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Literature Review: A Self-Guided Tutorial
Using concept maps.
- Literature Reviews: A Recap
- Peer Review
- Reading the Literature
- Developing Research Questions
- Considering Strong Opinions
- 2. Review discipline styles
- Super Searching
- Finding the Full Text
- Citation Searching This link opens in a new window
- When to stop searching
- Citation Management
- Annotating Articles Tip
- 5. Critically analyze and evaluate
- How to Review the Literature
- Using a Synthesis Matrix
- 7. Write literature review
Concept maps or mind maps visually represent relationships of different concepts. In research, they can help you make connections between ideas. You can use them as you are formulating your research question, as you are reading a complex text, and when you are creating a literature review. See the video and examples below.
How to Create a Concept Map
Credit: Penn State Libraries ( CC-BY ) Run Time: 3:13
- Bubbl.us Free version allows 3 mind maps, image export, and sharing.
- MindMeister Free version allows 3 mind maps, sharing, collaborating, and importing. No image-based exporting.
Mind Map of a Text Example
Credit: Austin Kleon. A map I drew of John Berger’s Ways of Seeing in 2008. Tumblr post. April 14, 2016. http://tumblr.austinkleon.com/post/142802684061#notes
Literature Review Mind Map Example
This example shows the different aspects of the author's literature review with citations to scholars who have written about those aspects.
Credit: Clancy Ratliff, Dissertation: Literature Review. Culturecat: Rhetoric and Feminism [blog]. 2 October 2005. http://culturecat.net/node/955 .
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Creating a Comprehensive Literature Review Map: A Step-by-Step Example
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- Writing Articles & Reviews
- October 16, 2023
A literature review is an essential component of any academic research paper or thesis. IT involves examining existing literature, scholarly articles, books, and other sources related to your research topic. A literature review map acts as a visual representation of the concepts, studies, and theories that have been covered in the literature. In this article, we will guide you through the process of creating a comprehensive literature review map, step-by-step, to help you structure and organize your literature review effectively.
Step 1: Define Your Research Topic
The first step in creating a literature review map is to clearly define your research topic. Be specific and narrow down your focus to ensure that you have a manageable scope for your literature review. Take into consideration the research objectives or guiding questions that will shape your review.
Step 2: Identify Relevant Keywords
Once you have defined your research topic, identify the keywords and search terms that are most relevant to your study. Brainstorm a list of potential keywords that are commonly used in the literature related to your topic. These keywords will help you locate relevant sources during your literature search.
Step 3: Conduct a Thorough Literature Search
Using databases and search engines specific to your field of study, begin conducting a thorough literature search using the identified keywords. Take note of the key articles, books, and studies that are relevant to your research topic. In this step, IT is important to evaluate the credibility and quality of the sources to ensure that you are referring to reputable and reliable information.
Step 4: Read and Analyze the Literature
After collecting a substantial number of sources, carefully read and analyze each one. Highlight key concepts, methodologies, and findings that are relevant to your research. As you progress, make notes or annotations to help you remember important details and connections between different sources.
Step 5: Organize the Literature
Now that you have read and analyzed the literature, IT ‘s time to organize the information into a coherent structure. One effective way to do this is by using a literature review map. Start by creating categories or themes based on the concepts or theories that emerge from the literature. Group together similar ideas or findings to create a visual representation of the interconnectedness of the sources.
Step 6: Create the Literature Review Map
With your categorized information, you can now create the literature review map. This can be done using software such as Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, or dedicated mind mapping tools. Start with your main research topic in the center and branch out with subcategories based on the themes or concepts identified earlier. Connect relevant sources to each subcategory, illustrating how they contribute to the overall understanding of your research topic.
Step 7: Revise and Refine
Review your literature review map for coherence and completeness. Ensure that all the key sources are accurately placed within the appropriate category or subcategory. Check for any gaps in your coverage and make sure that the map represents a comprehensive overview of the literature on your research topic.
Q: How many sources should I include in my literature review map?
A: The number of sources you include will depend on the requirements of your research and the depth of analysis you aim to achieve. However, IT is generally recommended to thoroughly examine a range of sources, including both seminal texts and recent publications, to ensure a well-rounded and comprehensive literature review.
Q: How do I determine the credibility of the sources for my literature review?
A: Evaluating the credibility of your sources is crucial to ensure that you are basing your review on reputable information. Consider the author’s qualifications, the credibility and reputation of the publishing outlet, the presence of citations within the article, and the overall coherence and consistency of the research findings.
Q: Can I use a literature review map for disciplines outside of the humanities and social sciences?
