taking notes while writing a literature review

Writing a Literature Review

What is a Literature Review?
Step 1: Choosing a Topic
Step 2: Finding Information
Step 3: Evaluating Content
Step 4: Taking Notes
Step 5: Synthesizing Content
Step 6: Writing the Review
Step 7: Citing Your Sources
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Note Taking Tips!

Notetaking Systems: California Polytechnic State University

At this point in the process, you have committed to a topic, found resources on it, and now are trying to glean information from those sources. The page linked above provides some note taking tips, ways to avoid plagiarism, and 5 different note taking styles (also described below). Pick the style that works best for you.

The Cornell Method

The outline method, the mapping method, the charting method, the sentence method.

Cornell Learning Strategies Center Resources including Note-Taking Method

The Cornell Method uses a two-column approach to note taking.

The first column measures about 2.5 inches.
The second column (the larger of the two) measures about 6 inches.
The larger column is the space to take your notes in.
The smaller column is to be used to create cue words or keywords that describe the information they are taking notes about.
At the very bottom of the sheet is a two-inch wide space used to summarize in one or two sentences the main concept or idea taken from the resource.

Cornell Notes - wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornell_Notes

How to take Cornell notes - YouTube

The Outline Method is a very structed way of note-taking.

The left side of the sheet contains general ideas.
As you work your way to the right, the information grows increasely more detailed.
The relationship between ideas and information is carried out through the indentation.

The Mapping Method is a very visual way of organizing your notes and information.

It makes use of graphical representation of information content.
It involves writing down the concept or terms and radiating the related ideas out of the center.
You can use lines and symbols to build and link the related ideas.
It can also be used as a way of brainstorming.

The Charting Method utilizes a chart-structure as a way of organizing your notes.

Determine the points/topics/subjects that you are trying to find information about.
Set up your paper in advance by columns headed by these points/topics/subjects.
As you read through a source (a book, article, website, etc.), record information (words, phrases, main ideas, etc.) under the the appropriate column.

The Sentence Method is the most basic notes-taking method.

As you research, write down any new ideas or bits of information as a sentence.
Number each sentence as you move down the page.
<< Previous: Step 3: Evaluating Content
Next: Step 5: Synthesizing Content >>
Last Updated: Apr 1, 2024 9:42 AM
URL: https://libguides.llu.edu/literaturereview

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The process of writing a literature review

Writing a literature review is a complex and non-linear process. It usually involves reiterations of all or any of the following steps:

Conducting a Library search for sources

Taking notes while critically reading and analysing the literature
Structuring the literature review
Styling the language of the literature review.

One of the first and important steps in carrying out a literature review is to conduct an effective Library search which will help you identify the most relevant sources for your research topic.

If you need some assistance with searching the literature strategically, you might want to work through the Strategies and Resources for Searching the Literature module in this collection. Amongst other things, this module will help you to effectively:

form key words or descriptors for your topic
create a search query
find different and relevant types of resources
use more advanced searching techniques.

Taking notes

Taking effective notes is another key part of the process of writing up your literature review.

There is a variety of ways that one can use to take notes. These include:

highlighting and writing notes in margins
drawing a diagram or a mind map
using the Cornell note-taking system .

In this module, we will focus on using an annotated bibliography as a note-taking technique.

Using an annotated bibliography to take notes

An annotated bibliography can be a useful way of taking notes as you read the literature and think about what you are reading. It allows you to collect both a summary of the key points from different readings as well as a critical assessment of the literature. It also allows you to provide comments about how a text relates both to your own research and to other literature.

An annotated bibliography has two main sections:

A reference (bibliographic information or citation) in your chosen citation style.
An annotation (description and comments on the source). The annotation usually provides:
a summary of the key points or arguments the source makes
a reflection on how the source contributes to your field of knowledge and how it might be useful in your own research
a critical analysis or evaluation of the ideas presented.

What to include in a summary?

When writing an annotated bibliography, start with a summary or description for each source. As you read, take notes in your own words of the aim of the research, the methodologies that have been used, the main arguments and overall findings, and the scope and limitations of the study. This will form the basis of your summary which will be in the form of a coherent 50–100-word paragraph or just two or three sentences.

How to reflect on the relevance of a source to your own research?

Writing a reflection for your annotated bibliography includes writing a few sentences explaining in what ways the source is useful for, or relates to, the overall theme of your research. This section of the annotation will be particularly helpful when you come to building an argument for your research in your literature review.

Ask yourself:

What does this source contribute to the ideas I am developing in my research or to the argument/s I am making?

It is worth mentioning that while your reflection states your personal ideas and evaluations, it should still be objective and unemotional.

What to include in a critical analysis?

What are the strengths and limitations of the source in terms of aim, methodology, and findings?
Are the findings sound, logical and well researched?
Is the source original, important and of a high standard?
How does this source add to the research in the field?
Where is its place — and relationship — in the wider field of research and scholarly discussions?

Research and Writing Skills for Academic and Graduate Researchers Copyright © 2022 by RMIT University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Ten Simple Rules for Writing a Literature Review

Marco pautasso.

1 Centre for Functional and Evolutionary Ecology (CEFE), CNRS, Montpellier, France

2 Centre for Biodiversity Synthesis and Analysis (CESAB), FRB, Aix-en-Provence, France

Literature reviews are in great demand in most scientific fields. Their need stems from the ever-increasing output of scientific publications [1] . For example, compared to 1991, in 2008 three, eight, and forty times more papers were indexed in Web of Science on malaria, obesity, and biodiversity, respectively [2] . Given such mountains of papers, scientists cannot be expected to examine in detail every single new paper relevant to their interests [3] . Thus, it is both advantageous and necessary to rely on regular summaries of the recent literature. Although recognition for scientists mainly comes from primary research, timely literature reviews can lead to new synthetic insights and are often widely read [4] . For such summaries to be useful, however, they need to be compiled in a professional way [5] .

When starting from scratch, reviewing the literature can require a titanic amount of work. That is why researchers who have spent their career working on a certain research issue are in a perfect position to review that literature. Some graduate schools are now offering courses in reviewing the literature, given that most research students start their project by producing an overview of what has already been done on their research issue [6] . However, it is likely that most scientists have not thought in detail about how to approach and carry out a literature review.

Reviewing the literature requires the ability to juggle multiple tasks, from finding and evaluating relevant material to synthesising information from various sources, from critical thinking to paraphrasing, evaluating, and citation skills [7] . In this contribution, I share ten simple rules I learned working on about 25 literature reviews as a PhD and postdoctoral student. Ideas and insights also come from discussions with coauthors and colleagues, as well as feedback from reviewers and editors.

Rule 1: Define a Topic and Audience

How to choose which topic to review? There are so many issues in contemporary science that you could spend a lifetime of attending conferences and reading the literature just pondering what to review. On the one hand, if you take several years to choose, several other people may have had the same idea in the meantime. On the other hand, only a well-considered topic is likely to lead to a brilliant literature review [8] . The topic must at least be:

interesting to you (ideally, you should have come across a series of recent papers related to your line of work that call for a critical summary),
an important aspect of the field (so that many readers will be interested in the review and there will be enough material to write it), and
a well-defined issue (otherwise you could potentially include thousands of publications, which would make the review unhelpful).

Ideas for potential reviews may come from papers providing lists of key research questions to be answered [9] , but also from serendipitous moments during desultory reading and discussions. In addition to choosing your topic, you should also select a target audience. In many cases, the topic (e.g., web services in computational biology) will automatically define an audience (e.g., computational biologists), but that same topic may also be of interest to neighbouring fields (e.g., computer science, biology, etc.).

Rule 2: Search and Re-search the Literature

After having chosen your topic and audience, start by checking the literature and downloading relevant papers. Five pieces of advice here:

keep track of the search items you use (so that your search can be replicated [10] ),
keep a list of papers whose pdfs you cannot access immediately (so as to retrieve them later with alternative strategies),
use a paper management system (e.g., Mendeley, Papers, Qiqqa, Sente),
define early in the process some criteria for exclusion of irrelevant papers (these criteria can then be described in the review to help define its scope), and
do not just look for research papers in the area you wish to review, but also seek previous reviews.

The chances are high that someone will already have published a literature review ( Figure 1 ), if not exactly on the issue you are planning to tackle, at least on a related topic. If there are already a few or several reviews of the literature on your issue, my advice is not to give up, but to carry on with your own literature review,

An external file that holds a picture, illustration, etc.
Object name is pcbi.1003149.g001.jpg

The bottom-right situation (many literature reviews but few research papers) is not just a theoretical situation; it applies, for example, to the study of the impacts of climate change on plant diseases, where there appear to be more literature reviews than research studies [33] .

discussing in your review the approaches, limitations, and conclusions of past reviews,
trying to find a new angle that has not been covered adequately in the previous reviews, and
incorporating new material that has inevitably accumulated since their appearance.

When searching the literature for pertinent papers and reviews, the usual rules apply:

be thorough,
use different keywords and database sources (e.g., DBLP, Google Scholar, ISI Proceedings, JSTOR Search, Medline, Scopus, Web of Science), and
look at who has cited past relevant papers and book chapters.

Rule 3: Take Notes While Reading

If you read the papers first, and only afterwards start writing the review, you will need a very good memory to remember who wrote what, and what your impressions and associations were while reading each single paper. My advice is, while reading, to start writing down interesting pieces of information, insights about how to organize the review, and thoughts on what to write. This way, by the time you have read the literature you selected, you will already have a rough draft of the review.

