Reading literature reviews*

What should you look for in articles' literature reviews? I will give you a few general guidelines, I suggest highlighting or marking each of these areas in your article. The areas may not be specifically labeled- so it often takes some detective work. For each area, consider how it relates to your study. Are you examining a similar social problem or gap in the literature? Is this a theory that would be applicable for your study? 

First, find the social problem being addressed in the study. In other words, what is the big picture reason that they are doing the study? 

Determine what gap in the literature the study is filling. This is looking at the specifics of what has been previously done and how the study fits into the history of the topic area. What theory/theories are the authors utilizing to address this issue? How do they integrate the theory into the study?  

What are the study's Research Questions? What are they planning to examine and how does that relate to the literature gap? 

What are the study's hypotheses? They may use language such as predictions or expectations. Also, examine the variables of interest within the hypotheses. Are they using survey measures? What type of scores or sub scores will result from the measures? Have you ever heard of the measures they are using? 

Next time I will talk about reading articles' methods sections. Do you have an issue or a question that you would like me to discuss in a future post? Would you like to be a guest writer? Send me your ideas! leann.stadtlander@waldenu.edu 

*My thanks to Dr. Tom Diebold for providing this list.