A: Absolutely! While literature reviews are commonly associated with humanities and social sciences, they are applicable to any academic field. Whether you are conducting research in the sciences, engineering, or any other discipline, a literature review map will help you organize and present the relevant scholarly literature specific to your research topic.
By following these step-by-step guidelines, you can create a comprehensive literature review map that will serve as a valuable tool throughout your research. Remember to regularly update and refine your map as you progress in your studies. A well-organized literature review will not only demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of the field, but also provide a solid foundation for your own research and contribute to the wider scholarly conversation.
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How to Master at Literature Mapping: 5 Most Recommended Tools to Use
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After putting in a lot of thought, time, and effort, you’ve finally selected a research topic . As the first step towards conducting a successful and impactful research is completed, what follows it is the gruesome process of literature review . Despite the brainstorming, the struggle of understanding how much literature is enough for your research paper or thesis is very much real. Unlike the old days of flipping through pages for hours in a library, literature has come easy to us due to its availability on the internet through Open Access journals and other publishing platforms. This ubiquity has made it even more difficult to cover only significant data! Nevertheless, an ultimate solution to this problem of conglomerating relevant data is literature mapping .
Table of Contents
What is Literature Mapping?
Literature mapping is one of the key strategies when searching literature for your research. Since writing a literature review requires following a systematic method to identify, evaluate, and interpret the work of other researchers, academics, and practitioners from the same research field, creating a literature map proves beneficial. Mapping ideas, arguments, and concepts in a literature is an imperative part of literature review. Additionally, it is stated as an established method for externalizing knowledge and thinking processes. A map of literature is a “graphical plan”, “diagrammatic representation”, or a “geographical metaphor” of the research topic.
Researchers are often overwhelmed by the large amount of information they encounter and have difficulty identifying and organizing information in the context of their research. It is recommended that experts in their fields develop knowledge structures that are richer not only in terms of knowledge, but also in terms of the links between this knowledge. This knowledge linking process is termed as literature mapping .
How Literature Mapping Helps Researchers?
Literature mapping helps researchers in following ways:
- It provides concrete evidence of a student’s understanding and interpretation of the research field to share with both peers and professors.
- Switching to another modality helps researchers form patterns to see what might otherwise be hidden in the research area.
- Furthermore, it helps in identifying gaps in pertinent research.
- Finally, t lets researchers identify potential original areas of study and parameters of their work.
How to Make a Literature Map?
Literature mapping is not only an organizational tool, but also a reflexive tool. Furthermore, it distinguishes between declarative knowledge shown by identifying key concepts, ideas and methods, and procedural knowledge shown through classifying these key concepts and establishing links or relationships between them. The literature review conceptualizes research structures as a “knowledge production domain” that defines a productive and ongoing constructive element. Thus, the approaches emphasize the identity of different scientific institutions from different fields, which can be mapped theoretically, methodologically, or fundamentally.
The two literature mapping approaches are:
- Mapping with key ideas or descriptors: This is developed from keywords in research topics.
- Author mapping: This is also termed as citation matching that identifies key experts in the field and may include the use of citations to interlink them.
Generally, literature maps can be subdivided by categorization processes based on theories, definitions, or chronology, and cross-reference between the two types of mapping. Furthermore, researchers use mind maps as a deductive process, general concept-specific mapping (results in a right triangle), or an inductive process mapping to specific concepts (results in an inverted triangle).
What are Different Literature Mapping Methods?
The different types of literature mapping and representations are as follows:
1. Feature Mapping:
Argument structures developed from summary registration pages.
2. Topic Tree Mapping:
Summary maps showing the development of the topic in sub-themes up to any number of levels.
3. Content Mapping:
Linear structure of organization of content through hierarchical classification.
4. Taxonomic Mapping:
Classification through standardized taxonomies.
5. Concept Mapping:
Linking concepts and processes allows procedural knowledge from declarative information. With a basic principle of cause and effect and problem solving, concept maps can show the relationship between theory and practice.
6. Rhetorical Mapping:
The use of rhetoric communication to discuss, influence, or persuade is particularly important in social policy and political science and can be considered a linking strategy. A number of rhetorical tools have been identified that can be used to present a case, including ethos, metaphor, trope, and irony.
7. Citation Mapping:
Citation mapping or matching is a research process established to specifically establish links between authors by citing their articles. Traditional manual citation indexes have been replaced by automated databases that allow visual mapping methods (e.g. ISI Web of Science). In conclusion, citation matching in a subject area can be effective in determining the frequency of authors and specific articles.
