Litmaps

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So many researchers find literature reviews overwhelming, but here's something they rarely find out... They don't need to be! Really. If your fighting through hundreds of papers to get to the core of the lit review, it won't magically disappear. The key is to step back and think about how the BEST literature reviews are done. The best lit reviews are by authors with a clear strategy and a focused objective. That’s why the text flows and the citations feel intentional. Here's how to achieve the same with a very clear and easy strategy to start any lit review from scratch. Plus, using a tool dedicated for the job makes it easier. Click through the images to see 9 steps in making it happen. What's your trick to starting and finishing literature reviews with ease? Share with us below! _________________ We're on a mission to help accelerate impactful research. Join us. 👋 Follow us at Litmaps 🧪 Try our new approach to literature review at litmaps (dot) com #PhDLife #ResearchTips #LiteratureReview #AcademicWriting #Litmaps

What's more of an accomplishment? Getting your paper done, or getting your advisor to read it? Miscommunication and slow-downs with your supervisor are some of the most painful (and common) parts of the journey. Students get frustrated waiting for edits or realizing they’ve written something totally off-track. Supervisors get frustrated when students misunderstand their angle or miss obvious references. But there's a secret weapon to solving AND preventing common miscommunication... Sharing. Literature sharing. 📚 When you and your supervisor (or peers) build and use a shared literature library, you instantly avoid many common pitfalls: ❌ Being on totally different pages about what’s core to your field. ❌ Disagreements about how to frame the Introduction or position the research. ❌ Confusion over which peer reviewers or journals to target. ❌ Frustration onboarding new lab members who don’t know the key readings yet. Here’s how literature sharing transforms collaboration: 1. Get on the same page. Create a shared library in Zotero or Litmaps. Now you and your supervisor are literally aligned on what matters for your project. Plus, you STAY aligned as your project grows. ✅ Alignment 2. Share papers instantly. No more emailing PDFs or losing papers in inboxes. Every new article is right there for both of you to see. ✅ Easy sharing 3. Onboard teammates faster. When new students join the lab, they can learn the field in days — not months — by exploring your shared collection. ✅ Onboard easily 4. Reduce back-and-forth when writing. Instead of arguing over the Introduction, use the shared map to see the big picture. Agree on positioning early and save weeks of wasted work. ✅ Write faster 5. Find & agree on peer reviewers. Shared maps highlight key authors, making it much easier to identify who should review it. ✅ Identify peer reviewers quickly Sometimes better communication with your advisor isn’t about more meetings or longer emails. It’s about sharing the same foundation. Literature sharing gives you both a clear structure, today and for years to come as your projects evolve and grow. How do you prevent miscommunication in your research team? What's your trick to being on the same page? _________________ We're on a mission to help accelerate impactful research. Join us. 👋 Follow us at @Litmaps 🧪 Try our new approach to literature review at litmaps (dot) com #PhDLife #ResearchTips #LiteratureReview #AcademicWriting #Litmaps

You open Google Scholar, type in your research topic, and… 💥 2.63 million results. (literally) The top five look useful, but what about the other 2,629,995? 🤔 Are you missing something important? 😥 Could skipping a key paper undermine your credibility? 😰 How could you ever know when you’ll never read even a small fraction? This is the struggle most researchers face: too many papers. And it matters. Miss the wrong study and you risk: ⚠️ Invalidating your research, ⚠️ Losing a crucial citation, ⚠️ Looking like you don’t know your field. It feels impossible. How can you read millions, or even 100 papers? 👉 The truth is: you don’t have to. What you need is a strategy to confidently identify which papers are most relevant so you can focus your energy where it matters. Here’s a clear, step-by-step approach: 1️⃣ Step 1: Identify your research topic ✍️ Before you even start searching, define your focused research question. ❌ Bad: “Climate change and biodiversity” ✅ Good: “How does drought frequency affect the biodiversity of plants in Mediterranean ecosystems?” A focused question determines what you’ll actually find and keeps your project grounded. 2️⃣ Step 2: Find 1–3 “starting papers” 🌱 Your search doesn’t begin with thousands of results. It begins with 1–3 solid anchors, or "seeds". ✅ Look for: high citation counts, clear relevance, reputable journals. ❌ Avoid: very new papers (no citations yet), low-impact journals, or overly broad reviews. 3️⃣ Step 3: Read your anchor papers with intent 🧐 Don’t collect dozens of PDFs you’ll never read. Instead, go deep on your 1–3 seeds. Take notes. Ask yourself: - What’s missing here? - What questions are left unanswered? - What methods or datasets should I chase next? This becomes your search compass. 4️⃣ Step 4: Search on papers, not just keywords 🔍 Most students stop at keyword search. That’s why they drown in results AND missing key work. Instead: upload your 1–3 seeds into Litmaps. Litmaps expands through the citation network, surfacing the most connected, influential papers in your area. 5️⃣ Step 5: Review recommendations smartly 👀 Skim titles. If relevant, scan the abstract. Still relevant? Open the PDF, read, and save. Always check: ✅ Journal quality, ✅ Author reputation, ✅ How it links back to your seed papers. That’s it. You’re no longer buried under millions of results! You’ve built a focused, credible, research foundation. ✨ You’ll never read 2,629,995 papers. But with the right system, you don’t need to. You only need to read the right papers that shape your field. How many papers did you read for your literature review? Share with us below! _________________ We're on a mission to help accelerate impactful research. Join us. 👋 Follow us at @Litmaps 🧪 Try our new approach to literature review at litmaps (dot) com #PhDLife #ResearchTips #LiteratureReview #AcademicWriting #Litmaps

