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If the same authors, books or articles keep appearing in your reading, make sure to seek them out. To identify the most important publications on your topic, take note of recurring citations. When you find a useful book or article, you can check the bibliography to find other relevant sources.
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Read the abstract to find out whether an article is relevant to your question. NOT to exclude results containing certain terms (e.g.generation Z OR teenagers OR adolescents) OR to find sources that contain one of a range of synonyms (e.g.social media AND body image AND generation Z) AND to find sources that contain more than one keyword (e.g.You can use boolean operators to help narrow down your search: Inspec (physics, engineering and computer science).Medline (life sciences and biomedicine).Project Muse (humanities and social sciences).Some useful databases to search for journals and articles include: Use your keywords to begin searching for sources. Generation Z, teenagers, adolescents, youth.Body image, self-perception, self-esteem, mental health.Social media, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, TikTok.You can add to this list if you discover new keywords in the process of your literature search. Include each of the key concepts or variables you’re interested in, and list any synonyms and related terms. Start by creating a list of keywords related to your research question. Research question exampleWhat is the impact of social media on body image among Generation Z? Make a list of keywords You should be able to answer it based only on a review of existing publications. Unlike a dissertation research question, this question has to be answerable without collecting original data. If you are writing a literature review as a stand-alone assignment, you will have to choose a focus and develop a central question to direct your search.
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If you are writing the literature review section of a dissertation or research paper, you will search for literature related to your research problem and questions. Step 1: Search for relevant literatureīefore you begin searching for literature, you need a clearly defined topic. Writing literature reviews is a particularly important skill if you want to apply for graduate school or pursue a career in research. The content will look slightly different in each case, but the process of conducting a literature review follows the same steps. In this case, the purpose is to evaluate the current state of research and demonstrate your knowledge of scholarly debates around a topic. You might also have to write a literature review as a stand-alone assignment.
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