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What is a Literature Review?

The scholarly conversation.

A literature review provides an overview of previous research on a topic that critically evaluates, classifies, and compares what has already been published on a particular topic. It allows the author to synthesize and place into context the research and scholarly literature relevant to the topic. It helps map the different approaches to a given question and reveals patterns. It forms the foundation for the author’s subsequent research and justifies the significance of the new investigation.

A literature review can be a short introductory section of a research article or a report or policy paper that focuses on recent research. Or, in the case of dissertations, theses, and review articles, it can be an extensive review of all relevant research.

• The format is usually a bibliographic essay; sources are briefly cited within the body of the essay, with full bibliographic citations at the end.
• The introduction should define the topic and set the context for the literature review. It will include the author's perspective or point of view on the topic, how they have defined the scope of the topic (including what's not included), and how the review will be organized. It can point out overall trends, conflicts in methodology or conclusions, and gaps in the research.
• In the body of the review, the author should organize the research into major topics and subtopics. These groupings may be by subject, (e.g., globalization of clothing manufacturing), type of research (e.g., case studies), methodology (e.g., qualitative), genre, chronology, or other common characteristics. Within these groups, the author can then discuss the merits of each article and analyze and compare the importance of each article to similar ones.
• The conclusion will summarize the main findings, make clear how this review of the literature supports (or not) the research to follow, and may point the direction for further research.
• The list of references will include full citations for all of the items mentioned in the literature review.

Key Questions for a Literature Review

A literature review should try to answer questions such as

• Who are the key researchers on this topic?
• What has been the focus of the research efforts so far and what is the current status?
• How have certain studies built on prior studies? Where are the connections? Are there new interpretations of the research?
• Have there been any controversies or debate about the research? Is there consensus? Are there any contradictions?
• Which areas have been identified as needing further research? Have any pathways been suggested?
• How will your topic uniquely contribute to this body of knowledge?
• Which methodologies have researchers used and which appear to be the most productive?
• What sources of information or data were identified that might be useful to you?
• How does your particular topic fit into the larger context of what has already been done?
• How has the research that has already been done help frame your current investigation ?

Examples of Literature Reviews

Example of a literature review at the beginning of an article: Forbes, C. C., Blanchard, C. M., Mummery, W. K., & Courneya, K. S. (2015, March). Prevalence and correlates of strength exercise among breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer survivors . Oncology Nursing Forum, 42(2), 118+. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com.sonoma.idm.oclc.org/ps/i.do?p=HRCA&sw=w&u=sonomacsu&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA422059606&asid=27e45873fddc413ac1bebbc129f7649c Example of a comprehensive review of the literature: Wilson, J. L. (2016). An exploration of bullying behaviours in nursing: a review of the literature.   British Journal Of Nursing ,  25 (6), 303-306. For additional examples, see:

Galvan, J., Galvan, M., & ProQuest. (2017). Writing literature reviews: A guide for students of the social and behavioral sciences (Seventh ed.). [Electronic book]

Pan, M., & Lopez, M. (2008). Preparing literature reviews: Qualitative and quantitative approaches (3rd ed.). Glendale, CA: Pyrczak Pub. [ Q180.55.E9 P36 2008]

Useful Links

• Write a Literature Review (UCSC)
• Literature Reviews (Purdue)
• Literature Reviews: overview (UNC)
• Review of Literature (UW-Madison)

Evidence Matrix for Literature Reviews

The  Evidence Matrix  can help you  organize your research  before writing your lit review.  Use it to  identify patterns  and commonalities in the articles you have found--similar methodologies ?  common  theoretical frameworks ? It helps you make sure that all your major concepts covered. It also helps you see how your research fits into the context  of the overall topic.

• Evidence Matrix Special thanks to Dr. Cindy Stearns, SSU Sociology Dept, for permission to use this Matrix as an example.
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Mick Cooper Training and Consultancy

The Literature Review: Some Pointers

A video based on this blog filmed with Rory at Counselling Tutor

The purpose of a literature review is to bring together what is known, so far, in relation to the question(s) being asked. So, for a decent literature review, the first thing is to be really clear about its aims and the questions you are asking (see Research aims and questions: Some pointers ).

A literature review is not an essay . When people write an essay, what they generally do is to draw together various bits of theory and research to try and make one (or several) points. An essay is about constructing an argument and then justifying it. But a literature review is different. You’re not trying to make a point in it or prove something you already believe in. Rather, you’re asking a question and then trying to answer it by searching out all the relevant literature in relation to that question. If you know the answer to your question(s) before you’ve done your literature review then something is not quite right. A literature review, as with all research, should be based on answering a question you don’t know the answer to .

The Scope of a literature review

From degree level to Master’s level to doctoral level (Levels 6, 7, and 8, respectively, in the QAA Frameworks for Higher Education Qualifications ), a literature review should demonstrate a systematic understanding of some element of a particular field. In addition, from Master’s to doctoral level, this should be increasingly at the forefront of a discipline and creating original knowledge; and, at doctoral level, meriting journal publication. To achieve all this, it means that your research question(s) needs to be focused and narrow enough to allow for a systematic understanding.  If there’s too much literature on your question to know it all, your question is probably too broad—try narrowing it down.  

Ask yourself, ‘What might I feel confident in saying that I systematically understand, that I can be a leading expert on?’  If that feels way above what you can achieve, narrow your focus down until it’s really possible for you to believe you’re a leading expert in it. So, for instance, if you’re asking a question like, ‘What is the relationship between empathy and therapeutic outcomes?’ you’ll soon find out that it’s going to take a lifetime to lead expertise here: there’s hundreds of research papers on it. But the relationship between self-disclosure and therapeutic outcomes in person-centred therapy—there’s maybe a dozen or so key papers here that means that some level of leading expertise is within your grasp. 

Remember—particularly for Master’s and doctoral level—you also need to be at the forefront of a field.  Not what was talked about 20 years ago, but what is being discussed and debated now.  If you find most of your references are back in the 1980s and 1990s, think about why there’s nothing more current.  Is it that people have stopped being interested in this question?  Is it that you’ve missed the latest research?

At Master’s level, you need to demonstrate mastery of a field.  That is, not just that you know the literature, but that you can do things with it: e.g., evaluate the reliability of different sources of evidence, compare, and contrast ideas. At doctoral level, you should be able to demonstrate, not only mastery, but an ability to do things with the literature in independent and original ways: e.g., come up with new interpretations and perspectives. So at both Master’s and doctoral level, you need to be able to go beyond simply describing relevant literature or findings, towards producing a synthesised understanding of the current state of knowledge in relation to your research questions.

Be critical .  This doesn’t mean insulting or attacking specific pieces of work—e.g., ‘What a tw*t Smith (2007) is for saying…’—and it doesn’t mean finding flaws in research for the sake of it. What it means is being able to extract from the literature what is relevant to your own research question(s), and to evaluate its importance to you.  That might mean, for instance, saying that the participants in a particular study were all White, so the findings may not be generalisable to people of other ethnicities; or that the use of quantitative methods means that we don’t really understand the mechanisms of change.

It’s not the end of the world if there’s one or two or papers that you’ve missed. Everyone misses things, and your examiners/assessors are likely to understand. But try to avoid having big gaps in your review, where whole areas of literature have been overlooked. That’s where systematic reviews can really come in handy.

doing a literature review systematically

Systematic literature reviews are reviews of the literature that have a series of explicitly-stated stages. This might include specifying your search terms, reporting on your ‘hits’, and systematically analysing your findings. They also focus on answering an explicitly-stated question. Different teaching programmes have different requirements about whether a literature review should be ‘systematic’ or not but, often, it’s an indication of higher quality, robustness, and transparency. However, there’s not one form of a systematic literature review and, in general, it can be considered on a spectrum: from highly systematic reviews (including, for instance, multiple coders, see below), to reviews with some systematic elements (such as an explicitly-articulated search strategy). A literature review may also have one or more systematic sections, rather than being a systematic literature review in its entirety. For instance, you might start a literature review by exploring a particular area, identify a question that seems of importance, and then go on to conduct a systematic review of what is known in relation to that question.

