Whether you are looking for evidence to improve your teaching practice or developing a research question, it is helpful to think of searching as entering into a conversation about a problem or topic.
To stay focused on your own needs, start with defining your own goal in joining this conversation. What are you investigating? Why now? For whom?
There are many potential goals, such as:
Defining the goal clarifies the process and choices you will make, such as determining how extensively you will search for sources, the formats you should include, and what the best tools are for you to use. It also helps you determine the appropriate balance between sensitivity (how many relevant items your search retrieves) and precision (how many of those relevant items are actually useful and relevant to your topic).
A search with high sensitivity/low precision will bring in almost all possible relevant items, but with that breadth comes the burden of sifting through more irrelevant results. A search with high precision/low sensitivity will deliver mostly on-target results, but you risk missing some relevant items because the search was too narrow.
A comprehensive literature search should typically be sensitive, but as your research topic and the gap/question you develop becomes more clear, you can search with more precision.
Defining clear inclusion and exclusion criteria helps you select a focused, manageable, and methodologically sound set of sources, which reduces bias and increases transparency.
| Inclusion criteria | the characteristics or attributes a source must have to be considered for your literature review |
| Exclusion criteria | the features or conditions that disqualify a source from inclusion, even if it initially seems relevant |
Common criteria to consider and adjust as needed:
| Criterion | How You Might Use It | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Date / Time Period | Determine how current the evidence needs to be for your topic. | Include: studies published 2015–present. Exclude: works older than 10 years unless foundational. |
| Language | Ensure you can accurately interpret and assess materials. | Include: English-language sources. Exclude: sources you cannot read or reliably translate. |
| Publication Type / Peer-Review Status | Focus on scholarly, credible work appropriate for academic research. | Include: peer-reviewed journal articles, scholarly books, conference papers, government or institutional reports. Exclude: blogs, opinion pieces, commercial websites, non-scholarly media. |
| Methodology / Study Design | Select work that aligns with the type of evidence or research design you require. | Include: empirical studies, case studies, mixed-methods research, literature reviews. Exclude: editorials, anecdotal reports, commentary without research methods (unless used for context only). |
| Geographic or Contextual Scope | Keep your review aligned with the environment, sector, or region you are studying. | Include: studies conducted in your relevant context (e.g., Canadian post-secondary institutions). Exclude: research from sectors or regions outside your scope (e.g., K-12 if studying higher education). |
| Population or Participant Characteristics | Ensure sources examine the group related to your research question. | Include: faculty, instructional designers, adult learners, etc. Exclude: unrelated populations, such as children or other professional fields. |
| Topical / Conceptual Relevance | Keep only sources that substantially address your research topic. | Include: research directly focused on your subject. Exclude: sources that mention the topic briefly but primarily address something else. |