😵 Trying to understand how a field has developed can be overwhelming. Even advanced researchers struggle when they need to: 🔹 Build a coherent view of how ideas evolved 🔹 Identify the key contributors, authors, and papers 🔹 See how it all connects across time and topics The result? Endless reading lists, messy notes, and still no clear picture of the “big story” in the literature. That’s where Litmaps comes in. We make it possible to map, visualize, and connect the research you care about. So you can actually see the field. 👀 Here’s how: 🔹 Missing the big picture? → Map every paper together in one interactive visualization. 🔹 Struggling to see how topics connect? → Tag articles by topic, method, or theory. Colors show how different threads interact. 🔹 Can’t tell how the field changes over time? → Litmaps sorts papers on the x-axis by publication date, so you see the evolution instantly. 🔹 Want the lineage of ideas? → Sorted axes + citation links make the intellectual “family tree” of a field clear. 🔹 Worried about reinventing the wheel? → Litmaps shows you all potential papers on a topic, ensuring total coverage. With Litmaps, the story of a field becomes visible, and research stops feeling like chaos. _________________ We're on a mission to help accelerate impactful research. Join us. 👋 Follow us at Litmaps 🧪 Try our new approach to literature review at litmaps (dot) com #PhDLife #ResearchTips #LiteratureReview #AcademicWriting #Litmaps

Finding a research topic can be HARDER than writing the paper. If you follow the right strategy for selecting a topic, the writing falls into place. Here's why: Most people think once they “pick” a topic, they’re done. Not true (unfortunately!). 👉 Fields move fast. What’s relevant today may be outdated tomorrow. 👉 Your topic will change as you read more. Sometimes it collapses entirely. 👉 A good idea isn’t enough. It has to fit the journal or conference you’ll submit to. 👉 Too broad? You’ll drown. Too narrow? No one will care. 👉 Feasibility matters. Do you have the time, resources, and data? This is why so many researchers get stuck at the start. Or, wind up facing a brick wall down the line. Selecting and refining your research topic is the most important step in your project. Get it right, and everything else (literature review, methods, writing, etc.) become easier. Here's how to find the best research topic for yourself, step-by-step. 📣 How is your research topic hunt going? What's your trick to ensuring your on the right path? Share with us below! 👇 _________________ We're on a mission to help accelerate impactful research. Join us. 👋 Follow us at Litmaps 🧪 Try our new approach to literature review at litmaps (dot) com #PhDLife #ResearchTips #LiteratureReview #AcademicWriting #Litmaps

