Literature Reviews are an overview of the available research on a particular topic. Literature reviews summarize existing research to answer a review question, provide context for a new research project, or help to identify gaps in the existing body of research. They are an important part of any good research paper, and this guide is designed to teach you what they are and how to go about writing one for your project.
Types of Literature Reviews
When beginning to think about your literature review, the first thing you'll need to do is determine what type of literature review will suit your project best. There are three main types:
Type 1: Literature Review to Provide Necessary Background Information
In this type of review, you'll summarize the existing research and give a brief introduction to the topic. Generally, this type is the shortest of the three, as it's designed to give the highlights of the background information. Typically, background reviews will use only the most cited articles on the topic and are highly selective with their search strategy.
Type 2: Literature Review as Part of a Larger Researcher Project
In this type of literature review, the researcher is able to cover slightly more content in their literature review. Since the reader will want to get to the main part of your research paper (your findings) and so the researcher should still be selective about what to include. For some research papers, the author will choose to put their methods and search strategies in an appendix at the end of their report for this very purpose. As far as how much information to include in your literature review, it will depend largely on the topic of your research paper and the research question that you seek to answer.
Type 3: Stand Alone Literature Reviews
The final type of literature review is where a researcher will create a literature review of a particular topic. In this type of review, the researcher will have the most room to go into detail about the existing research in the field. However, even though you have plenty of space for your literature review, should still be particular when formulating your review question and search strategies in order to control the scope of your research project.
Another question you'll have to ask yourself is about the aim of your literature review; or in other words, what is the goal in creating your literature review, what are you trying to achieve? Depending on your research topic and the type of literature review, there are several possibilities when it comes to the aim.
1. To create an overview of the research issues relevant to your understanding of a particular field.
2. A literature review might explore the volume and type of available research in a field in order to describe the current state of research.
3. Some set out to summarize key results in a particular research field.
4. Finally, some literature reviews aim to identify gaps in existing research.
To begin the literature review process, you'll need to determine your review question in order to pinpoint the focus of your literature review. A review question is essentially just the question you are trying to answer with your research.
The most critical thing about your review question is making sure that it is a question that can be answered. If your review question is too vague, or even, too specific you'll have a hard time actually answering the question you set out to. Just as you would any other goal, you need to find a question that is practical, one that is interesting and would add something to the existing body of research, but also one that can definitely be answered.
In determining your review question, you might consider the timeline you have for your research project. Another factor that makes for an important element of creating a review question is making sure you have the time to sift through the existing research on the topic. Knowing how long or short your timeline is will allow you to make an informed decision about whether your review question can be answered in the allotted timeframe.
First, you'll need to formulate a research question or topic to identify key words to search. This will result in a more focused search. Consider these formats:
PICO(T)
| P | Population/problem | age, gender, ethnicity, health status |
| I | Intervention/indicator | treatment, cause, exposure, prognostic factor, etc. |
|
C |
Comparison/control | another treatment or standard of care (if any) |
| O | Outcome | improvement, adverse effects, accuracy of a diagnosis |
| T | Time | length of time to observe an outcome (optional) |
Example: What types of home programs (intervention) have been used to improve the sitting postural control (outcome) of infants with cerebral palsy (population)?
Download the PICO worksheet below.
SPIDER (adapted from PICO for qualitative and mixed-methods research)
| S | Sample | population, specific to health status, age, gender, ethnicity |
| Pi | Phenomenon of interest | cause of experiences, behavior or decisions; intervention |
| D | Design | study design, i.e. survey, interview, observational study |
| E | Evaluation | may be subjective outcomes such as views or attitudes |
| R | Research type | qualitative, quantitative, mixed methods |
Example: What are the expectations and experiences (evaluation) of patients with osteoarthritis (sample) undergoing total joint arthroplasty (phenomenon of interest)?
What is a Search Strategy?
A search strategy is a well thought out plan about how to search for relevant information. Using information sources in a consistent, structured manner will save you time. As your searching progresses and your searches are refined, your search history can be extremely useful. It can also improve the relevancy of results obtained, as you reflect on your keywords and synonyms and how these relate to each other.
To develop a search strategy you will need to:
Keeping a Record of Your Search Activity
A search methodology could ideally include a search diary or document detailing your search so that someone else can reproduce your steps and get the same results.
Keep a record of your search strategies, the sources searched and search results from each.
Include:
While you are searching for relevant information about your topic you will need to think about the accuracy of the information, whether the information is from a reputable source, and whether it is objective and current. The basic criteria for assessing information are listed below.
Accuracy
Authority
Objectivity
Currency
Coverage
Citation Management
When it comes to citing sources, there are a variety of formats, each with their own standard, which can make it tricky to learn exactly what you are doing. However, there are a number of digital resources to help make citation management and easier task. Follow the link below to a full LibGuide about the many citation management tools and how to use them.
Citation Manager Comparison Chart
Citation Manager Tutorials
How to Use EndNote20 in 7 Minutes (Windows)
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