First of all, we need to distinguish between "literature review" and "background description". When we choose to study a problem, we need to know its background and context. "Literature review" is the arrangement of academic viewpoints and theoretical methods.

Secondly, literature review is critical (review is "comment"), so we should summarize and comment on the literature with the author's own critical thinking, not just "piling up" academic research in related fields. The main line of comments should be based on the question, that is, how do other scholars view and solve your questions, and whether their methods and theories are flawed? If other scholars have solved your problem perfectly, there is no need to repeat the research. The significance of literature review is clarified. Now let's talk about how to do literature review. Although it is a responsible research attitude to collect information as widely as possible, it is easy to lead people into the quagmire of literature without standards.

Tip 1: aim at the mainstream. Mainstream literature, such as core journals, classic works, research reports of full-time departments, opinions and discussions of important compounds, etc. , is a "compulsory course" for literature review. Most of the related reports or comments in the mass media, though somewhat valuable, can be simplified due to the limited time and energy. How to find out the mainstream in this field? It is suggested to start with the following aspects: First, Chinese and foreign academic journals in the library should "follow the trail" and pay attention to their references after finding one or two "classic" articles. High-quality academic articles usually do not ignore the mainstream and classic literature in this field. Secondly, using the "periodical database retrieval" of the school library, we can find some earlier classic documents.

Tip 2: organize at any time, such as classifying documents, recording document information and collection locations. It takes a long time to write a paper. Some documents may not be used at that time, but they can't be found afterwards, so sometimes it is necessary to record them. At the same time, for particularly important documents, you might as well make a reading note and extract important viewpoints and expositions. Step by step, I have accumulated a lot of "dry goods" when I really started writing my thesis, and I can enjoy them at any time.

Tip 3: Organize the literature review according to the problems. After reading some documents, we have a strong desire to state everything we see, like "spill the beans from the bamboo tube", which is magnificent and spectacular. It seems that I must prove to the readers that I have worked hard. I wrote a literature review of hundreds of thousands of words, and later found that only a few thousand words were really meaningful. Literary criticism is like opening a path in the jungle of literature. This road is intended to point to the problem we want to solve. Of course, the straight line distance is the shortest and the most convenient. However, there are many scenery along the way, and people who are obsessed with scenery often bypass the winding jungle. On the other hand, "flowers are getting lost" and "winding paths lead to seclusion" are nowhere to be found. Therefore, when doing literature review, we should always keep a clear head: what problems I want to solve, how others solve them, and whether what I said makes sense.