5 Most Useful Literature Mapping Tools
Technology has made the literature mapping process easier now. However, with numerous options available online, it does get difficult for researchers to select one tool that is efficient. These tools are built behind explicit metadata and citations when coupled with some new machine learning techniques. Here are the most recommended literature mapping tools to choose from:
1. Connected Papers
a. Connected Papers is a simple, yet powerful, one-stop visualization tool that uses a single starter article.
b. It is easy to use tool that quickly identifies similar papers with just one “Seed paper” (a relevant paper).
c. Furthermore, it helps to detect seminal papers as well as review papers.
d. It creates a similarity graph not a citation graph and connecting lines (based on the similarity metric).
e. Does not necessarily show direct citation relationships.
f. The identified papers can then be exported into most reference managers like Zotero, EndNote, Mendeley, etc.
2. Inciteful
a. Inciteful is a customizable tool that can be used with multiple starter articles in an iterative process.
b. Results from multiple seed papers can be imported in a batch with a BibTex file.
c. Inciteful produces the following lists of papers by default:
- Similar papers (uses Adamic/Adar index)
- “Most Important Papers in the Graph” (based on PageRank)
- Recent Papers by the Top 100 Authors
- The Most Important Recent Papers
d. It allows filtration of results by keywords.
e. Importantly, seed papers can also be directly added by title or DOI.
a. Litmaps follows an iterative process and creates visualizations for found papers.
b. It allows importing of papers using BibTex format which can be exported from most reference managers like Zotero, EndNote, Mendeley. In addition, it allows paper imports from an ORCID profile.
c. Keywords search method is used to find Litmaps indexed papers.
d. Additionally, it allows setting up email updates of “emergent literature”.
e. Its unique feature that allows overlay of different maps helps to look for overlaps of papers.
f. Lastly, its explore function allows finding related papers to add to the map.
4. Citation-based Sites
a. CoCites is a citation-based method for researching scientific literature.
b. Citation Gecko is a tool for visualizing links between articles.
c. VOSviewer is a software tool for creating and visualizing bibliometric networks. These networks are for example journals, may include researchers or individual publications, which can be generated based on citation, bibliographic matching , co-citation, or co-authorship relationships. VOSviewer also offers text mining functionality that can be used to create and visualize networks of important terms extracted from a scientific literature.
5. Citation Context Tools
a. Scite allow users to see how a publication has been cited by providing the context of the citation and a classification describing whether it provides supporting or contrasting evidence for the cited claim.
b. Semantic Scholar is a freely available, AI-powered research tool for scientific literature.
Have you ever mapped your literature? Did you use any of these tools before? Lastly, what are the strategies and methods you use for literature mapping ? Let us know how this article helped you in creating a hassle-free and comprehensive literature map.
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How To Use Litmaps To Create A Litmap For Literature Review
Performing a comprehensive literature review can be daunting, but with Litmaps, you can supercharge the process.
Litmaps is an innovative tool that helps researchers discover, organise, and visualise academic papers through interactive literature maps.
In this post, I will walk you through using Litmaps to enhance your research productivity and streamline your workflow.
What Is Litmaps And How Does It Work?
Litmaps is an essential tool for researchers, offering an interactive way to map out the scientific literature landscape.
You start by entering a topic or a specific paper into the app. Litmaps then creates a litmap, visually showing how articles are connected through citations.
This helps you see the key moments in the research field and understand the relationships between papers.
Using Litmaps, you can find academic papers that you might not discover through traditional searches. It’s particularly useful for students and PhD candidates who need to accelerate their literature review process.
By visualising the connections, you can stay updated on new research and organise your data effectively.
The seed function is a game-changer. You add a single paper, and Litmaps generates a network of related articles, showing who cited whom.
This makes it easier to find relevant literature and understand how different studies are interconnected. You can:
- tag articles,
- create collections, and even
- share your literature maps with colleagues.
Imagine the productivity boost from not having to manually search for new papers! For those looking to make their research process more efficient and comprehensive, Litmaps is the tool to use.
How To Use Litmaps To Perform Literature Review?
Step 1: get a free account.
To use Litmaps for performing a literature review, start by setting up a free account on their app. Once you’re logged in, the quick search feature becomes your primary tool.
Enter the topic or specific paper you’re interested in, and Litmaps will generate a litmap, a visual representation of the academic literature connected through citations.
Step 2: Find A Key Paper
Begin by finding a key article relevant to your research. If you’re studying the effects of urbanisation on bird migration, you might start with a highly-cited paper like “Bird Migration Advances More Strongly in Urban Environments.”
Enter this into Litmaps’ search bar, and the app will create a litmap with your chosen paper at the centre.