Of course, this draft will still need much rewriting, restructuring, and rethinking to obtain a text with a coherent argument [11] , but you will have avoided the danger posed by staring at a blank document. Be careful when taking notes to use quotation marks if you are provisionally copying verbatim from the literature. It is advisable then to reformulate such quotes with your own words in the final draft. It is important to be careful in noting the references already at this stage, so as to avoid misattributions. Using referencing software from the very beginning of your endeavour will save you time.

Rule 4: Choose the Type of Review You Wish to Write

After having taken notes while reading the literature, you will have a rough idea of the amount of material available for the review. This is probably a good time to decide whether to go for a mini- or a full review. Some journals are now favouring the publication of rather short reviews focusing on the last few years, with a limit on the number of words and citations. A mini-review is not necessarily a minor review: it may well attract more attention from busy readers, although it will inevitably simplify some issues and leave out some relevant material due to space limitations. A full review will have the advantage of more freedom to cover in detail the complexities of a particular scientific development, but may then be left in the pile of the very important papers “to be read” by readers with little time to spare for major monographs.

There is probably a continuum between mini- and full reviews. The same point applies to the dichotomy of descriptive vs. integrative reviews. While descriptive reviews focus on the methodology, findings, and interpretation of each reviewed study, integrative reviews attempt to find common ideas and concepts from the reviewed material [12] . A similar distinction exists between narrative and systematic reviews: while narrative reviews are qualitative, systematic reviews attempt to test a hypothesis based on the published evidence, which is gathered using a predefined protocol to reduce bias [13] , [14] . When systematic reviews analyse quantitative results in a quantitative way, they become meta-analyses. The choice between different review types will have to be made on a case-by-case basis, depending not just on the nature of the material found and the preferences of the target journal(s), but also on the time available to write the review and the number of coauthors [15] .

Rule 5: Keep the Review Focused, but Make It of Broad Interest

Whether your plan is to write a mini- or a full review, it is good advice to keep it focused 16 , 17 . Including material just for the sake of it can easily lead to reviews that are trying to do too many things at once. The need to keep a review focused can be problematic for interdisciplinary reviews, where the aim is to bridge the gap between fields [18] . If you are writing a review on, for example, how epidemiological approaches are used in modelling the spread of ideas, you may be inclined to include material from both parent fields, epidemiology and the study of cultural diffusion. This may be necessary to some extent, but in this case a focused review would only deal in detail with those studies at the interface between epidemiology and the spread of ideas.

While focus is an important feature of a successful review, this requirement has to be balanced with the need to make the review relevant to a broad audience. This square may be circled by discussing the wider implications of the reviewed topic for other disciplines.

Rule 6: Be Critical and Consistent

Reviewing the literature is not stamp collecting. A good review does not just summarize the literature, but discusses it critically, identifies methodological problems, and points out research gaps [19] . After having read a review of the literature, a reader should have a rough idea of:

the major achievements in the reviewed field,
the main areas of debate, and
the outstanding research questions.

It is challenging to achieve a successful review on all these fronts. A solution can be to involve a set of complementary coauthors: some people are excellent at mapping what has been achieved, some others are very good at identifying dark clouds on the horizon, and some have instead a knack at predicting where solutions are going to come from. If your journal club has exactly this sort of team, then you should definitely write a review of the literature! In addition to critical thinking, a literature review needs consistency, for example in the choice of passive vs. active voice and present vs. past tense.

Rule 7: Find a Logical Structure

Like a well-baked cake, a good review has a number of telling features: it is worth the reader's time, timely, systematic, well written, focused, and critical. It also needs a good structure. With reviews, the usual subdivision of research papers into introduction, methods, results, and discussion does not work or is rarely used. However, a general introduction of the context and, toward the end, a recapitulation of the main points covered and take-home messages make sense also in the case of reviews. For systematic reviews, there is a trend towards including information about how the literature was searched (database, keywords, time limits) [20] .

How can you organize the flow of the main body of the review so that the reader will be drawn into and guided through it? It is generally helpful to draw a conceptual scheme of the review, e.g., with mind-mapping techniques. Such diagrams can help recognize a logical way to order and link the various sections of a review [21] . This is the case not just at the writing stage, but also for readers if the diagram is included in the review as a figure. A careful selection of diagrams and figures relevant to the reviewed topic can be very helpful to structure the text too [22] .

Rule 8: Make Use of Feedback

Reviews of the literature are normally peer-reviewed in the same way as research papers, and rightly so [23] . As a rule, incorporating feedback from reviewers greatly helps improve a review draft. Having read the review with a fresh mind, reviewers may spot inaccuracies, inconsistencies, and ambiguities that had not been noticed by the writers due to rereading the typescript too many times. It is however advisable to reread the draft one more time before submission, as a last-minute correction of typos, leaps, and muddled sentences may enable the reviewers to focus on providing advice on the content rather than the form.

Feedback is vital to writing a good review, and should be sought from a variety of colleagues, so as to obtain a diversity of views on the draft. This may lead in some cases to conflicting views on the merits of the paper, and on how to improve it, but such a situation is better than the absence of feedback. A diversity of feedback perspectives on a literature review can help identify where the consensus view stands in the landscape of the current scientific understanding of an issue [24] .

Rule 9: Include Your Own Relevant Research, but Be Objective

In many cases, reviewers of the literature will have published studies relevant to the review they are writing. This could create a conflict of interest: how can reviewers report objectively on their own work [25] ? Some scientists may be overly enthusiastic about what they have published, and thus risk giving too much importance to their own findings in the review. However, bias could also occur in the other direction: some scientists may be unduly dismissive of their own achievements, so that they will tend to downplay their contribution (if any) to a field when reviewing it.

In general, a review of the literature should neither be a public relations brochure nor an exercise in competitive self-denial. If a reviewer is up to the job of producing a well-organized and methodical review, which flows well and provides a service to the readership, then it should be possible to be objective in reviewing one's own relevant findings. In reviews written by multiple authors, this may be achieved by assigning the review of the results of a coauthor to different coauthors.

Rule 10: Be Up-to-Date, but Do Not Forget Older Studies

Given the progressive acceleration in the publication of scientific papers, today's reviews of the literature need awareness not just of the overall direction and achievements of a field of inquiry, but also of the latest studies, so as not to become out-of-date before they have been published. Ideally, a literature review should not identify as a major research gap an issue that has just been addressed in a series of papers in press (the same applies, of course, to older, overlooked studies (“sleeping beauties” [26] )). This implies that literature reviewers would do well to keep an eye on electronic lists of papers in press, given that it can take months before these appear in scientific databases. Some reviews declare that they have scanned the literature up to a certain point in time, but given that peer review can be a rather lengthy process, a full search for newly appeared literature at the revision stage may be worthwhile. Assessing the contribution of papers that have just appeared is particularly challenging, because there is little perspective with which to gauge their significance and impact on further research and society.

Inevitably, new papers on the reviewed topic (including independently written literature reviews) will appear from all quarters after the review has been published, so that there may soon be the need for an updated review. But this is the nature of science [27] – [32] . I wish everybody good luck with writing a review of the literature.

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to M. Barbosa, K. Dehnen-Schmutz, T. Döring, D. Fontaneto, M. Garbelotto, O. Holdenrieder, M. Jeger, D. Lonsdale, A. MacLeod, P. Mills, M. Moslonka-Lefebvre, G. Stancanelli, P. Weisberg, and X. Xu for insights and discussions, and to P. Bourne, T. Matoni, and D. Smith for helpful comments on a previous draft.

Funding Statement

This work was funded by the French Foundation for Research on Biodiversity (FRB) through its Centre for Synthesis and Analysis of Biodiversity data (CESAB), as part of the NETSEED research project. The funders had no role in the preparation of the manuscript.

Reference management. Clean and simple.

How to write a literature review in 6 steps

What is a literature review?

How to write a literature review, 1. determine the purpose of your literature review, 2. do an extensive search, 3. evaluate and select literature, 4. analyze the literature, 5. plan the structure of your literature review, 6. write your literature review, other resources to help you write a successful literature review, frequently asked questions about writing a literature review, related articles.

A literature review is an assessment of the sources in a chosen topic of research.

A good literature review does not just summarize sources. It analyzes the state of the field on a given topic and creates a scholarly foundation for you to make your own intervention. It demonstrates to your readers how your research fits within a larger field of study.

In a thesis, a literature review is part of the introduction, but it can also be a separate section. In research papers, a literature review may have its own section or it may be integrated into the introduction, depending on the field.

➡️ Our guide on what is a literature review covers additional basics about literature reviews.

Identify the main purpose of the literature review.
Do extensive research.
Evaluate and select relevant sources.
Analyze the sources.
Plan a structure.
Write the review.

In this section, we review each step of the process of creating a literature review.

In the first step, make sure you know specifically what the assignment is and what form your literature review should take. Read your assignment carefully and seek clarification from your professor or instructor if needed. You should be able to answer the following questions:

How many sources do I need to include?
What types of sources should I review?
Should I evaluate the sources?
Should I summarize, synthesize or critique sources?
Do I need to provide any definitions or background information?

In addition to that, be aware that the narrower your topic, the easier it will be to limit the number of sources you need to read in order to get a good overview of the topic.

Now you need to find out what has been written on the topic and search for literature related to your research topic. Make sure to select appropriate source material, which means using academic or scholarly sources , including books, reports, journal articles , government documents and web resources.

