Find out what the current issues are by browsing through our magazines in the Library such as Art Monthly, Building, Caterer, Fire, Fitpro, Legal Action, New Scientist, Nursing Times, Nursery World, or Screen for features on new practices and projects, news and topical reports which you may decide to investigate further. Online, you can find very recent articles by restricting your search in Discover to very current information, or limit your results to Trade (Practitioner) Magazines which tend to have more news and commentary. You can often sign up to a weekly emails from organisations or publications that your lecturers or librarians have recommended.
If you know the area you are interested in, revisit some of your textbooks. Many contain case studies or discussion questions that you can use to get ideas. Find recent editions of books on your topic which will discuss the latest research and debates. Most textbooks include key articles at the end of each chapter - it might be worth reading a few of these to get ideas.
Once you have identified a topic, log on to Discover and run some basic searches to see how much research is available on your topic. This will help you narrow down your ideas and start working out some possible research questions. For more advice on how to devise a research question, the following textbooks may be helpful:
A literature review is a survey of all the significant research that has been published on your topic. You can use it to identify current issues or problems that you would like to research further, and show that you understand the background to your topic. It is also useful to read how other researchers have carried out their research - how they gathered primary research, their methods of analysis, any problems they encountered - as well as what their findings were. You can see how theories have been applied to real life situations, and perhaps decide to use similar methodologies or approaches in your own research.
Remember that you are not expected to read everything that has ever been published on your topic. Read selectively, and only discuss the research that directly applies to your topic or that contributes to your understanding. You may want to narrow your research by:
You will not have time to properly read every article that you find in a database search to select which articles to review. Get used to scanning articles or reading just the abstract to decide if it is relevant.
Finally, remember that a Literature Review is not a summary of every article. Once you have selected the best articles for your review, read through them carefully and identify the sections that are relevant. When you are writing your review, use sub-headings to identify themes, and use the sections of the articles you have identified as evidence in your discussion - noting where authors agree or disagree on a topic, where findings differ, and linking them to form an argument. There is a good discussion on how to write a literature review in the books listed below which include examples and ideas to organise your approach.
It can be difficult to know where to start when reading an article. Getting familiar with the structure of scholarly articles will help you understand the purpose of each section, how the argument of the author is developed, and which sections need closer reading.
We suggest that you focus on certain key sections (identified with a *), to decide if the article is useful. Next, scan read the article to get the gist of the argument, before reading more closely.
This help-sheet identifies the sections that you will find in most scholarly articles.
| Journal title | Is the journal scholarly? Does it match the discipline you’re working in? You may want to look up journal the title to find more about it. |
| Article title | This will help you decide whether the article relates to your research. It may also tell you what sort of article it is, such as a case study, primary research, literature review. |
| Author / Institution | Make a note of the institution that the author is from. Are they from a UK university, a company or a think tank for example. |
| Date of publication | Is the article current? This may not be a concern if the article is a key text. |
| Abstract * | This is the synopsis or summary of the article. It normally tells you the research question, purpose of the research, methods used to collect data, and a summary of the conclusion. It’s best to read this first to help you decide whether to continue reading. |
| Introduction * | This will introduce the problem that the research is intended to address. It will include the ‘research question’ - the “why” reason for the research, which usually comes at the end of the introduction. If there is no separate literature review, you will find previous research discussed here. |
| Literature Review | This is where the author discusses previous research in the context of their own research question. They may use it to breakdown their research question into themes. This section is useful as it gives a succinct overview on what has already been discussed on the topic. |
| Methodology section | This is the “how” section where the author(s) describe the methods used to collect data, which can be primary (surveys, interviews) or secondary (literature review). Use this to assess the findings of the research as it will help you decide if the results are credible. |
| Results and Discussion |
You may find results and discussion in one section, or separately discussed. You may want to use these results in your own report or decide if you agree with the interpretation of the results. |
| Conclusion * | This is probably the next most important section to read after the abstract. It will tell you what the findings were and how they relate to the research question. Use this to decide if the article is relevant to your research. |
| References and bibliography |
All scholarly articles should have a reference list. This will show you if the authors are building on previous knowledge. Also you can follow up references which look relevant to your research |
Ask yourself the following questions
1. Have the authors explained why they carried out this research? (check the abstract or introduction)
2. What methods did the researcher use for collecting data? Are they appropriate? How did they decide who to investigate? (check the method section)
3. Are the main findings stated clearly? (check the results section)
4. Does the research add any new information to what is already known on the topic? (check the discussion/ conclusion)
There are many tools to help you organise your work. You can save references in Word which can be easily imported as citations or into bibliographies. You can create profiles in Discover, EBSCO databases and Emerald to save items to view later, and export citations. If you have a large number of articles, websites and book records to keep track of, we recommend you start using referencing software. Using something like Menderley will allow you to create your own online library, where you can store and manage everything you want to keep in one place, saving you time. Referencing software allows you to:
For links and guidance, click on the tab on Referencing management software.
E-Books