The surrounding nodes represent articles that are either cited by or cite your key paper, helping you see the entire landscape of related research.
Step 3: Expand View To Find Relevant Papers
Use the seed function to expand your view. By adding your key paper, Litmaps will display related articles, showing who cited whom. This helps you discover relevant literature you might otherwise miss.
You may find recent papers published that offers a new perspective on your topic. This feature is especially useful for PhD students or academic researchers who need to cover a vast amount of literature efficiently.
Step 4: Add Articles & Transcripts
As you explore, you can add articles to your collection. Tagging them based on subtopics or themes as you read along will help you stay organised.
You might tag articles under “urbanisation effects” or “bird migration patterns.” This organisation system is crucial for managing large volumes of information and ensures you can easily find and reference articles later.
Step 5: Monitor Papers, Researchers
Monitoring is another powerful feature. Litmaps can run searches weekly and notify you of new articles related to your topic.
This pro option is a time-saver, ensuring you stay updated without having to manually search for new papers. Imagine the productivity boost from having the latest research delivered to you automatically.
Step 6: Visualise Your Work
Visualising connections between articles helps you understand the broader context of your research. You can see which articles are most influential based on how many times they are cited.
This not only helps you identify key papers but also guides you on what to read next. The interactive nature of Litmaps makes this process engaging and intuitive.
Step 7: Share Your Work
Sharing your findings is simple. You can generate a public URL or share via email, making collaboration with colleagues seamless.
This is particularly useful when working on a joint project or when you want feedback from peers.
You can also export data in various formats such as:
This feature should be handy for integrating Litmaps into your writing software or reference manager.
Step 8: Keep Track Of Researches & Stay Organised
Using Litmaps also means you can stay organised throughout your literature review.
All articles you add to your litmap are automatically saved, making it easy to track your progress.
You can access your saved articles by clicking “Articles” at the top right, where you can also export your list. Tags further help in categorising your literature, allowing you to create a structured overview of your research.
Litmaps: Organise Research Papers & Create Litmap
Litmaps is more than just a search tool; it’s a comprehensive guide through the entire literature review process.
By leveraging its features, you can accelerate your research, stay organised, and ensure you’re always up-to-date with the latest developments in your field.
Whether you’re a student or a seasoned researcher, Litmaps is designed to enhance your productivity and deepen your understanding of the scientific literature.
If you are looking for a step-by-step process to conduct literature review , feel free to check out my video guide:
Dr Andrew Stapleton has a Masters and PhD in Chemistry from the UK and Australia. He has many years of research experience and has worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow and Associate at a number of Universities. Although having secured funding for his own research, he left academia to help others with his YouTube channel all about the inner workings of academia and how to make it work for you.
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Literature Reviews
- Getting Started
- Choosing a Type of Review
- Developing a Research Question
- Searching the Literature
- Searching Tips
- ChatGPT [beta]
- Documenting your Search
- Using Citation Managers
- Concept Mapping
- Concept Map Definition
MindMeister
- Writing the Review
- Further Resources
Additional Tools
Google slides.
GSlides can create concept maps using their Diagram feature. Insert > Diagram > Hierarchy will give you some editable templates to use.
Tutorial on diagrams in GSlides .
MICROSOFT WORD
MS Word can create concept maps using Insert > SmartArt Graphic. Select Process, Cycle, Hierarchy, or Relationship to see templates.
NVivo is software for qualitative analysis that has a concept map feature. Zotero libraries can be uploaded using ris files. NVivo Concept Map information.
A concept map or mind map is a visual representation of knowledge that illustrates relationships between concepts or ideas. It is a tool for organizing and representing information in a hierarchical and interconnected manner. At its core, a concept map consists of nodes, which represent individual concepts or ideas, and links, which depict the relationships between these concepts .
Below is a non-exhaustive list of tools that can facilitate the creation of concept maps.
www.canva.com
Canva is a user-friendly graphic design platform that enables individuals to create visual content quickly and easily. It offers a diverse array of customizable templates, design elements, and tools, making it accessible to users with varying levels of design experience.
Pros: comes with many pre-made concept map templates to get you started
Cons : not all features are available in the free version
Explore Canva concept map templates here .
Note: Although Canva advertises an "education" option, this is for K-12 only and does not apply to university users.
www.lucidchart.com
Lucid has two tools that can create mind maps (what they're called inside Lucid): Lucidchart is the place to build, document, and diagram, and Lucidspark is the place to ideate, connect, and plan.
Lucidchart is a collaborative online diagramming and visualization tool that allows users to create a wide range of diagrams, including flowcharts, org charts, wireframes, and mind maps. Its mind-mapping feature provides a structured framework for brainstorming ideas, organizing thoughts, and visualizing relationships between concepts.