Ideally, the stages of a systematic literature review are set out before you start as a written protocol. You can see an example of one here, which we developed to examine the factors that facilitated and inhibited integration in child mental health services (see published paper here ). This protocol covers such areas as:

Eligibility criteria for studies (i.e., which studies you’ll accept for review)

Study characteristics (e.g., only empirical studies, only studies of young people)

Report characteristics (e.g., only studies after 1990, only English language)

Information sources (i.e., where you’ll look for studies, see below)

Study selection procedures

Planned method of analysis

Feel free to use the headings from our protocol for your own review.

There’s a very well-established set of guidelines that set out standards and expectations for reviews (particularly quantitative ones), the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) . All the elements detailed here aren’t normally considered necessary for a Master’s or doctoral level review, but even if you don’t do a full systematic review, you may want to draw on certain parts (such as a ‘flow chart’ of the references you used, see below).

At minimum, for any kind of literature review, it is generally useful to show how you went about ensuring that you identified relevant literature in your area. For instance, you could include your search terms, and information about the databases searched, in your Appendix). Probably what’s most important is to show that your literature search, and write-up, weren’t just ad hoc. That is, that you didn’t just ‘cherry pick’ certain bits of literature, or arbitrarily select the papers from a five minute search of Google Scholar . However, you do it, you want to make it clear that you conducted a systematic, comprehensive, and meaningful review of the field: one that gave you the best chance of answering your own research question(s) to the fullest.

Generally, the best way to start finding articles for review is by setting out the different concepts within your study (for instance, as a table), and then brainstorming all the different terms that might be used to cover those concepts. For instance, if you were doing a review of research on person-centred therapy and autism, you might develop one set of terms for research (e.g., ‘empirical’, ‘study’, ‘evidence’…), one set for person-centred therapy (e.g., ‘person-centred’, ‘client-centred’, ‘client-centered’…), and one set for autism (e.g., ‘autism’, ‘asperger’s’, autistic…). To begin with, try and generate as many relevant terms as possible, and don’t forget that you want to include US-spelling as well as UK-spelling (like ‘person-centred’ and ‘person-centered’). Different search engines have different ‘wild cards’ that you can use (like * or $), which is where you specify just part of the word. For instance, if you want to search texts with ‘counselling’, ‘counsellor’, ‘counseling’, ‘counselor’, ‘counselled’, etc., you may be able to just use ‘counsel*’ (check the help sites on the specific search you are using). Importantly, you’ll also need to select the field that you want to search in. For instance, do you want to find sources with this term in the title, the abstract, or anywhere in the text—different field selections will give very different sets of results.

Below is an example of the search strategy that we used for our paper on interagency collaboration in child mental health services. You can see that we searched for terms about integration, and then also about children/young people, and mental issues. They needed to be post-1995 (and the study was conducted in 2015). The asterixes are wild cards that we used to ensure we didn’t miss terms with slightly different endings.

Example search strategy for review of integration in child mental health services

Although, ideally, this search strategy is set out before you do your search, it is inevitably going to be an iterative process: moving between testing out particular strategies, seeing how many hits you get, then revising the strategy to either broaden or narrow down the number of hits. For instance, you might start with a search that has ‘child*’ anywhere in the text, but because you get tens of thousands of hits, you revise this to require ‘child*’ to be in the title. As you start to see your hits, you may also want to include additional search terms for your concepts.

Very approximately, you want to find a search strategy that gets you, initially, something like 200 to 2000 hits. More than that becomes unmanageable. Less than that and you’re possibly missing some key articles. What you then do is to go through all the titles, or maybe the titles and abstracts, and identify just those that seem relevant to your review. Inevitably you’ll reject the majority of your hits: for instance, they might not be empirical papers, or they might use the term ‘person-centred’ to mean something entirely different from what you are looking at. That will then leave you with a smaller number of articles where you then might read through the whole paper to see if the article is relevant. Again, when you do that you’ll end up excluding a lot of your papers.

Ideally, particularly at Master’s and doctoral level, you should be keeping track of all the hits/articles you are reviewing and selecting/excluding at each stage. The ideal way to present that is through a Study flow diagram . Below is an example of such a diagram from our study of integration in child mental health services. You’ll see that there were a number of stages, and we explicitly state why we excluded certain papers. This level of detail may only be needed for doctoral or journal publishing level, but at any level you can use even a simple flow diagram to show key elements in the study selection process.

Example study flow diagram for review of integration in child mental health services

Just to add, at publishable level (and, ideally, at doctoral level), it’s good to be able to show some degree of ‘inter-rater reliability’ in the study selection process. What this means is that the selections made were not just down to the particularities of the individual researcher, but would be replicable across different researchers. The way that you do this is to have someone else (say a course colleague) do some of the selection process to, and then see how much similarity there was across selections. For instance, based on reading the full papers, what proportion of papers that you identified as eligible did a colleague also identify as eligible? If that’s less than, say, 50% or so, it suggests that there’s a lot of individual variation in what would be considered eligible for your review, and the criteria may need some tightening up.

If you know there are papers that are relevant to your review but aren’t coming up through your search strategy, that means there’s something wrong with the strategy. Have a look at why it’s not picking up those key papers and revise the strategy accordingly: if it’s missing those papers, it’s also possibly missing other papers that are important to your review. At the end of the day, saying ‘Well, I excluded Papers X and Y because they didn’t come up in my search strategy,’ isn’t enough. Your search strategy should be a tool for finding relevant texts, not the criteria, per se, of what is or is not relevant.

As well as using search engines, a key source to draw on is the reference list in the articles that you have found. Citation searches reverse that process, and can also be extremely helpful. In a citation search, you take key articles and then look at the subsequent articles that have referenced that article. That way, you find the very latest research related to that work. To do a citation search, you simply find the key article on a database and then click on the ‘citations’ link (or in Google Scholar, ‘Cited by…’). You can see this circled in red on the screenshot below:

Example ‘Cited by’ hyperlink in Google Scholar

By the end of this study selection process, you want to end up with somewhere between about five and 30-40 papers for inclusion in your review. More than that and you may well struggle to meaningfully integrate the findings. Less than that and your review is going to be more and more simply a re-statement of what the papers found. But if you’ve asked a really important, meaningful question, conducted a really thorough search, and then just found there isn’t anything out there—or only one or two studies—that can be a meaningful outcome in itself. Importantly, too, don’t take it as a sign of personal failure if you haven’t found any literature out there. The reality is, on a lot of counselling- and psychotherapy-related questions, there just isn’t much research. But identifying that can be really helpful in letting the field know areas to focus on for future.

Information sources

This may depend on the databases that your institution has access to. At minimum, you would ideally want to search Web of Science and PsychInfo , two of the principal sources for psychology-related papers. Google Scholar makes a useful addition to this: it can help you identify a different range of papers, more of the ‘grey’ literature. Don’t worry too much about your university or college library: that’s inevitably going to have a relatively limited array of books and journals.

How do I make my case?

As emphasised earlier, if you’re thinking, ‘How do I construct an argument so that I can show that I’ve got some good ideas here?’ you may be asking the wrong question for a literature review.  That’s fine for an introductory section of a thesis—showing why your question is of importance and relevance—but, as above, the aim of a literature review is to provide a balanced review of what we know so far in relation to a particular question, not to convince the reader of something.  So if the structure of your literature review goes something like, ‘Well x is really important, and so is y , and that means z is likely [and so I’m going to do some research now to show it is]’ you may need to backtrack.  Remember, ask yourself, ‘What is it that I don’t know that I am trying to find out?’  Trying to prove a point is never a great basis for a piece of research.

Format of the write-up

In most cases in the counselling and psychotherapy field, reviews will be of a qualitative nature (i.e., written up in words)—and that’s what I’ll address here. There are also reviews that mathematically combine data, known as meta-analysis . These have their own particular methods (see, for instance, Practical meta-analysis ) and are best conducted using dedicated software, such as Comprehensive Meta-analysis .

Use headings and subheadings in each of the sections to keep a clear structure to the paper, and make sure that the hierarchy of these headings is clear to the reader: i.e., make the higher level headings bigger, bolder, etc. as compared with lower order headings. Some pointers on formatting and presenting your work are available here .

You will probably want to start your literature review with a short section detailing the method by which you went about your literature search. Even if you didn’t use a systematic method throughout, it’s worth saying something of how you searched the literature, so that the reader has a sense of what you might have found—and missed.

A table of the final articles that you included in your review can be really helpful, either at the start of the review or as an appendix. Each paper can be a row, and then you can have various key features in the columns, such as the location of the study, the number of participants, key findings, etc. An example—the first few rows from our review of integration in child mental health services—is below.

