LESSON 58 - STEPS OF CONDUCTING LITERATURE REVIEW, SOURCES OF LITERATURE REVIEW & ONLINE DATABASES
Based on RESEARCH METHODS CLASS WITH PROF. LYDIAH WAMBUGU's video on YouTube. If you like this content, support the original creators by watching, liking and subscribing to their content.
Primary sources (journal articles, government reports, dissertations, survey reports) should form the core of a literature review because they contain original evidence and analysis.
Briefing
A literature review is built by systematically finding the right sources—then reading them in a way that produces a clear synthesis, identifies gaps, and strengthens the researcher’s own contribution. The lesson lays out three categories of literature (primary, secondary, and tertiary) and stresses that original, field-based work should form the backbone of the review. It also warns against treating the task as “copying and pasting,” because the goal is evaluation and synthesis that reflect the researcher’s voice.
The lesson begins by distinguishing sources. Primary sources include journal articles, government reports, databases, dissertations, and survey reports—materials that originate from the researcher or institution that generated the data and analysis. Secondary sources—such as reviewed articles and books—evaluate and synthesize primary work, tend to be broader, and are often less current. Tertiary sources, including encyclopedias, dictionaries, and bibliographies, provide general overviews; bibliographies, for example, help locate key authors and works in a topic area. Because primary sources contain the original evidence, the lesson advises prioritizing them over secondary and tertiary materials when building a literature review.
Finding relevant literature requires a structured search strategy. The first step is to create an outline of the literature review using about four to six keywords that capture the core of the research problem. Using the example of studying factors influencing sustainability of community projects, the keywords might include capacity building, resource mobilization, and community participation—terms that guide searches in libraries and online databases. Next, the search should begin with general journal articles before moving to books, using bibliographies and references cited in articles as follow-up leads.
The lesson then sets practical selection rules. It recommends using sources that are relevant and contribute meaningfully to the review, selecting works that show both substantial agreement and conflicting conclusions so the researcher can refine and position their own argument. For currency, it suggests that in social science, articles and books should generally not be older than 10 years unless dealing with classical material.
After collecting studies, the review moves into writing. The fourth step is drafting summaries of what each study found, focusing on key issues and themes that recur across the research. The fifth step goes further by adding the researcher’s synthesis: identifying major themes, comparing and contrasting studies, and using the resulting gaps to show how the current study will add to existing knowledge. A strong summary should capture the study’s purpose, population and sample selection, key findings relevant to the topic, and the technical or methodological gaps that justify further research.
Finally, the lesson lists common online databases for social science research—ERIC, Google Scholar, Academia, ProQuest, Sociological Abstracts, and SSCI (Social Sciences Citation Index)—and provides search guidance: ensure full-text access (not just abstracts), start with the most recent publications and work backward to sources within the last 10 years, and use the references cited in promising articles as additional targets for review.
Cornell Notes
The lesson explains how to conduct a literature review by combining source selection with a structured search and synthesis process. It divides literature into primary (original journal articles, government reports, dissertations, survey reports), secondary (books and reviewed works that synthesize primary research), and tertiary (encyclopedias, dictionaries, bibliographies that provide general overviews). The recommended workflow starts with creating a keyword-based outline, searching databases and bibliographies, and using cited references as follow-up leads. After reading, the researcher drafts study summaries, then synthesizes major themes and compares conflicting and agreeing findings to identify gaps. Those gaps become the justification for how the new study will contribute to the body of knowledge.
Why should primary sources be prioritized in a literature review?
How does a researcher decide what literature to search for when there are millions of documents available?
What rules help a researcher choose which articles and books to include?
What is the difference between drafting summaries of studies and adding the review’s synthesis?
What should a “good summary” of a study include?
How should social science researchers use online databases effectively?
Review Questions
- What distinguishes primary, secondary, and tertiary sources, and how does that affect what you read most in a literature review?
- Outline the five steps for conducting a literature review and explain what changes between step 4 (summaries) and step 5 (synthesis and gaps).
- Which online databases listed for social science research would you use first for a new topic, and what search rules should you apply to keep sources current and complete?
Key Points
- 1
Primary sources (journal articles, government reports, dissertations, survey reports) should form the core of a literature review because they contain original evidence and analysis.
- 2
Secondary sources synthesize and evaluate primary research and are often broader but less current, so they support rather than replace primary work.
- 3
Tertiary sources (encyclopedias, dictionaries, bibliographies) provide general overviews and help locate key authors and works.
- 4
A keyword-based outline using about four to six terms helps narrow searches to relevant literature when the available volume is too large to read everything.
- 5
Include both studies that agree and studies that conflict to refine understanding and strengthen the researcher’s own position.
- 6
Summarize each study’s purpose, population/sample, key findings, and gaps, then synthesize major themes across studies to identify what is missing.
- 7
When using online databases, prioritize full-text access, start with recent publications (generally within 10 years), and follow cited references as additional leads.