Questions tagged [literature-review]
Questions about evaluating the current state of research on a topic by searching published material.
252
questions
252
votes
8
answers
21k
views
How to read papers without falling into a rabbit hole?
Often while reading a paper, I will see a citation that that seems more relevant than my current one. I'll switch to the new paper, only to experience a similar feeling. Or maybe I need to look ...
55
votes
2
answers
3k
views
How can I do a literature review efficiently?
For a new project I want to compile a literature review to determine the state of the art and possible approaches to start with.
Last time I adhered to the following scheme, but it felt very ...
52
votes
6
answers
11k
views
How should I respond to a reviewer's complaint about self-citation?
Recently, I submitted an article and got a response from a reviewer that I cited 6 of my own articles out of 44. The reviewer said that it’s a cheap act of self promotion.
If I do not cite my own ...
49
votes
8
answers
8k
views
Strategies to remember papers that you read
What strategies do you use to remember papers that you read?
I usually take notes, but when after a while I look at the notes, I don't remember most of the details. So I have to go back to the ...
42
votes
4
answers
14k
views
How common is it for a paper to be wrong?
I am a student in computer science and I recently started working on my M.Sc. thesis. Now I am reading a 2011 paper with about 170 citations that was published in a well-known conference.
In part of ...
42
votes
8
answers
3k
views
Literature searches in publications when you have limited access to journals
I'm currently at an institution that has a phenomenal library system. I think every journal article or book I've ever needed, no matter how old or obscure, was available to me. I consider myself ...
40
votes
6
answers
10k
views
How can I express "I can't find any papers written about this"?
I'm an undergraduate writing a paper for a philosophy course in logic. My paper is exploring a relationship between Leibniz' logic and graph theory. In writing the paper, I've found some material in ...
38
votes
2
answers
63k
views
Literature Review versus Literature Survey. What is the difference?
I have read several articles about literature reviews. At the same time I found some guides about literature surveys. I am confused... how is a literature survey different from a literature review? ...
37
votes
10
answers
3k
views
Research before surveying the literature - is it ever a good idea?
The dominant narrative on how research "should be" done is to begin with a literature survey and then make your own contribution.
But I get the impression that it often happens the other way around - ...
37
votes
6
answers
8k
views
Is it reasonable to not study previous research to avoid bias?
I am currently a student at a tech school and otherwise unemployed. I’ve never been a scientist or published a paper.
So I am a little skeptical of some results I have been hearing about experiments ...
37
votes
7
answers
4k
views
Learning new topic: read literature from oldest to newest or the other way around?
I need to start learning about a new research topic, I've been collecting articles for about a year now. I collected +400 articles, spanning a range of ~40 years.
I haven't had the time to read them ...
35
votes
8
answers
11k
views
How to find a gap in knowledge, for my PhD? [closed]
I just started my PhD and this is my fourth week. I understand that as a PhD student, my main aim is to find a gap in the knowledge and then trace this gap by using scientific approaches that I might ...
34
votes
5
answers
6k
views
Should I cite a really bad research paper published in my small research area?
I am working on a special topic in applied math. We are trying to explore a new and largely unexplored area in our line of research. Our hope is to be the first researchers to have solid results in ...
30
votes
5
answers
5k
views
How can I efficiently check the originality of my work?
I have worked on many ideas where I found later that they were already published, which was frustrating. I usually look around before developing my idea, but sometimes the articles I read or the ...
28
votes
4
answers
14k
views
How to write a good PhD literature review?
I am in the early stages of my PhD and I am trying to put together a literature review of my topic. My intention is that this review will eventually be included in my thesis, something like "the ...