Lucidspark , works as a virtual whiteboard. Here, you can add sticky notes, develop ideas through freehand drawing, and collaborate with your teammates. Has only one template for mind mapping.
Explore Lucid mind map creation here .
How to create mind maps using LucidSpark:
Note: U-M students have access to Lucid through ITS. [ info here ] Choose the "Login w Google" option, use your @umich.edu account, and access should happen automatically.
www.figma.com
Figma is a cloud-based design tool that enables collaborative interface design and prototyping. It's widely used by UI/UX designers to create, prototype, and iterate on digital designs. Figma is the main design tool, and FigJam is their virtual whiteboard:
Figma is a comprehensive design tool that enables designers to create and prototype high-fidelity designs
FigJam focuses on collaboration and brainstorming, providing a virtual whiteboard-like experience, best for concept maps
Explore FigJam concept maps here .
Note: There is a " Figma for Education " version for students that will provide access. Choose the "Login w Google" option, use your @umich.edu account, and access should happen automatically.
www.mindmeister.com
MindMeister is an online mind mapping tool that allows users to visually organize their thoughts, ideas, and information in a structured and hierarchical format. It provides a digital canvas where users can create and manipulate nodes representing concepts or topics, and connect them with lines to show relationships and associations.
Features : collaborative, permits multiple co-authors, and multiple export formats. The free version allows up to 3 mind maps.
Explore MindMeister templates here .
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Literature Mapping in Scientific Research: A Comprehensive Review
Accelerate scientific research with Literature Mapping: a comprehensive tool for knowledge discovery and data-driven insights.
Literature mapping is a process that involves analyzing and visualizing the scientific literature on a particular topic to identify research gaps, improve collaboration, and inform decision-making.
In this article, we list five benefits of literature mapping for scientists and researchers and show you types and tools to save your time and help you find better evidence.
What is Literature Mapping?
Literature mapping is a process that involves analyzing and visualizing the scientific literature on a particular topic. It includes systematically searching, collecting, and reviewing relevant studies, articles, and books published in a specific field or discipline.
The purpose of literature mapping is to provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of knowledge on a topic, identify gaps in the literature, and potential areas for future research. It can be useful for those who seek to conduct a systematic review, develop a research proposal, or explore new research areas.
Benefits of Literature Mapping
Here are five benefits of literature mapping for scientists and researchers:
- Identify research gaps : Literature mapping helps researchers to identify gaps in the existing research and to determine areas that require further investigation.
- Visualize the research landscape : By creating visualizations of the scientific literature, researchers can see the relationships between different research topics.
- Save time : Literature mapping can help researchers save time by providing an overview of the literature on a particular topic, including relevant studies and duplicated work.
- Improve collaboration : Literature mapping can help researchers to collaborate more effectively by providing a shared understanding of the research landscape. This improves communication, and facilitates the workflow between different disciplines.
- Inform decision-making : Literature mapping can help researchers to make assertive decisions. This can be especially useful for policymakers and other decision-makers who need to make decisions based on scientific evidence.
Types of Literature Mapping
Feature mapping.
Feature mapping is a technique used primarily in data analysis and machine learning to identify patterns and relationships between features of a dataset. It involves analyzing the data and plotting the relationships between different features of the dataset on a map or chart.
Some of the main features include:
- Identification of relationships : Feature mapping can help identify the relationships between different features or variables in a dataset. This can allow for better modeling and prediction of outcomes.
- Pattern recognition : By plotting the relationships between features of a dataset, feature mapping can help identify patterns and anomalies that may not be immediately apparent in the raw data.
- Visualization : Feature mapping often involves creating visual representations of the relationships between features of a dataset. This can help make the data easier to understand and interpret.
- Dimension reduction : When dealing with large datasets with many features, feature mapping can help reduce the dimensionality of the data. This can help simplify the data and make it easier to analyze.
- Data clustering : Feature mapping can also help identify groups or clusters of data points that share similar features. This can allow for more targeted analysis and modeling of specific groups within the dataset.
- Feature selection : Feature mapping can aid in the selection of the most important features from a dataset. By identifying the relationships between features, researchers can determine which features are most relevant to the outcomes they are trying to predict.
Topic Tree Mapping
Topic tree mapping is a technique used to visualize and organize the relationships between different topics or themes within a larger subject area. It involves creating a hierarchical structure of topics, with more general topics at the top and more specific subtopics branching out below.
Content Mapping
Content mapping is the process of creating a visual representation or map of the content of a document, website, or other information source. It involves breaking down the content into its constituent parts, organizing it according to a logical structure, and presenting it in a user-friendly and easily accessible way.
