Literature Review Note-taking Template
Use this template to structure your notes when reviewing literature:
1. Author and Article Information
- Author Last Name
- Article Title
- Journal Name (Publication Year)
2. Research Question
- Write a one-sentence summary of the article's research question from the end of the Introduction.
- If a hypothesis is provided, summarize it in one sentence.
3. Motivation
- Write a one-sentence summary of the social motivation from the Introduction.
- How will the article solve social, environmental, or other problems?
- Summarize the research gap in the Background/Literature Review section and explain how the article addresses it.
4. Results
- Write a one-sentence summary of the main finding from the Results & Discussion section.
- Summarize supplementary findings in one sentence each.
- Include relevant figures and/or tables.
5. Methods
- Write a one-paragraph summary of the experimental methods.
- Describe each stage of the experiment, how they interact, inputs, and outputs.
- Draw a flowchart showing the flow of data between stages.
6. Impressions
- What was good about this article?
- What questions do you have about the methods, findings, and conclusions?
- What are the study's weaknesses?
- How could the study be improved?