Example table of studies for review of integration in child mental health services

Try to avoid ‘laundry list’ reviews: ‘stringing together sets of notes on relevant papers’ (McLeod, 1994, p.20) one after another.  For instance:

Smith (1992) found that…..

And Brown (2011) found that…

And Jones (1996) found that…

And then Patel et al. (2001) found that…

Or narrative/historical version of a laundry list review: For instance:

First, Smith (1992) found that…..

Then Jones (1996) found that…

Then Patel et al. (2001) found that…

Then Brown (2011) found that…

Remember that, particularly at Master’s and doctoral level, a literature review is not just about précising previous research in the field: providing summaries of what lots of different studies said.  It’s about drawing the research together in coherent and meaningful ways.

So wherever possible, adopt a thematic style of review.  ‘This strategy involves the identification of distinct issues or questions that run through the area of research under consideration. Thematic literature reviews enable the writer to create meaningful groupings of papers in different aspects of a topic.  This is therefore a highly flexible style of review, in which the complex nature of work in an area of area can be respected while at the same time bringing some degree of order and organisation to the material’ (McLeod, 1994, p.20).  In a thematic review, it is likely that several different sources will be cited in one paragraph.

Some research has shown A… (Jones, 1996; Smith, 1992)

But other research has shown B (Patel et al., 2001; Jones, 1996), although there are some problems with these findings (Grey et al., 1990).

More broadly, we know that Z… (White and Brown, 2001; Yellow, 2010).

And there is also some research to suggest X (Blue, 2003; Grey, 1994).

What we know so far, then, is that A seems very likely, and that is supported by Z and X, though B raises some problems about this.  

When you review the literature, you don’t need to ascribe every study equal weight and space.  Indeed, if you are, it probably suggests you’re being too descriptive and not discriminating enough.  Some of the studies you look at will be spot-on relevant to your own research, some only tangentially so.  So if you’re extracting what’s really most meaningful to your own questions, you should be taking a lot more from some sources than others.  You’re not reviewing to make all these authors feel like they’re being paid due regard.  You’re reviewing to take what you need from their work to say what we currently know in relation to your question(s).  If content isn’t relevant, leave it out.  If it’s highly relevant, say a lot about it.

A thematic approach really allows you to show a high-level, synthesised understanding.

Whenever you make claims about how things are (for instance, ‘empathy is a key factor in therapeutic outcomes’), you must always provide some reference for this.

Make sure you explicitly state somewhere, either at the end of the literature review or in your design, what the main aims/objectives of your study are, and, if relevant, your hypothesis/hypotheses.

Wherever possible, go back to the original sources and reference those, rather than ‘cited in….’  Citations never looks great—that you haven’t bothered to consult the original sources.  If you really can’t access the original source (e.g., it’s in another language, or out of publication and unavailable), that’s fine, but use citations sparingly.  And be really careful not to take references from a secondary source and cite them as if you have read them: find out what the original authors really said.

EVIDENCE or theory?

Your literature review might be of evidence in relation to a particular question: for instance, ‘How do clients experience person-centred therapy?’ Alternatively, it might be of theoretical propositions: for instance, ‘What is a relational psychodynamic theory of development?’ It could also combine evidence and theory, for instance, ‘What is the relationship between alliance and outcomes for young people?’ There’s no right or wrong here—it is entirely dependent on your question.

What is important, however, is to be clear about when you’re reviewing theory and when you’re reviewing evidence. So, when you write up your review, try not to mix up theoretical statements like, ‘Rogers hypothesised that….’ with empirical statements like, ‘Greenberg et al. found that…’ What someone thinks (even if it was Carl Rogers!), and what someone actually found, are quite separate things. So if you are covering both in your review, it may be an idea to write them up as separate sections.

Just to note, also be careful about mixing up primary studies (e.g., specific pieces of empirical research), with reviews or ‘meta-analyses’ of the field. For instance, you may find through your search strategies a number of papers which review primary studies in relation to a particular question. That’s great, but then use that review to identify the primary studies, and include or exclude those primary studies in your review, as appropriate. You could then note the reviews papers in your introduction, and say about how your review is different. Alternatively, you could do a review of reviews in a field—if there’s a logic in bringing them together and it would be redundant to replicate the review process. But, again, don’t mix that up with a review of primary studies—do one or the other, and be clear about which it is.

The 'target' approach to structuring your literature review

One way to think about structuring your literature review is like a ‘target’. Start with the evidence that is most relevant to your research question (and perhaps do a systematic review of it). Then what else might be most closely relevant? For instance, if you’re doing a study on negative experiences of young people in person-centred therapy, you’d want to start by looking comprehensively for everything on that specific question. But if there’s not much, then you could review the research on negative experiences of young people in other therapies, then negative experiences of adults in person-centred therapy. The more literature there is at the ‘bullseye’ of your target, the less you need to go broader. But if there’s really not much (and that’s fine), then broaden out to literature from which we might be able to extrapolate potential answers to your question(s).

Target approach to writing up a literature review

The ‘pyramid’ approach to structuring your literature review

Another common approach is the pyramid one, where you start with the broadest area of literature on your topic, and then narrow downwards to more specific knowledge leading on to your research question.

Pyramid approach to writing up a literature review

Ultimately, a literature review is not about showing that you are smart and know things, or that you can follow a pre-specified methodology.  It’s about drawing on all your knowledge and skills to present your best understanding of the answers to your question(s), to date. 

You are to become the master in this field. And your reader is looking to you to give them an informed, rigorous, and up to date understanding. Sometimes, the hardest bit of doing a literature review is feeling the confidence to be able to do that (see my blog on the Research mindset ). But you can, providing you choose your scope and your methods wisely.

Further reading

There are several texts on how to write a literature review, relevant to the counselling and psychotherapy field. Torgerson’s Systematic reviews is a good general introduction . 7 steps to a comprehensive literature review has been recommended to me, and there is the popular Doing a literature review in health and social care . John McLeod’s classic Doing research in counselling and psychotherapy gives some excellent guidance on reading the literature (Chapter 2).

Acknowledgements

Photo by Jakirseu, CC BY-SA 4.0

The information, materials, opinions, or other content (collectively Content) contained in this blog have been prepared for general information purposes. Whilst I’ve endeavoured to ensure the Content is current and accurate, the Content in this blog is not intended to constitute professional advice and should not be relied on or treated as a substitute for specific advice relevant to particular circumstances. That means that I am not responsible for, nor will be liable for any losses incurred as a result of anyone relying on the Content contained in this blog, on this website, or any external internet sites referenced in or linked in this blog.

MERRIMACK COLLEGE MCQUADE LIBRARY

Clinical mental health counseling.

• Get Started
• Gathering Background Information
• Find Articles
• Open Educational Resources (OER)

Writing a Literature Review (University Library, UC Santa Cruz)

"the literature" and "the review" (virginia commonwealth university).

• Evaluate Sources
• Cite Sources
• Annotated Bibliography
• Statistics & Assessment

Additional Online Resources

• How to: Literature reviews The Writing Center, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
• The Literature Review A basic overview of the literature review process. (Courtesy of Virginia Commonwealth University)
• The Process: Search, Assess, Summarize, Synthesize Getting Started: Assessing Sources/Creating a Matrix/Writing a Literature Review (Courtesy of Virginia Commonwealth University)
• Review of Literature The Writing Center @ Univeristy of Wisconsin - Madison
• Tools for Preparing Literature Reviews George Washington University
• Write a Literature Review University Library, UC Santa Cruz

1. Introduction

Not to be confused with a book review, a  literature review  surveys scholarly articles, books and other sources (e.g. dissertations, conference proceedings) relevant to a particular issue, area of research, or theory, providing a description, summary, and critical evaluation of each work. The purpose is to offer an overview of significant literature published on a topic.