Taxonomic Mapping
Taxonomic mapping is the process of assigning different taxonomic categories to specific objects or organisms based on their characteristics, traits, and other distinguishing features. This mapping enables the organization and identification of different species and helps researchers and scientists to conduct various studies and experiments related to their classification, evolution, and diversity.
Concept Mapping
Concept Mapping is a visual representation of the relationships between concepts and ideas in a particular field. It involves identifying key concepts, and organizing them into a hierarchical structure. It can help to identify gaps in knowledge and aid in the development of new theories.
Rhetorical Mapping
Rhetorical mapping is a process used in communication studies and critical discourse analysis to analyze the structure and content of discourse. It involves creating a visual representation or diagram of a text or speech that identifies its various components, such as arguments, claims, evidence, and rhetorical strategies used to persuade the audience. Rhetorical mapping allows researchers to understand how the speaker or writer uses language and persuasion techniques to influence the audience’s beliefs and attitudes.
Citation Mapping
Citation Mapping involves tracing the citation history of a particular article, and identifying the articles that have cited it. This can help to identify the impact of the article on the field, and identify related research.
Tools for Literature Mapping
- Citation Gecko : Citation Gecko is a web-based tool that allows users to quickly and easily search for and download citation data from various academic databases. It streamlines and simplifies the process of finding and organizing citations for research projects.
- Inciteful : Inciteful is a literature-mapping tool that visualizes citation networks and identifies key authors and articles within a particular field of research. It can be used to explore the literature on a specific topic, as well as to identify gaps in current research.
- OpenKnowledge : OpenKnowledge is an online platform for sharing and discovering research papers and other scholarly materials. It enables users to search for and download documents, as well as to connect with other researchers who are working in the same field.
- ConnectedPapers : ConnectedPapers is a search engine that allows users to explore citation networks and discover the most influential papers and authors in a particular field. It uses citation information to uncover relationships between different papers and to suggest potentially relevant articles to read.
- LitMaps : LitMaps is a mapping tool that allows users to explore the relationships between different articles and concepts within a particular field of study. It visualizes the connections between different scholarly articles and helps users to develop a deeper understanding of the underlying themes and concepts within a particular field.
- Local Citation Network : Local Citation Network is a tool for mapping the relationships between different articles and authors within a particular geographic area. It allows users to explore the research in progress in a particular region and to identify potential collaborators and sources of funding.
- CoCites : CoCites is a literature-mapping tool that identifies the most frequently cited articles and authors within a particular field. It allows users to explore the relationships between different papers and to identify key areas of research.
- VOSviewer : VOSviewer is a tool for visualizing citation networks and identifying key authors, papers, and concepts within a particular field of research. It allows users to explore the relationships between different papers and to identify areas of overlap and potential collaboration.
- ResearchRabbit : ResearchRabbit is a web-based research tool that allows users to search for and collect scholarly articles and other research materials. It streamlines the research process by helping users to find relevant articles and to organize and annotate their findings.
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Here's how to use Litmaps to find articles, stay organized and accomplish your literature review more efficiently.
Whether you're starting on your first literature review, or your hundredth, you can streamline your search and management of literature by using Litmaps. By finding and suggesting literature visually, Litmaps lets you:
See how literature connects
Find relevant articles
Not miss important papers
Get updated on changing literature
Stay organized
In this article, we'll cover all you need to know about accomplishing your literature review with Litmaps.
What's a literature review?
A literature review is a summary of the existing knowledge and research on a particular subject. By identifying gaps in the literature, it provides a foundation for future research. As such, it’s a crucial first step in any research project.
A literature review serves several purposes:
identifies knowledge gaps
evaluates the quality of existing research
provides a foundation for newly presented research
Looking at existing examples of literature reviews is beneficial to get a clear understanding of what they entail. Find examples of a literature review by using an academic search engine (e.g. Google Scholar). As a starting point, search for your keyword or topic along with the term "literature review".
Example Literature Review, with Litmaps
Now, we'll walk through all the steps involved in how to do a literature review. Keep in mind, a literature review isn't a straight line from the first to last step. You'll loop over some of these steps, repeating them iteratively until you're satisfied. However, these steps are the basic structure you'll need to successfully complete a literature review.
Let's get started!
Define your research question or topic
First, identify your research question or topic, making it as narrow as possible.
In our literature review example, we're examining the effects of urbanization on the migration of birds.
Search for relevant literature
Now, we get into the thick of the literature review by diving into the existing scientific publications on our subject.