➡️ If you’re unsure about how to tell if a source is scholarly, take a look at our guide on how to identify a scholarly source .

Come up with a list of relevant keywords and then start your search with your institution's library catalog, and extend it to other useful databases and academic search engines like:

Google Scholar
Science.gov

➡️ Our guide on how to collect data for your thesis might be helpful at this stage of your research as well as the top list of academic search engines .

Once you find a useful article, check out the reference list. It should provide you with even more relevant sources. Also, keep a note of the:

authors' names
page numbers

Keeping track of the bibliographic information for each source will save you time when you’re ready to create citations. You could also use a reference manager like Paperpile to automatically save, manage, and cite your references.

Read the literature. You will most likely not be able to read absolutely everything that is out there on the topic. Therefore, read the abstract first to determine whether the rest of the source is worth your time. If the source is relevant for your topic:

Read it critically.
Look for the main arguments.
Take notes as you read.
Organize your notes using a table, mind map, or other technique.

Now you are ready to analyze the literature you have gathered. While your are working on your analysis, you should ask the following questions:

What are the key terms, concepts and problems addressed by the author?
How is this source relevant for my specific topic?
How is the article structured? What are the major trends and findings?
What are the conclusions of the study?
How are the results presented? Is the source credible?
When comparing different sources, how do they relate to each other? What are the similarities, what are the differences?
Does the study help me understand the topic better?
Are there any gaps in the research that need to be filled? How can I further my research as a result of the review?

Tip: Decide on the structure of your literature review before you start writing.

There are various ways to organize your literature review:

Chronological method : Writing in the chronological method means you are presenting the materials according to when they were published. Follow this approach only if a clear path of research can be identified.
Thematic review : A thematic review of literature is organized around a topic or issue, rather than the progression of time.
Publication-based : You can order your sources by publication, if the way you present the order of your sources demonstrates a more important trend. This is the case when a progression revealed from study to study and the practices of researchers have changed and adapted due to the new revelations.
Methodological approach : A methodological approach focuses on the methods used by the researcher. If you have used sources from different disciplines that use a variety of research methods, you might want to compare the results in light of the different methods and discuss how the topic has been approached from different sides.

Regardless of the structure you chose, a review should always include the following three sections:

An introduction, which should give the reader an outline of why you are writing the review and explain the relevance of the topic.
A body, which divides your literature review into different sections. Write in well-structured paragraphs, use transitions and topic sentences and critically analyze each source for how it contributes to the themes you are researching.
A conclusion , which summarizes the key findings, the main agreements and disagreements in the literature, your overall perspective, and any gaps or areas for further research.

➡️ If your literature review is part of a longer paper, visit our guide on what is a research paper for additional tips.

➡️ UNC writing center: Literature reviews

➡️ How to write a literature review in 3 steps

➡️ How to write a literature review in 30 minutes or less

The goal of a literature review is to asses the state of the field on a given topic in preparation for making an intervention.

A literature review should have its own independent section. You should indicate clearly in the table of contents where it can be found, and address this section as “Literature Review.”

There is no set amount of words for a literature review; the length depends on the research. If you are working with a large amount of sources, then it will be long. If your paper does not depend entirely on references, then it will be short.

Most research papers include a literature review. By assessing the available sources in your field of research, you will be able to make a more confident argument about the topic.

Literature reviews are most commonly found in theses and dissertations. However, you find them in research papers as well.

taking notes while writing a literature review

University of Tasmania, Australia

Literature reviews.

What is a literature review?
How to develop a researchable question
How to find the literature
Taking notes
How to bring it all together: examples, templates, links, guides

Preview the text to check for relevance.

the abstract
introduction
look at any charts, tables, graphs, diagrams

Check the number of times the article has been cited by others. The more times cited, the more important it might be.

Read more deeply and let this guide the development of your question.

You may find that the more you read, your question changes or you discover a bigger topic or subtopics.

Do not waste your time using a highlighter. Annotate the page and take notes.

There are no shortcuts in this part of the process.

For more information on managing your reading, go to the Study Toolkit in MyLO and check out the Academic Reading and Writing module.

Taking Notes

Use a synthesis matrix for note taking. This table c an be as simple or as complicated as you need

Advantages of using a synthesis matrix:

allows you to sort the ideas and thoughts while analysing and synthesising the research.
helps make planning the structure and paragraph order easier
allows for paraphrasing and summarising before actually writing
provides a clearer view of the relationship between different sources
aids in identifying themes and patterns in the findings and conclusions.
gives a glance view of each area under scrutiny

The organisation/headings will change depending on the focus of your review.

Using a spreadsheet will also help organise your reading and matrix.

You will find some examples of a synthesis matrix to download at the bottom of this page.

Example 1.

C. Hartigan University of Tasmania

Example 2: Organised by themes.

from: The Thesis Whisperer:Using a matrix to organise your notes

Example 3: Literature Review preparation.

Watch this short clip for some more ideas. ( APA referencing is used in this clip)

Synthesis matrix
Literature Review Prep: Synthesis matrix: Johns Hopkins University
<< Previous: How to find the literature
Next: How to bring it all together: examples, templates, links, guides >>
Last Updated: Jun 28, 2024 8:42 AM
URL: https://utas.libguides.com/literaturereviews

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Writing a literature review.

Definitions
Establish the scope of your review
Finding sources

Taking notes

Annotate with zotero.

Organizing the review
Writing the review
Practical Tips

Why take notes?

Identify and remember key points
Help recall and concentration
Use in research and writing
See connections between sources
Avoid plagiarism

More ideas about notetaking

Check sources against each other -- look for inconsistencies and agreements
Read the abstract first -- then read the introduction and conclusion
Take notes on items that relate to your thesis
Think as you read
Can you restate the main point of the article?
What evidence or logic does the article use?
What is your assessment of the claims made in the articles?
Write down any original ideas prompted by reading the article

Lipson, C. (2005). How to write a BA thesis: A practical guide from your first ideas to your finished paper. University of Chicago Press.

Ridley, D. (2008). The literature review: A step-by-step guide for students. Sage.

The free citation manager Zotero also has features for note taking and annotating your sources if they are saved as PDFs. You can create notes, tags, highlight, and more. Check out the library's video tutorials on using Zotero to keep notes for your sources:

Creating Notes
Creating Tags
Annotating PDFs in Zotero
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Next: Organizing the review >>
Last Updated: Mar 13, 2024 8:36 AM
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Steps in Conducting a Literature Review

What is a literature review?

A literature review is an integrated analysis -- not just a summary-- of scholarly writings and other relevant evidence related directly to your research question. That is, it represents a synthesis of the evidence that provides background information on your topic and shows a association between the evidence and your research question.

A literature review may be a stand alone work or the introduction to a larger research paper, depending on the assignment. Rely heavily on the guidelines your instructor has given you.

Why is it important?

A literature review is important because it:

Explains the background of research on a topic.
Demonstrates why a topic is significant to a subject area.
Discovers relationships between research studies/ideas.
Identifies major themes, concepts, and researchers on a topic.
Identifies critical gaps and points of disagreement.
Discusses further research questions that logically come out of the previous studies.

APA7 Style resources

APA Style Blog - for those harder to find answers

1. Choose a topic. Define your research question.

Your literature review should be guided by your central research question. The literature represents background and research developments related to a specific research question, interpreted and analyzed by you in a synthesized way.

Make sure your research question is not too broad or too narrow. Is it manageable?
Begin writing down terms that are related to your question. These will be useful for searches later.
If you have the opportunity, discuss your topic with your professor and your class mates.

2. Decide on the scope of your review

How many studies do you need to look at? How comprehensive should it be? How many years should it cover?

This may depend on your assignment. How many sources does the assignment require?

3. Select the databases you will use to conduct your searches.

Make a list of the databases you will search.

Where to find databases:

use the tabs on this guide
Find other databases in the Nursing Information Resources web page
More on the Medical Library web page
... and more on the Yale University Library web page

4. Conduct your searches to find the evidence. Keep track of your searches.

Use the key words in your question, as well as synonyms for those words, as terms in your search. Use the database tutorials for help.
Save the searches in the databases. This saves time when you want to redo, or modify, the searches. It is also helpful to use as a guide is the searches are not finding any useful results.
Review the abstracts of research studies carefully. This will save you time.
Use the bibliographies and references of research studies you find to locate others.
Check with your professor, or a subject expert in the field, if you are missing any key works in the field.
Ask your librarian for help at any time.
Use a citation manager, such as EndNote as the repository for your citations. See the EndNote tutorials for help.

Review the literature

Some questions to help you analyze the research:

What was the research question of the study you are reviewing? What were the authors trying to discover?
Was the research funded by a source that could influence the findings?
What were the research methodologies? Analyze its literature review, the samples and variables used, the results, and the conclusions.
Does the research seem to be complete? Could it have been conducted more soundly? What further questions does it raise?
If there are conflicting studies, why do you think that is?
How are the authors viewed in the field? Has this study been cited? If so, how has it been analyzed?

Tips:

Review the abstracts carefully.
Keep careful notes so that you may track your thought processes during the research process.
Create a matrix of the studies for easy analysis, and synthesis, across all of the studies.
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How to Write a Literature Review

Where to Search
Search Strategies This link opens in a new window
Further Reading

When you take notes try splitting your notes page in two.

