What is a Literature Review?

(and How Do I Write One?!)

What a Literature Review
is and is Not
 What a literature review is:

 An overview of research on a given topic and answers to

related research questions

 Features of such an overview:

 Organizes literature

 Evaluates literature (<= higher-order critical thinking)

 Identifies patterns and trends in literature

 Synthesizes literature (<= higher-order critical thinking)

What a Literature Review
is and is Not
 What a literature review is:
 An overview of what we know and of what we do not know about a
given topic

 Not necessarily exhaustive, but up-to-date and includes all major

work on the topic

 Intellectual context for your original research

 Motivation for your original research

 Structure of review guided by your objectives

 Continually refers back to your thesis or research questions

What a Literature Review
is and is Not
 What a literature review is not:

 A “laundry list” of everything written on a topic, where each

source gets its summary paragraph

 Lacks organization guided by thesis or research questions

 Lacks synthesis of literature

 Lacks critical evaluation of literature

 An annotated bibliography

 A literary or book review

Purposes of a Literature Review

 Learning about research on a given topic and answers to related

research questions (<= read broadly)

 Learning about how a body of research evolved

 Displaying your understanding of research on a given topic

 Identification of important works

 Points of agreement, consensus
 Points of disagreement, controversy
 Identification of areas for further research

 Providing readers with the intellectual context and some motivation for
your original research (<= narrow focus)
Types of Literature Reviews
in the Social Sciences
 “Literature”: Typically primary sources, scholarly works

 Chapter in a thesis or dissertation

 Explicit section in a grant or research proposal

 Explicit section in a research report

 Full-length, stand-alone review article

 Examples: Articles in Journal of Economic Literature

and Journal of Economic Perspectives
Starting a Literature Review

 The necessary first step:

 Select a topic and formulate a few well-defined research

questions

 Examples:

 Auction theory (far too broad)

 Research on single-unit auctions (still a bit broad)
 Empirical research on wholesale electricity auctions in the US
(manageable)
Starting a Literature Review

 Early back-and-forth:

 Select a topic and formulate a few well-defined research

questions

 Brainstorm a list of search terms related to your topic and

then search for sources

 Keyword searches
 Text/bibliographic databases
 Reviewing reference sections

 Briefly review sources and use what you learn to refine

your topic and research questions
Starting a Literature Review

 Working backwards:

 Begin with a collection of recent research on a given topic

 What authors or papers appear in the texts’ introductions, literature

reviews, or references sections?

 Identifying core literature, the “classics”:

 What authors or papers do researchers keep citing?

 What works do researchers identify as “classic,” “landmark,”

“pioneering,” or “path-breaking?”

 Search out this preceding literature

Starting a Literature Review

 Preliminary checklist:

 Have I formulated a topic and well-defined set of research questions?

 Have I discussed my topic and research questions with a library staff

member that can assist me with searching for sources?

 Have I carried out some early searching to learn about the topic and to
help me narrow my topic and sharpen my questions?

 Have I talked to a faculty member about my topic, my research

questions, and the results of my early searching?

 Have I identified the core research on the topic, the “classic” works?
Organizing Before Writing
a Literature Review
 First and foremost:

 “Filter” your set of sources: Review abstracts,

introductions, conclusions

 Determine the scope of your literature review:

What you will cover and what you will not cover

 Prioritize among your sources:

 “Classics” and other studies you identify as more

relevant or important warrant closer reading
Organizing Before Writing
a Literature Review
 Key questions to answer in your reading and
note-taking:

1. What is the source’s topic, research questions,

methodology, and central results? (Summary)

2. How is this source related to my topic, thesis, and

research questions? Does it support or contradict
my thesis? (Synthesis and Organization)

3. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the

research in the source? Are there biases or flaws?
How important or influential is this source?
(Evaluation)
Organizing Before Writing
a Literature Review
 Key questions to answer in your reading and
note-taking:

4. How is the source related to other research on the

same topic? Does it employ a different
methodology? Does it pertain to a different
population, region, time span? Does it work with a
different data set? (Synthesis and Organization)

5. What are the points of agreement or disagreement

between the source and other research on the same
topic? (Synthesis)
Organizing Before Writing
a Literature Review
 Getting a sense of the big picture:
 What are the trends and themes in the literature? What are
the points of consensus? What are the points of
controversy? Which debates are on-going? Where does
my research weigh in?

 Where are the areas on which there is ample research?

What are the areas that need further research?

 Which studies offer support for my thesis? Which studies

contradict my thesis?

 Where does my research fit into the larger literature on the

topic?
Organizing Before Writing
a Literature Review
 Checklist for notes on each source:

 Full citation information

 What is the author’s discipline and credentials?

 What is the topic? What are the research questions?

 What is the methodology employed? Theoretical framework? Empirical

framework?

 What are the study’s main results? What are the answers to the research questions?

 What are the strengths and limitations of the study?

 How is the study related to other research on the same topic?

