We conducted two literature searches to help guide the development of a conceptual model of a barrier island and shoreline system in response to cumulative effects of restoration projects. The first search targeted examples of cumulative effects assessments and/or existing conceptual models from which a system-specific conceptual model can be built. The second search targeted the identification of barrier island and shoreline environmental system components, drivers and stressors. There are two data sheets in this dataset; one set of records from each literature search. Each spreadsheet includes record information pulled directly from the Web of Science searches, such as title, authors, abstract, and publication source. We also screened the records for relevance to our needs and additional information contained in the titles and abstracts, including environmental system components (e.g. structure or function), specific drivers and stressors, and more.