Write your summary of the authors conclusions and evidence in one of the columns.

In the other column, note your reactions to what you have read.

Comment on the methodology used.

Make connections between your project and what you are reading.

Compare and contrast the views of other authors.

Make a note of what you think about the material.

Even "These arguments are confusing" or "I don't understand this" may be useful when you are criticising the work.

This two column system has several advantages:

It keeps you thinking about the major issues and ideas.

You will be able to differentiate between your views and the work of others, thus reducing the risk of plagiarism.

An alternative to the two columns is to use two colours of pen - one for your ideas and the other for quotes and paraphrases. If you prefer writing your notes on file cards, this may be a better choice.

It doesn't really matter how you organize and write notes as long as you:

Keep track of the difference between your ideas and those of other authors

Make sure your notes are legible

Provide clear references for all resources you work with, including page numbers, so you can find it again or cite it in the review.

Image source: Trounce. GFDL. Wikimedia Commons. 2008.

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Writing the Literature Review

Getting Started
Step 1: Choose A Topic
Step 2: Find Information
Step 3: Evaluate
Step 4: Take Notes
Step 5: Synthesize
Step 6: Stay Organized
Write the Review

Taking Good Notes

Here are some important tips for notetaking:

Use index cards to keep notes and track sources of information used in your paper
Include all of the citation information (i.e., author, title, publisher, date, page numbers, etc.) you will need to write your Works Cited page
Record the citation information in the format your instructor requires (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc). When it comes time to write your Works Cited page, it will be easier to organize your sources alphabetically
Use only one side to record notes
Record only one idea, fact or quote from one source on a notecard. It will be easier to rearrange them later when it comes time to organize your paper.
Include a heading for the topic of the card
Include the original source of the information. If you have created numbered Work Cited cards for each source, you will only need to include the source number
Include the page number where you found the information
Use abbreviations, acronyms, or incomplete sentences to record information (as long you will understand them later). This will speed up the notetaking process
Extract only the information that answers your research questions.
Summarize the main idea of the article, then outline its main points
Paraphrase or record notes in your own words
If you plan to use an exact quote, make sure you copy the quotation exactly as it appears in the original source. Enclose the quote in quotation marks and note the name of the person you are quoting

From: The Research Process: Step-by-Step: Notetaking, created by Ann Williams

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Writing a Literature Review

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A literature review is a document or section of a document that collects key sources on a topic and discusses those sources in conversation with each other (also called synthesis ). The lit review is an important genre in many disciplines, not just literature (i.e., the study of works of literature such as novels and plays). When we say “literature review” or refer to “the literature,” we are talking about the research ( scholarship ) in a given field. You will often see the terms “the research,” “the scholarship,” and “the literature” used mostly interchangeably.

Where, when, and why would I write a lit review?

There are a number of different situations where you might write a literature review, each with slightly different expectations; different disciplines, too, have field-specific expectations for what a literature review is and does. For instance, in the humanities, authors might include more overt argumentation and interpretation of source material in their literature reviews, whereas in the sciences, authors are more likely to report study designs and results in their literature reviews; these differences reflect these disciplines’ purposes and conventions in scholarship. You should always look at examples from your own discipline and talk to professors or mentors in your field to be sure you understand your discipline’s conventions, for literature reviews as well as for any other genre.

A literature review can be a part of a research paper or scholarly article, usually falling after the introduction and before the research methods sections. In these cases, the lit review just needs to cover scholarship that is important to the issue you are writing about; sometimes it will also cover key sources that informed your research methodology.

Lit reviews can also be standalone pieces, either as assignments in a class or as publications. In a class, a lit review may be assigned to help students familiarize themselves with a topic and with scholarship in their field, get an idea of the other researchers working on the topic they’re interested in, find gaps in existing research in order to propose new projects, and/or develop a theoretical framework and methodology for later research. As a publication, a lit review usually is meant to help make other scholars’ lives easier by collecting and summarizing, synthesizing, and analyzing existing research on a topic. This can be especially helpful for students or scholars getting into a new research area, or for directing an entire community of scholars toward questions that have not yet been answered.

What are the parts of a lit review?

Most lit reviews use a basic introduction-body-conclusion structure; if your lit review is part of a larger paper, the introduction and conclusion pieces may be just a few sentences while you focus most of your attention on the body. If your lit review is a standalone piece, the introduction and conclusion take up more space and give you a place to discuss your goals, research methods, and conclusions separately from where you discuss the literature itself.

Introduction:

An introductory paragraph that explains what your working topic and thesis is
A forecast of key topics or texts that will appear in the review
Potentially, a description of how you found sources and how you analyzed them for inclusion and discussion in the review (more often found in published, standalone literature reviews than in lit review sections in an article or research paper)
Summarize and synthesize: Give an overview of the main points of each source and combine them into a coherent whole
Analyze and interpret: Don’t just paraphrase other researchers – add your own interpretations where possible, discussing the significance of findings in relation to the literature as a whole
Critically Evaluate: Mention the strengths and weaknesses of your sources
Write in well-structured paragraphs: Use transition words and topic sentence to draw connections, comparisons, and contrasts.

Conclusion:

Summarize the key findings you have taken from the literature and emphasize their significance
Connect it back to your primary research question

How should I organize my lit review?

Lit reviews can take many different organizational patterns depending on what you are trying to accomplish with the review. Here are some examples:

Chronological : The simplest approach is to trace the development of the topic over time, which helps familiarize the audience with the topic (for instance if you are introducing something that is not commonly known in your field). If you choose this strategy, be careful to avoid simply listing and summarizing sources in order. Try to analyze the patterns, turning points, and key debates that have shaped the direction of the field. Give your interpretation of how and why certain developments occurred (as mentioned previously, this may not be appropriate in your discipline — check with a teacher or mentor if you’re unsure).
Thematic : If you have found some recurring central themes that you will continue working with throughout your piece, you can organize your literature review into subsections that address different aspects of the topic. For example, if you are reviewing literature about women and religion, key themes can include the role of women in churches and the religious attitude towards women.
Qualitative versus quantitative research
Empirical versus theoretical scholarship
Divide the research by sociological, historical, or cultural sources
Theoretical : In many humanities articles, the literature review is the foundation for the theoretical framework. You can use it to discuss various theories, models, and definitions of key concepts. You can argue for the relevance of a specific theoretical approach or combine various theorical concepts to create a framework for your research.

What are some strategies or tips I can use while writing my lit review?

Any lit review is only as good as the research it discusses; make sure your sources are well-chosen and your research is thorough. Don’t be afraid to do more research if you discover a new thread as you’re writing. More info on the research process is available in our "Conducting Research" resources .

As you’re doing your research, create an annotated bibliography ( see our page on the this type of document ). Much of the information used in an annotated bibliography can be used also in a literature review, so you’ll be not only partially drafting your lit review as you research, but also developing your sense of the larger conversation going on among scholars, professionals, and any other stakeholders in your topic.

Usually you will need to synthesize research rather than just summarizing it. This means drawing connections between sources to create a picture of the scholarly conversation on a topic over time. Many student writers struggle to synthesize because they feel they don’t have anything to add to the scholars they are citing; here are some strategies to help you:

It often helps to remember that the point of these kinds of syntheses is to show your readers how you understand your research, to help them read the rest of your paper.
Writing teachers often say synthesis is like hosting a dinner party: imagine all your sources are together in a room, discussing your topic. What are they saying to each other?
Look at the in-text citations in each paragraph. Are you citing just one source for each paragraph? This usually indicates summary only. When you have multiple sources cited in a paragraph, you are more likely to be synthesizing them (not always, but often
Read more about synthesis here.

The most interesting literature reviews are often written as arguments (again, as mentioned at the beginning of the page, this is discipline-specific and doesn’t work for all situations). Often, the literature review is where you can establish your research as filling a particular gap or as relevant in a particular way. You have some chance to do this in your introduction in an article, but the literature review section gives a more extended opportunity to establish the conversation in the way you would like your readers to see it. You can choose the intellectual lineage you would like to be part of and whose definitions matter most to your thinking (mostly humanities-specific, but this goes for sciences as well). In addressing these points, you argue for your place in the conversation, which tends to make the lit review more compelling than a simple reporting of other sources.

Writing a Literature Review: Home

The Research Question
Searching for Sources
Analyzing Results
Citing Sources This link opens in a new window

What is a Literature Review?

While the main focus of an academic research paper is to support your own argument, the focus of a literature review is to summarize and synthesize the arguments and ideas of others. The academic research paper also covers a range of sources, but it is usually a select number of sources, because the emphasis is on the argument. Likewise, a literature review can also have an "argument," but it is not as important as covering a number of sources.

A literature review discusses and analyses published information in a particular subject area. A literature review is more than a summary of the sources, it has an organizational pattern that combines both summary and synthesis. A summary is a recap of the important information of the source, but a synthesis is a re-organization, or a reshuffling, of that information. It might give a new interpretation of old material or combine new with old interpretations. Or it might trace the intellectual progression of the field, including major debates. And depending on the situation, the literature review may evaluate the sources and advise the reader on the most pertinent or relevant.

