What are the best ways to stay objective in your literature review?

The most difficult and critical step in the literature review is the selection of the research question. It is not only the first step but also the backbone of your review. You need to start from a broad topic that you are interested in, and then you narrow your question in a very precise idea that may puzzle you and the research community. It should be: 1. Specific, avoid vague questions that can lead you to useless loss of time and efforts 2. Answerable otherwise, it is worthless work 3. Relevant: your review will give added value to the current research about this topic. 4. Clear to guide you in the research criteria of inclusion and exclusion.

I was not the best writer and English is my second Language. However, what I found helpful for me was to create a short workflow for what my writing was about. Even a scribble on a notepad would work. I have even tried a portable mini cassette recorder to record thoughts that could be helpful later. I then read articles related to my workflow. For instance- what is the consensus (DNA) binding sequence for a transcription factor or a sigma factor- I would search for that article and place it in an appropriately labeled folder. I then use the workflow to write a rough document- placing references with a tag where relevant. After writing, I take a break revisit the article make changes, and print if necessary. I hope this helps.

Guideline questions I use and find very helpful: Clarity Is it clear? Engaging Opening Does it make you want to keep reading? Tension Curve Is the pacing good? Are there increasing events or a plateau? Believability Can you visualize it? Does it have dialogue? Characters Is the protagonist interesting? Dialogues Are they well-indicated? Does each character have a voice? Do the dialogues contribute or are they fillers? Main Conflict (the protagonist's evident problem) Does it convince you? Is it interesting to the target audience? Theme Is it relevant to contemporary times? Is it well-addressed? Ending Is it open-ended? Is it convincing? Literary Genre Does it meet expectations for its genre? Is it too clichéd or does it have originality?

To stay objective in your literature review, critically evaluate sources, avoid personal bias, include diverse perspectives, use empirical evidence, and focus on relevance to your research question.

I agree on this! One should have a basic idea and plan on how he/she is going to approach the problem and present solutions to them.

Remember that research venues (journals or conferences) have themes and they design their research questions around these themes. One way to stay objective is to diversify your pool of references by selecting articles from different journals and conferences.

Two of the most straightforward ways to assess the quality of sources is to check the a) number of citations, and b) journal/conference in which the source is published. For example for the electronics domain, IEEE journals can be a considerably credible starting point. Be sure to do your research though: citing low quality sources will tank the credibility of your work as well.

@relying on citation and journal rank/reputation is not sufficient; many works with high citation metrics have been retracted for issue with data reproduction, quality etc..

There's more information available than ever before, but that also means that writers need to do an even better job of vetting sources. Components to consider: – Author/publication – How often a text has been cited – How other authors are citing and discussing a given text – The overall quality of the article – The degree to which you're deploying a text in your own work While not all sources necessarily have to come from peer-reviewed journals, that's still the gold standard in most disciplines. Use those sources as the foundation for your research and keep other types of sources on the periphery of your citations.

The purpose of a literature review is often to set the scene, and provide a rationale for upcoming research. Additionally, the patterns in emerging research, trends in the adoption of new methodology, and updated data visualization resources need to be taken into aconsideration. Often, the main obstacle in remaining objective is our own appetite for a niche topic. However, to evaluate how the knowledge on the field came to be, a broad overview of the state of the art is needed. Going from general to specific is the best way to properly identify a research gap. What are the questions that remain unresolved? What are the solutions that didn't work? To capture the reader's interest, use storytelling techniques to compare data.

A literature review serves a number of fundamental purposes in research: 1.) A lit review lays out the breadth and scope of a topic for your reader. 2.) A lit review illustrates your understanding of a topic and builds credibility in the minds of your readers. 3.) A lit review foregrounds your own research question as well as the gap(s) you're filling in current research. 4.) A lit review begins to outline the argument you're forwarding in the coming sections. The goal is to think through research thematically, lest your review simply read like a series of disparate summaries.

Seeking feedback and revising your literature review is essential to maintain objectivity and produce a high-quality research paper. Feedback enhances accuracy, mitigates bias, improves clarity and coherence, identifies gaps, strengthens argumentation, prevents plagiarism, aligns with research objectives, ensures a well-organized structure, boosts confidence and helps meet publication standards. Embracing feedback as a tool for improvement is crucial for responsible and credible research.