“The book to read is not the one that thinks for you, but the one that makes you think.” – Happer Lee
Literature review is often considered by researchers to be one of the toughest aspects of paper writing. Literature review begins with searching for and finding of relevant papers to cite in support of the thesis of the paper and includes reading up the identified supporting literature and citing them correctly by critically analyzing, evaluating and referencing the citations correctly. It is important to find the gap your study will fill as you engage in literature search.
Some of the difficulties associated with literature review include – how to find the right (quantity) of supporting literature, how to read the avalanche of relevant literature and how to know when to stop, and avoid going down the “rabbit hole” of literature review. The following strategies will provide some solutions to manage these common difficulties of writing up the literature of the study.
A preliminary literature search/reading or literature survey: This would be useful prior to concept mapping if the researcher is not really familiar with the area of research. This helps with narrowing down the topic, offering some clarity and identifying the gap – which should indeed be the focus.
Concept mapping: A concept map is a visual representation showing how the different concepts or ideas in the chosen topic relate. It starts with the broader topic being investigated and branches out into other ideas. It is interested in both the existing knowledge and the gap in knowledge – this requires brainstorming and outlining. An outline is a drawn-out breakdown of identified concepts. Thus, an outline can be incorporated in the map or be prepared independently based on the concepts in the map. Mind mapping tools like MindMeister, MindMup or Bubbl.us come in handy at this point. Creative effort on word or the good ol’ paper and pen may be used to create a usable concept map as well.
Mapping the literature: Mapping the literature is a useful process in identifying the best -fit publications or literature to review for the study. According to Dr. Raul -Vega Pacheco It involves citation tracking, concept saturation and mind mapping of the results (Read about these techniques in detail at Pacheco’s website: http:// raulpacheco.org/search/Citation+tracking). Pacheco gives the following advice on this aspect: search Google Scholar and any other database for (4-5) relevant articles using the closest keywords. The most relevant articles come up more often when multiple databases and alternative keywords are used. I would also look out for the most cited articles on the topic (Google Scholar provides this statistic). A search of the reference section of these relevant articles would provide more useful literature to be consulted. Concept saturation occurs when some authors are cited repeatedly by various authors. Such work would be relevant as well. Thereafter, creating a mind map of the results helps not only to identify which work stands out in the research area, where they contribute to the study, but also the gap that should be filled up in that study area.
Engage in an effective search strategy: This involves identifying the right keywords and may involve using synonyms of the keywords of the topic or related terms; using the advanced search feature (not just basic searching) and applying Boolean techniques during the search (AND for limited results, OR command for a more inclusive search result and NOT for a more exclusive result. Enclosing you search terms in quotation marks “ ” provides results with the exact terms. These commands work on the search engines of most databases.
Skimming: Skimming is an essential reading technique since it would be time consuming to read up all the content in the articles. Unless it is necessary to read further - it is recommended that just the Abstract, Introduction and Conclusion (AIC) will provide enough information on a selected article or reference. It is necessary to extract: the context, rationale, methods and findings in these papers. Read further about the AIC technique (three-step technique) at Dr Raul-Pacheco-Vegas’ blog post (http://www.raulpacheco.org/2017/01/finding-the-information-in-a-paper-when-reading-a-three-step-method/)
Conceptual Synthesis Method: The synthesis stage is the point where you put together all the relevant literature having gathered enough information on their strengths and weaknesses as supporting literature. A concept synthesis can be organized on a database software like Excel with the following fields/columns (1) Titles of paper/book/article/ and References of the work (2) Main argument (3) Methodology (4) Findings - Notes 1,2, 3. 4… (6) generally any other information required for the review. Many people simply annotate their PDF downloads, but using the template is a more convenient and practical method of synthesizing the literature for further use. The mind map/outline developed earlier can be used while building up the concept synthesis.
Decide on an approach for organizing the literature during the review: Three different approaches to organizing the literature of a concept are generally recognized. These include the: methodological approach, thematic approach and chronological approach. While a chronological review engages with the literature according to time period, tracing the progress and development of the concept, the thematic approach would look at concepts instead. A methodological method would handle the review based on the research methodology for example qualitative/quantitative techniques etc.). Your choice of organizing the literature depends on the objectives of the study.
What to Cite: While reading the literature in the field, it is necessary to be as focused as possible. Cite what refutes your thesis, supports or validates it or exposes a gap. A gap is an under explored area of the study, perhaps a research method, population, aspect/theme or other variables of the study. Be as selective as possible.
Structure is important: Observe the broad Introduction – Body – Conclusion pattern in your literature review section both at the topic level and the sub-topic level of such exists. For each of the paragraphs, use the pattern: Topic sentence- Example/Supporting sentences and Summary. Also use the PICO TT Framework (an evidence-based model) to guide what to include in your cited material state the Problem, Intervention, Context, Outcome, Time factor and Type of Study to provide as much detail as possible
I conclude with this apt quote by Paul J. Meyer “Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning and focused effort.”