2. Components

Similar to primary research, development of the literature review requires four stages:

• Problem formulation—which topic or field is being examined and what are its component issues?
• Literature search—finding materials relevant to the subject being explored
• Data evaluation—determining which literature makes a significant contribution to the understanding of the topic
• Analysis and interpretation—discussing the findings and conclusions of pertinent literature

Literature reviews should comprise the following elements:

• An overview of the subject, issue or theory under consideration, along with the objectives of the literature review
• Division of works under review into categories (e.g. those in support of a particular position, those against, and those offering alternative theses entirely)
• Explanation of how each work is similar to and how it varies from the others
• Conclusions as to which pieces are best considered in their argument, are most convincing of their opinions, and make the greatest contribution to the understanding and development of their area of research

In assessing each piece, consideration should be given to:

• Provenance—What are the author's credentials? Are the author's arguments supported by evidence (e.g. primary historical material, case studies, narratives, statistics, recent scientific findings)?
• Objectivity—Is the author's perspective even-handed or prejudicial? Is contrary data considered or is certain pertinent information ignored to prove the author's point?
• Persuasiveness—Which of the author's theses are most/least convincing?
• Value—Are the author's arguments and conclusions convincing? Does the work ultimately contribute in any significant way to an understanding of the subject?

  3. Definition and Use/Purpose

A literature review may constitute an essential chapter of a thesis or dissertation, or may be a self-contained review of writings on a subject. In either case, its purpose is to:

• Place each work in the context of its contribution to the understanding of the subject under review
• Describe the relationship of each work to the others under consideration
• Identify new ways to interpret, and shed light on any gaps in, previous research
• Resolve conflicts amongst seemingly contradictory previous studies
• Identify areas of prior scholarship to prevent duplication of effort
• Point the way forward for further research
• Place one's original work (in the case of theses or dissertations) in the context of existing literature

The literature review itself, however, does not present new  primary  scholarship.

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• Getting Started
• Literature Reviews
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• Recommended Websites

What is a Literature Review? (Video)

What is a literature review?  Find out by watching this Video:  Literature Reviews:  An Overview for Graduate Students

A literature review is a written document that:

• surveys, synthesizes, and organizes the published research on a topic
• demonstrates insight into the state of research on that topic
• clarifies the author's understanding of the topic

For a dissertation or an article written for publication, the literature review continues throughout the writing in order to include all relevant research as it is published.

Sample Literature Review

• Treatment Alternatives for Mentally Disordered Offenders: A Literature Review

Key Library Databases to Use for Literature Reviews

• Subject-specific Databases Search for articles using keywords or using the Thesaurus in PsycInfo and ERIC. Be sure to try alternative vocabulary to ensure comprehensive results.
• WorldCat.org This link opens in a new window Includes books at libraries from across the United States and around the world, not just the consortium. You can also do Interlibrary Loans through this database.
• Web of Science (WOS) This link opens in a new window Find articles by important authors in your field and follow who has cited them and other authors they have cited. This database does not include all counseling and psychology literature, so it works well in conjunction with Google Scholar.
• Dissertations and Theses Online This link opens in a new window Find dissertations on your research topic by searching for key terms in the abstracts of dissertations, or search for other dissertations from GW or from your advisor. Most dissertations have literature reviews, which can be very helpful to your own lit review. The database includes the full text of dissertations from 1997 to the present.
• Google Scholar This link opens in a new window Search for books and articles with key terms, or paste in the title of a book or article and search. Under the article or book title in the results list, click on "Cited by" to view other titles that have cited the article or book.

Books on Social Science Writing

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Literature Review Tips

• Literature Review and APA Tips

Literature Review Examples

To give you some examples of writing a literature review and an article analysis matrix to keep track of the themes of your articles, I have created a partial literature review and corresponding analysis matrix to demonstrate. My topic is the special education early intervention program called First Step to Success (FSS).

• Synthetic Writing/Literature Example (First Steps to Success)
• Article Analysis Spreadsheet Example (First Step to Success)
• Article Analysis Spreadsheet Example (First Step to Success - PDF Version)

The Process of Writing a Literature Review

Mastering synthetic writing is key to a successful literature review. Use these resources to learn how to analyze the articles you want to use for your literature review, keep track of common themes using an article analysis matrix, and how to convert the notes in the analysis matrix into a piece of synthetic writing.

Think of working on your literature review as a multi-step process:

• Identify a topic.
• Find research articles on that topic.
• Read and analyze each article. (Use the Individual Article Analysis Worksheet )
• Compare all of the themes addressed in the articles. (Use the Article Analysis Matrix )
• Use your notes from the article analysis matrix to decide how to organize your literature review (make an outline).
• Write your literature review by discussing one theme at a time--how is this theme covered in the literature?
• Your literature review will also need an introduction and a conclusion. Some students like to start with the introduction, while others find it is easier to write the introduction after they have written the body of their literature review.
• Don't forget to include References at the end of your paper (and to cite them properly within the text)!
• Individual Article Analysis Worksheet Use this to analyze each of your articles. Focus on questions #4 - #6. These will help you identify the major themes/main ideas in each article you read.
• Article Analysis Matrix After completing the Individual Article Analysis Worksheet for each of your articles, use this Article Analysis Matrix to compile all of the information you have gathered. Use the Example Article Analysis Matrix below as a guide to get started.

Synthetic Writing

A literature review is not the same as a research paper. The point of a literature review is to synthesize the research of others without making a new argument or scholarly contribution. A literature review is also not an annotated bibliography. You should not write about each study you are reviewing in turn, but instead write synthetically to highlight the current state of the literature.

Key Points to Consider:

• The purpose of a literature review is to report the current state of the topic. Literature reviewed should be relatively recent, unless you are delving into the history of the topic.
• Discuss different themes within your literature review rather than individual articles. It will help if you pull information from 2-3 articles for each theme you discuss.
• All works cited should be both in the text of the literature review and the bibliography
• Avoid passive voice (ex: It was found that...); Use active voice ("Smith (2013) reported that...")
• Report what the literature says, not what you think

Writing Your Literature Review

The sites below offer a range of considerations and steps for writing the literature review.

• Learn How to Write a Review of Literature From the University of Wisconsin-Madison Writing Center.
• Literature Reviews From the UNC Chapel Hill Writing Center.
• Literature Review From the University of Houston-Victoria, Texas.
• The Literature Review: A Few Tips on Conducting It From the University of Toronto Health Sciences Writing Centre.
• Writing Literature Reviews From the Temple University Writing Center.
• Getting Started on Your Literature Review From the University of New South Wales Learning Centre.
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Literature Review Overview

A literature review involves both the literature searching and the writing. The purpose of the literature search is to:

• reveal existing knowledge
• identify areas of consensus and debate
• identify gaps in knowledge
• identify approaches to research design and methodology
• identify other researchers with similar interests
• clarify your future directions for research

List above from Conducting A Literature Search , Information Research Methods and Systems, Penn State University Libraries

A literature review provides an evaluative review and documentation of what has been published by scholars and researchers on a given topic. In reviewing the published literature, the aim is to explain what ideas and knowledge have been gained and shared to date (i.e., hypotheses tested, scientific methods used, results and conclusions), the weakness and strengths of these previous works, and to identify remaining research questions: A literature review provides the context for your research, making clear why your topic deserves further investigation.

Before You Search

• Select and understand your research topic and question.
• Identify the major concepts in your topic and question.
• Brainstorm potential keywords/terms that correspond to those concepts.
• Identify alternative keywords/terms (narrower, broader, or related) to use if your first set of keywords do not work.
• Determine (Boolean*) relationships between terms.
• Begin your search.
• Review your search results.
• Revise & refine your search based on the initial findings.

*Boolean logic provides three ways search terms/phrases can be combined, using the following three operators: AND, OR, and NOT.

Search Process

The type of information you want to find and the practices of your discipline(s) drive the types of sources you seek and where you search.

For most research you will use multiple source types. Depending on your discipline(s), sources of interest may include: annotated bibliographies; articles from journals, magazines, and newspapers; books; blogs; conference papers; data sets; dissertations; organization, company, or government reports; reference materials; systematic reviews; archival materials; curriculum materials; and more. It can be helpful to develop a comprehensive approach to the types of sources you need and where you will search for each kind. Below are some steps you might include in your approach.

