Hi all, I am in my first year Ph.D. My supervisor gave me a topic and asked me to write a review article. This is the first time I am writing a review articles. So I have few question

1. How to do a literature review. How far I am I suppose to go? 10 previous years or more or less?

2. Can I use material from reviews articles that are already there on that topic?

3.Are there any other useful tips?

Please tell me.

Thanks,
Smiley

The amount of time you need to go back in your literature review really depends on the field. Some fields are only 3 years old, and other span decades. I think it’s best to go back to the very beginning, or at least acknowledge it. However, you can check this in other review, see how far they go back use that as a template.

As for using other review. I always use them to get started and find my first bunch of relevant references but I don’t cite them directly, it’s best to go back to the original research and draw your own conclusions. They usual way to cite other reviews is to forward people to background information that you don’t have the time or space to provide.

As for other tips a good one is to download all of your references to make it easier for them to read, save them all in one folder and give them a name like this “YEAR_AUTHOR_JOURNAL_TAG.1_TAG.2_TAG.3” Use the tags to put searchable keywords in your filename so you can search for the paper later without any problem. This way you don’t rely on reference management software either.

For more info check out my blog http://www.literaturereviewhq.com/