There are many ways to search for literature, and it can be overwhelming when considering the thousands of resources and databases available. In this example, we'll follow a simple but comprehensive strategy with 3 steps:
Find one or more "starting articles"
Search for related literature using Litmaps
Expand and repeat until satisfied
Repeat these steps until you are satisfied with the coverage of sources you have. You'll know you've covered everything once you don't find any more relevant articles on your topic.
💡 Use the techniques in the next step, "Evaluate the sources" to decide if an article is relevant or not to your work.
Find starting articles
To get started, look for just one paper on your topic .
In our example, we start by searching for our topic in Google Scholar and selecting the most relevant article. Here, we find "Bird Migration Advances More Strongly in Urban Environments".
Tip: Look for highly-cited articles. In this example, our starting paper has been cited 174 times. That will make it easier to find more related literature in the next step.
Find related literature using Litmaps
Next, we'll find additional literature on our topic, by using our article from the last step as a starting point.
Litmaps can find relevant literature from a single article by using the citation network. By looking at how this article connects to the rest of the scientific literature (through citations and references), Litmaps finds relevant and important articles on your topic.
Here's how to find related literature to your initial article:
Go to the Litmaps app and set up a free account
Click the search bar at the top left.
Type in the name or DOI of your starting article and hit enter to see the results. Select your article and click "Explore Related Articles".
Examine your article's Litmap and the suggested articles. The Litmap shows the top connected papers based on your article's citations and references.
Expand and repeat your search
Although your initial Litmap will give you a good idea of the scientific literature related to your input article, it's only a small part of the bigger picture.
To dive deeper into your topic, click "More like this" for articles you find relevant. After you've done this for a few papers, you can hit "Update Results". Litmaps will use these articles as inputs to the search algorithm in order to find more relevant literature.
Just like before, you can save articles that seem important by Tagging them. It's easy to forget or lose track of work, so saving early and often is a good practice.
Evaluate the sources
As you search for articles, you'll need to decide if they are important or not for your topic.
For each article, identify its relevance, quality and importance for your topic. The good news is you don't need to read an entire article to figure this out. Before even opening up the article, you can check the following to evaluate its importance for you:
🔍 1️⃣ Date of publication → How recent is the paper? Newer papers have less citations because they simply haven't been around long enough to be cited by even newer research.
🔍 2️⃣ Citation count → This is the number of other papers that have cited this one in their work. Has it been cited heavily since publication, or overlooked by the community?
🔍 3️⃣ Journal → Do you recognize it? Is it peer-reviewed? Impactful? Most papers on Litmaps are peer-reviewed, but some may be pre-prints.
🔍 4️⃣ Authors → Do you recognize the authors? Learn these names and you'll start to recognize the key contributors in your field.
🔍 5️⃣ Well-written abstract → Can you understand the gist from the abstract? If not, the paper itself may be a challenge to read.
Read and analyze the sources
Now that you've collected some articles on your topic, and reviewed their metadata to ensure their relevance, you're ready to start reading!
Take notes on the key findings, methodologies, and theoretical frameworks used in the articles you read.
Use a research-friendly note-taking software, like Obsidian, that provide tagging mechanisms to keep track of key concepts and how they connect. The more you link your notes to one another, the better you can learn and form new ideas .
Organize the literature
As you read and take notes on your articles, make sure to keep your sources organized. You can organize your literature according to themes, subtopics, or categories, whatever helps you to later outline the layout of your literature review.
Write the literature review
You've collected dozens, or perhaps hundreds of sources. You've reviewed each one, taken notes, and tried to stay organized throughout the process. Now, you're well-equipped to start writing up your literature review.
In this step, you'll summarize and synthesize the findings from all the sources you've analyzed. Start with an introduction that defines the research question, followed by the themes, subtopics, or categories identified. After that, provide a discussion or conclusion that addresses any gaps in the literature to motivate future research. Lastly, edit and revise your review to ensure it is well-structured, clear, and concise.
Depending on your field or project, you may have different objectives for your literature review. You could be doing a literature review to learn a new field, or to write a systematic review, a meta-analysis, an umbrella review, or another kind of review article. Make sure to review the requirements, expectations and specific best practices for your kind of review.
This review on the Urban effects on native avifauna neatly summarizes a range of articles in a table, with corresponding notes and references for each one.
Cite and reference the sources
The final the step to your literature review is to make sure you've accurately referenced all the sources you used in the literature review. Consider any referencing style requirements of the institution, journal or venue you're submitting to. APA is the most common. However, you may need to familiarize yourself with other citation styles such as MLA, Chicago, or MHRA depending on your venue. See the image below for a literature review example APA of references.
