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RESEARCH GUIDES

COMM 700: Intro to Graduate Study in Communication

Learn how the UMD Libraries can support your graduate research and teaching

Literature Review Search Process

  1. Search for background information on your research interests using books, Google, article databases, or other sources. Consider which aspects/elements/subtopics most interest you.
  2. Shape your research interests into a topic or question that's not too narrow or too specific. It can be helpful to address 2-4 unique elements in your topic. Examples:
    • Ethical frameworks used in the rhetoric of petroleum industry public relations
    • Use of "familects" within interracial queer marriages
    • Gendered representations of artificial intelligence technologies
  3. Develop a list of keywords for each component of your topic, including synonyms and related terms.
  4. Clarify what type(s) of information you need and where to find it.
  5. Search for your keywords in a research database. Experiment with different keywords and filters to modify your results.
  6. Identify 1-4 highly relevant sources that address each component of your topic. Use their references and literature reviews to find additional sources, and to identify seminal works and key authors.
  7. Revise your research question, scope, keywords, or search strategy.
  8. Repeat! You'll know you've reached saturation when you start to see the same names and citations over and over.
  9. Consider where and how you might add to the scholarly conversation on this topic through your own research.

Diagram of the literature review search process. Around the outside are circle representing the search process, search, evaluate and choose, get/cite/save, read/take notes/write, identify gaps, and revise question. Concentric circles at the middle depict the types of literature to search for -- preliminary, seminal, recent -- until Saturation is achieved.

Diagram of the literature review research process by Rachel McGee

Database Search Tips

  1. Enter a few of your keywords in each of the search boxes, one set of related terms per row.
  2. Click the + button if you need to add a row.
  3. Add OR in capital letters between each search term.
  4. Screenshot of EBSCO search boxes. Key phrases are listed in each search box with OR in capital letters between tem
  5. Scroll through the first 1-2 pages of search results. Read article titles and hover over the magnifying glass icon to view abstracts. Look for quantitative studies that address each component of your topic.
  6. Magnifying glass icon
  7. Check the Peer Reviewed Articles box on the left side.
  8. Experiment with different keywords and filters to see how that changes your results.
  9. Look at the Subjects listed under each article result. Do they give you any new keyword ideas?
  10. To save the link to a search: Click Share at the top right of your search results, and copy and paste the permalink.
  11. To save the link to an article: Click Permalink on the right side of the article landing page, and copy the link.

Adjust Your Results

Searching is a process! Especially for niche topics, you'll likely need to try several different strategies and keywords in several different places. If you're not finding what you need, try these tips:

If you're getting very few results (not enough), try these strategies:

  • Widen your research topic. Is there a way to make it more general or to remove references to a specific population of people, brand, location, etc.?
  • Delete out a row of keywords.
  • Add some keywords to each row, making sure to add OR in between.
  • Try searching a different database
  • If you've found a couple "highly relevant" sources that cover each part of your topic, use Google Scholar to locate the research they cite, and to find research that has cited them.
  • If you've tried searching across multiple databases, consider that you may have found a gap in the research to address in your scholarship! You may need to integrate research from different disciplines, or research that addresses just 1-2 components of your topic.

If you're getting thousands of results (too many), try these strategies:

  • In your keywords, add quotation marks around phrases of two or more words, so the database searches the words in that exact order. For example: "young people"  "social media"
  • Narrow your research topic. Focus on a more specific population of people, country, brand or platform, etc.
  • Use the filters on the left to narrow down your results. Try checking the Peer Reviewed Articles box, or changing the publication date so it's just the past 5-10 years.
  • Delete a few keywords from each row.
  • Use a more discipline-specific database.