Track the Literature Review Process in a Method of Inquiry Table

Have you ever worked on a literature review, going from database to database, repeating some searches while forgetting to try additional keywords in some of them when you think of them at a later point in your review? This is the reason I recently Tweeted about a Method of Inquiry Table. This tool, which can be adjusted as needed based on the research, is a simple table that allows you to track databases, keywords, and results. To help remain focused, it has a space for the research purpose and questions.

Seems like such a simple tool, though before I started using one, I always duplicated my efforts while forgetting things along the way.

I uploaded the tool I use here for anybody who may want to use or improve upon it.

5 thoughts on “Track the Literature Review Process in a Method of Inquiry Table

  1. Nice tool, I saved it for future use. I’ve done much the same thing in the past but with less format…mostly I make notes in my Circa notebook. This will make a great teaching tool.

  2. hi Jeffrey, thanks for this … most useful! Am using to keep control of where i’m going in my literature search. Got the recommendation from another student in my cohort (4). Thanks a million! ruth

  3. hi Jeffrey , I adapted it for my own assignment which went in on Monday, and added a column for ‘filters’ which I used in subsequent searches of the same database, to narrow down the numbers. I’ve have used your site in my reference list by the way! This is a most useful resource indeed! thanks again, ruth

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