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Get Organized

As you review articles, it is important to organize them in a way that allows you to find specific information when you need it. The following ideas and resources can help you organize your research.

Lit-Review Matrix

When reading research for a literature review or other research project, it is important to organize your resources so that you can access them later when it’s time to write. I use something that I call the Lit-Review Matrix.

The Lit-Review Matrix is a spreadsheet that allows you to organize the key information of articles that you read. I like using online tools like Google Sheets, but any spreadsheet software will work. This online template can be copied online or downloaded as an Excel or open-source file.

The list below identifies what goes into each column within the matrix.

Matrix Columns

• A: Author & date
• B: URL, a link to article
• C: Population that was studied
• D: Theory or theories of the study (Relates to RQ1)
• E: Instructional strategies that were used (Relates to RQ2)
• F: Results/Conclusion/Discussion from the article.
• G: Limitations of the study that have relevance to your project
• H: Connections for Synthesis – Document connections to other studies. This supports synthesis, which is the transformation of information from multiple sources into a new composite observation. As you research, you’ll find yourself coming back to this column to add information about new connections that you discover.
• I: Project Relevance: Note how the study relates, or doesn’t relate, to your research project.
• J. Notes