Utilize Current Awareness Services  Identify and browse current issues of the most relevant journals for your topic; Setup email alerts, e.g., Journal Table of Contents, Saved Searches

Consult Experts   Identify and search for the publications of or contact counselors, educators, scholars, librarians, employees etc. at relevant organizations, agencies, and practices

• Annual Reviews and Bibliographies   e.g., Annual Review of Developmental Psychology
• Internet   e.g., Discussion Groups, Listservs, Blogs, social networking sites
• Grant Databases   e.g., Foundation Directory Online, Grants.gov
• Conference Proceedings and Abstracts  e.g., American Educational Research Association Online Paper Repository, American School Counselor Association Annual Conference Schedule
• Newspaper Indexes   e.g., Access World News, Ethnic NewsWatch
• Journal Indexes/Databases and EJournal Packages   e.g., Wiley Online Library
• Citation Indexes   e.g., PsycINFO, ERIC (Education Resources Information Center)
• Specialized Data   e.g., The National Institute of Mental Health Information Resource Center
• Book Catalogs   e.g., local library catalog or discovery search, WorldCat
• Library Web Scale Discovery Service  e.g., OneSearch
• Web Search Engines
• Digital Collections   e.g., Archives & Special Collections Digital Collections, Digital Public Library of America
• Videos   e.g., Counseling and Therapy in Video (streaming database)
• Associations/Community groups/Institutions/Organizations   e.g., American Counseling Association, Montana Office of Public Instruction

Remember there is no one portal for all information!

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Literature Review

What is a literature review?  

A literature is a paper that reviews and discusses the research in a particular subject area on a particular topic within a distinct time period.  For example, reviewing the long-term effects of divorce on children and reviewing the research from 2010-2020.  As researchers, literature reviews are useful resources to look at the works on a topic in a field and can provide background information.  Knowing what is available in the field, where there may be gaps, and the credibility of the authors can help us start our own research.  

Unlike, a research paper where you are developing a thesis and argument, a literature review serves as a summary of the available research and arguments already existing on a topic.  Think synthesis and summary for literature reviews.  

This website from UNC Writing Center has additional information on  strategies for writing a literature review .

Literature Review Example

• Pulling the Trigger: A Systematic Literature Review of Trigger Warnings as a Strategy for Reducing Traumatization in Higher Education

APA Style Guide

• Reference Examples: APA Style Website

Citing Personal Communications--Emails, Interviews, Lectures, etc. in APA Format

Emails, letters, memos, telephone conversations, lectures, course materials handed out in class or provided via Blackboard, and personal interviews are considered personal communications in APA. This type of communication can be difficult to provide recoverable data; therefore, these types of communication are not included in the Reference list. Cite personal communications within the body of your paper only.  Information on citing communications .  

In an interview, Sally Shoefeld explained the treatment for an accident victim (personal communication, December 18, 2023).

Note: For more information about interviews, https://apastyle.apa.org/learn/faqs/cite-interview 

Writing an Op-ED

Resources for Writing in Social Psychology

• Columbia University Earth Institute's: Writing and Submitting an Opinion Piece - A guide
• Duke University: Writing Effective Op-Eds
• How to Write an OpED Here’s advice on how to write an op-ed with impact.
• The New Yorker: HellHole
• Wrong Way to Fight Fat
• Psychgeist Media

Campell University Writing Center

• Campbell University Writing Center Location: 3rd floor Wiggins Library Bring any paper for any course and a trained Writing Coach will review and offer suggestions for improvement. The Writing Center is not a proofreading service, but will help you improve your writing and develop a stronger paper.

Instructional Pedagogy and Curriculum Materials Librarian

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• Journals, Databases and Critical Thinking

What is a literature review?

Choosing a topic, developing your search strategy, carrying out your search, saving and documenting your search, formulating a research question, critical appraisal tools.

• Go to LibrarySearch This link opens in a new window

So you have been asked to complete a literature review, but what is a literature review?

A literature review is a piece of research which aims to address a specific research question. It is a comprehensive summary and analysis of existing literature. The literature itself should be the main topic of discussion in your review. You want the results and themes to speak for themselves to avoid any bias.

The first step is to decide on a topic. Here are some elements to consider when deciding upon a topic:

• Choose a topic which you are interested in, you will be looking at a lot of research surrounding that area so you want to ensure it is something that interests you. 
• Draw on your own experiences, think about your placement or your workplace.
• Think about why the topic is worth investigating.  

Once you have decided on a topic, it is a good practice to carry out an initial scoping search.

This requires you to do a quick search using  LibrarySearch  or  Google Scholar  to ensure that there is research on your topic. This is a preliminary step to your search to check what literature is available before deciding on your question. 

The research question framework elements can also be used as keywords.

• Think about who the population/ sample group. Are you looking for a particular age group, ethnicity, cultural background, gender, health issue etc.
• What is the intervention/issue you want to know more about? This could be a particular type of medication, education, therapeutic technique etc. 
• Do you have a particular context in mind? This could relate to a community setting, hospital, ward etc. 

It is important to remember that databases will only ever search for the exact term you put in, so don't panic if you are not getting the results you hoped for. Think about alternative words that could be used for each keyword to build upon your search. 

Build your search by thinking about about synonyms, specialist language, spellings, acronyms, abbreviations for each keyword that you have.

Inclusion & Exclusion Criteria

Your inclusion and exclusion criteria is also an important step in the literature review process. It allows you to be transparent in how you have  ended up with your final articles. 

Your inclusion/exclusion criteria is completely dependent on your chosen topic. Use your inclusion and exclusion criteria to select your articles, it is important not to cherry pick but to have a reason as to why you have selected that particular article. 

• Search Planning Template Use this template to plan your search strategy.

Once you have thought about your keywords and alternative keywords, it is time to think about how to combine them to form your search strategy. Boolean operators instruct the database how your terms should interact with one another. 

Boolean Operators

• OR can be used to combine your keywords and alternative terms. For example "Social Media OR Twitter". When using OR we are informing the database to bring articles continuing either of those terms as they are both relevant so we don't mind which appears in our article. 
• AND can be used to combine two or more concepts. For example "Social Media AND Anxiety". When using AND we are informing the database that we need both of the terms in our article in order for it to be relevant.
• Truncation can be used when there are multiple possible word endings. For example Nurs* will find Nurse, Nurses and Nursing. 
• Double quotation marks can be used to allow for phrase searching. This means that if you have two or more words that belong together as a phrase the database will search for that exact phrase rather than words separately.  For example "Social Media"

Don't forget the more ORs you use the broader your search becomes, the more ANDs you use the narrower your search becomes. 

One of the databases you will be using is EBSCOHost Research Databases. This is a platform which searches through multiple databases so allows for a comprehensive search. The short video below covers how to access and use EBSCO. 

A reference management software will save you a lot of time especially when you are looking at lots of different articles. 

We provide support for EndNote and Mendeley. The video below covers how to install and use Mendeley. 

Consider using a research question framework. A framework will ensure that your question is specific and answerable.

There are different frameworks available depending on what type of research you are interested in.

Population - Who is the question focussed on? This could relate to staff, patients, an age group, an ethnicity etc.

Intervention - What is the question focussed on? This could be a certain type of medication, therapeutic technique etc. 

Comparison/Context - This may be with our without the intervention or it may be concerned with the context for example where is the setting of your question? The hospital, ward, community etc?

Outcome - What do you hope to accomplish or improve etc.

Sample - as this is qualitative research sample is preferred over patient so that it is not generalised. 

Phenomenon of Interest - reasons for behaviour, attitudes, beliefs and decisions.

Design - the form of research used. 

Evaluation - the outcomes.

Research type -qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods.  

All frameworks help you to be specific, but don't worry if your question doesn't fit exactly into a framework. 

There are many critical appraisal tools or books you can use to assess the credibility of a research paper but these are a few we would recommend in the library. Your tutor may be able to advise you of others or some that are more suitable for your topic.

Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP)

CASP is a well-known critical appraisal website that has checklists for a wide variety of study types. You will see it frequently used by practitioners.

Understanding Health Research

This is a brand-new, interactive resource that guides you through appraising a research paper, highlighting key areas you should consider when appraising evidence.

Greenhalgh, T. (2014) How to read a paper: The basics of evidence-based medicine . 5 th edn. Chichester: Wiley

Greenhalgh’s book is a classic in critical appraisal. Whilst you don’t need to read this book cover-to-cover, it can be useful to refer to its specific chapters on how to assess different types of research papers. We have copies available in the library!

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Counseling: Literature Reviews

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Introduction to Literature Reviews

Graduate research methods courses commonly require either a research proposal or an applied research project.  In either case, a major component of the assignment, and your grade, will be a review of the existing literature on your topic, including empirical research studies.  This guide offers an overview of literature reviews and features library resources and services that will help you be successful.

Because literature reviews differ significantly from a standard research paper or annotated bibliography, it helps a lot to gain a basic understanding of what a literature review is.  The resources below can help.

