PhD Literature Review Tips, how to start strong!

Video Description

Struggling to start your PhD literature review? You’re certainly not alone! In this video I’ll show you how to start strong, avoiding the common feelings of overwhelm and procrastination that blight many a doctoral student’s early literature review attempts! PhD literature reviews are very different from the literature reviews you may have done for your bachelor's or master’s degree. They’re more extensive – both in scope and in depth – and this can make them feel impossible at times! Students often make a start, only to find themselves drowning in a sea of academic literature a couple of weeks later, not sure what’s relevant and what isn’t, and where to draw the line between what absolutely should be included in their literature review, and what absolutely shouldn’t. Starting strong is the key to avoiding these literature review dramas! In this video, I’ll walk you through how to begin your literature review. We’ll start by identifying some specific literature review questions – so you know exactly what you need the literature to do for you, avoiding tangents and rabbit holes! Then we’ll go through the process of identifying keywords and key phrases to use in your literature searches, the importance of keeping track of them, and how to use Boolean operators in your searches – don’t worry – I’ll explain it all. Throughout the video, I’ll use an example PhD research project, “Mid-Career Social Workers Experiences of Professional Development: Balancing “the job” with climbing the career ladder.” This will help you see how you can implement the advice I’m sharing with you, as far too much of the PhD literature review advice out there is completely abstract! Please share your thoughts and questions in the comments, I would love to hear from you! Chapters 0:00 – 1:46 Introduction and overview 1:47 – 4:40 Be intentional – go in with literature review questions 4:41 – 6:51 Identifying literature review search keywords and key phrases 6:52 – 7:26 Set up a system to organise your literature searches and review 7:27 – 9:12 Starting your literature search 9:13 – 9:30 Starting your literature review 9:31 – 10:40 Recap and conclusions // Other helpful videos // ADVANCED Literature Review https://youtu.be/8FXwxZx72nI How many literature review headings to include https://youtu.be/_OSD49Toktw Literature review insider secrets – from a professor with 20 years experience https://youtu.be/WxqTTxQz_Hs How to structure your literature review https://youtu.be/x1Ai7YYRF4A STOP chasing a wordcount in your literature review https://youtu.be/K7Va55zUhGs // See my videos BEFORE everyone else does! // For early access to my videos and whole load of other cool things, become a Degree Doctor channel member! https://www.youtube.com/@DegreeDoctor/join // Tidy up a messy literature review with my FREE guide! // Grab my free PDF guide for tidying up a messy literature review AND get on my email list at the same time! The PhD journey can be a tough one, and my weekly emails are written with that in mind! They’re full of advice and easy-to-implement tips, as well as, “It’s okay, the way you’re feeling is completely valid” type stuff. Here's the link to sign up for your free guide and the email list: https://www.thedegreedoctor.com/how-to-structure-your-phd-literature-review // I sell lots of great stuff! Take a look at what you can buy! // Want to see some of the resources and courses you can buy to help you on your PhD journey? Here are my bestsellers! Need some quick wins? Try my Cheat Sheet Library https://www.thedegreedoctor.com/cheat-sheet-library Want me to walk you through each of your PhD chapters, step-by-step? Check out my PhD Survival Guides https://www.thedegreedoctor.com/phd-survival-guides Are you doing Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis and feeling massively stuck? I have a self-study course for that https://www.thedegreedoctor.com/phd-survival-guides/p/braun-clarke-thematic-analysis Got 60 minutes? Want to get confident with paradigms? Check out my course, Paradigms for Beginners https://www.thedegreedoctor.com/paradigms-for-beginners Is your literature review a mess? Sort it out with my Literature Review Rescue Plan course https://www.thedegreedoctor.com/savemylitreview Just want some cool new PDF planners? Take a look in my Planner Shop https://www.thedegreedoctor.com/dissertation-planner-shop