Literature Review Basics
Define the research question
- You may need to some exploratory searching of the literature to get a sense of scope, to determine whether you need to narrow or broaden your focus
- Identify databases that provide the most relevant sources, and identify relevant terms (keywords and controlled vocabularies) to add to your search strategy
- Finalize your research question
- Consider meeting with your subject librarian for a one-on-one consult during this or the next two stages
Determine inclusion/exclusion criteria
- Think about relevant dates, geographies (and languages), methods, and conflicting points of view
Choose databases and conduct the search
- Conduct searches in the published literature via the identified databases
- Check to see if this topic has been covered in other discipline's databases
- Examine the citations of on-point articles for keywords, authors, and previous research (via references) and cited reference searching.
Review your results
- Save your search results in a citation management tool (such as Refworks)
- De-duplicate your search results (you can do this in RefWorks)
- Make sure that you've found the seminal pieces -- they have been cited many times, and their work is considered foundational
- Check with your professor or a librarian to make sure your search has been comprehensive
Synthesize the information gathered
- Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of individual sources and evaluate for bias, methodologies, and thoroughness
- Group your results in to an organizational structure that will support why your research needs to be done, or that provides the answer to your research question
- Develop your conclusions
Analyze the information gathered
- Are there gaps in the literature?
- Where has significant research taken place, and who has done it?
- Is there consensus or debate on this topic?
- Which methodological approaches work best?
Write the literature review
- Pick an organizational structure, i.e., themes, approaches, concepts, methodologies.
- For example: Background, Current Practices, Critics and Proponents, Where/How this study will fit in
- Organize your citations and focus on your research question and pertinent studies
- Compile your bibliography
Note: This list was modified from a guide from the University of Texas libraries. The full guide has many additional details.
Books on Conducting Literature Reviews
Composing Research, Communicating Results by
Composing Research, Communicating Results: Writing the Communication Research Paper provides communication students with the knowledge and necessary tools to compose a variety of course-required papers that are scholarly, accessible, and well-written. The first work of its kind to take students from brainstorming to outlining to sentence and paragraph construction to paper presentation, drawing on student-written examples Easy-to-understand explanations of passive voice, point of view, commonly accepted citation styles, and more, with current and relatable student-written examples Covers common writing assignments in communication and related courses, including the literature review, application paper, and empirical research paper Four pedagogical features enhance comprehension and support learning: "Write Away" quick exercises, integratable "Building Blocks" assignments, "Engaging Ethics" tips, and "Student Spotlight" examples
ISBN: 9781118940907Publication Date: 2017-06-26
Making Literature Reviews Work by
This textbook guides the reader on how to undertake high-quality literature reviews, from traditional narrative to protocol-driven reviews. The guidance covers a broad range of purposes, disciplines and research paradigms. Whether the literature review is part of a research project, doctoral study, dissertation or a stand-alone study, the book offers approaches, methods, tools, tips and guidelines to produce more effective literature reviews in an efficient manner. The numerous examples are drawn from an array of subject areas, such as economics, healthcare, education, medicine, psychology, software engineering amongst others. This makes it worthwhile for a wide range of studies and for reviews into evidence-based interventions, policies, practices and treatments. There is attention given to presenting, reporting and publishing literature reviews. With the additional clarity brought about by explanatory tables and graphs, this textbook is a 'must-have' for all students,researchers, academics and practitioners at any stage of their project or career when engaging with literature. In addition, citizens, policymakers and practitioners will benefit from the guidance with better insight into how literature reviews could and should have been conducted.
ISBN: 9783030900243Publication Date: 2022-08-11
Writing Literature Reviews by
* Guides students in the preparation of literature reviews for term projects, theses, and dissertations. * Most chapters are conveniently divided into easy-to-follow guidelines, sequential steps, or checklists. Numerous examples throughout the book show students what should and should not be done when writing reviews. * Emphasizes critical analysis of reports of empirical research in academic journals--making it ideal as a supplement for research methods courses. This book makes it possible for students to work independently on a critical literature review as a term project. * Nine model literature reviews at the end of the book provide the stimulus for homework assignments and classroom discussions. * The activities at the end of each chapter keep students moving toward their goal of writing a polished, professional review of academic literature. * Most examples include material from recently published research. Includes nine model literature reviews for discussion and evaluation.
Call Number: H62 .G35 2004 (Main Library, 1st Floor)ISBN: 1884585507Publication Date: 2004-01-01
Preparing Literature Reviews by
* Illustrates all the steps in preparing qualitative and quantitative literature reviews. * Emphasizes topic selection, locating literature, and avoiding major pitfalls in evaluating and synthesizing literature. * Shows how to improve literature reviews through the judicious inclusion of statistical results found in the literature. * Provides easy-to-follow advice on how to avoid misrepresenting the results of published research in literature reviews. * The numerous examples throughout the text and the nine model literature reviews clarify the process of following the guidelines for writing solid, state-of-the-art literature reviews. * Shows students how to blend qualitative and quantitative approaches to preparing literature reviews without being overly mathematical.
Call Number: Q180.55.E9 P36 2013 (Main Library, 1st Floor)ISBN: 9781936523115Publication Date: 2013-03-01
Writing for Inquiry and Research (Ch. 3, The Literature Review) by ISBN: 9781946011213Publication Date: 2023-07-19