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Last Updated: Jul 10, 2024 3:22 PM
URL: https://libraries.utulsa.edu/LiteratureReview

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Open Access

Ten Simple Rules for Writing a Literature Review

* E-mail: [email protected]

Affiliations Centre for Functional and Evolutionary Ecology (CEFE), CNRS, Montpellier, France, Centre for Biodiversity Synthesis and Analysis (CESAB), FRB, Aix-en-Provence, France

Marco Pautasso

Published: July 18, 2013

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003149
Reader Comments

Citation: Pautasso M (2013) Ten Simple Rules for Writing a Literature Review. PLoS Comput Biol 9(7): e1003149. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003149

Editor: Philip E. Bourne, University of California San Diego, United States of America

Copyright: © 2013 Marco Pautasso. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Funding: This work was funded by the French Foundation for Research on Biodiversity (FRB) through its Centre for Synthesis and Analysis of Biodiversity data (CESAB), as part of the NETSEED research project. The funders had no role in the preparation of the manuscript.

Competing interests: The author has declared that no competing interests exist.

Rule 1: Define a Topic and Audience

interesting to you (ideally, you should have come across a series of recent papers related to your line of work that call for a critical summary),
an important aspect of the field (so that many readers will be interested in the review and there will be enough material to write it), and
a well-defined issue (otherwise you could potentially include thousands of publications, which would make the review unhelpful).

Rule 2: Search and Re-search the Literature

After having chosen your topic and audience, start by checking the literature and downloading relevant papers. Five pieces of advice here:

keep track of the search items you use (so that your search can be replicated [10] ),
keep a list of papers whose pdfs you cannot access immediately (so as to retrieve them later with alternative strategies),
use a paper management system (e.g., Mendeley, Papers, Qiqqa, Sente),
define early in the process some criteria for exclusion of irrelevant papers (these criteria can then be described in the review to help define its scope), and
do not just look for research papers in the area you wish to review, but also seek previous reviews.

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003149.g001

discussing in your review the approaches, limitations, and conclusions of past reviews,
trying to find a new angle that has not been covered adequately in the previous reviews, and
incorporating new material that has inevitably accumulated since their appearance.

When searching the literature for pertinent papers and reviews, the usual rules apply:

be thorough,
use different keywords and database sources (e.g., DBLP, Google Scholar, ISI Proceedings, JSTOR Search, Medline, Scopus, Web of Science), and
look at who has cited past relevant papers and book chapters.

Rule 3: Take Notes While Reading

Rule 4: Choose the Type of Review You Wish to Write

Rule 5: Keep the Review Focused, but Make It of Broad Interest

Rule 6: Be Critical and Consistent

the major achievements in the reviewed field,
the main areas of debate, and
the outstanding research questions.

Rule 7: Find a Logical Structure

Rule 8: Make Use of Feedback

Rule 9: Include Your Own Relevant Research, but Be Objective

Rule 10: Be Up-to-Date, but Do Not Forget Older Studies

Acknowledgments

1. Rapple C (2011) The role of the critical review article in alleviating information overload. Annual Reviews White Paper. Available: http://www.annualreviews.org/userimages/ContentEditor/1300384004941/Annual_Reviews_WhitePaper_Web_2011.pdf . Accessed May 2013.
View Article
Google Scholar
7. Budgen D, Brereton P (2006) Performing systematic literature reviews in software engineering. Proc 28th Int Conf Software Engineering, ACM New York, NY, USA, pp. 1051–1052. doi: https://doi.org/10.1145/1134285.1134500 .
16. Eco U (1977) Come si fa una tesi di laurea. Milan: Bompiani.
17. Hart C (1998) Doing a literature review: releasing the social science research imagination. London: SAGE.
21. Ridley D (2008) The literature review: a step-by-step guide for students. London: SAGE.

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Researching the Literature Review

1. Get Started
2. Find Articles

Tracking Your Searches

Mind mapping, note taking tables, reading tips, writing as a conversation, writing center resources, how do you take notes.

4. Keep Current
5. Manage References
6. Done Yet?
7. Get Help

One way to begin taking notes is to keep track of what you are searching for. Many databases help you do this by allowing you to save searches and set up email alerts . Saving searches allows you to watch the development of your search over time and to make sure you are not simply repeating the same search over and over. Copy and paste or print out the search page to help think of ways your search could or should change over time. This example is from the EbscoHost version of Medline, but many databases have a similar option.

Viewing the search history and saving searches

Mind mapping is a popular way to brainstorm about your topic or to take notes about an article or presentation. Start with the main topic in the center and then think of a variety of related subtopics that you want to explore. Mind maps allow you to be flexible and to see alternative ideas you may not initially have considered.

You can either use paper and pencil or you can use a variety of free or commercial products to create mind maps. See some suggested options below. (This mind map was made with the free version of XMind.)

Wikipedia's List of Mind Mapping Software
Note Taking Table Template

Some of us think in a more linear way and find it useful to enter notes in tables rather than in mind or concept maps. This table is one illustration of what types of information you can gather from the articles or books that you read. If this table is helpful, you can download the handout version linked above.

Learning how to read academic literature, both articles and books, takes practices. Here are some tips to help you become a more focused reader:

(usually your thesis or research question) " about the significance of the article as it relates to your research question. Then it is easy to transition from these notes to your literature review draft. in mind, not because you forgot the contents of the article.

One way to think about writing a literature review is as a dialogue between authors who have previously written about various aspects of your topic. You will create this dialog by discussing the agreements and disagreements between those authors, and you will illustrate what they have not yet talked about or researched.

Use this illustration not as an exact recipe for how to write, but as a guide for how to incorporate some of these writing strategies.

OSU Graduate Writing Center

Need more writing help? Try the OSU Writing Center. In addition to providing free help, particularly with brainstorming and organization, they also have writing assistants who are specifically trained to work with graduate students. Plan ahead as it can often take several sessions to work through something as major as a thesis writing project.

Which of these tools do you most commonly use to take notes?

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Adventures of a PhD candidate

Reflections on the thesis journey

3 Other Methods for Taking Notes in your PhD

Welcome to 2022! We are now roughly six weeks in and I thought I would welcome the new year by providing you with a video recording of a workshop I ran last year in April (I always seem to be a little late to the party on this blog!).

In this video I discuss:

1. Things to consider about note-taking

2. The Cornell Method

3. The Index card method/Zettelkasten

4. Literature review matrix

As always, you can read how I take notes here on my blog ( Nvivo for a literature review: How and why and The way I take notes for my PhD ).

Here are the main considerations you should know prior to choosing a note taking method:

– Choose a method and stick with it

– Reflect on what has worked in the past (or not worked!)

– Your notes are information about a source that you will use to write your chapters and good note taking makes this process easier

– Avoid plagiarism by writing summaries rather than direct quotes

– It doesn’t matter which method you choose, as long as you are thinking critically about the references

How do you take notes? Leave me a comment below!

Study Skills

Research skills.

Searching the literature
Note making for dissertations
Research Data Management
Copyright and licenses
Publishing in journals
Publishing academic books
Depositing your thesis
Research metrics
Build your online profile
Finding support

Note making for dissertations: First steps into writing

Note making (as opposed to note taking) is an active practice of recording relevant parts of reading for your research as well as your reflections and critiques of those studies. Note making, therefore, is a pre-writing exercise that helps you to organise your thoughts prior to writing. In this module, we will cover:

The difference between note taking and note making
Seven tips for good note making
Strategies for structuring your notes and asking critical questions
Different styles of note making

To complete this section, you will need:

Approximately 20-30 minutes.
Access to the internet. All the resources used here are available freely.
Some equipment for jotting down your thoughts, a pen and paper will do, or your phone or another electronic device.

Note taking v note making

When you think about note taking, what comes to mind? Perhaps trying to record everything said in a lecture? Perhaps trying to write down everything included in readings required for a course?

Note taking is a passive process. When you take notes, you are often trying to record everything that you are reading or listening to. However, you may have noticed that this takes a lot of effort and often results in too many notes to be useful.
Note making , on the other hand, is an active practice, based on the needs and priorities of your project. Note making is an opportunity for you to ask critical questions of your readings and to synthesise ideas as they pertain to your research questions. Making notes is a pre-writing exercise that develops your academic voice and makes writing significantly easier.

Seven tips for effective note making

Note making is an active process based on the needs of your research. This video contains seven tips to help you make brilliant notes from articles and books to make the most of the time you spend reading and writing.

Transcript of Seven Tips for Effective Notemaking

Question prompts for strategic note making

You might consider structuring your notes to answer the following questions. Remember that note making is based on your needs, so not all of these questions will apply in all cases. You might try answering these questions using the note making styles discussed in the next section.

Question prompts for strategic note making
Background question prompts
Critical question prompts
Synthesis question prompts

Answer these six questions to frame your reading and provide context.

What is the context in which the text was written? What came before it? Are there competing ideas?
Who is the intended audience?
What is the author’s purpose?
How is the writing organised?
What are the author’s methods?
What is the author’s key argument and conclusions?

Answer these six questions to determine your critical perspectivess and develop your academic voice.

What are the most interesting/compelling ideas (to you) in this study?
Why do you find them interesting? How do they relate to your study?
What questions do you have about the study?
What could it cover better? How could it have defended its research better?
What are the implications of the study? (Look not just to the conclusions but also to definitions and models)
Are there any gaps in the study? (Look not just at conclusions but definitions, literature review, methodology)

Answer these five questions to compare aspects of various studies (such as for a literature review.

What are the similarities and differences in the literature?
Critically analyse the strengths, limitations, debates and themes that emerg from the literature.
What would you suggest for future research or practice?
Where are the gaps in the literature? What is missing? Why?
What new questions should be asked in this area of study?

