Joining the

Conversation

Doing a Literature Review in STEM and Business Fields

Dr. Heidi BlackburnSTEM and Business Librarian

WHAT IS A LITERATURE REVIEW?

What is a literature review?

Understand the topic

Develop your own ideas

Demonstrate your knowledge

A literature review helps you:

What is “the literature”?

A collection of all the scholarly writings

on a topic, including scholarly articles,

books, and other works.

A

C

B

Major Works

Studies that respond toor build on major works

Your ideas and research

The Literature Visualized

“…the literature…”

The literature forms a type of

conversation.

Your review will show the different

topics the conversation has covered

and how they can be applied.

What resources are or are not included?

STEM Professional Resources focus on scholarly nature of the work:

• Peer-reviewed journal articles

• Conference proceedings

• Books/eBooks by scholarly publishers

• Data sets

• Generally does not include newspapers, magazines, trade publications or websites

Business Professional Resources focus on the timeliness of the information:

• Trade publications

• Financial reports

• Conference proceedings

• Peer-reviewed journal articles

• Books/eBooks

• Generally does not include newspapers, magazines or websites

JOINING THE CONVERSATION

Getting Started on a Lit Review

Keep Track of

Citations

Topic ResearchRead,

analyze, evaluate

Write, revise, proof-read,

include bibliography

Reviewing the Literature

Supports Refutes

COMPONENTS OF A LITERATURE REVIEW

What is normally included in the Lit Review?

• Objective of the literature review

• Overview of the subject under consideration

• Clear categorization of sources selected:• Support your position

• Opposed to your position

• Alternative arguments

• Discussion of distinctiveness of each source

• Similarities of sources with others

My Literature Review

I. Introduction

II. Article 1

III. Article 2

IV. Book Chapter 1

V. Article 3

VI. Article 4

VII. Conference Presentation

VIII. Article 5

IX. Book Chapter 2

X. Conclusion

My Literature ReviewI. Introduction (Overviews)

II. Concept A

a) Article 1

b) Article 3

c) Book Chapter 2

III. Concept B

a) Article 2

b) Book Chapter 1

IV. Concept C

a) Article 4

b) Conference Presentation

c) Article 5

V. Conclusion

Formatting Your Review

Recap

Purpose of a Literature Review

• Place each work in the context

• Describe the relationship of each work to the others

• Identify new ways to interpret previous research

• Look for areas needing further research

• Place your work in the context of existing literature

• Apply literature to practice