This short video used with permission from North Carolina State University Libraries offers an overview of literature review assignments.

• Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL)--Guide to APA Extensive resource for citing and formatting in APA. The resource is easy to navigate and offers examples of citations and paper formatting to help.
• Using EndNote Basic by Cara Barker Last Updated Dec 17, 2018 27 views this year

EndNote Basic, formerly EndNote Online (or Web), is a free online service that allows you to store, share and organize your citations so that you can access them from any computer. By installing the Microsoft Word plugin, you can cite references from your library and automatically create your bibliography as you write.

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Zotero (pronounced "zoh-TAIR-oh") is a Firefox add-on that collects, manages, and cites research sources. It's easy to use, lives in your web browser where you do your work, and best of all it's free. Zotero allows you to attach PDFs, notes and images to your citations, organize them into collections for different projects, and create bibliographies. It automatically updates itself periodically to work with new online sources and new bibliographic styles.

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As part of your thesis or capstone, you may be asked to write a literature review. A literature review is an opportunity for you to critically analyze previous research and figure out larger themes and conversations.

• Writing a Literature Review Tips for how to write a literature review

Example of a Literature Review

A Review of the Literature on Indigenous Archival Practices 

Introduction 

Since the 1970s, North American indigenous populations have demanded a reform of western-based archiving systems. Beginning with the rise of the “right to know” movement in the late 1970s (Carbone et al., 2021; O’Neal, 2015), indigenous grassroots organizations have demanded that archival material be moved from government archives to local ones. These activist groups have also demanded sovereignty over their archives and documents, challenging the white narrative of colonialism and imperialism (Carbone et al., 2021; O’Neal, 2015; Reyes-Escudero & Cox, 2017). In 1990, the United States government passed the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, which authorized and promoted the return of indigenous materials to their communities. This led to the rise of indigenous archives, particularly since 2010 (O’Neal 2015; Herther, 2019). While these movements have established indigenous archives and archival practices, much work needs to be done. 

Recent literature on indigenous archival practices points to two themes. First is how the archives influence cultural identity and memory (Catania, 2019; Ghaddar, 2016; Karuk Tribe et al., 2017; McCracken, 2015; O’Neal, 2015). Second is the need for community participation in developing archives or changing archiving practices, giving them a level of sovereignty and ownership (Duarte & Belarde-Lewis, 2015; Herther, 2019; Karuk Tribe et al., 2017; Reyes-Escudero & Cox, 2017). These two themes are ultimately interrelated as indigenous persons attempt to continue to disrupt the practices of colonization that continue to plague the western archiving system.  

Cultural Identity and Memory 

It is a truth, recently acknowledged, that the history of colonization often focuses on the western, white perspective, erasing and eradicating indigenous voices and perspectives (Catania, 2019; McCracken, 2015). Archives play an important role in establishing this cultural memory, and influencing a cultural identity that focuses on white supposed superiority (Catania, 2019; Ghaddar, 2016; Karuk Tribe et al., 2017; O’Neal, 2015). This narrative negates the violence and trauma of colonization (Ghaddar, 2016; O’Neal, 2015). As Ghaddar (2016) notes “the incorporation of records by or about Indigenous people into the national settler archival repository has been crucial for the constitution of a settler historical archival memory (at the expense of an Indigenous one)” (pg. 5). The goal of indigenous archival practices is thus to challenge this white dominance of cultural identity and memory.  

 In destabilizing the colonial narrative, much of the literature suggests that a new definition of information is needed, one which challenges the Enlightenment emphasis on the written word (Catania, 2019; Duarte & Belarde-Lewis, 2015; Karuk Tribe et al., 2017).  Oral traditions need to be taken into consideration when developing new ideas of information (Catania, 2019; Karuk Tribe et al., 2017). For other collections, physical items must be included, although they need to be contextualized in order to illustrate their cultural heritage and significance (Johnson et al., 2005). 

Literature on indigenous archives also notes that classification systems reflect western white values (Duarte & Belarde-Lewis, 2015; Hurley et al., 2017; McCracken, 2015). There has been a push towards developing a new classification system that reflects indigenous values and indigenous ideas of knowledge, such as the Brian Deer Classification System (Duarte & Belarde-Lewis, 2015; Hurley et al., 2017). Another suggestion is that collections are arranged thematically (McCracken, 2015). No matter how archives are classified, Duarte & Belarde-Lewis (2015) argue that indigenous communities must be involved in imagining, designing, and implementing systems that reflect their unique needs and values.  

In dealing with cultural identity and memory, the literature often falls short on practical concerns. There is no specific plan on how to challenge the white narrative, particularly when many of these archival collections are being moved from public institutions to private ones. Indeed, many case studies have emphasized that indigenous communities are wary to allow outside researchers access to their materials (Duarte & Belarde-Lewis, 2015; Hurley et al., 2017; Karak Tribe et al. 2017; McCracken, 2015; O’Neal, 2015). Historically, many of these collections were held by the government, who limited indigenous access and control (McCracken, 2015; O’Neal, 2015). In gaining control over their collections, indigenous communities hope to promote their sovereignty by limiting access to their collections (Duarte & Belarde-Lewis, 2015; Karak Tribe et al. 2017). One solution is the rise of indigenous researchers, who will continue to do the needed research that challenges the colonial narrative (O’Neal 2015; Herther, 2019). However, that suggestion does not fully address national cultural memories that continue to promote white narratives.  

Community Participation and Archival Practices 

Another theme in the literature that challenges the remnants of colonization in the archives is to use communities in establishing archiving policies, particularly those regarding preservation and conservation. In allowing the community to participate within the development of these policies, indigenous communities will start to gain sovereignty over their archival material (Carbone et al., 2021; Duarte & Belarde-Lewis, 2015; Karuk Tribe et al., 2017; McCracken, 2015; O’Neal, 2015). However, if collections are held outside of the community, there must be ethical stewardship (Karuk Tribe et al., 2017; Reyes-Escudero & Cox, 2017). The literature argues that indigenous archival practices must a) respect indigenous culture and tradition and b) highlight indigenous voices (Duarte & Belarde-Lewis, 2015; Herther, 2019).  

One idea for indigenous archival collections and stewardship that respects indigenous culture is the use of digitization and digital archives (Duarte & Belarde-Lewis, 2015; Herther, 2019). This practice would allow the local communities to preserve material goods in ways that reflect their cultural heritage, while still providing access to these items. Moreover, digital collections would control who has access to these items, allowing the indigenous communities sovereignty over their heritage. 

While the literature addresses the importance of working with the local communities, being adaptable to community needs (Carbone et al., 2021; Hurley et al., 2017; Johnson et al., 2005; McCracken, 2015), it does not address the complexities of such projects. The literature often does not address diversity within the local indigenous communities. Of the literature surveyed, only Catania (2019) discusses the need to balance the needs of various persons, being careful to avoid a power structure. Each person comes with their own unique background and values, which could disrupt the process of archival preservation and conservation.  

Another unanswered question is that of sustainability. Unless associated with a federal archive, community indigenous archives face funding concerns (McCracken, 2015; O’Neal, 2015). Moreover, there is no set standardization for the conservation and preservation of indigenous items, leading to scrutiny over how well these materials are being preserved (Johnson et al., 2005; McCracken, 2015; O’Neal, 2015). McCracken’s (2015) study on materials relating to the Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre illustrates how local communities gained control of the previously held government resources on the school. However, the program was community driven with little funding or training. Thus, the question remains as to whether these projects can continue long-term. 

Conclusion 

Indigenous archiving practices are continuing to develop. Research on this topic emphasizes the importance of community involvement in order to challenge the white cultural narrative that continues to haunt North America. However, within this research, there are several questions that are left unanswered. While promoting indigenous sovereignty is important, the literature does not address how limiting access to these collections will overturn the colonial narrative. There are also concerns about how these community activities will be sustained and maintained in the midst of limited funding and training. Unfortunately, these questions remain unanswered and demand further scrutiny.  

References 

Carbone, K., Gilliland, A. J., Montenegro, M., Lowry, J., & Sutherland, T. (2021). Rights in and to records and recordkeeping: Fighting bureaucratic violence through a human rights-centered approach to the creation, management and dissemination of documentation. Education for Information, 37(1), 3–26.  

