Objectives

Textbooks on how to conduct or write a literature review are mostly authored from a single vantage point.

The authors’ goal was to develop a guide that synthesizes insights from writing instructors, librarians, subject matter experts, evidence synthesis specialists, and research methodologists. The textbook offers a holistic approach, blending practical search, analysis, and writing strategies, methodological rigor, and subject-specific considerations. Learning objectives for students depend on the type of literature review they plan to conduct. If they are writing a research paper for an English composition course, or learning about a subject or discipline through active analysis of required readings.

Unique Features

Graduate students are confronted with and feel overwhelmed by the enormity of reviewing or sifting through the massive trove of knowledge. The swelling torrent of research is not the only concern for students and scholars alike. Even if students find relevant research, there is often a lack of sound methodological support for the analysis and synthesis of the literature. The fragmentation of support is also an issue. While content instructors assign students to summarize the literature and recommend seminal authors and landmark studies, librarians assist with literature searches, and the university’s writing centers consult on writing the review, there is no consistency in scaffolding the key phases of examining and making sense of the literature.

As a librarian, graduate faculty member, and research synthesis methodologist, I taught and consulted doctoral students for a decade. On this website, I assemble the research guides, tutorials, video materials, and digital tools that aid each step of reviewing the literature, from developing the topic to writing the review findings reports.

Why is this resource different?

As a researcher, I perceive any literature review as a research study with a unique design, using specific secondary data collection and analysis methods and, simultaneously, a distinctive genre of academic writing. Each chapter describes a particular type of literature review.