(PhD) tools for a literature review
As PhD students, we are faced with a big challenge at the beginning of our academic trek through the dense wilderness of research articles, open letters, reviews and much (a lot, and somewhat indefinite volume of) literature.
The literature review is a stage in academia that we knew so well we would face but seemingly could not fathom the extent of resources required to scratch the surface barely. Currently, I am facing such a dilemma. How do I manage the volume of research previously published by former academics who were in the same position at some stage as us? The quote by Newton
“standing on the shoulders of giants”
is far from an understatement, and for academics now, giants are seemingly taller with a more extraordinary array of knowledge than previous academics could imagine. So, where do we begin?
Tools and AI: Elicit
AI has grown in the last decade, improving how we consider our world and the completion of tasks. Academics have, through time, played a valuable role in AI development, and we have undoubtedly developed AI to enhance our academic workflow. I scoured the web, unfortunately, one search at a time, although I am sure scraping may have been as effective. I found several web, desktop and extension-based applications, which I happily recommend for PhD students, post-docs and researchers.
The first is Elicit.org, an AI tool with many roles. Elicit is fantastic for initial research or to further support your literature. Elicit works by providing a research question, for example, ‘how are cities developed?’ and through the witchcraft that is computational AI algorithms, the AI finds relevant scientific journal articles and primary literature sources.
But, Elicit does not stop at the point of presenting a list of literature (similar to web-based scholarly sites – Google springs to mind) but much more. Elicit ‘reads’ the paper and finds relevant snippets closely linked with your initial research question. Elicit is excellent at providing other valuable information such as abstract summaries, reliability, participation, outcomes and critiques. Such information is precious for literature reviews and helpful for quick judgement on whether the literature is essential for your research.
Again, Elicit continues to provide more resources; not only does the AI generate the above information, but it suggests alternatives to your research question so that, as an academic, you can keep pursuing literature further. I would recommend you check out Elicit.
Web of Sources: LitMaps
Litmaps is another essential tool I use during the literature review process. LitMaps is excellent to use alongside Elicit and other literature tools because it provides connections between literature, helping to find other relevant literature which could further support your research ideas and background knowledge for your review. If you, like me, love flow charts, systems mapping or similar, Litmaps will be an outstanding choice, improving your workflow throughout your PhD literature review process.