Developing Your Literature Review

Abstract

This chapter covers your literature review. The first topic is related to finding the right references. We discuss how broad and how deep you should be reading to explore the literature in your field. You get tips for finding references. After the part about finding the references and reading them comes the topic on how to process the references. We encourage you to start writing as early as possible. An example of something you can start writing after reading your first paper, is a short summary, together with a discussion of the paper, and some questions to discuss with your supervisor. In this way, you can shape the literature review report in an organic manner. Students often ask: “When am I done with reading for my literature review?” We analyze this question, and identify when you are ready to finalize your literature review. But behold, you are never “done” with reading, and we discuss the importance of keeping up-to-date with the scientific output in your field of study. Finally, we discuss briefly how you can turn your literature review report into a dissertation chapter or into a journal paper, depending on which format your institution requires for graduation.