Literature reviews

Created: 2024-02-18 08:52:09 - Touched: 2024-12-09 15:15:05 - Status: In progress

Picking a topic

Pick a topic broad enough to have literature on it but not so broad that summarizing the conversation around it would require a textbook. Pick something relevant to the field of study. Pick something you already have some familiarity with (e.g. you studied it as a special project in undergrad).

Finding sources

Make sure there are enough resources with enough similarities and differences to provide good context for the topic. It’s often better to look at topic-specific article databases versus using something general-purpose like google scholar, at least to start. Use keyword searches with wildcards and booleans as needed. It’s sometimes better to search abstracts than titles, both because titles are sometimes clickbaity and because keywords may appear in the abstract but not the title.

If you find a solid paper, check its bibliography to find more foundational works, and look at what other papers cite it Google Scholar is actually useful for this). Try to find foundational works on the topic but also new niche innovation papers.

Consider whether it makes sense to look for peer-reviewed articles vs other sources like blogs or autoethnographies. Check title, subject headings and resource type, and add entries to a backlog for evaluation. Aim for double the number of entries you actually need, since many will be rejected.

Evaluating backlog entries

  1. Use title and subject headings as a first pass determination for whether to add them to the backlog.
  2. Pick an entry from the backlog and skim the abstract and optionally the conclusion, write a brief note of the contents, and indicate whether a full read is warranted.
  3. Assign the paper a score (1-3, 1-5, stars, whatever works)
  4. Note the number of entries in the bibliography
  5. Note the number of times this paper is cited using Google Scholar, Web of Science, SCOPUS, or JSTOR.
  6. If abstract or conclusion reference papers that sound like they might be more useful, add them to the backlog.
  7. Once all backlog entries have notes, begin deep reading entries that scored 3, taking deeper notes and relating them to other works.

Strategies for picking the next backlog entry to evaluate

Neurodivergent and other advice

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