Catania, A. (2019). Re-conceptualizing Oral Culture Collections and Archival Practices. Provenance: The Journal of the Society of Georgia Archivists, 35(2), 45–70. 

Duarte, M. E., & Belarde-Lewis, M. (2015). Imagining: Creating Spaces for Indigenous Ontologies. Cataloging & Classification Quarterly, 53(5/6), 677–702.  

Ghaddar, J. J. (2016). The Spectre in the Archive: Truth, Reconciliation, and Indigenous Archival Memory. Archivaria, 82, 3–26. 

Herther, N.K. (2019). Digitization Provides Access to Native American Archives. Information Today, 36(1), 18–20. 

Hurley, D. A., Kostelecky, S. R., & Aguilar, P. (2017). Whose Knowledge? Representing Indigenous Realities in Library and Archival Collections. Collection Management, 42(3/4), 124–129. https://doi.org/10.1080/01462679.2017.1392805  

Johnson, J. S., Heald, S., McHugh, K., Brown, E., & Kaminitz, M. (2005). Practical Aspects of Consultation with Communities. Journal of the American Institute for Conservation, 44(3), 203–215. https://doi.org/10.1179/019713605806082284 

Karuk Tribe, Hillman, L., Hillman, L., McLaughlin, A., Harling, A. R. S., & Talley, B. (2017). Building Sípnuuk: A Digital Library, Archives, and Museum for Indigenous Peoples. Collection Management, 42(3/4), 294–316.  

McCracken, K. (2015). Community Archival Practice: Indigenous Grassroots Collaboration at the Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre. American Archivist, 78(1), 181–191.  

O'Neal, J. R. (2015). 'The Right to Know': Decolonizing Native American Archives. Journal of Western Archives: Vol. 6 : Iss. 1 , Article 2 

Reyes-Escudero, V., & Cox, J. W. (2017). Survey, Understanding, and Ethical Stewardship of Indigenous Collections: A Case Study. Collection Management, 42(3/4),  

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Academic writing is a formal writing style used by academics to convey ideas and engage in scholarly conversations.  This writing style has an impersonal tone, provides evidence to support viewpoints, and has standards for layout and citations. 

• you don't use contractions (e.g. can't, don't)
• you don't use slang or informal language (e.g. cool, stuff)
• Instead of "I think climate change....," just state your opinion, "Climate change ..."
• you support your opinion with research, not personal examples.
• Instead of "If you want to succeed, you should..." use something like, "Following this process will increase one's chance of success."
• you avoid overly emotional language - one may appear irrational.
• you don't over generalizations (e.g. all, everyone, everybody)
• you don't use statistics or the ideas of others without proper reference.

Purdue OWL the Purdue University Online Writing Lab is a great resource for information about writing and citing in the APA format. 

Access the  APA Formatting and Style (7th ed) in an online format.

• APA Word Template Download and open this file in Word. This template contains the styles you need to format your paper according to APA 6.0.

You may also find an APA style paper when you start a new document and select "New from Template."  

... or set up Word without using a template.

• Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab) Additional information about APA style for writing, citing, and bibliographic references.

From SimplyPsychology: How to synthesize written information from multiple sources.

In this web article you will find an example and 4 recommended steps to follow.

Lit Review 101  - Virginia Commonwealth University - Including a Word and Excel synthesis matrix

• Visualizing "the literature" and "the review"

How to write a literature review in the Sciences - Monash University

• Introduction to Literature Reviews

Article in PLOS Computational Biology

• 10 simple rules for writing literature reviews  by Marco Pautasso

Machi, L. A., & McEvoy, B. T. (2009). The literature review: Six steps to success. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, p.2.

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Literature review overview.

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There are eight general steps in conducting an education literature review. Please follow the eight numbered boxes, starting below.

Please note that the general framework for this guide is derived from the work of Joyce P. Gall, M.D. Gall, and Walter R. Borg in Applying Educational Research: a Practical Guide (5th ed., 2005). Also, much of the information on framing the research question comes from Emily Grimm's Selected Reference Sources for Graduate Students in Education and Education Related Areas (1995).

Step 1: Frame Your Research Question(s)

Basic Questions

• What do I want to know?  For what purpose? Consider subject terms, synonyms, related concepts and approaches.
• What do I know already?
• Who else might have performed similar research and why? Consider individuals, institutions, governmental agencies and other groups.
• What summarizing or descriptive information is already available? Consider the secondary sources found below.

Time Questions

• For which time span(s) do I need information?
• Would recurrent or temporal events in education affect my research?  For example: school terms, budget hearings, conference proceedings, legislative sessions, policy decisions, elections, administrative procedural changes.

Limitation(s) Questions

• Do I have other limitations?  For example:  language, age group, grade level, type of student, type of school, type of district, geography, curricular area, or style of teaching.

Aspect Questions

• What aspects of education interest me?  For example:  financial, administrative, teaching, legislative, gender, parental, theoretical, research, developmental, practical or other.

Subjective Aspect Questions

• What are my values, prejudices, biases, and areas of ignorance in regard to my research question(s)?
• Will I let these prejudices limit my research?
• Will I let these prejudices influence my note taking, choice of vocabulary and indexing terms, selection of data, evaluations of the work of other researchers, inclusion of conflicting theories, reporting of data, or my conclusions?

Step 2: Contact Experts to Get Answers or for Guidance to Relevant Publications

Consider consulting other educators, faculty or government officials who may specialize in your research area.

Step 3: Read Secondary Sources to Gain a Broad Overview of the Literature Related to Your Research Area

Use secondary sources to further define your research question and to expand your literature search.  Secondary sources include encyclopedias, handbooks, dictionaries, and thesauri. Secondary sources are resources that review research that others have done.  They provide a general overview, will give you ideas for key search terms, and often include useful bibliographies for further reading.

Here are some key secondary sources and books on doing health promotion and education research:

Step 4: Select Preliminary Sources that Index Relevant Research Literature

Preliminary sources index primary research resources such as journal articles, conference proceeding papers, technical reports, government documents, dissertations and more.  The CECH Library has created several specialized library guides on topics such as special education, instructional design & technology, and teaching STEM related topics that list which resources are most helpful for doing research in these areas. See below for key databases in education:

• Behavior Research and Therapy
• Counseling and Values
• Counseling Psychologist
• Counselor Education and Supervision
• Journal of Addictions & Offender Counseling
• Journal of Counseling Psychology
• Journal of Counselor Leadership and Advocacy
• Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development
• Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development
• Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin

Step 5: Identify Subject Terms, or Descriptors, and Use Them to Search Preliminary Sources

Choosing the most appropriate subject search terms, or descriptors, for searching indexes and catalogs can greatly influence your search results.

• Counseling in Elementary Education
• Counseling in Middle School Education
• Counseling in Higher Education
• Counseling in Secondary Education
• Mental Health Counselors

Step 6: Read and Evaluate Primary Sources Discovered Through Indexes

For assistance in obtaining copies of primary sources, please consult online tutorials from UC Libraries .

As you print out copies of articles, review copies of books or reports, remember to look in the sources for bibliographies, names of individuals or groups who have done research on the topic, and for additional subject terms to help you narrow or broaden your research.

Step 7: Classify the Publications You Have Reviewed into Meaningful Categories

As you review the sources you find, classify them into meaningful categories.  This will help you prioritize reading them and may indicate useful ways to synthesize what you discover.  You may want to create a simple code for the different categories.

Step 8: Prepare Your Literature Review Report

See the following resources for advice on preparing a literature review report:

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Guidance and Counselling Guide: Literature Reviews

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Writing the Literature Review (Part 1)

Writing the Literature Review (Part 2)

Writing a literature review

Your Liaison Librarian will be able to provide support and advice when you are doing your literature review, so make an appointment with your librarian when you start your research.

• Liaison Librarians
• Literature review template
• The Literature Review Library Guide

Literature review books @ JCU Library

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• Thesis Statement

A literature review is an account of what has been published on a topic by accredited scholars and researchers. Occasionally you will be asked to write one as a separate assignment (sometimes in the form of an annotated bibliography —see the bottom of the next tab), but more often it is part of the introduction to an essay, research report, or thesis.

In writing the literature review, your purpose is to convey to your reader what knowledge and ideas have been established on a topic, and what their strengths and weaknesses are. As a piece of writing, the literature review must be defined by a guiding concept (e.g., your research objective, the problem or issue you are discussing, or your argumentative thesis). It is not just a descriptive list of the material available, or a set of summaries ( University of Toronto ) . 

