The infamous literature review and how to overcome it

This post was requested by someone I connected with over social media who wanted to hear how I put literature reviews together, so here we are.

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What is a literature review?

A literature review is something that some of us at the higher education level despise. It is, simply, providing the reader background information on the topic of your paper. The background will include historical information, current themes in previous and current literature and research, the knowledge gap or limitation(s), and the need for your research. When outlining your paper, the literature review is second, after the introduction and before the methods section.

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So, where do you begin on researching literature?

I think this is possibly the most challenging part for me...starting and knowing what to search first. As I completed my master's and now working to complete my doctorate, I've gotten a good system for myself when writing my literature reviews. Initially, when searching for peer-reviewed literature, I start with very basic terms and limit the results to only display articles that have been published within the last 5 to 7 years. From the results, I review the article titles, and from the ones that seem relatable to my topic, I read the abstracts of those articles. When I'm reading an article that I feel will be beneficial to my lit review, I go through the literature review of that paper to locate key points that I'd consider important and make notes to organize later.

We started with basic keywords, how do we revise and refine?

This part, I think I've improved significantly at and it shows from feedback from my professors and research supervisor. I would always feel stuck and frustrated when trying to find more literature that was relatable to my research topic(s) and when I'd get results that had nothing to do with what I was searching for. But what I've learned to do now, is check out the reference lists of the articles you find that you can take some information from and incorporate into your lit review. Typically, there are article, books, etc., that you can locate from the reference lists that are fitting for your research topic and can be included in your lit review. Also, keep an eye out for keywords that catch your attention as your reading that way you can include it in your keyword search in the different databases.

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Now to organize....

I like to handwrite my notes from the articles I read, and then organize them in OneNote or similar applications. I look for repeated relationships that are brought to the forefront from my notes, and make them a section to discuss in the literature review. When you're trying to decide the outline of your lit review, think about what makes sense in the flow when your reader is going through it. I always start with a brief background on what I'm searching for, for example, my research indirectly focuses on individuals who are living with multiple sclerosis. So I'd focus on this population and its relation to other factors, whether it's being involved with organizations, support groups, client-therapist relationships...you get the picture. I would suggest starting with the broadest relationship/correlation and then work your way to the more refined topics that incorporate your research interests of the paper, then ending with the knowledge gap and purpose of your study and/or paper.

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These are tips that I provide learners that I support as a teaching assistant, and have heard great feedback, especially when reviewing the reference lists to find additional supporting literature. I hope this helps when writing your literature reviews!

The Student For Life,

Candace

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#literaturereview #gradlife #phdlife #phdstudent #doctoratelife #research