Step 1: Collect documents and information.
There are two main ways to collect documents: one is to search through various retrieval tools. Such as: domestic and foreign professional periodical websites, Chinese and foreign electronic periodical databases, national libraries and search engines. At present, there are three major full-text databases in China, namely China Knowledge-based Engineering Network, China Sci-tech Periodical Database and Wanfang Data Resource System. The published monographs in this field can be retrieved by using the National Library (the collection of the National Library is relatively complete, and all books published in China should be submitted to the National Library). There are also some traditional retrieval methods, such as literature index and abstract magazine retrieval. These traditional retrieval methods are rarely used now, but they can be used to retrieve some earlier classical documents. The second is to extract the relevant literature catalogue from comprehensive articles, monographs, teaching materials, doctoral dissertations and other references.
Attention should be paid to literature collection: firstly, it should focus on professional core journals, classic works, research reports of professional departments and related summary articles in this research field. Secondly, we should focus on the research results of famous researchers in this field. Generally speaking, we must consult the classic literature, and the research with high academic quality will pay attention to the mainstream and classic research in this field. Therefore, it is necessary to read several classic documents, especially references, and then follow them to understand the mainstream research in this field. Literature retrieval should be from near to far, because the latest research often contains references from previous studies, which can let researchers know the research status in this field more quickly.
Step 2: Summarize and sort out the literature.
For the collected literature, we should further screen and sort it out on the basis of reading the literature. By reading the abstract and conclusions in the text of the literature, the problems unrelated to this study are removed. When reading the literature related to researchers' research, we should summarize the research problems, objectives, perspectives, methods, results and conclusions in detail and systematically, and briefly comment on the shortcomings and unsolved problems of this literature research. Then, according to the research needs, the collected documents are classified according to research fields (disciplines), research methods, research perspectives and research problems.
When summarizing the viewpoints of literature, we should note the source of literature according to the description format of references, and the items or information must be comprehensive when labeling references: the items recorded in the book include: author, title, volume number (or volume, set), place of publication, publishing house, year of publication, version and page number. Periodical description items include: author, article name, periodical name, year (volume, issue, year, month) and page number. The items recorded in the newspaper are: author, article title, newspaper name, year, month, day and edition. The description of the dissertation is: author, professional title, doctoral or master's thesis, and the school where the dissertation is located. In the process of learning, we should form good habits when reading documents. When summing up good ideas in documents, we will mark the detailed information of documents conveniently. This saves the trouble of finding the source of the literature later.
The third step: analysis, generalization, induction and criticism.
Summarize (not repeat) the documents to be summarized, and then analyze, summarize, compare and contrast them, not to explain the existing research, but to understand and clarify the main contents of the existing research related to this study. It is very important to analyze, comment and criticize the contributions, different viewpoints and shortcomings of previous studies, and make clear the research theme of researchers on this basis.
Step 4: Ask questions
The ultimate goal of literature review is to point out what problems have not been solved in the existing research and where are the shortcomings of the research? Then ask the questions you want to study. In other words, literature review is to summarize the main points of existing research, and then comment after introduction to explain the shortcomings and gaps in the research. And these shortcomings and gaps are exactly what you want to solve. For example, what new methods or perspectives will you use to solve these problems, or what new ideas and ideas will you put forward to make up for the shortcomings of previous research, and so on. On the basis of literature review and analysis, new research directions and suggestions are put forward. According to the development history and present situation at home and abroad, as well as the possible influence of other majors and fields on this major and field, according to the mainstream and laws found in vertical and horizontal comparison, this paper points out several development possibilities, predicts the possible main influences and possible problems, and puts forward new research schemes.
Second, the problems needing attention in literature review
Literature review focuses on comments and avoids descriptions without comments: Literature review consists of "synthesis" and "description". Therefore, literature review is not a repetition, listing and general introduction of existing research results, but a critical analysis and comment on the advantages and disadvantages and contributions of previous studies. It is necessary to give priority to evaluation, and it is forbidden to describe without commenting. "Comprehensive" refers to the comprehensive classification, refinement and summary of the consulted literature. "Narration" needs to be integrated into the researcher's own theoretical level, professional foundation, ability to analyze and solve problems, and put forward his own unique views on the basis of reasonable analysis of problems. A good literature review should be both strategic and down-to-earth; It's like exploring the hidden world, and it's like enlightening.
Literature review should be comprehensive, accurate and objective: in the process of literature review, we should first "summarize" comprehensively and accurately, that is to say, when consulting the existing research literature in a certain field, we must be comprehensive and ensure the completeness and impartiality of the literature review. In particular, we should not miss the research achievements of famous scholars at home and abroad in this research field. Don't selectively collect documents and summarize them. Otherwise, the conclusion of literature review lacks credibility. Because only on the basis of comprehensive literature review can your research conclusions and innovations be credible. For example, you think your research fills the gap in this field. However, due to your incomplete literature review, some researchers have done in-depth research on this issue, but you just haven't collected this research literature, and even your research has not exceeded the existing research, then your research value and innovation will naturally disappear. You can say that your research is worthless. Therefore, it is very important to review the literature comprehensively. In addition, in order to be accurate, it is best to consult the first-hand literature and try to avoid using others' explanations or summaries of the original literature. It is easy to make mistakes when reading second-hand documents. Then objectively "narrate", that is to say, when commenting on the existing research results, the comments must be based on the existing research literature and objectively explain the research status of the existing research.
Literature review and background description (background
Description) Different: Literature review focuses on theoretical issues, and summarizes and combs the academic viewpoints, research methods, research perspectives and research issues of existing research documents, which is the personal critical vision of researchers.
Thinking) Summarizing and commenting on the existing research literature, rather than just "piling up" academic research in related fields. The main line of comments is around the question you want to study, that is, how do other scholars view and solve your questions, and whether their methods and theories are flawed? If other scholars have solved your problem perfectly, there is no need to repeat the research. However, some graduate students confuse literature review with background review in their papers. The background review focuses on practical issues. When we choose to study the problem, we need to know the background and context of the problem, which belongs to background description, strictly speaking, this is not a literature review.
Literature review should closely follow the research problems: when doing literature review, we should always keep a clear head: what problems do I want to solve, how do people solve them, and whether what they say is reasonable? Its purpose is to further clarify its own problems, find the breakthrough point of research, avoid repeated research and avoid detours. Literature review is not a database. It should closely focus on the "problems" of the subject research, ensure that the existing research results are directly related to the subject research, and its content is closely organized around the subject, which can not only systematically and comprehensively reflect the history, present situation and trend of the research object, but also reflect all aspects of the research content. Therefore, generally speaking, literature review adopts the method from broad to narrow, starting from the big picture and gradually focusing the existing research on your problem. The common incorrect method of literature review is to summarize related fields aimlessly and in general. Literature review should be concise, avoid quoting the original text as much as possible, make the author's point of view clear in his own language, and draw general conclusions from the original literature.