Having a hard time getting words on the page to write the introduction of your research paper? You’re not alone. It’s one of the hardest parts of academic writing. This is why the C.A.R.S. Model exists. It shows exactly how to structure your intro so it grabs attention and sets up your study. CARS = Creating A Research Space It works in 3 moves: 1️⃣ Establish a Territory Show why your topic matters. Highlight why it’s important, relevant, or interesting. 👉 Example: “Climate change is reshaping ecosystems worldwide…” 2️⃣ Establish a Niche Point out the problem, gap, or limitation in existing research. 👉 Example: “However, little is known about how urban pollinators adapt to heatwaves…” 3️⃣ Occupy the Niche Present your contribution. Show how your research addresses the gap. 👉 Example: “This study examines how bee populations in mid-sized cities respond to rising summer temperatures.” 💡 Pro tip: Readers (and reviewers!) expect this flow. Following it makes your paper easier to understand and harder to reject. _________________ We're on a mission to help accelerate impactful research. Join us. 👋 Follow us at Litmaps 🧪 Try our new approach to literature review at litmaps (dot) com #PhDLife #ResearchTips #AcademicWriting #Litmaps #LiteratureReview

🔍 Did you know most researchers cite the same small cluster of papers, and miss hidden, relevant studies outside their bubble? It's no big deal, until a reviewer catches it! This happens all the time: ▪️ You start with the papers you already know. ▪️ You follow their references. ▪️ You end up circling the same network everyone else is citing. But the most impactful & surprising insights can come from OUTSIDE that bubble. The key is to change HOW you search for papers to find those special gems. Use Litmaps to break out of this pattern. 🔎 With Litmaps you can search by: 1️⃣ Connection → Trace the network of citations. Find the most important papers that cite or are cited by the ones you know. 2️⃣ Similarity → Switch to semantic search. Discover papers that aren’t even connected by citations, but are conceptually related to your topic. That’s how you uncover the real gems: the overlooked studies that can change the direction of your project. _________________ We're on a mission to help accelerate impactful research. Join us. 👋 Follow us at Litmaps 🧪 Try our new approach to literature review at litmaps (dot) com #PhDLife #ResearchTips #LiteratureReview #AcademicWriting #Litmaps

🤫 Here’s something your supervisor and peers probably won't tell you... You don't need to read everything for your literature review. And, actually, it doesn't even need to be overwhelming! 💡 It’s about following a clear, step-by-step process to understand your research and position your contribution. At its core, a literature review is a straightforward PROCESS, not an end product. 📖 Lit Review Strategy 1. Define your topic ✍ Don’t start broad (“Why do birds migrate?”). Get specific (“How is avian migration influenced by light pollution in South America?”). 2. Search the literature strategically 🔍 Don’t just plug in your whole question. Search for keywords on your topic (like “light pollution,” “artificial light at night,” and “bird migration”). Then, iteratively IMPROVE your search by looking at papers connected to the ones you know - using tools like Litmaps. 3. Organize & evaluate literature 🧐 Sort your sources by the themes, methods, and findings appropriate for your projects. Tools like Litmaps, Zotero, or Mendeley help you stay on top of it. 4. Synthesize 📚 Bring it together: compare, contrast, highlight gaps. This is where your insight emerges. 5. Write your review 📜 Now the writing is just assembling what you’ve already mapped out! Remember, a real literature review is more than just a summary. It clearly positions your work and how it is a novel contribution to the field. 🔄 Bonus: Keep it alive by staying up to date (alerts, journals, Litmaps Monitor). 📚 Literature reviews done with strategy aren't just done faster, but better. 👉 What's your strategy for literature review? Share with us below! _________________ We're on a mission to help accelerate impactful research. Join us. ▶ Follow us at Litmaps ▶ Try our new approach to literature review at litmaps (dot) com #PhDLife #ResearchTips #LiteratureReview #AcademicWriting #Litmaps

Done with your literature review? Here's how to check in just 10 seconds. It can be hard to feel "done" and be sure you: ❓ Covered all the relevant literature ❓ Didn't miss any key citations ⁉️ Won't be called out by Reviewer 2 for forgetting a relevant reference! To answer all 3 of these, you can verify you're done by searching ON your papers. ✅ It takes just 3 steps to run this in Litmaps, for free! 1️⃣ Import your papers into Litmaps 👍 (there are dozens of import options including BibTeX, CSV, RIS or right from Zotero) 2️⃣ Click "Explore Related Articles" ➡️ Litmaps searches for relevant papers based on how they directly connect to your existing articles, and returns you them in a literature map (a Litmap!) 3️⃣ Review the relevant, connected articles Examine the Litmap to see what you missed. No need to second-guess anything. When you're done, you'll know. What's your trick to finishing off your lit review? Share with researchers below 👇