#30 5 essential tips for an efficient literature review

Read time: 3 min.

Common issues when doing a literature review:

• You don’t know when to stop looking for references

• You’re confused about how far back you need to go

• You’re not sure whether you have enough references

Here are some useful tips:

Focus on Recent Research:

Number of Papers and depth:

First, concentrate on 15 to 20 papers from the last 5 to 10 years in your field.

This will ensure that your review is up-to-date with the latest developments and trends.

• Check their references.

• Check the citations they received.

You might find other relevant papers there.

Number of references:

For a comprehensive literature review, aim first for about 30 references.

This provides a good overview without becoming overwhelming.

You could also check what’s a common number in your field by reading relevant and recent articles.

And don’t forget that reviewers might suggest relevant literature you might have missed.

Define Your Scope:

Be explicit about the focus of your literature review.

Be clear about the scope you cover in your manuscript.

Set clear boundaries and keep your review concise and relevant.

If you apply these tips:

• You will save time by focusing on what matters.

  Then you will be able to write your literature review faster and more efficiently.

• You will stay relevant to your topic.

  Concentrate on recent papers to ensure that your work is relevant. And you will show that it contributes to current conversations in your field.

• The clearer and the more precise the better.

  Defining your scope helps you stay on track. And it makes your literature review more precise.

I hope these recommendations will be useful for you!

Happy writing!

That’s it for this week. Let us know in the comments if you think I missed anything or if you have any other suggestions.

As usual, if anything is unclear or if you need help with your research projects, please contact me and I will reply.

See you next Sunday!

Jamal

My favorite things this week

1. Interesting discussions with a research center focused on Malaria.

2. Helping a Master’s student from the Philippines get started with his research.