The real reason you can’t write your literature review
In those blissfully naive early days of your early PhD journey, the literature review seemed like a fairly innocuous part of the doctoral process. Perhaps it was even one you were looking forward to. A nice piece of desk-based work that you could geek out on before you had to do the scary stuff of ethical approval and trying to recruit participants.
Then, you actually get into the literature review and it fast became an awful lot more complicated than you thought it would be.
The sheer volume of literature is overwhelming. You now find yourself with a desktop full of PDFs and a creeping sense of guilt that you haven’t read half as many as you should have done.
Then you try to start writing up what you’ve found out so far and you… freeze. Everything feels completely disconnected. There’s a lot, and you can’t even begin to put words on the page.
Maybe the answer is to just read more?
No, it really isn’t.
Unless you can truly say, hand on heart, that you’re confident you’ve understood everything you’ve read so far and can clearly identify why each paper is absolutely essential to your literature review, reading more is not a good idea.
What you need now is direction.
That comes from asking good questions:
What am I trying to understand?
What concepts matter?
What conversations keep appearing?
This is going to help you dislodge the writing block and begin to see the possible shape your literature review might take.
Wherever you are in your literature review – whether you're yet to produce the first draft or whether you're scrambling as you get ready to submit your thesis – asking these kinds of questions will get you closer to words on the page.
Literature reviews in qualitative studies aren't easy because they change shape as your understanding of your research evolves. New connections emerge. Some concepts become more important. Others fade into the background.
This is a sign that your thinking has moved on, and what you need at that point isn't more reading. You need direction. Let me help you get started with my free short guide by clicking here.
Need more than my short guide? That's exactly why I developed my PhD Survival Guide for the Literature Review. It's designed to help you make sense of what you've already read, see how the pieces fit together, and build a literature review that you can confidently explain and stand behind. Learn more about it here: PhD Survival Guide for the Literature Review.
“I’ve read so much, but I still don’t know what I’m trying to say”
You've read countless papers, but your literature review still feels like disconnected summaries rather than a clear argument. You now need a structure for making sense of what you've read - this guide gives you that structure.
Swipe through the images to explore the frameworks, worksheets, and guidance included.
Get the full Survival Guide set here.
Got questions? Contact me using this form, I’ll be happy to help.
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