How to Conduct Literature Review: A Step-By-Step Guide

Samuel’s research advisor, Dr. Green, asks him to conduct a meticulous literature review and identify a clear research gap.

Dr. Green: “Hey Sam, in our next meeting, we will identify a good strategy for your research project. I am taking a sabbatical in France, but I hope to return by the end of this month.”

Samuel: “I will work on it, Dr. Green, and seek Dr. Olivia’s help if needed.”

However, Sam does not know where to begin. In this blog post, we will step into the shoes of Dr. Olivia and help Sam with his literature review needs.

Literature Review: Why Do We Need It?

Before identifying a good research topic, it is essential to review existing literature. This allows researchers to narrow their focus to an unaddressed problem or “research gap.” However, researchers must adopt certain best practices while conducting literature reviews. To that end, the following list provides a good starting point.

Step 1: Define the scope of your research and identify article repositories (ScienceDirect, PubMed, etc.) that you intend to use during the literature review. Never rely on Google alone.

Step 2: Document all keywords (and their synonyms) used to trigger various basic and advanced search results. This can come in handy later.

Step 3: Identify key researchers in your field of study and review all the landmark papers from your field. Make sure you also focus on the most recent studies as well as highly cited research papers and reviews. However, do not focus on review articles alone and take precautions while accessing articles posted on pre-print servers (the latter can get rejected during subsequent peer reviews).

Step 4: If you are an early-stage researcher and not fully aware of the breadth or scope of a particular research area, the most recommended approach would be to start by drafting an “annotated bibliography.” While the term may sound slightly intimidating, it simply refers to a list of relevant references accompanied by short notes describing the key takeaways of each published work. So why exactly is this approach recommended? Well, to discover the window of opportunity (research gap), you need to build the house (narrative) first, and to build any house, you need bricks (published works). An annotated bibliography does just that: it helps you discover the key elements that can build the narrative, thus paving the way for research gap identification.

Step 5: Use powerful reference management tools such as Mendeley, EndNote, and Zotero to cite every relevant article you review immediately. Keep appending your notes as mentioned above. This can save valuable time later.

Step 6: Focus on the strengths and limitations of various studies and identify the possible reasons. Keep questioning yourself relentlessly: Is the methodology section deficient? Does the analysis lack statistical rigor?

Step 7: While it is okay to read just the abstracts of papers that are not extremely critical to your research study, you should nevertheless make it a habit to read all other relevant articles in their entirety. Abstracts do not always reveal the obvious strengths and limitations of a study. Always remember these four key questions: Why? How? What? So what? 

Step 8: Identify and document all existing challenges and controversies in your field. Do not selectively focus on articles that fit the story you are trying to build, as this can introduce bias.

Step 9: Understand that conducting a literature review alone is rarely sufficient. You must present the results of your literature review and solicit questions from your research group before finalizing your next steps.

Step 10: Once you identify the research gap, take steps to address the key question and refine the question as needed along the way.

Top 5 Mistakes

Selectively taking notes that fit your narrative while ignoring all other published works, even if they are extremely relevant.   
Focusing only on review articles and reading very few original research articles, case studies, etc. 
Failing to document study limitations and automatically assuming every published study to be legitimate (unfortunately, that is not always the case).
Failing to study the most groundbreaking and consistently cited articles in your area of research.  
Not using the right keywords or their popular synonyms.

However, at times (and despite the best of their intentions), researchers sometimes fail to identify research gaps. In such a situation, I recommend broadening the focus area until the window of opportunity becomes visible.

Summary 

In today’s blog, we reviewed best practices that researchers must adopt while conducting literature reviews. Literature reviews offer deep insights into what has already been achieved in a particular field of research. They also shed light on controversies, limitations, and unaddressed problems. Therefore, conducting thorough literature reviews has tremendous significance in the research and publishing ecosystem.

I hope you enjoyed reading this blog. Do you need more such publishing tips? Make sure you subscribe to our newsletter and visit this space for more. Before jumping to our next blog, do attempt the quiz below.  

Key Takeaways

Review existing literature to identify unanswered questions (the “research gap”).
Embrace best practices when you undertake a comprehensive literature review.
Avoid the most common pitfalls while conducting your literature review.

Quiz for the Curious 

While conducting research, Samuel comes across two highly cited studies from reputed journals. These studies present contrasting opinions. What must Sam do?  

(A) Ignore both studies and focus on building his own narrative. 

(B) Carefully analyze all related studies (including these two) before identifying the research gap. 

(D) Identify a good narrative first and then cherry-pick papers that support the narrative. 

Answer: (B) 