How to Write a Literature Review

Step One: Get familiar with your topic

Ask:

  • What stakeholders, terminology, and other key pieces of information are commonly associated with your topic?
  • What do you need to know in order to be able to critically evaluate issues related to your topic?

Use Library Tools:


Step Two: Refine your research question and develop a search strategy

Ask:

  • Is your topic too broad or narrow?
  • How many resources do you need to find relating to your topic?
  • What key words and terms are commonly associated with your topic? Which research databases will you enter these key terms into?

Tools:

  • Carrot2
  • Create a mind map of key words associated with your topic to plug into the search engine.

Step Three: Find scholarly articles related to your topic

Ask:

  • What journals and scholars frequently write about my topic?
  • Do the same authors and article titles appear frequently in the citation lists of the articles you’re finding?
  • Are there any groundbreaking, or “seminal” works associated with your topic that you should be aware of?
  • What ideas and themes repeatedly come up in scholarly articles relating to your topic?

Use Library Tools:


Step Four: Engage critically with your topic

Ask:

  • What is currently known and unknown about my topic?
  • What research is missing from the literature about my topic?
  • Are there any problems or biases in this research that should be addressed?
  • How will I use this information in my own research?