Writing a Literature Review in Social Sciences

1) Understand how to SELECT topic ideas

2) Use effective strategies to REFINE topic ideas 

Click here for 2.1 Step-by-step Instructions (w/ screenshots) on How to Find Review Articles

• If for a class assignment,
  • Read the assignment instruction carefully: 
    • Requirements (scope, # of references, nature of the sources, publication style such as APA, etc.) 
    • Focus (theories, empirical findings, methodologies, etc.)
  • Examine textbooks
    • To find keywords for your topic, consult Indexes at the end of the books 
  • Examine journal articles (class readings) 
    • Browse the reference list of an article and chain the citations 
       
• Consider personal interests 
   
• If you know the top scholarly journals in your field, skim titles and abstracts of the latest issues of the journals
  • Scholarly journals are also called academic, peer-reviewed, or refereed journals
  • Compare these examples:
    • Sales & Marketing Management  : a trade magazine
    • International Journal of Internet Marketing & Advertising  : a scholarly journal 
              
• Browse "Annual Reviews" publications in the field, if available
   
• Read theses or dissertations in the area of your interest
  • From your department 
  • From other institutions 
     
• Browse conference opportunities in your field. Read their "Call for Papers" or "Call for Proposals" to catch up hot topics in the field.
  • E.g., 
    • CFP List: An academic call for papers database in Humanities and Social Sciences 
    • NBER Project on Economic Dimensions of Personalized and Precision Medicine 
       
• Check out research funding organizations in social sciences to find hot topics in the field. A list of the recent awards (or the funded research) is a good source to find out the hot topics in the field. 
  • NSF's Interdisciplinary Behavioral and Social Science Research (IBSS)
  • Research Topics suggested by UK's ESRC (Economic & Social Research Council) 
  • FSU Office of Research Development's Finding Funding page
     
• Brainstorm a list of possible topics

After selecting a topic, if your assignment requires a working thesis, try to formulate a preliminary working thesis. This will serve as a roadmap to your search. 

• Tip on writing thesis statements (from UNC's The Writing Center)

Once you conduct an initial search of the literature, you might want to refine your topic. Two common ways are: 

• Narrow down the topic by adding delimitations or more keywords/concepts
  
  
•  For a limited period of time (i.e. the past 10 years of literature only)  
• E.g., Treisman, D. (2007). What have we learned about the causes of corruption from ten years of cross-national empirical research?. Annu. Rev. Polit. Sci., 10, 211-244.  
  
  
• For a specific group only
• E.g.,
  "Adolescent Depression"  -->  "Depression among HIV-affected youth" 
  
  
• Adding extra search terms /topics
• E.g.,
  "Voter turnout" --> "Negative campaign and voter turnout " 
  
  
• Expand the topic by getting rid of the delimitations or using broader concepts 
  
  
• E.g.,
  "Instructional effectiveness of games for teaching grammar"  --> "Effectiveness of games for language teaching"

After refining your topic, revise a working thesis accordingly.