Literature Review - Step by Step Guide For Graduate Students | Prof. David Stuckler

Literature Review: A Step-by-Step Guide

In this video, Professor David Stuckler explains what a literature review is and shares common traps and pitfalls to avoid. He provides a step-by-step guide for doing a literature review and offers a secret tip to help you get it done quickly.

What is a Literature Review?

• A literature review brings together the key concepts on your topic in your field.

• It gives you a snapshot of the state of knowledge in the field.

• It uncovers gaps, areas of debate, and potential areas of contribution.

Five Steps for Doing Your Literature Review

Step 1: Dive Straight In

• Use Google Scholar to search for top papers and contributions in your field.

• Download these papers and start summarizing them.

Step 2: Find Structure

• Identify themes or categories that emerge from your initial reading.

• Organize your summaries around these themes or categories.

Step 3: Evaluate Sources

• Assess the quality and relevance of each source.

• Consider factors such as methodology, sample size, and bias.

Step 4: Synthesize Information

• Analyze the information you have gathered.

• Look for patterns, connections, and relationships between sources.

Step 5: Write Your Review

• Start with an introduction that sets out the scope of your review.

• Organize your review into sections based on themes or categories.

• Conclude by summarizing what you have learned from your review.

Secret Tip for Getting Your Literature Review Done Quickly

Professor Stuckler recommends using citation management software like Zotero to keep track of sources and generate citations automatically. This can save you time when writing up your literature review.

Stripping Out Key Points and Developing a Conceptual Framework

In this section, the speaker explains how to strip out key points from research papers and develop a conceptual framework for your literature review.

Stripping Out Key Points

• The speaker suggests stripping out key points and information from research papers in a relatively violent fashion.

• To do this, you should carefully go through each PDF and highlight relevant information, such as key points found in the abstract.

• Make sure to include the citation for each paper to avoid plagiarism.

• For each paper, write up what the authors did, what they found, any key quotes or evidence that you think is relevant, highlighting those, and any contradictory information that might be relevant.

Developing a Conceptual Framework

• Once you have stripped out key points from your initial search of research papers, start suturing them together to explain them.

• Summarize what the authors did, what they found, any key quotes or evidence that you think is relevant highlighting those and any contradictory information that might be relevant.

• Look for patterns in your findings to develop a conceptual framework for your literature review.

• There are different ways to find structure in your initial search depending on your area of study. Some common methods include chronological order or breaking up by key themes.

Overall, this section provides useful tips on how to effectively strip out key points from research papers and develop a conceptual framework for your literature review.

Literature Review: Peer System

In this section, the speaker discusses the fourth step of conducting a literature review, which is called "peer." The peer system is an anatomy of a paragraph that includes point, evidence/example, explain, and repeat.

Anatomy of a Paragraph

• Each paragraph should make one big point captured in the first sentence.

• The evidence or examples follow the topic sentence.

• Explain why there is a causal relationship between the evidence and the topic sentence.

• Repeat or link back to your conclusion.

Writing a Conclusion

• The introduction is often difficult to write; therefore, it's best to start with writing the conclusion first.

• A conclusion follows a common structure that includes key ingredients such as restating the thesis statement and summarizing key findings.

Writing an Introduction

• Starting with an introduction can lead to writer's block and frustration.

• It's best to summarize all studies using the peer system before writing an introduction.

Organizing Studies

• Create a backbone or skeleton for your literature review by highlighting evidence for causal links where you will place all studies making this case.

• Break down into subsections if necessary.

Importance of Limitations and Suggestions for Future Research

In this section, the speaker discusses the importance of addressing limitations in research papers and making suggestions for future research.

Addressing Limitations

• It is important to include a section on limitations in research papers.

• This section should discuss any weaknesses or gaps in the evidence reviewed.

• Being transparent about limitations can help fend off criticism and provide direction for future work.

Suggestions for Future Research

• If applicable, make suggestions for future research or policy based on the evidence reviewed.

• The conclusion should have a four-part structure: reset findings, discuss limitations, implications for researchers/future of field, and implications for policy/practice/action (if relevant).

Crafting an Effective Introduction

In this section, the speaker provides tips on how to write an effective introduction.

First Paragraph

• The first paragraph should explain why we are having this conversation now.

• It should bring readers in and excite them by discussing what is important or controversial about the topic at hand.

Second Paragraph

• The second paragraph should discuss gaps in knowledge or areas that are contested.

• This can plant seeds for later sections such as conceptual frameworks.

Third Paragraph

• The third paragraph should set up what specifically was looked at to plug gaps in knowledge and motivate why a literature review was done.

Conclusion

In this section, the speaker summarizes key points from earlier sections and offers additional resources.

Key Points

• Following the structure discussed can lead to a fantastic literature review in an efficient period of time.

• Addressing limitations and making suggestions for future research are important components of a research paper.

• Crafting an effective introduction involves exciting readers, discussing gaps in knowledge, and setting up the motivation for the literature review.

Additional Resources

• Click the link below to schedule a one-to-one accelerator session with the speaker for help with academic writing.