Styles of note making

Linear notes . Great for recording thoughts about your readings. [video]
Mind mapping : Great for thinking through complex topics. [video]

Further sites that discuss techniques for note making:

Note-taking techniques
Common note-taking methods
Strategies for effective note making

Did you know?

How did you find this Research Skills module

Image Credits: Image #1: David Travis on Unsplash ; Image #2: Charles Deluvio on Unsplash

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Next: Research Data Management >>
Last Updated: Apr 11, 2024 9:35 AM
URL: https://libguides.cam.ac.uk/research-skills

Literature Reviews

Getting Started
Literature Review as a Process: Planning and Collecting your Literature Research

Crafting a thesis

Outlining your literature review, the introduction, the closing, style of writing for a literature review, writing tips for a literature review, help with citation.

Finding Examples of Literature Reviews
General Resources

Need help? Ask a librarian or chat

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The literature review process allows for such a great amount of reading about your research topic. After you have finished reading, collecting, taking notes, and making connections about the resources you found, you will form some sort of an opinion or conclusion about your research topic. Your literature review as a piece of writing then allows you to present your conclusions in a way that answers your research question and argues your opinion.

When drafting your literature review, you should organize the discussion of the literature so that you develop your argument and prove your thesis.

According to Ridley (2008), a literature review should have three main parts:

An introduction which explains the organization of your review
A body made up of paragraphs labeled with headings and sub headings which map out your argument
A closing which summarizes your arguments

Machi and McEvoy (2016, pg. 141-142) suggest that the introduction to your literature review flows through six main parts:

The Opening : Draw the reader into your topic by introducing the ideas in an interesting way. Provide an example, use a narrative, or suggest the debate at the heart of your research question.
The Study Topic : Provide a succinct and specific description of your topic. Identify and define key ideas while describing perspective from which you are writing in two or three paragraphs.
The Context : Discuss the environment which has created a need for this research in the first place. Mention debates or concerns surrounding the topic.
The Significance : Provide justification for the study or exploration. Suggest what value your writing has on the larger discussion surrounding the topic.
The Problem Statement : Present the research question in two or three sentences. Then, explain why the question is being asked if needed.
The Organization : Provide the reader with an outline for how the literature review is organized.

The body of your literature review will span several paragraphs and pages. This section is the bulk of your writing which discusses the connections and gaps in the literature in an effort to argue your thesis. You will design a logical framework in which to discuss the literature you read. No matter how present your research, you will work to achieve two goals: sharing the background for your topic and the conclusions of your study of the literature. The background section of your body, which is usually lengthy, will discuss what is already known about the topic from previous research and studies while providing your analysis. The final few paragraphs explore the conclusions of the study where you present your thesis, discuss your claim, provide evidence, and prove your ideas. (Machi and McEvoy, 2016, pg. 142).

The background of the literature review

Not every background section in a literature review is organized the same. How you decide to organize your ideas will largely rely on the information you found and the connections which can naturally be made. Weissenberg and Buker (as cited by Riley, 2008, pg. 83) suggest three types of organization:

Distant to close : Discuss sources which present information most distantly related to your study or thesis before discussing sources most closely relate to your study or thesis.
Chronological : Discuss the oldest sources first before discussing those most recent. This can allow you to present the topic as it has progressed over time.
Compare and Contrast : This type allows you to focus on the trends, themes, or methodologies of the sources.

The conclusion of the literature review

In this section of the body, present the thesis or conclusions drawn from your literature review. Present your arguments and justify your claims through a critique of the literature. Suggest gaps in the literature and justify those conclusions (Machi and McEvoy, 2016, pg. 142-145).

In this section, provide a summary of the literature review. State your thesis and the arguments supporting the thesis in a concise manner. Describe or explain how the thesis answers the original research question. Then, discuss the implications your study may have on future research on this topic.

Here are some universal tips for writing your literature review:

Use section headings and titles as this allows your reader to trace your argument and evidence (e.g. Introduction, Body, Conclusion)
Write using active voice (Machi and McEvoy, 2016, pg. 151).
Make sure your verb tense and point of view are consistent throughout. Note that APA style requires past tense (e.g. researchers presented)
Paraphrase and summarize the sources discussed instead of using direct quotes
Actively synthesize your sources

Examples of tone:

Another page, "Finding Examples of Literature Reviews", will help you locate actual literature reviews with information on your topic.

The most important thing to remember when writing the review is to group your resources by the main ideas or points you want to cover. Let's say you were reviewing the use of social media in the workplace. You might want to group research studies that found negative aspects and discuss them altogether, for example:

A number of studies have focused on negative aspects of social media in the workplace. Gaudin (2009) shared statistics regarding the impact that Facebook use had in lowering employee productivity. Additional studies examined employee struggles to maintain work-home balance (Derks, Duin, Tims, & Bakker, 2015) and serious issues such as cyberbullying (Hall & Lewis, 2014).

Then you could contrast these studies with ones that found positive outcomes from using social media in the office, for example:

Despite ongoing concerns regarding social media use in the workplace, studies of a number of businesses have pointed to what are clearly positive aspects of such use. Researchers reported numerous benefits, including better communication between employees and administrators (Barker, 2008), facilitation of intergenerational collaboration (Majchrzak, Cherbakov, & Ives, 2009), and encouraging a culture of innovation (Dahl, Lawrence, & Pierce, 2011).

References* to the sources cited in the above examples

*Please note: The content of these references are in APA citation style. In a true APA reference list the citations would be double spaced with a hanging indent (second and subsequent lines for each citation would be indented 5 spaces). Review Purdue OWL's APA Sample Paper to see how a References section is formatted.

Barker, P. (2008). How social media is transforming employee communications at Sun Microsystems. Global Business & Organizational Excellence, 27 (4), 6-14. doi:10.1002/joe.20209

Dahl, A., Lawrence, J., & Pierce, J. (2011). Building an innovation community. Research Technology Management, 54 (5), 19-27. doi:10.5437.08956308X5405006

Derks, D., Duin, D., Tims, M., & Bakker, A. B. (2015). Smartphone use and work-home interference: The moderating role of social norms and employee work engagement. Journal of Occupational & Organizational Psychology, 88 (1), 155-177. doi:10.1111/joop.12083

Gaudin, S. (2009, July 22). Study: Facebook use cuts productivity at work. Computerworld. Retrieved from http://www.computerworld.com/article/2526045/web-apps/study--facebook-use-cuts-productivity-at-work.html

Hall, R., & Lewis, S. (2014). Managing workplace bullying and social media policy: Implications for employee engagement. Academy of Business Research Journal, 1 , 128-138.

Majchrzak, A., Cherbakov, L., & Ives, B. (2009). Harnessing the power of the crowds with corporate social networking tools: How IBM does it. MIS Quarterly Executive, 8 (2), 103-108.

Learn how to write a review of literature (U. Wisconsin-Madison) This site by the University of Wisconsin Library offers information about how to write a literature review and provides sample papers of literature reviews.
Literature review (Walden U. capstone resources) This site by Walden University Library offers information on the role of literature reviews as well as some short videos about the research process of literature reviews.
Write a literature review (VCU Libraries) This by Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries discusses literature review and a synthesis matrix. A synthesis matrix helps you record the main points of each source and document how sources relate to each other.

When in doubt, ask your instructor which citation style to use for your paper or project. Some of the most widely used citation styles include:

Chicago / Turabian Style
Harvard Style

Please see our Writing Resources page for additional help.

Writing Resources Links to Webster University's Writing Center and the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL), style and grammar guides, dictionaries, and more.
<< Previous: Literature Review as a Process: Planning and Collecting your Literature Research
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Last Updated: Jun 11, 2024 4:19 PM
URL: https://library.webster.edu/litreview

Queen's University Library
Research Guides

Literature Reviews in STEM

How to Read an Article and Take Notes
Concept Mapping and the Synthesis Matrix
Writing the Review

How to Read a Scientific Paper

After you've read the abstract and decided whether or not an article is relevant to your topic, you'll have to read the full-text. It's very easy for the articles to start to blend together, so it's important to come up with a method for note-taking and synthesizing what you've read.

There are lots of methods researchers like to use when reading scientific articles, but in general, there are some common steps:

Read the abstract - abstracts will contain a summary of the article including the purpose, methodology, major findings, and the impact of those findings. This information can act as signposts as you read the rest of the article.
Read the discussion and the conclusion - what are the detailed impacts of the research? what big questions does it help to answer? what are the next steps?
Scan the figures, graphs, and images - these should help tell the story
Read the whole article and annotate (make notes) either digitally or on a printed copy
Transfer your annotations to a synthesis matrix

(Image created by Brian St. Pierre and Helen Kollias )

How to read an article (video)

How to Read a Scholarly Article by Western Libraries is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en_GB

Last Updated: Oct 31, 2023 10:58 AM

Information indigestion? The search for a perfect note taking system.

For the last 20 years I’ve been on a quest to find the perfect academic note taking system.

I abandoned paper in 2005 when I realised my notebooks were the place my ideas went to die. Although writing into a notebook felt useful at the time it was hard to find stuff later. Flipping fruitlessly through hundreds of pages of bad hand writing was frustrating. When I did find the notes, they didn’t make much sense without the source material. Scribbling notes on printouts solved this problem and created another: filing. I’d either remember the author or the title – maybe sometimes just the topic or idea. You can’t file a piece of paper under four categories at once.

I’ll admit, over the last fifteen years, I’ve wondered at people who cling stubbornly to their paper ways. Digital notes have all sorts of obvious advantages. The search function replaces filing and you virtually eliminate the ‘transaction cost’ of transcribing notes from paper to screen. It all sounds great – but there’s a reason there’s heaps of database products on the market and none have dominated. They don’t really solve the note taking problem.

I’ve been a relentless digital note taking booster, but I have a confession to make. All the time I was telling people that digital notes were better, I had the nagging suspicion something was not working. I frequently found myself overwhelmed when I sat down to write. I had everything I needed, but the annotations and slabs of text I’d accumulated just didn’t seem that useful.

This is not a tool problem. I say this after trying and discarding almost every digital tool on the market.

In an attempt to replicate the success I had with writing on printouts, I’ve taken notes in a bunch of conventional citation managers: Endnote, Zotero, Mendeley and Papers2. I felt even more scattered taking notes this way than I did writing in a notebook. By splintering my notes, I splintered my thinking.

The next step was to try digital databases. Theoretically, a database can help you find relationships and connections. By running a search, you can see related things together and spark ideas. I’ve used many databases – Evernote, DevonThink, OneNote, Readwise, Pocket and Notion just to name a few. To be honest with you, even though I have briefly evangelised some of these products, I’m unconvinced any are worth the effort.

Some databases have great features – like the machine learning assisted searching in Devon Think – but maintaining a notes database properly is a lot of work. The best thing about digital databases is also the biggest problem: they are frictionless. By enabling you to store, and move data around, effortlessly, it’s oh so easy to put a lot of stuff in there without an organising principle.

The end result? Information Indigestion.

Unless you are very careful about naming conventions, tagging and pruning, your notes quickly become a hot mess of digital clutter. I’ve come to the conclusion that a notes database you spend a lot of time managing is worse than a notebook you never read.

Note taking is basically a way of squeezing insights out of information: the process is often more important than the product itself . This doesn’t mean notes are pointless, but it’s important to remember they are a means, not an end. The ‘meat computer’ on top of our necks is pretty good at making connections and ideas. Notes are there to help.

My best advice is to let go of the need to have a perfect ‘system’ and develop a ‘good enough’ set of solutions that work for you. Below is a set of notes on how I take notes. It’s not pretty, but it works.

I don’t suggest you adopt ‘my system’ – because it’s not a system. It’s a bunch of hacks and work arounds. Maybe some of them will be useful to you. Or maybe, by sharing how messy I am behind the scenes, you will feel better about your own ad hoc solutions!

Notes for writing

One of the key things we teach at our world famous thesis bootcamp program is how to write without constantly rummaging around for notes. People reach for their notes in an attempt to make sentences perfectly correct the first time. But all this rummaging derails the creative process. People can write four or five times faster by free writing first, and using their notes to check information later.

The notes you need for writing are more than just what you’ve read: you need to process ideas, facts, findings and insights from data. I find the best way to take notes for writing is to write them straight into a file: one that has a name and a specific purpose. The file acts as a grounding tool to focus the note taking. I write the actual notes either as a comment, or in a different font. These notes are really premade ‘chunks’ of text for the final paper. Think whole sentences with subjects, objects and verbs . I weave these notes into the writing as I generate text and edit.

If you want to try this ‘just in time’ approach, it’s best to use a fit for purpose tool like Scrivener. Scrivener has a built in notes pane next to your main text. It also has the capacity to store PDF files with the text so a curated list of relevant source material is always available as you write. In this way, Scrivener helps you digitally replicate the ‘scribble on the side of a print out’ type of note taking.

Scrivener helps a lot, but you will still end up with a splintered note problem. Every piece of writing becomes a digital version of a bulging manila folder, full of newspaper clippings. Some of those clippings are potentially useful in other projects, but they are now locked in a file. You can’t search the notes in multiple Scrivener files at once… but hey, good enough, right?

Notes for your literature review

Literature reviews require a special kind of note taking. These days, the literature on anything, even a tiny field like mine, is vast and anxiety provoking. You must read and synthesise vast amounts of information. You won’t use everything you read, at least directly, and part of the job is to decide what is relevant to include in the text and what will remain in the background. Sometimes people produce an extended bibliography that includes things they read, but didn’t cite, so keeping track of what you decided not to use can be important.

You’ll need a couple of specialised literature wrangling tools in your belt.

While some people like the Cornell template to turn notes into writing , I prefer the literature review matrix method: an idea I picked up originally from the ‘My Studious life’ blog . A literature review matrix is simply a table with the individual paper names as the columns and questions you are trying to answer as rows (if you are having trouble imagining what I’m talking about, there’s a live example here ). The advantage of a matrix is it’s cumulative – you can add columns as you read and synthesize the insights by simply reading along the rows to compare what different authors said about the same thing. This method is excellent for spotting areas where the literature is sparse, because some rows simply get more fleshed out than others.

Katherine Firth, Shaun Lehmann and I subsequently documented this idea and some variations more fully in two books: How to fix your academic writing trouble and Level up your essays . I have a free cheat sheet for the method here . I use google sheets to make them as I find Excel and MS Word have too many formatting issues. But lately I’ve been experimenting with using Google forms for long term projects. The form helps me capture the ideas sequentially:

And then auto-generates a matrix you can review to see where ideas intersect:

I’m excited by new tools that work on a social graph principle, like the amazing Connected Papers . I think this is the future of literature reviewing in an age of endless information and I am here for it!

Notes for teaching and presentations

Presentation notes are extremely valuable. This kind of hybrid writing/note taking practice is very audience focussed. Teaching forces you to think about sequencing and comprehension. Presentations force you to think about how to make your ideas into stories. If you are really stuck on a piece of writing, a good trick can be to make a powerpoint presentation and write notes under it.

My principle here is to take the path of least resistence. I simply write everything on the slide, then transfer most of it to the notes pane so I don’t end up with a wall of text. Invariably, I end up recycling those notes back into papers and articles. For high stakes talks, or when I am not as across the material as I would like to be, I make a written script in plain language – these are even more useful. Here’s the script I used for my PhD confirmation, which I immediately turned into my introduction chapter.

Notes not bound to a task or project

Like all academics, I’m a curious person and like to read stuff in my areas of interest for no particular purpose – other than idle nerdery. I want to record some of this reading, but I don’t want to invest too much effort in the note taking process. Notes with no obvious purpose are the most difficult to manage. They are why a database still has a place in your arsenal of organising tools. In fact, you’ll probably need more than one database tool to manage academic work.

I use Pocket to clip things from the web and I don’t even bother tagging or filing this information. I indiscriminately grab everything interesting, then run a search in there if I have a specific problem to solve. I am still using OmniFocus to organise my email and projects, and I use the notes pane there to take notes of meetings.

I use Notion to keep my professional contact list organised. I think this is the best of the structured databases I’ve tried because it’s essentially a personal wikipedia. I don’t use Notion for my own notes as I have gone back to hand writing (see below), but if you hate hand writing, like my son, it’s worth a try. I introduced Thesiswhisperer Jnr to Notion when he started Uni and he happily uses it for all his lecture notes. I have observed him turning these notes into writing and it seems to work well for that purpose.

For a long time I used Evernote for random thoughts and ideas, but lately retired it because paper works just as well – maybe even better (gasp!). My friend and ‘ On the Reg’ Podcast colleague, Dr Jason Downs started using the Bullet Journal method or #bujo. I always copy Jason, so I bought myself a notebook, sharpened a pencil and got to work.

I’ve found the #bujo extremely useful for jotting notes, drawing diagrams and maintaining daily to do lists. I often write notes in there that I end up transfering into presentations and papers. It’s not the purpose of this post to tell you exactly how to implement the #bujo method for yourself. There are vast amounts written about it and some helpful videos on the Bullet Journal Youtube channel, like this one:

My only #bujo suggestion is to start simply.

The key difference between the #bujo and a normal notebookis that a #bujo has numbered pages and an index at the front. Even if you only implement this page numbering principle, it will make your notebooks 1000 times more useful and no longer the place where ideas go to die! If you want to hear more about the #bujo method, tune in to the On The Reg podcast that was released in early April – Jason and I discuss it at length.

I hope this extended meditation on the note taking process was useful for you. I’m interested in your hacks and solutions so I’ve turned the comments on for this one. If you are interested in sharing your own hacks, or chat to me on Twitter.

In note taking solidarity!

PS: If you love reading about productivity, listen to the ‘ On the Reg’ Podcast with me and Jason Downs where we have been boring for Australia about academic productivity for nearly 17 hours so far! The episode on University Bullshit and the CRAP framework for dealing with it has been super popular for some reason 🙂 – you can also listen to our latest on how we have implemented #bujo . Subscription options can be found on our Buzzsprout page .

