Literature Review

In the midst of searching for the light at the end of a dark tunnel, I begin to wonder how to do I wade out of the marshland of "Hows?". I know more reading, and more questioning, might help the process. And I wish for more shortcuts to understand the papers I'm reading as I form that big Q. It seems to me that everybody seems to have a relatively easy time to form the big research Q, minus me. When will I be able to form a proper big Q which is good enough to impress the MA?

Source: http://static2.quoteswave.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/The-big-question-is-whether-you.jpg

Everyone has his own method of literature review. Mine may not be the latest method. This is just what I know and most comfortable with. Let's return to MY way of systematic literature search:

1. I start with the journal which is directly related to my topic of interest.
2. Chronologically, I chose to start from the latest discoveries - some research paper with direct interests which seems pretty similar to my research group's methods of interest.
3. For more comprehensive understanding of the topic, I choose the latest review paper.
4. It is important to take note of the list of references of those papers I am reading.
5. More reading, and note taking.

This is a method I found published on the student support website of UCLan..

Source: https://www.uclan.ac.uk/students/study/library/literature_search_tips.php

I'd recommend the use of Mendeley desktop to aid the walk in the forest of references. So far I find using a reference manager very helpful and systematic. Others might have different recommendations.