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Abstract The goal of this study was to integrate previous research conducted on student participation in the college classroom. Numerous studies have been completed on engaging students in classroom discussions, but no study has synthesized this information in the form of an extensive literature review. Here, previous research is pulled together to gain a comprehensive overview of the benefits of participation, logistical issues in participation, student confidence and personality traits in participation, the instructor's influence on and suggestions for increasing participation, the role of sex in participation, and participation in web-based courses. Specifically, academic journal articles that were published over the past 51 years (1958–2009) with student in-class participation as a major variable were included. Details of the selection process, a thorough review of the literature, implications for the classroom, and directions for future research are provided. Keywords: Student ParticipationCollege ClassroomMultidisciplinaryLiteratureReview Notes 1. EBSCOhost and PROquest were starting points for the search. Subject and keywords searched to start the search included: participation, class, discussion, classroom, student, talk, interaction. 2. Any article which used the term “participation,” but had as its focus student participation in the university overall (e.g., registering for particular courses, being a part of a program) was not included. Thus, if one completes a search with “student” and “participation” in the keywords, there may be journal articles that—by title—appear relevant, but as they were not assessing in-class participation, they were not included. Additional informationNotes on contributorsKelly A. Rocca Kelly A. Rocca is at St. John's University