Literature Reviews: Documenting your Search

Documenting Your Search

WHO?

WHAT?

All of the information that someone would need to reproduce your literature search
Be as specific as possible
Information to record: database names, filters applied, keywords, search strategy, eligibility criteria, alerts set up, etc.

WHEN?

Ideally, every time you work on your search
Think of it as a rolling notes document to remind yourself what you did last time you searched and what you want to do the next time you search

WHERE?

Create single document in Word, Google Docs or another word processing software
Give it a descriptive file name (for example: LitSearch_LakeMercuryLevels_2023-04-13.docx). More info on using a file naming convention to create descriptive file names is on the Organizing the Literature tab.
This document should be a running synopsis of what you've done and what you plan to do. It's a living document — which means you don't want to delete anything from it. Rather, use a ~~strikethrough~~ or another notation to indicate out of date information.
More advanced researchers may want to create a more structured document, like the Literature Matrix explained in the box below

WHY?

For you. So you can keep track of what you did and what you plan to do. You'll thank yourself later.
For continuity of the project. Especially if you have collaborators. Searching for literature isn't a linear process. You'll have to start, stop and restart. Having your search documented will help you to do this more easily.
For your readers. To know the who/what/when/where you searched so they know that you did a comprehensive and relevant literature search

A literature matrix is a spreadsheet that tracks various characteristics from your sources so you can start to see themes emerge.

List of possible source characteristics to track:

Year of Publication	Abstract	Methodology
Author Names	Geographic location	Sample/Population characteristics
Source Title	Keywords	Main findings
Publication Name	Purpose/Objectives	Limitations
Citation	Research questions/Hypothesis	Future research directions
Source type (book, journal article)	Theoretical framework	Notes

Below is an example of a literature matrix from the field of education

A few YouTube videos on how to create a literature matrix:

Examples of literature matrices that you can tailor for your own research:

Thanks to Librarian Jamie Niehof at the University of Michigan for providing permission to reuse and remix this Literature Reviews guide.