• Literature Reviews: An Overview for Graduate Students From North Carolina State University Libraries
• The Literature Review: A Few Tips On Conducting It For an in-depth description on how to conduct a literature review, please see this University of Toronto's site from which the above was taken.
• Writing the Literature Review: Step-by-Step Tutorial (parts 1, 2, & 3) This three-part video on the Literature Review by David White of the University of Maryland, gives short simple instructions on the conduct and writing of a Literature Review
• Write a Literature Review: Lit Review 101 From Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries
• Literature Reviews This handout will explain what literature reviews are and offer insights into the form and construction of literature reviews in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. - From Writing Center at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

The Thesis statement is a sentence that summarizes the main point of your paper and previews your supporting points. The thesis statement is important because it guides your readers from the beginning of your essay by telling them the main idea and supporting points of your essay ( Pudue OWL, Developing a Thesis ) .

• Purdue OWL: Developing a Thesis : An in-depth explanation of a Thesis Statement
• Purdue Owl: Developing Strong Thesis Statements : Information on Developing Strong Thesis Statements
• Writing Tips: Thesis Statements From the UIUC, Center for Writing Studies
• The Writer's handbook: Developing a thesis statement From the University of Wisconsin, Madison, the Writing Center
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Guide to Thematic Analysis

• Abductive Thematic Analysis
• Collaborative Thematic Analysis
• Deductive Thematic Analysis
• How to Do Thematic Analysis
• Inductive Thematic Analysis
• Reflexive Thematic Analysis
• Advantages of Thematic Analysis
• Thematic Analysis for Case Studies
• Thematic Coding
• Disadvantages of Thematic Analysis
• Thematic Analysis in Educational Research
• Thematic Analysis Examples
• Thematic Analysis for Focus Groups
• Thematic Analysis vs. Grounded Theory
• What is Thematic Analysis?
• Increasing Rigor in Thematic Analysis
• Thematic Analysis for Interviews
• Introduction

What is a thematic literature review?

Advantages of a thematic literature review, structuring and writing a thematic literature review.

• Thematic Analysis in Mixed Methods Approach
• Thematic Analysis in Observations
• Peer Review in Thematic Analysis
• How to Present Thematic Analysis Results
• Thematic Analysis in Psychology
• Thematic Analysis of Secondary Data
• Thematic Analysis in Social Work
• Thematic Analysis Software
• Thematic Analysis in Surveys
• Thematic Analysis in UX Research
• Thematic vs. Content Analysis
• Thematic Analysis vs. Discourse Analysis
• Thematic Analysis vs. Framework Analysis
• Thematic Analysis vs. Narrative Analysis
• Thematic Analysis vs. Phenomenology

Thematic Analysis Literature Review

A thematic literature review serves as a critical tool for synthesizing research findings within a specific subject area. By categorizing existing literature into themes, this method offers a structured approach to identify and analyze patterns and trends across studies. The primary goal is to provide a clear and concise overview that aids scholars and practitioners in understanding the key discussions and developments within a field. Unlike traditional literature reviews , which may adopt a chronological approach or focus on individual studies, a thematic literature review emphasizes the aggregation of findings through key themes and thematic connections. This introduction sets the stage for a detailed examination of what constitutes a thematic literature review, its benefits, and guidance on effectively structuring and writing one.

A thematic literature review methodically organizes and examines a body of literature by identifying, analyzing, and reporting themes found within texts such as journal articles, conference proceedings, dissertations, and other forms of academic writing. While a particular journal article may offer some specific insight, a synthesis of knowledge through a literature review can provide a comprehensive overview of theories across relevant sources in a particular field.

Unlike other review types that might organize literature chronologically or by methodology , a thematic review focuses on recurring themes or patterns across a collection of works. This approach enables researchers to draw together previous research to synthesize findings from different research contexts and methodologies, highlighting the overarching trends and insights within a field.

At its core, a thematic approach to a literature review research project involves several key steps. Initially, it requires the comprehensive collection of relevant literature that aligns with the review's research question or objectives. Following this, the process entails a meticulous analysis of the texts to identify common themes that emerge across the studies. These themes are not pre-defined but are discovered through a careful reading and synthesis of the literature.

The thematic analysis process is iterative, often involving the refinement of themes as the review progresses. It allows for the integration of a broad range of literature, facilitating a multidimensional understanding of the research topic. By organizing literature thematically, the review illuminates how various studies contribute to each theme, providing insights into the depth and breadth of research in the area.

A thematic literature review thus serves as a foundational element in research, offering a nuanced and comprehensive perspective on a topic. It not only aids in identifying gaps in the existing literature but also guides future research directions by underscoring areas that warrant further investigation. Ultimately, a thematic literature review empowers researchers to construct a coherent narrative that weaves together disparate studies into a unified analysis.

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Conducting a literature review thematically provides a comprehensive and nuanced synthesis of research findings, distinguishing it from other types of literature reviews. Its structured approach not only facilitates a deeper understanding of the subject area but also enhances the clarity and relevance of the review. Here are three significant advantages of employing a thematic analysis in literature reviews.

Enhanced understanding of the research field

Thematic literature reviews allow for a detailed exploration of the research landscape, presenting themes that capture the essence of the subject area. By identifying and analyzing these themes, reviewers can construct a narrative that reflects the complexity and multifaceted nature of the field.

This process aids in uncovering underlying patterns and relationships, offering a more profound and insightful examination of the literature. As a result, readers gain an enriched understanding of the key concepts, debates, and evolutionary trajectories within the research area.

Identification of research gaps and trends

One of the pivotal benefits of a thematic literature review is its ability to highlight gaps in the existing body of research. By systematically organizing the literature into themes, reviewers can pinpoint areas that are under-explored or warrant further investigation.

Additionally, this method can reveal emerging trends and shifts in research focus, guiding scholars toward promising areas for future study. The thematic structure thus serves as a roadmap, directing researchers toward uncharted territories and new research questions .

Facilitates comparative analysis and integration of findings

A thematic literature review excels in synthesizing findings from diverse studies, enabling a coherent and integrated overview. By concentrating on themes rather than individual studies, the review can draw comparisons and contrasts across different research contexts and methodologies . This comparative analysis enriches the review, offering a panoramic view of the field that acknowledges both consensus and divergence among researchers.

Moreover, the thematic framework supports the integration of findings, presenting a unified and comprehensive portrayal of the research area. Such integration is invaluable for scholars seeking to navigate the extensive body of literature and extract pertinent insights relevant to their own research questions or objectives.

The process of structuring and writing a thematic literature review is pivotal in presenting research in a clear, coherent, and impactful manner. This review type necessitates a methodical approach to not only unearth and categorize key themes but also to articulate them in a manner that is both accessible and informative to the reader. The following sections outline essential stages in the thematic analysis process for literature reviews , offering a structured pathway from initial planning to the final presentation of findings.

Identifying and categorizing themes

The initial phase in a thematic literature review is the identification of themes within the collected body of literature. This involves a detailed examination of texts to discern patterns, concepts, and ideas that recur across the research landscape. Effective identification hinges on a thorough and nuanced reading of the literature, where the reviewer actively engages with the content to extract and note significant thematic elements. Once identified, these themes must be meticulously categorized, often requiring the reviewer to discern between overarching themes and more nuanced sub-themes, ensuring a logical and hierarchical organization of the review content.

Analyzing and synthesizing themes

After categorizing the themes, the next step involves a deeper analysis and synthesis of the identified themes. This stage is critical for understanding the relationships between themes and for interpreting the broader implications of the thematic findings. Analysis may reveal how themes evolve over time, differ across methodologies or contexts, or converge to highlight predominant trends in the research area. Synthesis involves integrating insights from various studies to construct a comprehensive narrative that encapsulates the thematic essence of the literature, offering new interpretations or revealing gaps in existing research.

Presenting and discussing findings

The final stage of the thematic literature review is the discussion of the thematic findings in a research paper or presentation. This entails not only a descriptive account of identified themes but also a critical examination of their significance within the research field. Each theme should be discussed in detail, elucidating its relevance, the extent of research support, and its implications for future studies. The review should culminate in a coherent and compelling narrative that not only summarizes the key thematic findings but also situates them within the broader research context, offering valuable insights and directions for future inquiry.

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