When one thinks of the literature review, Isaac Newton’s famous phrase comes to mind: I can see further by standing on the shoulders of giants.

​

The purpose of the literature review is:

​

• To detail existing work on the subject matter 

• To identify areas for development 

• To occupy space in the field

​

Drafting the literature review

​

Where does one start?

​

You may wish to start by conducting a literature search on Google Scholar and other search engines or database platforms.  

​

You can begin by doing a preview (title, author, subject matter, date of publication etc.) and overview (abstract, intro and conclusion) of the articles collected, in order to establish whether they are really relevant for your piece of research.  If they are, you can do a close reading or inview (active engagement, definitions of concepts, key ideas) of the articles in question.

​

Ways of organizing and storing relevant articles

​

Some of us find the traditional cue cards and handwritten notes appealing, while software such as Endnotes or even Nvivo could provide digital alternatives.  These tools can also allow for thematic coding of the texts for easy retrieval when you are looking for articles on particular themes.

​

An extension of these activities could involve tabulating summaries of readings by key scholars in order to juxtapose and compare them to one another.  Whichever method you use, be sure to label them and have back-ups on a trustworthy cloud storage platform. 

​

Guiding questions during the drafting process

​​

1. What are the key theories in the field?  How are they linked / how do they differ?

2. Who are the key theorists/ scholars in the field?  How do they engage with one another? E.g. While theorist A argues that…, theorist B claims that…

3. Which of these theories are relevant for your study?

4. What are some of the gaps in the literature?

      a. Which gap will your study address?

      b. What are some key concepts you will use while undertaking this study?