WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE & WHY OF DOCUMENTING YOUR SEARCH

WHO?

• You plus any collaborators

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 Rather, use a strikethrough or another notation to indicate out of date information.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: 

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

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

• Literature Matrix "How To Guide" - uses GoogleDrive
• Literature Matrix (for social sciences) - uses Excel

• Creating a Literature Matrix in Excel (with Filtering) - uses Excel

 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.

This work is subject to a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license