You have to read the articles you find in order to accurately assess the evidence around your research question. So, be sure you read the articles you find.
A great way to take notes for a literature review is to use a synthesis matrix. Creating a spreadsheet and breaking down each article will help you see similarities and differences in your topic. Your synthesis matrix should have columns for: the article’s citation, the aim of that study, the participant sample, methods used, outcomes measured, findings, notes on the article, and 1-2 sentences that paraphrase the article/study.
| Citation | Aim | Participants | Methods | Outcomes | Findings |
Once you’ve read all of the studies and taken notes on them, here are some questions to ask so that you can begin to work on your literature review.
You can also ask yourself if the studies you included:
Your literature review as a whole should demonstrate both what scholars in your field know about your topic – and what they do not know.
After assessing the literature in your field, you should be able to answer the following questions:
| Introduction |
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| Research Question/Statement |
|
| Literature Review |
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| Conclusion |
|
There are different organizational structures you can select from in order to build the body of your literature review.
Topical/thematic: If you have found some recurring central themes that you will continue working with throughout your piece, you can organize your literature review into subsections that address different aspects of the topic, where you’ll discusses them one by one, sometimes with critiques of each. This is the most common structure.
Debate: This is organized by subtopic and there may be a chronological element. This organization emphasizes various strands of research in which proponents of various models openly criticize one another.
Chronological: This approach lists studies in terms of chronological development; it is most useful when a field shows clear development over time.
Influential study: Begins with a detailed description of one extremely important study. You will try to analyze the patterns, turning points, and key debates that have shaped the direction of the field. Give your interpretation of how and why certain developments occurred.
No matter which organizational structure you use, you’ll want to make sure you summarize and synthesize (meaning, bring different ideas together) the key findings that are relevant to your research question or topic. Here are some questions you can answer:
● What do we know about the immediate area?
● What are the key arguments, key characteristics, key concepts or key figures?
● What are the existing debates/theories?
● What common methodologies are used?
Here’s an example of a synthesis, where this reviewer is judging research validity.
In a literature review, you will also likely compare and critique articles. This will be to establish strengths and weaknesses in your field. Note that you may not recognize strengths and weaknesses until you have read widely in your subject and begin to see which studies are stronger. Here are some questions you can answer in this section:
● How do the different studies relate? What is new, different, or controversial?
● What views need further testing?
● What evidence is lacking, inconclusive, contradicting, or too limited?
● What research designs or methods seem unsatisfactory?
Here's an example of going through sources to contrast and compare:
Here is an annotated literature review that breaks down the paper into sections and offer comments.