To create a bibliography from the articles you've collected on Litmaps, simply:
Export articles from Litmaps
Import articles into a reference manager
Save them as the necessary file-type. For example, either directly as a bibliography ( Zotero example ), or as a BibTeX that will be formatted in you writing software ( Overleaf example ).
A successful literature review tells a brief story about the topic at hand and leaves the reader satisfied with the state of the topic, field or question up to this point in time. Most importantly, a high-quality literature review addresses any gaps in the field and frame any newly presented research to follow.
To create a high quality literature review, it's important to understand the key steps required and look at the many literature review examples available.
We hope this article provided all you to need to know to get started on your literature review - good luck!
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Using Concept Maps - Literature Review: A Self-Guided Tutorial
Step 6: Create the Literature Review Map. With your categorized information, you can now create the literature review map. This can be done using software such as Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, or dedicated mind mapping tools. Start with your main research topic in the center and branch out with subcategories based on the themes or concepts ...
Litmaps | Your Literature Review Assistant
How to Master at Literature Mapping: 5 Most ...
Step 1: Get A Free Account. To use Litmaps for performing a literature review, start by setting up a free account on their app. Once you're logged in, the quick search feature becomes your primary tool. Enter the topic or specific paper you're interested in, and Litmaps will generate a litmap, a visual representation of the academic ...
A concept map or mind map is a visual representation of knowledge that illustrates relationships between concepts or ideas. It is a tool for organizing and representing information in a hierarchical and interconnected manner. At its core, a concept map consists of nodes, which represent individual concepts or ideas, and links, which depict the ...
Literature Mapping in Scientific Research
Here's how to find related literature to your initial article: Go to the Litmaps app and set up a free account. Click the search bar at the top left. Type in the name or DOI of your starting article and hit enter to see the results. Select your article and click "Explore Related Articles".
Concept maps may be simple designs illustrating a central theme and a few associated topics or complex structures that delineate hierarchical or multiple relationships. J.D. Novak developed concept maps in the 1970's to help facilitate the research process for his students. Novak found that visually representing thoughts helped students freely ...
LitMaps - Literature Mapping - Research Guides
Articles & Research Databases Literature on your research topic and direct access to articles online, when available at UW.; E-Journals Alphabetical list of electronic journal titles held at UW.; Encyclopedias & Dictionaries Resources for looking up quick facts and background information.; E-Newspapers, Media, Maps & More Recommendations for finding news, audio/video, images, government ...
There are just two basic items you need to know about concept maps in order to create one. First, you need to know what a concept is, and secondly, you need to know how the concepts are linked. This is pretty simple: A concept is an idea that we can label. It could be a noun, such as "cars" or "stars," or a description, such as "bright" or "fast."
How To Use Litmaps For Literature Reviews | by Kiall Hildred
Structuring your ideas: Creating a literature map
Developing a Literature Review . 1. Purpose and Scope. To help you develop a literature review, gather information on existing research, sub-topics, relevant research, and overlaps. Note initial thoughts on the topic - a mind map or list might be helpful - and avoid unfocused reading, collecting irrelevant content.
When multiple maps are visible, give papers from the same map similar y values. If one paper cites another, give them both similar y values. In particular, try to minimise the total length of all ...
Your first draft is a big accomplishment, especially if the literature review is very long and part of a much larger study or paper such as a dissertation or similar work. 7. Revise and Edit. While your first draft includes all the studies you wanted to talk about, your literature review isn't done yet.
Literature Mapping - Research Guides at Princeton University
A successful literature review tells a brief story about the topic at hand and leaves the reader a clear notion of what has been covered. Most importantly, a literature review addresses any gaps in the field and frames newly presented research. Understand the key steps and look at literature review examples in order to create a high quality review.
The objectives of this article are to identify the major challenges faced. by students in creating a literature review, to determine what concept maps are being used for in the process and. to ...
Litmaps ... Litmaps
Mapping the gap. The purpose of the literature review section of a manuscript is not to report what is known about your topic. The purpose is to identify what remains unknown—what academic writing scholar Janet Giltrow has called the 'knowledge deficit'—thus establishing the need for your research study [].In an earlier Writer's Craft instalment, the Problem-Gap-Hook heuristic was ...
Mind-mapping techniques can help you organize the literature review. Mind-Mapping. The steps taken to construct a puzzle are similar to the steps for organizing ideas for a literature review. Puzzle boxes hold individual pieces and show a picture of the completed puzzle. Having a single idea, the audience, the journal, and the slant clearly in ...
How to Create a Literature Map - Webinars-Dr Jonathan ...