Literature Review

What is a literature review?

Examination of the body of work that has been written about your topic
- In this context, it is a VERB (but it can also be a NOUN)
Why do I need to do it?
- To understand the state of knowledge on your topic
- You must do this because others have researched something along the same lines as what you are interested in
- So you will be able to learn what methodologies, theories, or models others have applied to your research question
It will help you ask your question better
To refine (narrow, expand, focus, modify) your own research question
To contribute to your area with something new, which is science!
It is the way you always introduce your topic, which you will be writing
- Helps you create your argument as to why this is important
It helps you interpret what you results are (later)
- It gives you the context to evaluate your results

Journal articles reporting study results – a researcher did a literature review, had data, analyzed it, and wrote up results in context.
This is what you will be doing later, in poster form.

Textbooks, handbooks, review papers, theoretical articles, magazines and newspapers (you CANNOT use these as a source for your paper)
What are some problems with secondary source literature?
- Can describe or interpret results incorrectly
- Can leave out important details

It has a title, abstract, introduction, method (with participants), results, discussion, and reference list.
- What would “participants” look like for field biology research? Chemistry?

Try to use articles that are published within the last 5-10 years
Read the abstract, if sounds similar to your topic, read the participants, methods, and discussion at a glance then decide if you should keep or not
As you read the literature, there should be an exchange between your research question and what you are learning.
The articles you are reading about should inform you about the association you are interested in testing.
- Allows us to see what we KNOW and what we DO NOT KNOW
Give special attention to the “future research” sections of the articles that you read.
Try to find a few articles that are looking specifically what you are looking at in terms of the association between your two specific topics.
- This will tell you what we already know and the “future research”” in the discussions and conclusions sections will tell you questions that need more research.
- If you can look at an association that has recently been identified as “area for future research” we have hit the jackpot in terms of topics.
How to read a journal article [PDF]