Writing a Literature Review

 Elements of the introduction:

 Statement of thesis and/or research questions

 Motivation for and importance of the research

 Statement of scope of literature review: Note your selection

criteria for the review

 Hint of how you will organize the literature and your

discussion of it
Writing a Literature Review

 Potential organizing principles:

 Methodology: Theoretical perspective, empirical framework

 Studies that agree with one another
 Studies that disagree with one another
 Extent of support for your thesis
 Regional focus
 Data range, sample
 Chronological

 Tip: Organize studies according to “common

denominators”
Writing a Literature Review

 Musts for your writing:

 Linkage I: Continually link your discussion of the

literature back to your thesis and research questions

 Linkage II: Link studies to one another; stress

relatedness of research on your topic

 Prioritize/Classics: Identify “classic” studies and

discuss them accordingly (i.e., with more detail,
and with an eye for their influence)
Writing a Literature Review

 Musts for your writing:

 Evaluate/Gaps: Identify shortcomings of

particular studies and/or the body of research
as a whole; be critical!

 Frontier:
Identify areas for further research;
where can research on your topic go from
here?
Writing a Literature Review

 Mechanics of writing:

 Audience:

 Scholarly, but avoid jargon

 Wants to know about literature
 Wants to know what you have to say about the literature
 Wants to know where your research fits

 Short paragraphs can help to keep writing crisp

 Subheadings can help to clarify structure of review (for

full-length literature reviews)
Writing a Literature Review

 Mechanics of writing:

 Use direct quotations sparingly; paraphrase studies

 Prioritize studies in the literature:

 Signalimportance by discussing relatively more

important studies with more detail

 Signal importance by noting influence on subsequent

studies
Writing a Literature Review

 Rhetorical moves:

 Similarity: also, again, in addition to, additionally,

similar to, similarly, alike, like, agree, agrees with

 Disagreement: contradicts, counter, opposite, differs,

debate, at odds, on the other hand, disagree, disagrees
with

 Evaluation: classic, pioneering, important, influential,

lacks, fails to consider, ignores, overlooks, limited
by/to, confined to, restricts attention to
Writing a Literature Review

 Writing checklist:

 Did I include a clear statement of my topic’s importance, the research

questions I am seeking to answer, and my thesis?

 Did I include a clear statement of the scope of my literature review

and what criteria I used for including studies in it?

 Did I identify the “classic” works on my topic and give them priority
in my discussion of the literature?

 Did I summarize the studies and link them to one another as well as
back to my thesis and research questions?

 Did I critically evaluate the literature, identifying its limitations and

areas where further research is needed?
Creswell’s 5 steps to Conduct a
Literature Review
• Step 1: Identify Key Terms or “Descriptors”
• Extract key words from your title (remember, you may
decide to change the title later)
• Use some of the words other authors reported in the
literature
Step 1: Identify Key Terms or
“Descriptors” (cont’d)
• Use the “Thesaurus of ERIC Descriptors to look for
terms that match your topic: go to www.eric.ed.gov and
in “Search” select “Descriptors (from Thesaurus)”
• Scan both electronic and library journals from the past
10 years and look for key terms in the articles
Creswell’s 5 steps to Conduct a
Literature Review (cont’d)
• Step 2: Locate Literature
• Use academic libraries, do not limit your
search to an electronic search of articles
• Use primary and secondary sources. A
“primary source” is research reported by the
researcher that conducted the study. A
“secondary source” is research that
summarizes or reports findings that come
from primary sources
Step 2: Locate Literature (cont’d)
• It is “best to report mostly primary sources” (p. 82)
• Search different types of literature: summaries,
encyclopedias, dictionaries and glossaries of terms,
handbooks, statistical indexes, reviews and syntheses,
books, journals, indexed publications, electronic
sources, abstract series, and databases
Creswell’s 5 steps to Conduct a
Literature Review (cont’d)
• Step 3: Critically Evaluate and Select Literature
• Rely on journal articles published in national journals
• Prioritize your search: first look for refereed journal
articles, then, non-refereed articles, then books, then
conference papers, dissertations and theses and then
papers posted to websites
Step 3: Critically Evaluate and
Select Literature (cont’d)
• Look for research articles and avoid as much as possible
“opinion” pieces
• Blend qualitative and quantitative research in your
review
Creswell’s 5 steps to Conduct a
Literature Review (cont’d)
• Step 4: Organize the Literature
• Create a “file” or “abstract” system to keep track of what you read.
Each article you read should be summarized in one page
containing
Title (use APA to type the title so that you can later copy-paste this
into the References section of your paper)
Source: journal article, book, glossary, etc.
Step 4: Organize the Literature
(cont’d)
Research problem: one or two lines will suffice
Research Questions or Hypotheses
Data collection procedure (a description of sample characteristics can be very handy
as well)
Results or findings of the study
• Sort these abstracts into groups of related topics or areas which can then
become the different sections of your review
Creswell’s 5 steps to Conduct a
Literature Review (cont’d)
•Step 5: Write a Literature Review
• Types of Reviews:
Thematic Review: a theme is identified and studies found under this theme
are described. Major ideas and findings are reported rather than details.
Step 5: Write a Literature Review
(cont’d)
Study-by-study Review: a detailed summary of each study under a broad theme is
provided. Link summaries (or abstracts) using transitional sentences. Must be
organized and flow coherently under various subheadings. Avoid string quotations
(i.e., lengthy chunks of text directly quoted from a source)
Conclusion

 A literature review is an overview of research on a

given topic and answers to related research questions

 Literature reviews are an important part of research

and should be treated as such

 A well-written literature review:

 Organizes literature
 Evaluates literature
 Identifies patterns and trends in literature
 Synthesizes literature