questions to ask about literature review

Top 10 Questions for a Complete Literature Review

An excellent literature review integrates information in such a way that it provides a new framework to build upon. It is a way of contextualizing your work and showcasing a bigger picture before you pin down to your research problem. It not only highlights principle issues in your field but also provides new perspectives on the research topic. Careful skimming of literature introduces the readers to relevant terminologies frequently used in context of their work. Literature review assists in recognizing related research findings and relevant theories. Furthermore, it aids in pinpointing the methodologies that one may adopt for research.

5 Steps to Begin the Literature Review

There are five steps that one should follow before preparing to conduct the literature review :

• Identify all the literature relevant to your topic of interest. Explore all the different types of literature including theoretical literature, applied literature, literature that talks about research methods, or a combination thereof.
• Using multiple keywords and strategies capture the most accurate and relevant data. Conduct an extensive search in multi-disciplinary databases.
• Group your findings into a detailed summary of what is known and what needs to be explored.
• Identify existing gaps or any unresolved issues
• Formulate broad questions that warrant further research

How to Best Critique a Research paper

For extracting maximum information from a research paper , researchers must ask the following questions!

• Has the author formulated an appropriate research question based on the problem/issue?
• Is the research question clearly defined in terms of its scope and relevance?
• Was there an alternative or better perspective to approach the research question?
• What is the author’s orientation towards the research problem – is it a critical analysis or interpretation based?
• Has the author extensively evaluated the literature considering both latest and relevant articles?
• How has the author defined the basic components (population, interventions, outcomes) of the study? Are the measurements valid, accurate and statistically significant? Are the conclusions based accurate interpretations of the data?
• Is there an objective based, unbiased reasoning provided for the problem statement or is the author merely attempting to prove his/her preconceived beliefs and opinions?
• How does this article contribute to your understanding of the research problem?
• What are the strengths, limitations and shortcomings of the study?

10 Questions for a Comprehensive Literature Review

1. Do I have clearly defined research aims prior to commencing the review?

It is important to choose a focused question that can efficiently direct your search. It can assist you to create a list of keywords related to your research problem. Furthermore, it helps in identifying relevant databases to search for related journals and articles.

2. Have I correctly identified all the sources that will help me define my problem statement or research question?

Literature is not limited to journal articles, thesis, and dissertations. One should also refer to credible internet sources, conference proceedings that provide latest unpublished papers, as well as government and corporate reports. Books, although do not have latest information, can serve as a good starting point to read background information.

3. Have I considered all kinds of literature – including both qualitative and quantitative research articles?

An exhaustive literature survey helps you position your research within the context of existing literature effectively creating a case as to why further study is necessary. Your search has to be robust enough to ensure that you have browsed through all the relevant and latest articles. Rather than reading everything, researchers must refer and follow the most relevant work!

4. Do I have enough empirical or theoretical evidence to support my hypothesis?

Discovering new patterns and trends becomes easy if you gather credible evidence from earlier works. Furthermore, it helps in rationalizing the significance of your study.

5. Have I identified all the major inconsistencies or other shortcomings related to my research topic?

Researchers should not only refer to articles that present supporting evidence but also focus on those that provide inconclusive or contradictory information. It helps to identify any open questions left by researchers in previous studies.

6. Is my relationship diagram ready?

A relationship diagram is an effective way of recognizing links between different elements of a complex research topic. It is an immensely important tool that helps in clarifying and structuring research specific findings and interpretations at various stages of the project. It is an effective way of representing your current understanding of the research topic. In addition, a good relationship diagram can help you find new insights owing to a clear picture of all the probable relationships between key concepts, variables and key factors.

7. Have I gathered sufficient evidence from the literature about the accuracy and validity of the designs or methods that I plan to use in my experiments?

It is paramount to use methodologies and research techniques that have scientific reliability. Moreover, since methods especially used in qualitative research are often more subjective, it becomes crucial for researchers to reflect on the approach and explain the criteria for selecting a particular method.

8. Have I identified the purpose for which articles have been shortlisted for literature review?

You can expedite your literature writing process if you tag your articles based on its purpose of inclusion in the review report. Following are the tags that can be added to articles:

• Show how latest developments or develop a theoretical base to your study
• Demonstrate limitations, inconsistencies or shortcomings of previous studies
• Critique or support certain methods or findings
• Replicate the study in a different setting (region/population)
• Indicate how the study supports or contradicts your findings
• Use it as a reference to further build your research
• Provide a general understanding of concerns relevant to your research topic

9. Have I recorded all the bibliographic information regarding my information sources?

Recording and cataloguing your bibliographical details and references is absolutely crucial for every researcher. You may use commercial software such as Reference manager, End Note, and Pro Cite to manage your references. Furthermore, you may also keep a record of keyword searches that you have performed.

10. Will my literature review reflect a report that is created after a through critical analysis of the literature?

An excellent literature review must be structured, logical, and coherent. It is a great opportunity to demonstrate that you have critically analyzed and understood the relevant body of literature underpinning your research. It is important to structure your literature into appropriate sections that discuss themes or presents trends. Grouping your literature helps in indicating relationships and making comparisons.

Still have more queries related to literature review and synthesis? Post your queries here and our experts will be happy to answer them! You can also visit our Q&A forum for frequently asked questions related to research writing and publishing answered by our team that comprises subject-matter experts, eminent researchers, and publication experts.

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How to Write a Literature Review

• 1. Identify the Question
• Literature Reviews: A Recap
• Reading Journal Articles
• Does it Describe a Literature Review?

Identify the question

Developing a research question.

• 2. Review Discipline Styles
• Searching Article Databases
• Finding Full-Text of an Article
• Citation Chaining
• When to Stop Searching
• 4. Manage Your References
• 5. Critically Analyze and Evaluate
• 6. Synthesize
• 7. Write a Literature Review

From Topic to Question (Infographic)

This graphic emphasizes how reading various sources can play a role in defining your research topic.

( Click to Enlarge Image )

Text description of "From Topic to Question" for web accessibility

In some cases, such as for a course assignment or a research project you're working on with a faculty mentor, your research question will be determined by your professor. If that's the case, you can move on to the next step .  Otherwise, you may need to explore questions on your own. 

A few suggestions

Photo Credit: UO Libraries

According to The Craft of Research (2003) , a research question is more than a practical problem or something with a yes/no answer. A research question helps you learn more about something you don't already know and it needs to be significant enough to interest your readers.

Your Curiosity + Significance to Others = Research Question

How to get started.

In a research paper, you develop a unique question and then synthesize scholarly and primary sources into a paper that supports your argument about the topic.

• Identify your Topic (This is the starting place from where you develop a research question.)
• Refine by Searching (find background information) (Before you can start to develop a research question, you may need to do some preliminary background research to see (1) what has already been done on the topic and (2) what are the issues surrounding the topic.) HINT: Find background information in Google and Books.
• Refine by Narrowing (Once you begin to understand the topic and the issues surrounding it, you can start to narrow your topic and develop a research question. Do this by asking the 6 journalistic question words.

Ask yourself these 6 questions 

These 6 journalistic question words can help you narrow your focus from a broad topic to a specific question.

Who : Are you interested in a specific group of people? Can your topic be narrowed by gender, sex, age, ethnicity, socio-economic status or something else? Are there any key figures related to your topic?

What : What are the issues surrounding your topic? Are there subtopics? In looking at background information, did you notice any gaps or questions that seemed unanswered?

Where : Can your topic be narrowed down to a geographic location? Warning: Don't get too narrow here. You might not be able to find enough information on a town or state.

When : Is your topic current or historical? Is it confined to a specific time period? Was there a causative event that led your topic to become an area of study?

Why : Why are you interested in this topic? Why should others be interested?

How : What kinds of information do you need? Primary sources, statistics? What is your methodology?

Detailed description of, "Developing a Research Question" for web accessibility

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What is a literature review?

A literature review is an integrated analysis -- not just a summary-- of scholarly writings and other relevant evidence related directly to your research question.  That is, it represents a synthesis of the evidence that provides background information on your topic and shows a association between the evidence and your research question.

A literature review may be a stand alone work or the introduction to a larger research paper, depending on the assignment.  Rely heavily on the guidelines your instructor has given you.

Why is it important?

A literature review is important because it:

• Explains the background of research on a topic.
• Demonstrates why a topic is significant to a subject area.
• Discovers relationships between research studies/ideas.
• Identifies major themes, concepts, and researchers on a topic.
• Identifies critical gaps and points of disagreement.
• Discusses further research questions that logically come out of the previous studies.

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1. Choose a topic. Define your research question.

Your literature review should be guided by your central research question.  The literature represents background and research developments related to a specific research question, interpreted and analyzed by you in a synthesized way.

• Make sure your research question is not too broad or too narrow.  Is it manageable?
• Begin writing down terms that are related to your question. These will be useful for searches later.
• If you have the opportunity, discuss your topic with your professor and your class mates.

2. Decide on the scope of your review

How many studies do you need to look at? How comprehensive should it be? How many years should it cover? 

• This may depend on your assignment.  How many sources does the assignment require?

3. Select the databases you will use to conduct your searches.

Make a list of the databases you will search. 

Where to find databases:

• use the tabs on this guide
• Find other databases in the Nursing Information Resources web page
• More on the Medical Library web page
• ... and more on the Yale University Library web page

4. Conduct your searches to find the evidence. Keep track of your searches.

• Use the key words in your question, as well as synonyms for those words, as terms in your search. Use the database tutorials for help.
• Save the searches in the databases. This saves time when you want to redo, or modify, the searches. It is also helpful to use as a guide is the searches are not finding any useful results.
• Review the abstracts of research studies carefully. This will save you time.
• Use the bibliographies and references of research studies you find to locate others.
• Check with your professor, or a subject expert in the field, if you are missing any key works in the field.
• Ask your librarian for help at any time.
• Use a citation manager, such as EndNote as the repository for your citations. See the EndNote tutorials for help.

Review the literature

Some questions to help you analyze the research:

• What was the research question of the study you are reviewing? What were the authors trying to discover?
• Was the research funded by a source that could influence the findings?
• What were the research methodologies? Analyze its literature review, the samples and variables used, the results, and the conclusions.
• Does the research seem to be complete? Could it have been conducted more soundly? What further questions does it raise?
• If there are conflicting studies, why do you think that is?
• How are the authors viewed in the field? Has this study been cited? If so, how has it been analyzed?

Tips: 

• Review the abstracts carefully.  
• Keep careful notes so that you may track your thought processes during the research process.
• Create a matrix of the studies for easy analysis, and synthesis, across all of the studies.
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July 06, 2010

Becoming a Critical Reader: Questions to Ask About Literature Reviews

By: Andrea D. Lythgoe, LCCE | 0 Comments

A literature review is one person's attempt to summarize what the literature says about any given topic. Many pieces of original research will have a mini-literature review as a part of the study to help place that study in context, but many times you will come across a literature review published on its own. These literature reviews are not the same as a systemic review or meta-analysis (more on those coming in a future article) and are less rigorous, but can still yield valuable information. Some good questions to ask:

• Was the topic well identified? Each literature review should contain a clearly defined statement of what the author is trying to learn more about.
• Was search thorough? The article should detail exactly how they conducted a search for relevant articles, and how articles were included or excluded. For example, it is very common for authors to limit their review to studies published in English or in the last 5 years, etc.
• Were the included studies reviewed well? The author of the literature review should point out any important strengths or weaknesses found in the studies reviewed.
• Was any important study (that should have been included) left out? At first, this will be a hard question to answer, unless you do your own searching. But as you read, read, read and become more familiar with the research on a topic, you may know of studies or authors who commonly write on your topic of interest and you'll be able to spot things left out.
• Were conclusions consistent with the information presented? You want to watch out for authors making big leaps or ignoring problems. Try to be fair and balanced as you determine if the author was fair and balanced.
• And finally, what does this mean for me? That will vary widely based on your personal situation. As a reader, you may be a nurse, midwife, childbirth educator, doula, doctor, or parent. You may have more than one role. Carefully think about how this may - or may not - apply to you in your various roles. (Notice this is always the last question on my lists? There's a reason!)

Literature reviews are close cousins to the next type of summarizing papers we will look at: meta-analyses and systemic reviews. Watch for those articles coming soon!

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Literature Reviews

• Getting Started
• Choosing a Type of Review

Developing a Research Question

Finding example literature reviews.

• Searching the Literature
• Searching Tips
• ChatGPT [beta]
• Documenting your Search
• Using Citation Managers
• Concept Mapping
• Writing the Review
• Further Resources

Goldilocker Tool

UM Librarians have developed a quick tool called Goldilocker  to help beginners who are struggling to refine their Research Question. 

DEVELOPING A RESEARCH QUESTION

Before searching for sources, you need to formulate a Research Question — this is what you are trying to answer using the existing academic literature. The Research Question pinpoints the focus of the review .

Your first step involves choosing, exploring, and focusing a topic. At this stage you might discover that you need to tweak your topic or the scope of your research as you learn more about the topic in the literature.

THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND: 

• The question must be "researchable" — it can be answered with accessible facts and data
• Questions often start with How, Why, What, Which
• The question opens the door for other areas of inquiry — it identifies a gap in existing research
• Questions should be open-ended and focus on cause and effect

TRY TO AVOID: 

• Simple yes/no questions, or questions with an easy answer (what is the radius of the moon?)
• Questions that can only be answered by an opinion (does it smell nice when it rains?)
• Questions that involve secret information (what is the recipe for Coca-Cola?)
• Questions that are too broad or too narrow

REFINING YOUR RESEARCH QUESTION

Two examples of refining research questions that could be considered either too broad or too narrow.

USING DATABASE FILTER TOOLS

It can be helpful to read existing literature reviews on your topic to get an idea of major themes, how authors structure their arguments, or what reviews look like in your discipline.

DOCUMENT TYPE FILTERS

Many library databases have the option to highlight just Review Articles after you perform a search. Filters above show what the Document Type filter looks like, with a "Review" option. These examples are from Scopus and ProQuest. The "Review" filter here refers to free-standing, comprehensive Review Articles on a topic, as opposed to a shorter literature review inside a scholarly article.

LIT REVIEWS INSIDE ARTICLES

It is also worth taking a look at the shorter literature reviews inside scholarly articles. These can sometimes be called "Background" or "Background Literature." Look for a section typically following the Introduction that covers the history or gives context on the paper's topic.

EXAMPLE REVIEW ARTICLES

Here are a few examples of Review Articles in different disciplines. Note sometimes an article can be a Review Article without the word "review" in the title.

HUMANITIES — Art — " Art and Crime: Conceptualising Graffiti in the City " from the journal Geography Compass

SCIENCES — Climate Change — " Mercury Isotopes in Earth and Environmental Sciences " from the journal  Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences

SOCIAL SCIENCES — Psychology — " Structural Competency and the Future of Firearm Research " from the journal Social Science & Medicine

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What is a literature review?

• A critical look at the research relevant to your research project.
• A discussion of how the relevant literature addresses the themes and concepts in your paper.
• A contextual overview of the work of previous authors, how they relate to each other, and how they relate to your research project.
• An analysis of the gaps in the existing literature which your research hopes to fill.
• A rationale for the relevance of your work to ongoing scholarly conversations.

What does a literature review do?

A literature review is not a list of summaries; it is an essential component of your project that:

• puts your work in context.
• establishes your credibility with your intended audiences.
• demonstrates how your current work builds upon and/or deviates from earlier publications.

A literature review should:

• be organized around and related directly to the thesis or research question you are developing
• synthesize results into a summary of what is and is not known
• identify areas of controversy in the literature
• formulate questions that need further research

A few questions to ask yourself (and answer for your reader):

• What is the gap in the literature/problem with previous research?
• What conflict or unanswered question, untested population, untried method in existing research does your experiment address?
• What findings of others are you challenging or extending?
• What is the scope of my literature review?
• What types of publications am I using (e.g., journals, books, government documents, popular media)? What discipline am I working in (e.g., nursing psychology, sociology, medicine)?
• Have I critically analyzed the literature I use?
• Do I follow through a set of concepts and questions, comparing items to each other in the ways they deal with them?
• Instead of just listing and summarizing items, do I assess them, discussing strengths and weaknesses?
• Have I cited and discussed studies contrary to my perspective?

Tips for finding literature reviews

One of the best ways to figure out how literature reviews work in your field is to find a few of them.

• Ask your advisor or mentor for excellent examples of literature reviews. If possible, ask for an example from an undergraduate thesis, a masters or doctoral thesis, and a peer-reviewed journal article.
• You can also ask a librarian to help you find example literature reviews!
• Check out ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global and other databases to search for dissertations in your field. These will usually contain a literature review.
• Search for “annual review” journals in your field, e.g., The Annual Review of Sociology
• Search on your topic using a database (e.g., Web of Science ) that allows you to filter specifically for review articles.

These tips and guidelines on writing literature reviews were adapted from: 

• "How to Write a Literature Review"  
• “The Literature Review: A Few Tips On Conducting It.” (University of Toronto's Health Sciences Writing Center)
• Literature Reviews in the Health and Life Sciences (University of Utah Library)
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Literature Reviews

• Overview of Literature Reviews and Systematic Reviews
• How to Get Started and Developing a Research Question
• Finding and Evaluating Sources
• Citations This link opens in a new window
• Synthesizing Sources
• Writing the Literature Review
• Systematic Reviews This link opens in a new window
• Suggested Readings
• Elements of a Literature Review
• Introduction
• Reference List

All literature reviews contain the following elements:

See the tabs to right for further explanation of each of these elements.

The introduction to a literature review should include the following:

• Define the topic to provide context for the review
• Identify trends in previous publications
• Give your reasoning for reviewing the literature (Why is it necessary? What is your point of view?)
• Explain the criteria that was used to conduct the search
• Indicate how the review is organized

The body of the literature review will discuss each source. Find patterns and ways to tie the main points together. This can be organized thematically, chronologically, or methodologically.

Thematic-organized around a topic or issue

Chronological-organized according to when the articles were published or according to when trends took place

Methodological-organized by the methods used by the researchers

The conclusion should summarize the literature review. Discuss any implications drawn from the literature and what further research is needed.

A reference list at the end of a literature review is essential. Citing all sources gives credit to the authors of the literature, allows others to find the literature for evaluation or their own research, and helps to avoid plagiarism. For more information on creating a reference list, see our Citation Styles guide.

Adding Content & Organizing the Review

The literature review is about both content and form.  In terms of content, keep in mind that your literature review is intended to:

• Set up a theoretical framework for your own research
• Show a clear understanding of the key concepts/ideas/studies/models related to your topic
• Demonstrate knowledge about the history of your research area and any related controversies
• Illustrate that you are able to evaluate and synthesize the work of others
• Clarify significant definitions and terminology
• Develop a space in your discipline for your research

Some questions to ask yourself when you begin to write your first draft include:

• How will my literature review be organized: Chronologically, thematically, conceptually, methodologically or a combination?
• What section headings will I be using?
• How do the various studies relate to each other?
• What contributions do they make to the field?
• What are the limitations of a study/where are the gaps in the research?
• And finally but most importantly, how does my own research fit into what has already been done?

Some questions to ask after the first draft:

• Is there a logical flow from section to section, paragraph to paragraph, sentence to sentence?
• Does the content proceed from topic to topic?
• Does your conclusion match your introduction?
• Were you consistent in documenting and using the correct citation style?

Attribution

The content of this page was developed from Chapter 8, "Writing a Literature Review" in:

Frederiksen, L., & Phelps, S. F. (2017). Literature reviews for education and nursing graduate students. Rebus Community.  https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/literature-reviews-for-education-and-nursing-graduate-students

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• Next: Systematic Reviews >>
• Last Updated: Nov 30, 2023 1:07 PM
• URL: https://libguides.chapman.edu/literature_reviews

Literature Reviews

• Getting started

What is a literature review?

Why conduct a literature review, stages of a literature review, lit reviews: an overview (video), check out these books.

• Types of reviews
• 1. Define your research question
• 2. Plan your search
• 3. Search the literature
• 4. Organize your results
• 5. Synthesize your findings
• 6. Write the review
• Artificial intelligence (AI) tools
• Thompson Writing Studio This link opens in a new window
• Need to write a systematic review? This link opens in a new window

Contact a Librarian

Ask a Librarian

Definition: A literature review is a systematic examination and synthesis of existing scholarly research on a specific topic or subject.

Purpose: It serves to provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of knowledge within a particular field.

Analysis: Involves critically evaluating and summarizing key findings, methodologies, and debates found in academic literature.

Identifying Gaps: Aims to pinpoint areas where there is a lack of research or unresolved questions, highlighting opportunities for further investigation.

Contextualization: Enables researchers to understand how their work fits into the broader academic conversation and contributes to the existing body of knowledge.

tl;dr  A literature review critically examines and synthesizes existing scholarly research and publications on a specific topic to provide a comprehensive understanding of the current state of knowledge in the field.

What is a literature review NOT?

❌ An annotated bibliography

❌ Original research

❌ A summary

❌ Something to be conducted at the end of your research

❌ An opinion piece

❌ A chronological compilation of studies

The reason for conducting a literature review is to:

Literature Reviews: An Overview for Graduate Students

While this 9-minute video from NCSU is geared toward graduate students, it is useful for anyone conducting a literature review.

Writing the literature review: A practical guide

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Writing literature reviews: A guide for students of the social and behavioral sciences

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So, you have to write a literature review: A guided workbook for engineers

Telling a research story: Writing a literature review

The literature review: Six steps to success

Systematic approaches to a successful literature review

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Doing a systematic review: A student's guide

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Literature Reviews

Define your research question.

• What is a literature review?
• Steps in the Literature Review Process
• Determine inclusion and exclusion criteria
• Choose databases and search
• Review Results
• Synthesize Results
• Analyze Results
• Librarian Support

Defining your research question is the key to beginning, so while you may be clear on the area you want to study, chances are there are some nuances that you need to think through. 

Part of this process may require exploratory searching in databases so that you can see what's already been published on your topic. Even if it's a new area, it's likely something has already been published in at least an adjacent area of study. 

Some things to consider:

• What is my central question or issue that the literature can help define?
• What is already known about the topic?
• Is the scope of the literature being reviewed wide or narrow enough?
• Is there a conflict or debate in the literature?
• What connections can be made between the texts being reviewed?
• What sort of literature should be reviewed? Historical? Theoretical? Methodological? Quantitative? Qualitative?
• What criteria should be used to evaluate the literature being reviewed?
• How will reviewing the literature justify the topic I plan to investigate?

Source:  https://libguides.library.kent.edu/c.php?g=389868&p=2645658

For more on the research question:  https://writingcenter.gmu.edu/guides/how-to-write-a-research-question

Video on Defining the Research Question

When you pick your topic, it's not set in stone. Picking and adjusting your topic is an integral part of the research process! This video is published under a Creative Commons 3.0 BY-NC-SA US license. (3 minutes)

• Last Updated: Oct 26, 2022 2:49 PM
• URL: https://guides.lib.utexas.edu/literaturereviews

• Subject guides
• Researching for your literature review
• Before you start

Researching for your literature review: Before you start

• Literature reviews
• Literature sources
• Develop a search strategy
• Keyword search activity
• Subject search activity
• Combined keyword and subject searching
• Online tutorials
• Apply search limits
• Run a search in different databases
• Supplementary searching
• Save your searches
• Manage results

The research question

If you are having difficulty finding a suitable topic for your review, try thinking about the following:

• Areas of uncertainty
• Variations of practice 
• Assumptions in practice
• Existing review topics that may be outdated and could be revised to address a new element

Once you have your topic, put it into the format of a question or questions to be answered by the literature . 

Essentially a research question puts forward an hypothesis about a relationship, such as the relationship between an intervention and an outcome. For example: In P (population group) does I (intervention) result in O (outcome)? or Will I perform better than C at achieving O in population P?

For an overview of five main steps to creating a good research question see the online library resources . See also this online video on YouTube.

T he research question will guide the development of your search strategy so it's important that you take time to do some testing of your proposed question. Having done the preliminary scoping searches as noted above will be helpful in understanding the volume of the literature. This guide will provide a sample search for a health/medical topic, as well as for an education/social science topic. Choose which section you would like to work through.

Start with scoping searches

Doing some scoping searches are an essential step to help you understand the quantity of existing literature in your area of interest, and the terminology used in its discussion. This preliminary searching is non-systematic in its nature and is not documented, but helps establish a basis for the subsequent development of a comprehensive search strategy.

Scoping searches usually involve a series of very targeted searches , perhaps looking for your main keywords in the article title. You might also look for examples of review articles on similar topics, as these might be useful for gaining an overview of a facet of your own topic. We can use a search engine such as Google Scholar , large inter-disciplinary databases such as Scopus or Proquest central , or a discipline-specific database that you are familiar with.

Our scoping searches will help us to understand whether our research question has the following elements:

• the question addresses a gap in the literature ( has not recently been answered in another review)
• the question is specific and focused (and therefore feasible)
• the question is answerable in the literature.

Develop a 'gold set' of target papers

Your scoping searches should enable you to locate a 'gold set' of relevant articles that you would expect to use in your review.

This gold set is a curated collection of highly relevant papers for your research question. These articles are important as a reliable foundation for compiling your search terms.

The gold set is also needed to test the strength of the search strategy that you will later develop. This testing is a hallmark of a rigorous and comprehensive search. Unless you test your search on a target set of papers that are definitely relevant, you have no tangible means of assessing whether you have any errors or omissions in your search strategy!

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Libraries | Research Guides

Literature reviews.

• What is a Literature Review?
• Planning the Review

Determining Your Research Question

Refining your research question, mapping your research topic.

• Choosing Where to Search
• Organizing the Review
• Writing the Review

When determining your research question, one method is to start with a topic and work through these questions:

1. What do you want to know about this topic?

Example: "I want to research the effects of high educational costs"

2. What population or context do you want to study?

Example: "I want to focus on college students"

3. What interventions, variables, or relationships do you want to explore?

Example: "I want to know what the impact of using Open Educational Resources"

4. What is the research scope?

Example: "I will interview college students participating in classes using OERs and ask them about the impact of these free resources on their college experience."

To refine your research question, you can ask more questions

• Is your topic clear enough that the audience can understand it?
• Is your topic narrow enough that it can be addressed within the size of the project?
• Does your topic require synthesis of sources and ideas to adequately address the question?
• Are the answers to your research question able to be discussed and debated, rather than just being standard facts?
• Is your topic doable in the amount of time that you have to complete the project?

One technique to help you define your scope is to take each component from your topic and list them from the least focused to the most focused. This will give you the ability to scale up and scale down.

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• Last Updated: Jan 17, 2024 10:05 AM
• URL: https://libguides.northwestern.edu/literaturereviews

Literature Review: Analyze & Evaluate the Literature

• Literature Review Basics
• Select a Research Topic
• Search the Literature
• Manage Your Citations

Questions to ask a Source

Parts of a scholarly article.

• Write the Literature Review
• Test Your Knowledge

There are some questions that you can ask of each of your sources to help you understand the research and whether or not it should be included in your literature review. 

• What is the basic question that the authors are trying to answer?
• What are their findings?
• Does their research contradict mine? Does it support mine?
• How does their research relate to my research question/topic?
• Do the authors mention any literature that might be useful for my literature review?

You may find that after you go through a source with these questions that you do not want to include it in your literature review. That is totally normal and expected. If you do want to use it in your literature review, make sure you take notes on what part of your literature review that source will be good for. 

You don’t have to read a scholarly article straight through…you won’t ruin the ending by skipping ahead! Strategically reading the sections will help you get a better grasp on what the article is about and will often save you time.

Not all articles will have these exact sections, but the sections mentioned above are the most common. You will find that even without all the sections, you will still be able to recognize these main parts and be able to read strategically.

The abstract is a short, usually paragraph length summary of the article. Most of the time this will give you all of the most important facts from the article (who, what, where, when, why and how). It is usually located on the first page of the article. You can also find it if you click on the “Detailed Record” of the article.

Always read the abstract first to know if the article will be relevant to your topic and to find out what the article is about.

Introduction

The introduction usually discusses how the authors got interested in this research and why this research is important. This section is also sometimes called “Background.”

The introduction usually can be skimmed.

Literature Review

The literature review is an overview of the other research that is relevant to the author(s) research. It will discuss previous and current research and how this new research adds to, changes, and/or refutes that scholarship. The author will provide a description, summary, and evaluation of the available/relevant research.

Use this section to find other research articles or resources that you might want to read for your assignment.

Methodology

The methodology, sometimes called Methods and Materials, is the how of research. In the methodology section, the authors will discuss exactly how they conducted and analyzed their research. The main purpose of including methodology is to increase the reproducibility of the research and allow readers to critically evaluate the conclusions reached by the authors.

The methodology can usually be skimmed and can sometimes be more easily understood after you’ve read the abstract, results, discussion, and conclusion.

The results section has the findings of the study/experiment/research based on the methodology. The results section should list the findings without any interpretation.

It is worth reading the results, but often it can be lists of numbers and outcomes. It may be easier to read the discussion of the results first.

The discussion section is the author(s) opportunity to interpret their results and to explain what they believe the results to mean. The discussion should help you understand how the author(s) answered their research question and what their research adds to the current understanding of this topic.

The discussion section can be one of the first sections you read, after the abstract. It will give you a context in which to better understand the methodology and results section.

The conclusion section shows the reader why the research matters and often will recommend new areas of future research.

The conclusion is usually short, so it’s worth reading through after the discussion.

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Literature Review: Frequently Asked Questions

• What is a Literature Review?
• Finding "The Literature"
• Cite Your Sources This link opens in a new window
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Resources & Examples
• How to Get Help

The articles I am including have contradicting ideas, is that okay?

It is okay to have studies contradict one another. You simply acknowledge this in your literature review as supporting evidence that the topic is still open for further study. 

How many studies should I include in my literature review?

The number of sources required for an effective literature review varies depending on the topic and the nature of the assignment. Always consult your syllabus to see what the course requirements are. If no requirements are given, you should include enough studies so that all the major points of view on the topic are acknowledged in your literature review.

I am having a hard time finding sources, can I include sources that do not directly tie in with my research question?

No, all items used in your literature review should directly pertain to your research question. If you are not finding quality sources that directly pertain to your topic, you might need to revise your research focus. Always speak to your professor regarding challenges in locating appropriate source material. 

Do I have to read all of the articles? Some of them are long!

Yes. An important part of conducting a literature review is carefully reading through (and often annotating) each article used in the literature review. If you need help with this important process, we recommend reviewing the content in the How to Read Scholarly Materials Tutorial . 

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• Last Updated: Jun 13, 2023 5:15 PM
• URL: https://southern.libguides.com/literaturereview

Research Literature Reviews: Important Questions to Ask

Usually, teachers ask to prepare a literature review for research papers or some reports, but it can be a separate assignment as well. However, research literature reviews are obligatory sections in such projects as theses or dissertations.

What is the most important thing you should keep in mind when working on a research literature review?

You should remember that it is an analytical document, where you have to evaluate works of literature published on your topic, not just list and summarize them. This is exactly why two major skills you need to demonstrate while preparing research literature reviews are:

• information seeking – your ability to find and choose only relevant works;
• critical evaluation – your ability to analyze pieces of literature and pick unbiased works.

The following questions will help you analyze and choose works for your research literature review:

• Is the main problem formulated in the work clearly?
• Does the author explain the significance of this issue?
• What theoretical framework does the author use?
• Could the author approach the problem differently?
• What relevant literature does the author evaluate in his/her work?

When making your research literature review, you should be critical both to different authors, their works and to yourself. To check whether you do everything correctly, ask yourself the following questions:

• Have I defined a specific problem or question of my research?
• What type of a research literature review am I writing? Will it base on theory, methodology, etc?
• Is my information seeking stage effective? What types of sources have I found? What will I use to make my research literature review?

If necessary, check here more details about a Marketing literature review .

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Literature Review: Research Questions

• Introduction
• Types of Literature Reviews
• Research Questions
• Search the Literature
• Manage and Evaluate References
• Nursing Literature Review Search Tips

Look up Discipline Examples

Literature reviews differ throughout the academic disciplines. Look at published journal articles to become familiar with how literature reviews are presented in your discipline.

• Sample literature reviews for Communication Arts
• Sample literature reviews for Nursing 1 and 2

Also look for literature reviews in our  databases  by using the search term "literature review."

Define Your Research Question

Research questions are the beginning to all of your research processes. A research question provides focus to your searches and guides you in selecting the correct sources for your literature review. Either way, research questions:

• Must be clear and concise in order to be effective.
• Must be complex enough to require research and analysis
• Must consider key themes and elements of the assigned topic.
• Must be of interest to you - you want to learn more about the topic, not dread doing your research!

Choose a topic that is neither too broad nor too narrow so that you find too much or too little research on your topic.

• Narrow down your research question by exploring the topic online or in books and then think about what issues you want to research in your literature review. 

Narrowing down topics like this is essential to creating an effective and complex research question:

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• Last Updated: Sep 12, 2023 10:51 AM
• URL: https://library.madonna.edu/literaturereview

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Literature Reviews

• 1. What is a Literature Review?

Developing a Research Question

• Types of Reviews
• EagleSearch and Research Databases
• Search Tips and Shortcuts
• 4. Organizing Your Research
• 5. Writing a Literature Review
• Additional Resources

Western University Libraries 2:51 Discussion on developing a research question

Tips for Developing a Research Question

Research questions should:

• Be worth investigating
• Be feasible
• Be flexible
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• Last Updated: Oct 25, 2023 10:38 AM
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• Literature Reviews

Developing a Research Question

Literature reviews: developing a research question, developing a research question.

Before searching for sources, you need to formulate a Research Question — this is what you are trying to answer using the existing academic literature. The Research Question pinpoints the focus of the review .

Your first step involves choosing, exploring, and focusing a topic. At this stage you might discover that you need to tweak your topic or the scope of your research as you learn more about the topic in the literature.

THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND: 

• The question must be "researchable" — it can be answered with accessible facts and data
• Questions often start with How, Why, What, Which
• The question opens the door for other areas of inquiry — it identifies a gap in existing research
• Questions should be open-ended and focus on cause and effect

TRY TO AVOID: 

• Simple yes/no questions, or questions with an easy answer (what is the radius of the moon?)
• Questions that can only be answered by an opinion (does it smell nice when it rains?)
• Questions that involve secret information (what is the recipe for Coca-Cola?)
• Questions that are too broad or too narrow

REFINING YOUR RESEARCH QUESTION

Two examples of refining research questions that could be considered either too broad or too narrow.

Finding Example Literature Reviews

Using database filter tools.

It can be helpful to read existing literature reviews on your topic to get an idea of major themes, how authors structure their arguments, or what reviews look like in your discipline.

DOCUMENT TYPE FILTERS

Many library databases have the option to highlight just Review Articles after you perform a search. Filters above show what the Document Type filter looks like, with a "Review" option. These examples are from Scopus and ProQuest. The "Review" filter here refers to free-standing, comprehensive Review Articles on a topic, as opposed to a shorter literature review inside a scholarly article.

LIT REVIEWS INSIDE ARTICLES

It is also worth taking a look at the shorter literature reviews inside scholarly articles. These can sometimes be called "Background" or "Background Literature." Look for a section typically following the Introduction that covers the history or gives context on the paper's topic.

EXAMPLE REVIEW ARTICLES

Here are a few examples of Review Articles in different disciplines. Note sometimes an article can be a Review Article without the word "review" in the title.

• HUMANITIES — Art — "Art and Crime: Conceptualising Graffiti in the City" from the journal Geography Compass
• SCIENCES — Climate Change — "Mercury Isotopes in Earth and Environmental Sciences" from the journal Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences
• SOCIAL SCIENCES — Psychology — "Structural Competency and the Future of Firearm Research" from the journal Social Science & Medicine

Attribution

Thanks to Librarian Jamie Niehof at the University of Michigan for providing permission to reuse and remix this Literature Reviews guide.

Goldilocker Tool

UM Librarians have developed a quick tool called Goldilocker  to help beginners who are struggling to refine their Research Question. 

• Last Updated: Apr 9, 2024 3:50 PM
• URL: https://info.library.okstate.edu/literaturereviews

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Write a Literature Review

• Developing a Research Question
• Database Searching
• Documenting Your Search and Findings
• Discipline-Specific Literature Reviews

About Research Questions

A well-formulated research question:

• starts your entire search process
• provides focus for your searches
• guides the selection of literature sources

You may need to find answers to background questions (i.e. about general knowledge) before forming a research question.

Learn more about how to develop research topics into a researchable question .

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• Next: Database Searching >>
• Last Updated: Oct 16, 2023 1:53 PM
• URL: https://guides.library.vcu.edu/lit-review