Conducting a literature review is a critical aspect of any research project. It involves systematically gathering, evaluating, and synthesizing existing research and publications relevant to your study in order to build upon previous knowledge or gather evidence for/against your own paper or experiment. In this comprehensive guide, we will provide step-by-step instructions and essential tips for conducting a literature review.
The general outline for any manuscript is as follows, starting from the top:
Literature Review:
Step 1: Define the Scope and Research Questions: Clearly define the scope of your literature review and the specific research questions you aim to address. This will help you stay focused and avoid getting overwhelmed with irrelevant information.
Step 2: Identify Keywords and Search Databases: Develop a list of relevant keywords related to your research topic. Utilize academic databases such as PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, and Web of Science to conduct your literature search.
Step 3: Review Abstracts and Titles: Scan through the abstracts and titles of the retrieved articles to assess their relevance to your research questions. abstracts are essentially condensed summaries of the paper, allowing you to understand the basic purpose of the paper without needing to read the entire thing.
Step 4: Read Full-text Articles: Carefully read the full-text articles of the selected papers. Each person has their own way of reading and understanding papers, but we recommend this reading order:
- Abstract. This will allow you to understand the basic purpose of the paper first, so you know what you’re getting into.
- Results. Results are often at the end of the paper, but that doesn’t mean you should read them last. Knowing what the results are first will allow you to understand more thoroughly the methodology and discussion.
- Everything else. After the abstract and results, then go back to read the paper in order (methodology, results, discussion, etc.
Make sure to take comprehensive notes and identify key findings, methodologies, limitations, and gaps in the literature. Look up any words or concepts you don’t know!
Step 5: Analyze and Discuss Findings: Analyze the literature critically. Try to find gaps or limitations in their research, or compare and contrast with different studies.
Extra tips:
- Stay updated with the latest research by setting up alerts for relevant keywords.
- Consult with your mentors or peers to get insights and recommendations on relevant literature.
- Be objective and avoid bias when evaluating and interpreting the findings of different studies.
Scientia Research 