Dumb question--conducting a lit review

[techcommie]

Hi,

I'm in my senior year, only a few months away from applying to grad school, and am having a serious crisis of confidence. One of my problems is that I never took a research methods class. I get along, but I'm unsure about how I review current scholarship--am I doing it horribly wrong? Here are the steps:

-Think up a bunch of likely key words

-Run the key words through the main journals in my field

-Run the key words through Google Scholar

-Ask my professors if they know of any don't-miss material

Am I missing something here? Will people laugh their asses off when I get to "real" school?

Many thanks for guidance to a noob!

[wtncffts]

I think you have the right idea with the keyword searching but probably the first step should be to discuss your topic with the professor. He or she should be able to give you a broad view of the state of research on your topic. I know in my field there are sources like the Oxford Handbooks which give good and relatively up to date overviews on particular subjects; there's probably something like that in your field as well. If you go to Wikipedia for literature review, there are links to 'how-tos'. I haven't looked at them but they're probably useful. Good luck!

[PsyK]

Research databases are your friend. Once you find a relevant article, look at what the article itself cited. You will find many related topics in the references section.

Edited April 12, 2011 by PsyK

[qbtacoma]

Also check out book reviews in journals. Not only will they discuss the book in question, but sometimes the book review will say something like, "This book is a great supplement to [some other book on the same topic]," and you can find the really key texts in a field this way.

[GardeningGrad]

Research databases are your friend. Once you find a relevant article, look at what the article itself cited. You will find many related topics in the references section.

I agree with Psyk - find a 'keystone article' that contains a lot of information pertinent to your research interests. Then look up every reference in its' bibliography/works cited. Don't be discouraged - through experienced you'll develop your own research methods. Since you're an undergrad, don't by shy about asking a reference librarian at your university's library or a friendly professor who is publishing something right now. People love to share tricks of the research trade.