WRITING A
LITERATURE
REVIEW
JOANNE OUD, LIBRARY
WHAT IS A LIT REVIEW?
“If I have seen further
than others, it is
because I stood on the
shoulders of giants.”
(Isaac Newton)
WHAT ROLE DOES IT PLAY?
• Put your work into context
• What has/hasn’t been done
• Key debates & perspectives
• Demonstrate your skills at
• locating key resources
• critically appraising them
• Show you have the knowledge to do your
research
FORMAT & STRUCTURE
Good:
• Thematic: synthesize into themes/patterns
• Analysis: critical evaluation
• Focused: directly relates to your topic/question
Bad:
• Sequential: annotated bibliography or list
• Description: summary
• Vague: on your general topic
AUDIENCE & PURPOSE
• Your committee
• Convincing them:
• Your topic is worth researching
• There is a gap
PROCESS & STEPS
1. Topic/research question
2. Literature search
3. Analytical reading
4. Synthesis & themes
5. Organization
6. Writing
RESEARCH QUESTION
• Choose a research question
• Affects entire research project
• Can’t do lit review before question
LITERATURE SEARCH
• Search systematically
• Construct a search strategy
• Decide where to search
• Effective search terms and combinations
• Repeat your strategies across databases
• Note results and modify strategies
SEARCH TERMS
• What will work best?
• Experiment
• Use common terms from your
discipline(s), with variations
• "climate change" OR "climate conditions" OR
"climate variation" OR "global warming”
• “indigenous” or “native” or “aboriginal”
SEARCH STRATEGY
Database Search Terms Comments/
follow up Proquest "climate change" OR "global warming" need to add additional subject
terms for individual regions
and effects
GeoBase "climate change" OR "global warming"
same as above
SEARCH HELP
Ask your subject librarian for advice
library.wlu.ca/people/liaison-librarians
THERE’S NOTHING ON MY TOPIC
working conditions
for women in the
video game
industry
research question
Area 3
Area 2
Area 1
HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH?
• Depends on your topic
• Include the key people/studies
• Ask
• Google Scholar citations
• References
• Stop when you keep seeing the same
references
TRACK YOUR SOURCES
• Keep track as you go along
• Saves lots of time later
• Use a citation management/research
organization tool
MENDELEY: RESEARCH
ORGANIZATION TOOL
MENDELEY OR ZOTERO
• Free library-supported tools
• Links, information & support:
library.wlu.ca/services/manage-citations
ANALYTICAL READING
Read for what you need to know
Things to ask:
• How does this relate to my question?
• How does it relate to other studies?
• How is it useful?
• What are the main findings, arguments, etc?
• What is the theory & framework?
• What are the strengths & weaknesses?
SYNTHESIS & ANALYSIS
Group into themes, patterns
Code or annotate
Think about:
• Most significant findings, themes, theories
• What areas have researchers focused on (or not)?
• What theories/methods are used?
• Changes/developments over time?
SYNTHESIS STRATEGIES
• Note cards or sticky notes
• Searchable notes in RefWorks/Mendeley
• Use controlled vocabulary
• Synthesis matrix
• Concept map
SYNTHESIS MATRIX
CONCEPT MAP
ORGANIZE & WRITE
• Structured around research question
• Provides rationale for your study
• How do you build on/depart from existing
work?
Main purpose: justify your research
TYPICAL ORGANIZATION
• Intro
• What you will cover & why (your question)
• Main trends
• Body
• Thematic discussion related to your question: what there is & where the gaps are
• Individual studies if important
• Conclusion
• Summarize most important points
• Connect to your research explicitly, show gap
SAMPLE THESES