How to Start a Literature Review

Starting a literature review can feel overwhelming. You may not know how many papers to read, which ones belong in the review, or how to turn notes into a coherent argument. A literature review is not a list of papers you have read. It is a structured explanation of the research conversation your project belongs to.

Why Literature Reviews Feel Difficult

A literature review is difficult because every paper asks a slightly different question, uses a different method, studies a different context, and admits different limitations.

If you summarize papers one by one without comparing those differences, the review gets longer but the research landscape remains unclear.

Narrow the Topic First

Do not begin with a broad keyword and collect everything. First narrow the population, phenomenon, method, and context your project actually cares about.

For example, 'AI in education' is too broad. 'Generative AI in undergraduate writing courses' gives you a clearer boundary for deciding which papers belong.

Define Search Terms and Inclusion Criteria

A good literature review starts with search design. List the main keywords, related terms, field-specific phrases, and terms you want to exclude.

Then define inclusion and exclusion criteria. Ask whether each paper is directly related to your question, whether its method is comparable, and whether its context is still relevant.

Compare Papers With the Same Criteria

As you read, record the same fields for every paper: research question, population, method, finding, limitation, and relevance to your project.

This makes it possible to explain the field as a pattern of claims, methods, and gaps rather than a list of author names.

Build the Review Flow in Brify

Brify can help you connect multiple papers into a structure map. Instead of stacking summaries, you can separate themes, debates, methods, limitations, and research gaps.

Starting with a structure map makes the writing stage less intimidating because the logic of the review is already visible.

A Practical Workflow

To apply how to start a literature review in a real research workflow, start by gathering the papers you already have in one place. Then avoid jumping straight into writing. First, turn each paper into comparable information.

Write one sentence for the question your literature review needs to answer. Separate papers that directly support that question from papers that only provide background. For each paper, record the research question, population or material, method, main finding, limitation, and relevance to your own project.

Once those fields are consistent, patterns become visible. You can see which claims repeat, which methods dominate the field, which findings disagree, and where your own research question might fit.

How to Structure It in Brify

In Brify, you can organize how to start a literature review around nodes such as research question, paper groups, method differences, result differences, limitations, research gaps, and connection to your own project.

The goal is not to create another isolated note for every paper. Place each paper under a theme, debate, method, or gap. Papers that make similar claims can sit together. Papers that disagree can become a separate branch, which makes the logic of the review easier to explain later.

It also helps to mark what is already clear and what still needs checking. A literature review is not finished in one pass. It becomes stronger through reading, comparison, revision, and source verification.

Common Mistakes

The first mistake is organizing papers in the order you read them. Reading order is not the same as review logic. Readers do not need to know which paper came first in your workflow; they need to understand how the field has discussed the problem.

The second mistake is giving every paper equal weight. In a literature review, some papers are central evidence, while others provide context. Treating every paper the same makes the review longer but not clearer.

The third mistake is declaring a research gap too quickly. Before saying that no one has studied a question, check your search terms, scope, adjacent concepts, and similar studies. A research gap needs evidence, not just intuition.

What to Do Today

If you want to start working on how to start a literature review today, choose only three papers and organize them with the same criteria. Three papers are enough to reveal repeated themes, missing details, and possible gaps.

Then write one sentence for each paper: why does this paper matter for my research question? If the sentence is hard to write, the paper may not be central to your review. If the sentence is clear, the paper may deserve deeper reading and citation tracking.

Small steps are fine. What matters is that every reading session leaves behind a structure that helps the next reading session and the next writing session.

Final Thoughts

A literature review is not a contest to read the most papers. It is a way to understand a research conversation. Use Brify to turn a paper list into a structured review map.