Some of you may plan to conduct a literature review for your summer research. A literature review is an overview of existing research that also positions your research within a larger scholarly conversation. In other words, what is already being said about your topic and how does your research contribute? The steps below will guide you in conducting a comprehensive literature review.
Write down your research question and brainstorm keywords you could use to search in databases. Consider keywords that broaden and narrow your research question. Go to the Subject Guides and write down subject areas that are relevant to your research question. What disciplines are publishing research about your topic?
Use the search tools from the previous page of this guide (library databases, the catalog, Google Scholar) to search using your keywords. Here are some tips for getting the most out of databases:
Take notes of the main points in each article you read. Consider using a literature review matrix like the ones on this page library.louisville.edu/ekstrom/anthropology/literaturematrix to stay organized.
Endnote is another powerful tool for staying organized. Endnote is a citation management software where you can collect all of your citations in one place. Check out this page library.louisville.edu/endnote to get started with Endnote and sign up for an Endnote class with a librarian. (Zotero is a free citation management software that the library also supports.)
Look through the cited references of the articles you find to locate even more great articles.
After searching in all relevant library databases, search in Google Scholar to see if there's anything you missed. You can also use Google Scholar to find newer articles relevant to your topic with the Cited by feature. Simply copy and paste an older article title into Google Scholar, then click Cited by to find newer articles that have cited back to the original article.
Librarians can help with any part of the research process, from brainstorming keywords to choosing databases to search in to searching and finding information. Get in contact with us here: library.louisville.edu/ask
Ask yourself these questions to make sure you've conducted a thorough review of the literature: