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Would you like to peek behind the curtain and better understand the peer review process for scientific journals?

In this article, I’ll explain to you…

• The concept behind the peer review process for scientific journals
• The various types of peer review processes for scientific journals
• How to determine if an article has been peer-reviewed
• Which types of articles you should avoid referencing in your own academic writing.

What is a Peer Review Process for scientific journals?

To ensure quality control in science, it has become standard practice for a submitted article to be anonymously reviewed by two or more experts in the same field of research.

An article is only published if the authors can satisfactorily address the criticism raised by these “reviewers”.

The history of the peer review process as we know it dates back to 1731. The Royal Society of Edinburgh then inspired several editors of philosophical journals to have their contributions reviewed by a committee of experts (Spier, 2002).

It is also recorded that Albert Einstein had his issues with the peer review process.

In the early 20th century, Einstein primarily published in German-language journals, which at the time did not have a peer review process. When he sent an article (by mail, of course) to the prestigious Physical Review in America, he was surprised by their practice of presenting his paper to an independent expert.

In a letter, he fumed over this, withdrew his work, and published it elsewhere. He believed the comments to be nonsensical and saw no reason to address them.

Types of Peer Review Processes

The three most common types of peer review processes are single-blind, double-blind, and open peer review.

The Single-Blind Peer Review Process Here, the reviewers know the authors’ names, but the authors do not know the reviewers’ names.

The Double-Blind Peer Review Process In this process, both the authors and the reviewers remain anonymous. This requires an editor who knows everyone’s identity.

The Open Peer Review Process Here, everyone knows each other at all times. When an article is published, the reviewer reports are also published.

The last one is particularly progressive because it creates a lot of transparency and allows the iterations of an article to be tracked. But it creates other problems and biases if the anonymity is taken away.

What Happens During the Peer Review Process?

The process begins with the authors submitting their work.

The Desk Reject

The manuscript then lands “on the desk” of an editor, who has two options. Should the article be sent for peer review, or not?

If not, the authors receive a “desk reject,” meaning the article is not even sent to reviewers but is directly and irrevocably rejected by the editor.

Reasons for a desk reject vary. For example, an article might be linguistically or stylistically so far from a publishable standard that it doesn’t make sense to occupy the time of several reviewers. However, the most common reason for a desk reject is actually the fit with the journal.

Journals have specific thematic focuses, and if an article deviates from these, even if it is of high quality, it is immediately rejected.

Major and Minor Revisions

In a few cases, an article may be so good and important that it is accepted immediately after a round of brief feedback.

For instance, many journals accelerated their peer review processes temporarily during the COVID-19 pandemic. It would have made no sense to drag urgently needed research through a process that takes years.

Normally, if a manuscript passes the desk stage, it moves to an editor who will oversee the article until publication.

There are different types of editors, such as an Editor-in-Chief, Senior Editors, or Associate Editors. The “lowest” category of editors is responsible for recruiting reviewers. Sometimes this editor remains anonymous, and sometimes not.

This editor sends the article to 2-3 reviewers, sets a deadline, and then it’s a waiting game.

Once the reports come back, the editor reviews the reports and, of course, the article, and writes their own report. This usually summarizes the key points of the reviewer reports and may also include additional points noticed by the editor.

The editor also decides on the next steps for the article. They can follow the reviewers’ recommendations or override them. In either case, all reports are sent to the authors. If the editor unjustifiably overrides all reviewers, they risk trouble from above, such as from the Editor-in-Chief.

If the article is voted for, the authors receive a deadline by which they may revise their manuscript, and then the process starts over.

Ideally, the same reviewers are invited to check the revision. A “Major Revision” involves substantial changes to the manuscript, while “Minor Revisions” or a “Conditionally Accept” only require minor adjustments.

The number of rounds an article must go through depends on the journal. The most prestigious journals often have the most difficult and longest processes or the toughest “desk”.

What Happens After a Peer Review Process?

In single- and double-blind processes, reviewer reports are generally not published, even if they are anonymous. This has its advantages, such as not having to worry about offending someone when criticizing their work or even rejecting it from publication.

Editors often face the unenviable task of having to reject works from renowned author teams, subsequently facing their anger and disappointment.

The reason the peer review process works is solely due to the reputation people gain from being a reviewer or editor of a particular journal. Moreover, everyone wants their own articles to be reviewed, so you might think twice before declining such a request, especially at the start of your scientific career.

How Can You Identify Peer-Reviewed Articles?

There are essentially two ways to do this.

Option 1: Research the Outlet

You’re not sure how, but somehow you stumbled upon an article through Google Scholar or Google. Research the name of the journal or conference and visit its website. There, you will usually find information on whether it employs a peer review process or not.

But that’s not the end of the story. There are thousands of questionable journals, such as the Open Access journals published by MDPI.

Although they officially have a peer review process, it’s a joke. Their business model is that authors pay a fee, and then their article gets published. If you’re interested in a video about questionable practices in science, just leave me a comment under this article!

With established publishers, authors or universities must also pay a fee, but you can assume that the peer review process is conducted properly.

Over time, try to identify the established publishers and journals or conferences of your discipline. Citing articles of dubious origin can negatively impact your own academic work. So, even if the article fits perfectly, it might be best to steer clear.

Option 2: Filter During Your Search

If you only search databases that index peer-reviewed articles, you won’t even have to ask this question.

Find out which databases list the most important publication outlets of your discipline and limit your search to these databases.

Further Reading Spier, R. (2002). The history of the peer-review process. TRENDS in Biotechnology, 20(8), 357-358.

Are you looking for someone to explain the concept of hermeneutics in simple terms? Then buckle up, because things are about to get philosophical.

In this article, in less than 10 minutes, you’ll get an overview of the following 3 things:

1. What is the theory or philosophy behind the term hermeneutics?
2. What is the hermeneutic circle and what is it used for?
3. And who are the key thinkers in hermeneutics that you definitely should have heard of?

So, if you’re looking for a quick and painless overview of the topic, keep reading. By the end of this article, you’ll be at least a bit wiser than before.

Hermeneutics Explained

What is Hermeneutics?

Hermeneutics is “the art of methodically guided understanding” (Kaus, 2022, p.1), which means that it helps us as a researcher in understanding the overarching structures of meaning in human life and action.

Primarily dealing with written texts, as they offer potential access to these structures of meaning, hermeneutics is particularly relevant in the humanities. However, the significance of hermeneutics extends far beyond the boundaries of individual disciplines.

It involves interpreting texts or other symbols, as well as interpreting the act of interpreting itself. It’s about how we, as researchers, can better understand the social life around us.

Hermeneutics can thus serve as an auxiliary science for various disciplines. Whether a theologian aiming to understand the Bible, a lawyer interpreting legislation, or an educator decoding youth slang – all these scenarios require guidance on interpretation.

Are you still with me? I hope so. We’re about to get to the more tangible part. Hang in there.

Philosophical Hermeneutics (Gadamer)

Philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer takes a step further, conceiving hermeneutics not just as a tool for interpretation but as a process that touches on something much more fundamental.

In a philosophical sense, hermeneutics can also deal with how people or even entire nations understand each other.

For Gadamer’s teacher Martin Heidegger, it was already clear that hermeneutics represents a fundamental principle of human existence. That is, we humans are constantly engaged in understanding, and existence itself means to understand.

Gadamer particularly emphasized the role of language in hermeneutics. For him, understanding is always connected with language.

He also coined what I consider the most beautiful metaphor for understanding hermeneutics better. He describes hermeneutics as a never-ending conversation (“The Infinite Conversation”).

Imagine you’re a researcher looking for structures of meaning, and your data material is a text. Imagine you are you, and the text is your counterpart.

The metaphor of the infinite conversation suggests that you approach your counterpart (the text) with an open attitude.

You have certain preconceptions, which you “put at risk”. You’re open to the idea that the assumptions you entered the conversation with might be replaced by others, depending on what you learn from the conversation (with the text).

The conversation is infinite because hermeneutics repeats this adjustment of pre-knowledge and new knowledge over and over again. We’ll take a closer look at this important principle in a moment.

Another famous image used by Gadamer is the horizon. It represents the structure of meaning and the knowledge we are exposed to. The horizon affects us when we want to understand something new and provides us with orientation.

The Hermeneutic Circle

Having introduced Gadamer’s ontological considerations on hermeneutics, let’s see how this principle can be applied to concrete scientific methods.

If you’re familiar with my tutorials on qualitative content analysis or thematic analysis, this will seem familiar. These approaches can be seen as a hermeneutic process:

The analysis of qualitative data often does not proceed sequentially from start to finish. Instead, the process is dynamic. You can always return from the analysis to the research question, or from the presentation of results back to the development of categories.

This approach is fundamentally based on the hermeneutic circle. It envisages moving back and forth in spiral movements between pre-understanding and text understanding, similar to Gadamer’s infinite conversation. This principle is particularly evident in a quote from Jürgen Bolten (1985):

“Understanding a text means, therefore, to comprehend features of the text’s structure or content and its production, incorporating the text and reception history as well as reflecting on one’s own interpretation stance within a reciprocal justification relationship. The fact that there can be no false or correct interpretations, but at best more or less appropriate ones, follows from the […] historicity of the constituents of understanding and the related unfinishability of the hermeneutic spiral. […] According to the spiral movement, the interpretation regarding its hypothesis formation is subject to a mechanism of self-correction.” (pp. 362-363)

It’s also important to mention the relationship between the whole and the parts in the hermeneutic circle. Understanding a text means understanding its parts in relation to the whole and vice versa. This is why it’s called a circle or a spiral.

This principle also applies to the relationship between the text and its context, or between different texts. The interpretation always moves in a circle between understanding the individual parts and the whole.

Who Should You Know?

1. Hans-Georg Gadamer: As mentioned, Gadamer is a key figure in hermeneutics. His work “Truth and Method” is a foundational text in the field.
2. Martin Heidegger: Before Gadamer, Heidegger laid the groundwork for existential hermeneutics. His main work, “Being and Time,” is crucial for understanding the philosophical underpinnings of hermeneutics.
3. Friedrich Schleiermacher: Often considered the father of modern hermeneutics, Schleiermacher emphasized the importance of understanding the author’s intention and the historical context.
4. Wilhelm Dilthey: Dilthey developed the concept of the hermeneutic circle and stressed the difference between explaining natural phenomena and understanding human expressions.

Challenges of Hermeneutics

The inductive reasoning and the “infinity” of the hermeneutic approach can lead to challenges.

One of the most well-known issues in the history of hermeneutics revolves around the interpretation of the Bible. Here, a particular case arises due to the Bible being written by various authors, at different times, and within different cultural epochs.

If one understands the Bible as a cohesive work and deduces the whole from its parts, things become tricky.

The second challenge of hermeneutics and the hermeneutic circle is their infinity. If knowledge can never truly be considered complete, then there’s always a certain provisional nature to it.

We can never arrive at definitive statements, but must consider everything with reservations. This can be unsatisfying in some cases.

Conclusion

Hermeneutics, then, is not just a fancy term for interpreting texts. It’s a fundamental approach to understanding the world around us, grounded in the principle that our preconceptions and the context of our understanding are always in dialogue with what we seek to understand.

Whether you’re a student, a researcher, or simply someone interested in the philosophy of understanding, grappling with hermeneutics can deepen your appreciation for the complexities of interpretation.

So, the next time you sit down to interpret a text, remember: you’re engaging in a process that philosophers have pondered for centuries, and you’re part of the infinite conversation that is understanding itself.

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The announcement “In this subject, the assessement is a 45-minute presentation,” immediately triggers your fear of presenting in class?

Oh no! Where’s the exit?

The mere thought of your next presentation sends your pulse racing, induces sweat, and triggers an urge to flee? Then, it’s time to conquer your fear of presentations.

Don’t worry, from personal experience, I know exactly how daunting it can be to stand in front of the entire class and have to deliver a speech.

To help you feel more confident in your next presentation, I’ll share 7 tips in this video on how to manage your stage fright and perform with confidence.

#1 Practice Makes Perfect

Practice? Well, that’s nothing new. True, but this tip is indispensable for overcoming your fear of presentating in class.

The better prepared you are for your presentation, the greater your confidence will be, and simultaneously, your fear and nervousness will decrease.

Once you’ve developed your presentation, practice delivering it. Start by presenting to yourself.

It’s often recommended to practice in front of a mirror. This is a great way to see and improve your body language.

However, it can sometimes feel odd to watch yourself in the mirror, especially if you’re just starting out and feeling uncertain.

Initially, you can practice without a mirror and go through the presentation out loud at your desk.

Or simply walk around the room while going through your speech (this is my favorite method).

Speak loudly and clearly. The greatest learning effect comes from having to actually articulate the sentences you’ve planned.

Just by presenting out loud, you’ll save yourself from long pauses for thought when it really counts, and you’ll automatically gain more confidence.

Next, you can practice your speech in front of a mirror or even record yourself on video. Even if it still feels a bit uncomfortable, give it a try!

No one but you will ever see it, and you can observe your own body language and identify weaknesses in your delivery.

A test audience is also great for practicing your presentation. Ask family or friends for feedback!

This way, you’ll go into the presentation even more confidently. It’s important to practice exactly how the presentation will be conducted at the university. So, use the same laptop, the same notes, and slides.

Don’t forget to also prepare for possible discussion questions. A stuttering discussion can ruin a lot of your hard work.

By the way, even the world’s great speakers practice before they go on stage. All professionals practice, which is why they are so good.

If you want to learn more about this, I recommend reading “Turning Pro” by Steven Pressfield.

#2 Convey Confidence with Body Language

During a presentation, it’s not just about what you say, but also how you convey it nonverbally.

Body language plays a crucial role, as it affects not only the audience but also your subconscious.

Even if you’d rather shrink and disappear into the ground, stand up straight with a firm stance, feet a bit wider than usual, pull your shoulders back, and put on a smile – you’ll automatically feel more confident.

And if you’re still panicking on the inside, then just don’t let anyone see it. “Fake it ’til you make it.”

If some of your friends are among your classmates, even better. Try to make eye contact with them. They want you to succeed, and as your cheerleaders, they boost your confidence!

From my own experience, however, you need to master Step 1, practicing the content, before you can optimize your body language.

If you have to constantly think about what to say next, you’ll forget to pay attention to your posture.

The more you practice, the more attention you can give to the details, and the better you can overcome your fear of presenting in class.

If you don’t know what to do with your arms, hold a pen or a presenter. This gives your hands something to do, and you can gesture more effectively.

#3 Calmness through Breathing and Relaxation Exercises

In stressful situations, we tend to breathe shallowly and quickly, which amplifies our nervousness. Through targeted breathing exercises, you can interrupt this reaction, lower your pulse, and get your nervousness under control.

A simple technique is diaphragmatic breathing, where you breathe deeply into your belly and slowly exhale. This improves oxygen flow, better energizes your brain, and automatically calms you down.

Place your hand on your belly to feel if you’re really breathing deeply into it.

You can also try to take a deep breath through your nose after your normal, shallow breath. As if you were trying to fill your lungs completely with air. Repeat it 3 times.

This technique slows down your pulse and calms you down.

Relaxation exercises like progressive muscle relaxation or meditation can also help reduce your tension and strengthen your concentration.

Regular practice of these techniques can decrease your fear of presenting in class over the long term and help you approach presentations more calmly and confidently. If you’re not already using a meditation app, now is the time!

My favorite is “Waking Up” by Sam Harris.

Before your next speech, it’s definitely worth spending a few minutes on breathing and relaxation exercises. You don’t necessarily have to do the exercises and meditations right before your speech, as that wouldn’t be practical.

Immediately before your speech, however, you will remember the techniques you have practiced extensively and can apply them unnoticed and spontaneously.

#4 Embrace Your Inner Stoic

“Surely I’ll forget half of it.” “I’m not prepared at all.” “My presentation is bad, the others are much better.”

Is your inner critic in top form on the day of the presentation? We definitely need to counteract this, as it unnecessarily increases your fear of presenting in class.

You can’t change your external circumstances. But you can change how you respond to them.

• Accept Your Emotions: It’s normal to feel fear or nervousness. Accept these feelings, but don’t let them dictate your actions.
• Focus on What You Can Control: Concentrate on the things you can influence in your preparation and presentation, and let go of things that are beyond your control, such as the audience’s reactions.
• Use Negative Visualization: Imagine the worst-case scenario as mental training. Visualize your presentation going wrong, but then visualize how you calmly and collectedly respond to it.

Familiarize Yourself with Stoic Philosophy if your emotions and fears often overwhelm you. Often, giving a situation a new, more positive framing is enough to become more composed.

Look into books by Ryan Holiday and William B. Irvine.

#5 Leave Nothing to Chance

You’re optimally prepared, the speech is ready, and belly breathing is already showing its effects. Time to start!

Quickly connect your laptop… Oh God, what kind of projector is this?

Why doesn’t the cable fit? And suddenly, the nervousness rises, and you’re completely thrown off.

To avoid this, familiarize yourself with the technology and the premises in advance. Arrive at least half an hour early and test the technology calmly.

Even better: Stay a little longer in the room the week before and get familiar with the set up in the room. If you want to show a video, test the sound and whether it plays through the room’s speakers.

Also, prepare backups. Prepare for the eventuality that the internet in the room doesn’t work. Download all files locally to your computer. Pull everything onto a USB stick, just in case. Bring your own HDMI adapter, just in case.

Be a pro. Be prepared. This way, you can overcome your fear of presentations.

#6 Focus on the Essentials

You’re deep into the topic, and so far, everything is going well. But what’s going on in the third row on the left? Why is someone yawning? And in the fifth row, someone has their head on the table!

Am I putting everyone to sleep? Even the professor just glanced out the window! Oh no! Even the Stoic gods can’t help me now. My presentation is boring and therefore bad!

Don’t make assumptions.

Try not to take everything personally. Even if someone yawns, it doesn’t automatically have to do with your presentation.

Maybe the person just slept poorly or was out late at a party. Stay focused on yourself and don’t be distracted by the audience.

I’ve had rows of students fall asleep during my lectures. But honestly, that’s happened to me before, too. It certainly wasn’t because of the lecture… 😉

It’s normal for different reactions to occur in the audience, and this doesn’t necessarily reflect the quality of your presentation. Stay calm and focus on what you have prepared well and how you want to convey the knowledge.

If they’re not listening, it’s their loss.

You do your part.

#7 Always Compare Yourself to Yourself

You don’t want to forget anything during the presentation, misspeak, blush, and definitely want to be able to answer ALL questions.

If you aim to do everything perfectly, you’re more afraid of failing. Try not to be so hard on yourself because there’s no such thing as perfection.

Even Justin Bieber has had a blackout during a concert, and the news anchors mess up despite years of experience.

And who remembers it the next day?

No one.

Realize: Nothing is perfect, so you don’t have to be perfect either. If you lose the thread, pause for a moment, collect yourself, and continue.

As long as your presentation is 1% better than your last, you’re doing everything right.

You’ll find that it becomes easier to give a presentation with each one.

So, be patient with yourself and don’t expect to overcome your fear of presentations overnight.

It’s a learning process, and with each presentation, you’ll become more confident and better. University is there to grow and make mistakes.

That’s the only way you’ll improve.

Why Nervousness (in Moderation) Can Also Be Positive to overcome your fear of presenting in class

You can alleviate the fear of presentations with the aforementioned 7 tips and a bit of patience.

However, a certain degree of nervousness before your presentation will almost certainly remain.

And that’s a good thing and often even makes your presentation better. So, you don’t need to completely overcome your fear of presenting in class.

Our body produces adrenaline in stressful situations. This hormone boost provides your body with more oxygen and energy – you’re more alert and your concentration and performance improve.

In short: The tension helps you to successfully manage the presentation.

If you view your nervousness as a positive companion, you can accept it as part of the natural process and deal with it. It’s important to recognize that you don’t have to be perfect and that it’s okay to be nervous.

Pros are nervous too. Nervous but prepared. Be a pro.

Need to write your 10,000 word thesis in 2 weeks? Oh dear! Well, let’s quickly figure out a solution.

Since you don’t have much time, the next 15 minutes of reading should be enough.

In this video, you’ll get personal emergency coaching consisting of 7 steps.

If you follow these steps one after the other in the given time, you still have a chance to submit your thesis in 2 weeks without failing.

Disclaimer Before we start, here’s a 10-second disclaimer:

I would never, ever recommend letting it come to this. If you’re only giving yourself 2 weeks for your thesis or final paper, you’ll have your reasons. These reasons are none of my business and are entirely your own.

If your goal is to excel intellectually in your thesis and get a top grade, then this video is not for you—in that case, you should check out my other tutorials.

This article is for you if you just want to get your thesis onto paper as quickly as possible—and pass.

So, let’s get to work.

#1 Lower Expectations and Drastically Increase Priority

The first question that comes to mind in such a situation is this:

Is it even possible to write a 10,000 word thesis in 2 weeks?

Of course, it’s possible.

It is even possible without any dirty tricks, plagiarism, or a Red Bull poisoning.

But only under certain conditions.

Lower Your Expectations to Zero

The first condition is to accept the situation and eliminate your expectations of a good grade or anything else. Approach the situation stoically and do your best to show yourself that you don’t give up.

That you don’t throw in the towel but make the best of the situation.

Visualize that you fail this thesis and accept that too.

This shouldn’t lead you to half-hearted action in the 2 weeks you have left. