Planning your project
The literature review is an integral part of your research project helping you to set your research question and guiding the focus of your field study.
You will be seeking existing research evidence on your topic to gain a sense of evidence available and where future research is required.
For more details on the review's position in your study, see the 'Project Planner' section in Sage Research Methods:
- SAGE Research Methods This link opens in a new windowe-books, case studies, videos and data sets supporting the development of research skills
Setting your research question
The research question is central to your literature review as it provides the focus for analysis and subsequent discussion of findings.
There are many tools which can help you to formulate a robust question, e.g. PICO, SPIDER. Examples of questions using a selection of these tools are available in the Dissertation Support guide.
- UWS Library - Dissertation SupportOur dedicated guide with help and support for each step of the dissertation process.
Your research approach
Reviews can take many forms so you need to be clear which research approach is most appropriate to your project.
Research methods texts may provide the answer. For example:
Searching the literature
What is your search strategy?
What keywords, and combinations, are most relevant?
Which types of material are you including?
What additional criteria are you using to select material?
Or are you taking an iterative approach?
See Suggested sources for potentially useful UWS, open access and other bibliographic collections.
Our series of A-Z Database guides give tips on advanced techniques. More in-depth advice is available from most databases in the 'Help' or similar menu options.
Don't forget:
- Sources you find will have reference lists that may lead you to other sources.
- The 'search history' feature within databases can help you to keep notes of the searches you have run and the number of results generated.
- Systematic literature searchingYou might be an undergraduate who wants to improve the quality of their searches, a postgraduate deciding on a dissertation topic, or a PhD student conducting a systematic literature review as part of your thesis. Or, you might be a member of staff conducting systematic search as part of your academic work, grant application, or Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) programme. This guide is your practical companion, offering insights and strategies to navigate the intricacies of systematic searching work.
Keep track of your reading
Use EndNote, or another agreed reference management tool, to keep track of all your references. You can add item notes, organise sources into groups, share with colleagues and see lists formatted automatically.
- EndNote - guidance from UWSGuidance on using EndNote 21 to store information and create references. This version is recommended for researchers and staff.
Developing your review
Academic English Now (2021) Literature review structure for a PhD thesis (3 easy steps). Available at: https://youtu.be/UAdmCX6UjUY
Analysing the quality and of your sources
Assessing the quality of evidence found in literature searches is an integral part of the review process. There are a wide range of analytical tools - or metrics - in use. Popular tools include:
- Citation analysis: how often an author's papers have been cited by others.
- h-index: a calculation of productivity as well as impact.
- journal impact factor: the ratio of the number of citations for articles appearing in a specific journal against all citations listed there over a specific period.
- PlumX: combination of 5 categories - Citations, Usage, Captures, Mentions, and Social Media - to show online interaction with specific items.
The preference of specific analysis tools or procedures varies according to academic discipline. However, the value of such tools is a growing topic of debate, as demonstrated by the articles below.
- Abramo, G., D'Angelo, C. A. and Reale, E. (2019) 'Peer review versus bibliometrics: Which method better predicts the scholarly impact of publications?', Scientometrics, 121(1), pp. 537-554.
- Brown, T. and Gutman, S. A. (2019) 'A comparison of bibliometric indicators in occupational therapy journals published in English', Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy-Revue Canadienne D Ergotherapie, 86(2), pp. 125-135.
- Langham-Putrow, A., Bakker, C. and Riegelman, A. (2021) 'Is the open access citation advantage real? A systematic review of the citation of open access and subscription-based articles', Plos One, 16(6).
- Malik, B. A. and Mushtaq, M. (2020) 'Citations in chemical engineering research: factors and their assessment', Annals of Library and Information Studies, 67(1), pp. 36-44.
- Raman, R., Singh, P., Singh, V. K., Vinuesa, R. and Nedungadi, P. (2022) 'Understanding the Bibliometric Patterns of Publications in IEEE Access', Ieee Access, 10, pp. 35561-35577.
As a result of this debate and the preference for quality evaluation and output, UWS has adopted the DORA principles.
- DORA (Declaration on Research Assessment)The San Francisco DORA agreement provides guidance to researchers and institutions to ensure use of quality factors when assessing research outputs.
Further reading
Faryadi, Q. (2018) 'PhD Thesis Writing Process: A Systematic Approach—How to Write Your Literature Review', Creative Education, 9(16), pp. 2912-2919.
Iannizzi, C., Akl, E.A.,Kahale, L.A., Dorando, E., Mosunmola Aminat, A., Barker, J.M., McKenzie, J.E., Haddaway, N.R., Piechotta, V. and Skoetz, N. (2021) 'Methods and guidance on conducting, reporting, publishing and appraising living systematic reviews: scoping review protocol. [version 1; peer review: 1 approved]', F1000 Research, 10, p. 802.
Krupinski, E.A. (2019) 'Writing Systematic Reviews of the Literature—It Really Is a Systematic Process', Journal of Digital Imaging, 32(2), pp.199-200.
Paul, J. and Criado, A.R. 2020 'The art of writing literature review: What do we know and what do we need to know?', International Business Review, 29(4), p.101717.