diagrams, graphs, tables, photos, and other graphical elements essential to psychological research.