Tools mentioned in this post

Endnote , Zotero , Mendeley , Papers (I don’t recommend the new version, it’s not as good as the old one), Evernote , DevonThink , OneNote , Readwise , Pocket Notion And OmniFocus

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IMAGES

How to write a literature review: Tips, Format and Significance
How to manage the reading and take notes that make sense
Writing a literature review
Sample research paper with literature review
39 Best Literature Review Examples (Guide & Samples)
A basic guide to writing a literature review

VIDEO

How to Write a Literature Review a short Step by step Guide
WRITING LITERATURE REVIEW
writing literature review
Chapter-2: Literature Review- Steps in Writing Literature Review
Writing literature review or related work with AI (scispace)
AI for Writing Literature Review and Thesis. Not #chatgpt. Review of Yomu AI

COMMENTS

LibGuides: Writing a Literature Review: Step 4: Taking Notes
The first column measures about 2.5 inches. The second column (the larger of the two) measures about 6 inches. The larger column is the space to take your notes in. The smaller column is to be used to create cue words or keywords that describe the information they are taking notes about. At the very bottom of the sheet is a two-inch wide space ...
The process of writing a literature review
Writing a literature review is a complex and non-linear process. It usually involves reiterations of all or any of the following steps: Conducting a Library search for sources; Taking notes while critically reading and analysing the literature; Structuring the literature review; Styling the language of the literature review.
Ten Simple Rules for Writing a Literature Review
Rule 4: Choose the Type of Review You Wish to Write. After having taken notes while reading the literature, you will have a rough idea of the amount of material available for the review. This is probably a good time to decide whether to go for a mini- or a full review.
How to write a literature review in 6 steps
3. Evaluate and select literature. 4. Analyze the literature. 5. Plan the structure of your literature review. 6. Write your literature review. Other resources to help you write a successful literature review.
PDF How to Write a Literature Review
5 STEPS TO WRITING A LITERATURE REVIEW . 2 STEP ONE: DEFINE THE SCOPE Look for relevant models in journals in your field (e.g., a target journal for publication) and papers, ... For theoretical literature, note the: • Theorist . 4 • Discipline • Theory ... Try not to quote directly from the text while writing these summaries. Only quote to:
How to manage the reading and take notes that make sense
Taking Notes. Use a synthesis matrix for note taking. This table c an be as simple or as complicated as you need. Advantages of using a synthesis matrix: allows you to sort the ideas and thoughts while analysing and synthesising the research. helps make planning the structure and paragraph order easier ; allows for paraphrasing and summarising ...
Guides: Writing a Literature Review: Annotating sources
Avoid plagiarism. More ideas about notetaking. Check sources against each other -- look for inconsistencies and agreements. Read the abstract first -- then read the introduction and conclusion. Take notes on items that relate to your thesis. Think as you read. Ask yourself questions about articles.
Steps in Conducting a Literature Review
A literature review is an integrated analysis-- not just a summary-- of scholarly writings and other relevant evidence related directly to your research question. That is, it represents a synthesis of the evidence that provides background information on your topic and shows a association between the evidence and your research question ...
LibGuides: How to Write a Literature Review: Take Notes
When you take notes try splitting your notes page in two. Write your summary of the authors conclusions and evidence in one of the columns. In the other column, note your reactions to what you have read. Comment on the methodology used. Make connections between your project and what you are reading. Compare and contrast the views of other authors.
Research Guides: Writing the Literature Review: Step 4: Take Notes
Taking notes: Use abbreviations, acronyms, or incomplete sentences to record information (as long you will understand them later). This will speed up the notetaking process; Do not write down everything. Extract only the information that answers your research questions. Use one of the following notetaking forms:
Writing a Literature Review
Writing a Literature Review. A literature review is a document or section of a document that collects key sources on a topic and discusses those sources in conversation with each other (also called synthesis ). The lit review is an important genre in many disciplines, not just literature (i.e., the study of works of literature such as novels ...
Home
While the main focus of an academic research paper is to support your own argument, the focus of a literature review is to summarize and synthesize the arguments and ideas of others. The academic research paper also covers a range of sources, but it is usually a select number of sources, because the emphasis is on the argument.
Take Notes While Reading
Taking notes while reading can make your review process more effective when you start writing. Here are a few tips for you: Note down the terms you repeatedly see in the articles. Understand the terminology on the subject and use them in your writing too. Use a mindmap to structure and visualize your ideas. This helps you easily recall what you ...
Ten Simple Rules for Writing a Literature Review
Rule 4: Choose the Type of Review You Wish to Write. After having taken notes while reading the literature, you will have a rough idea of the amount of material available for the review. This is probably a good time to decide whether to go for a mini- or a full review.
3. Read & Take Notes
Read with your question in mind (usually your thesis or research question) Write a short " take home message " about the significance of the article as it relates to your research question. Then it is easy to transition from these notes to your literature review draft. Re-read articles - but with new questions in mind, not because you forgot ...
3 Other Methods for Taking Notes in your PhD
1. Things to consider about note-taking. 2. The Cornell Method. 3. The Index card method/Zettelkasten. 4. Literature review matrix. As always, you can read how I take notes here on my blog ( Nvivo for a literature review: How and why and The way I take notes for my PhD ).
beginning the literature review
doing the literature review - thinking about patterns and groups →. The purpose of the literature review shapes the way that noting is done. And the purpose is to situate your study in the field - that is, to establish a space for the work you are going to do - and to find concepts and approaches that are helpful, that you can build on ...
Note making for dissertations
Note making, on the other hand, is an active practice, based on the needs and priorities of your project. Note making is an opportunity for you to ask critical questions of your readings and to synthesise ideas as they pertain to your research questions. Making notes is a pre-writing exercise that develops your academic voice and makes writing ...
Literature Review as a Product: Organizing your Writing
After you have finished reading, collecting, taking notes, and making connections about the resources you found, you will form some sort of an opinion or conclusion about your research topic. Your literature review as a piece of writing then allows you to present your conclusions in a way that answers your research question and argues your opinion.
How to Read an Article and Take Notes
Writing a Literature Review. How to Read an Article and Take Notes ; Concept Mapping and the Synthesis Matrix ; ... so it's important to come up with a method for note-taking and synthesizing what you've read. There are lots of methods researchers like to use when reading scientific articles, but in general, there are some common steps: ...
PDF Notes on Note-Taking: Review of Research and Insights for Students and
This literature overview is designed as a resource for both students and instructors. to gain insight into what education research reveals about note-taking. Specifically, this. review discusses the cognitive mechanisms behind note-taking, how to assess the quality. of notes, and optimal practices.
Taking Notes While Reading
Good notes from your reading can help you: organize your ideas and information from the text. keep focused and stay engaged while reading. keep a record of what you read so you can more easily locate it in the future. think critically about what you read while you read. draw conclusions and identify main ideas of the text.
Ten Simple Rules for Writing a Literature Review
Review You Wish to Write After having taken notes while reading the literature, you will have a rough idea of the amount of material available for the review. This is probably a good time to decide whether to go for a mini- or a full review. Some journals are now favouring the publication of rather short reviews focusing on the last few years ...
The Thesis Whisperer
While some people like the Cornell template to turn notes into writing, I prefer the literature review matrix method: an idea I picked up originally from the 'My Studious life' blog. A literature review matrix is simply a table with the individual paper names as the columns and questions you are trying to answer as rows (if you are having ...

Writing a Literature Review

Note Taking Tips!

The Cornell Method

The process of writing a literature review

Conducting a Library search for sources

Taking notes

Using an annotated bibliography to take notes

What to include in a summary?

How to reflect on the relevance of a source to your own research?

What to include in a critical analysis?

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Ten Simple Rules for Writing a Literature Review

Rule 1: Define a Topic and Audience

Rule 2: Search and Re-search the Literature

Rule 3: Take Notes While Reading

Rule 4: Choose the Type of Review You Wish to Write

Rule 5: Keep the Review Focused, but Make It of Broad Interest

Rule 6: Be Critical and Consistent

Rule 7: Find a Logical Structure

Rule 8: Make Use of Feedback

Rule 9: Include Your Own Relevant Research, but Be Objective

Rule 10: Be Up-to-Date, but Do Not Forget Older Studies

Acknowledgments

Funding Statement

How to write a literature review in 6 steps

What is a literature review?

University of Tasmania, Australia

Taking Notes

Example 1.

Example 2: Organised by themes.

Example 3: Literature Review preparation.

Main Navigation Menu

Taking notes

Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library

YSN Doctoral Programs: Steps in Conducting a Literature Review

What is a literature review?

APA7 Style resources

1. Choose a topic. Define your research question.

2. Decide on the scope of your review

3. Select the databases you will use to conduct your searches.

4. Conduct your searches to find the evidence. Keep track of your searches.

Review the literature

How to Write a Literature Review

Writing the Literature Review

Taking Good Notes

Writing a Literature Review

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

Where, when, and why would I write a lit review?

What are the parts of a lit review?

How should I organize my lit review?

What are some strategies or tips I can use while writing my lit review?

Writing a Literature Review: Home

What is a Literature Review?

Ten Simple Rules for Writing a Literature Review

Rule 1: Define a Topic and Audience

Rule 2: Search and Re-search the Literature

Rule 3: Take Notes While Reading

Rule 4: Choose the Type of Review You Wish to Write

Rule 5: Keep the Review Focused, but Make It of Broad Interest

Rule 6: Be Critical and Consistent

Rule 7: Find a Logical Structure

Rule 8: Make Use of Feedback

Rule 9: Include Your Own Relevant Research, but Be Objective

Rule 10: Be Up-to-Date, but Do Not Forget Older Studies

Acknowledgments

Researching the Literature Review

Tracking Your Searches

Contact Info

In the Valley Library

Digital Projects

Adventures of a PhD candidate

3 Other Methods for Taking Notes in your PhD

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Study Skills

Note making for dissertations: First steps into writing

To complete this section, you will need:

Note taking v note making

Seven tips for effective note making

Question prompts for strategic note making

Styles of note making