Preparing the literature review

Tips and tricks that I both teach and practice - Part 2 of 2

Last, we discussed finding the literature (snowball metaphors included). But realistically, whether you are a student or an experienced (interdisciplinary) researcher, there is one thing that remains a problem…

There’s too much to read!

Most students don’t know that reading academic texts strategically will help them speed up their reviewing — and that AI is not necessarily quicker, or indeed better.

So here is the advice I give students — and which I received as an undergraduate at the University of Cologne, back in the days where the library catalogue was still on paper…

Ah the “Zettelkatalog” — that used to be our Google Scholar back in the day… Image from Wikimedia: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Schlagwortkatalog.jpg

• Don’t read from start to finish — academic books and articles are not novels

• Start with the abstract, followed by the introduction and conclusion (if the abstract seemed relevant)

• Once you have read these sections, you decide whether to read the article or if you are only reading some sections

• The same applies to books, which may not have an abstract, but certainly have an introduction and a conclusion (most of the time…)

• Learn to speed-read, and only read closely when you have identified something relevant

But, while that is all well and good, how to remember all the relevant sections, and integrate them into a coherent review?

How to take notes on your reading

The rest of the blog looks at a range of note-taking techniques, including resources and templates for the well-known Cornell method, which uses three different sections: the main notes, the “cues”, and the summary.

Referencing software, which is pretty essential in my view, also has note-taking functions, and depending on which one you use, you can combine approaches quite easily.

If you need something more systematic, the post includes a structured Excel template for you to download, which provides a clear approach to summarising a large body of literature.

Finally, some tips and tricks to put all these notes together into a coherent and convincing literature review that’s easy to follow and that sets up your ideas and contributions just so.