Literature Review

Now that you have generated a basic research question, it’s time to start a literature review. This is one of
the most critical steps in research. Last week you read Haber Chapter 2, which briefly discusses the
importance of a literature review for finding important variables in your area of study. In addition to
identifying important variables, a literature review should also help you (1) operationally define your
variables, (2) provide insight into the methods used for studying these variables and constructions, and (3)
provide a starting point for your ideas.

So how does this process work?

Your literature review should start with focusing on the big picture- look for review papers which
summarize the major findings and background of your topic.
Once you have built a strong base of knowledge you will gradually narrow your literature search as
outlined in the figure below:

As you work through your review, be sure to keep a running list of the articles cited in the papers you
read. This is a great way to find related research articles without doing a brand new google search!
You should also keep notes for the papers that you read, this will make writing a research proposal or final
paper much easier. In the “Lit Review” folder of the google docs, you will find two documents to help
you. The “Article Outline” templates can be used to help you create short summaries and references for
your papers. Although it may seem arduous now, making these little cliff note versions will make your
life much easier later on.
Lit Review worksheet

EXAMPLE

Your first step is to find review papers/articles that allow you to answer the following questions (NOTE:
these answers should not be made up or inferred, you should have citations to support your responses).
There is a blank copy of the worksheet in the Google Docs “Lit Review” Folder. Please put a copy of your
worksheet in your assigned folder, this is where we will organize all of your literature review work.

1. List and operationally define your variables of interest. Remember, these definitions should be
thorough and supported by the literature. Be sure not to use too much jargon in your definitions,
they should be academic but easily understood.
Example:
a. Working Memory - Working memory refers to the ability to temporarily maintain and
manipulate goal-relevant information (Shipstead et al., 2015). Working memory is also
responsible for biasing attention towards goal relevant stimuli through the maintenance of
attentional priorities or goals (Heitz & Engle, 2007).
[NOTE: I removed the jargon in the second sentence - e.g., top-down selection- and used
the term “attention” to be more understandable. I could later define “top-down selection”
in another bullet point.]
2. Briefly describe any current models or theories regarding your topic of interest. This will be key
to structuring your review. Any technical terms or jargon should have been defined in the
previous section, so you can use them here (but jargon should be minimal). Creating visuals here
can also be useful.
Example:
a. The most influential model of working memory (Baddeley, 1986) divides working
memory into three components: verbal and visuospatial short-term memory, as well as a
central executive attention that organizes information between the modalities. An
alternative perspective of working memory hypothesizes that there are actually two
distinct working memory systems (Shah & Miyake, 1996): One handles verbal
information, and the other visuospatial, each with its own processing resources.
Lit Review worksheet

3. Very often there are gaps in scientific knowledge of any given topic. Identifying gaps , be it in the
literature overall or problems with the methods used to study a topic are a great way to get your
project started. When you are looking through the literature, what are the gaps or problems you
see? This list will grow as your literature review does.
Example
a. It is unclear whether Baddeley’s or Shah and Miyake’s model best describe the nature of
working memory. Researchers have yet to directly compare how individual differences in
visuospatial and verbal working memory might influence problem solving abilities.
4. Be sure to track all of your important notes in your literature review! You’ll want a way to easily
remember which papers present which details down the road!