A literature survey is a foremost step in research. It acquaints you to the methodologies adopted by various researches to solve problems similar to the one you have in your head. It refines the research question and creates a link between the problem at hand and pre-existing knowledge. However, navigating through a large body of literature is a daunting task and maybe frustrating as well. Don’t be scared if it is taking the time. You don’t have to rush at all. You don’t have to be biased in any aspect.
Two main sources
Two sources one can resort to are Books and journals. Books provide static information related to basics in the concerned research field while journal articles provide the info about recent trends and achievements. So both the sources act as complementary in boosting the knowledge.
The First step
The first step is to collect the relevant literature!! Note the keywords given by your supervisor and get started. One must understand that keywords are important while searching the relevant literature. Different combinations of keywords must be tried for a good survey. Here are some sites and links that might help you in moving ahead!!
Data Management
When we have collected so many research articles, books, the thesis of other researchers, it becomes cumbersome to manage all the data. So proper management is the key to the issue. This is the first lesson that we learn in our Ph.D.- Management!! Create a directory at your desktop and name it as “Literature”. After accessing an article, save it in that folder in the following manner:
Year of Publishing_Journal name_Author’s name_Keywords
This will help you in selecting the right paper from your catalog even if you see it after a long time without getting mad. keep Journal name short. One author is sufficient- either the first author or corresponding author- follow the same format once chosen. This will help you identify the main groups working in your field. In place of keywords, you can also put the title of the article. This way you arrange your literature in a chronology that will also help you identify the changes that came in technologies with years of hard work of researchers. Working this way, you will surely be able to admire the power of proper management.
