literature-review-workflow

# Literature Review Workflow ## Workflow 1. Define scope before searching: research question, domain, time window, languages, publication types, inclusion criteria, exclusion criteria, and target venue when known. 2. Build a search plan with a small set of high-recall query families and likely databases or sources. 3. Search current sources when the user asks for recent literature, venue status, publication status, or comprehensive coverage. 4. Track search strings, sources searched, dates, inclusion decisions, and exclusions in the article's notes or action plan. 5. Screen candidates first by title/abstract, then read closely only the most relevant papers. 6. For each included work, extract: corpus/data, language, domain, method/pipeline, evaluation, findings, limitations, artifact availability, and relation to the current article. 7. Update the `.bib` file only after checking for existing equivalent entries. 8. Synthesize the literature as an argument about the gap, not as an annotated bibliography. ## Search Strategy - Start with the article's central concepts and synonyms. - Combine domain terms with method terms and evaluation terms. - Include both direct competitors and adjacent work that clarifies the gap. - Prefer primary sources, peer-reviewed work, strong preprints, official reports, and institutional sources. - Verify whether important preprints have published versions. - Record why a highly related source was included, excluded, or deferred. ## Synthesis Pattern - Group papers by contribution type, not merely chronology. - Explain what each cluster has established. - Identify what remains unresolved after the closest work. - Position the current article by corpus, language, method, evaluation, and openness of artifacts. - Be generous and precise: do not create novelty by caricaturing prior work. ## Deliverables - Search log or progress note with queries and sources. - Curated list of included, excluded, and deferred works. - BibTeX updates with duplicate checks. - Comparative table when originality or positioning is the goal. - Revised literature-review paragraphs that connect literature, gap, and contribution.