Harold & Wilma Good Library: SOC 391: Methods of Social Research: Social Science Literature Reviews: Literature Reviews

Why do a lit review?

To see what has and has not been investigated.
To identify data sources that other researchers have used.
To learn how others have defined and measured key concepts.
To put your work in perspective.
To contribute to the field by moving research forward. Reviewing the literature lets you see what came before, and what did and didn't work for other researchers.
To demonstrate your understanding, and your ability to critically evaluate research in the field.
To provide evidence that may be used to support your own findings.

Example notes

Walker, L., Abraham, A., & Tercyak, K. (2010). Adolescent caffeine use, ADHD, and cigarette smoking. Children's Health Care, 39(1), 73– 90. doi.org/10.1080/02739610903455186

(Walker et al., 2010)

Primary aim of study is to see if ADHDer adolescents are more likely to use caffeine than non-ADHDer adolescents (p. 75)

Sample size of study is 448 adolescents (p. 76)

The study concluded that "participants who were older, Caucasian, living in higher income neighborhoods, with a positive history of lifetime cigarette use, and affected by ADHD were the most likely to have consumed all caffeinated beverages and any caffeinated coffee within the past 30 days." (p. 81)

Males were also more likely to consume caffeine. (p. 81)

Steps of a Lit Review

Collect a bunch of relevant research
1. For your purposes, this will mean peer reviewed research articles from academic journals
Read your articles
1. Maybe this is obvious, but it's super important!
2. Discard irrelevant articles, and go back to step one if needed
3. Create a citation for each article right away
4. Take notes - and use page numbers when you do
Organize the information
1. What parts of the articles you read agree with each other, and on what?
2. What parts of the articles you read disagree with each other, and on what?
3. How are the articles (and the studies they describe) similar and different? (look for similarities in methods, variables, study size, etc.)
4. Avoid the temptation to list and describe the articles individually - this will be a synthesis of all the information you have gathered, not an annotated bibliography
Write it up!
1. Use APA or ASA format and cite liberally!
2. Think about what broader conclusions you can draw from the articles as a whole - what findings are consistent? What gaps might there be in the research as a whole?

Note-taking tips

Your heading should be a full citation for the article you are making notes on (in your preferred style). Then do a mock-up of an in-text citation. Both will save you time and frustration later.
As you take notes, think about how you might want to use the information you are making a note about - do you want to quote it directly, or paraphrase? Then write your note in the method that you think you will use it in. Write down the page number (even if you aren't planning on quoting something)