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Mastering the Literature Review - Uncovering Insights and Shaping Your Research

This guide was created for the Mastering the Literature Review - Uncovering Insights and Shaping Your Research workshop on October 22, 2024, and revised for the McNair Scholars instruction session on February 13, 2025.

The Literature Review Process/Model

Laurence Machi and Brenda McEvoy's Literature Review model consists of 6 steps.

This image depicts Laurence Machi and Brenda McEvoy's six step process for conducting literature reviews. The first step is select a topic, the topic is specified then develop tools of argumentation, once the tools of argumentation are organized then search the literature, once the literature is explored and catalogued, then survey the literature, once you document and discover content, then critique the literature to advocate and define your argument, and finally write and cite the review to address and answer your research question.

Selecting Your Topic - Steps 1 & 2

When conducting a literature review, your first task is to:

Create a research topic statement:

  • Identify a subject to study, ideally translating a personal interest or concern into a research query
  • Connect your possible research query to an appropriate academic discipline
  • Write a preliminary research statement that is limited to one subject of study, linked to an academic discipline, which will connect you to relevant literature

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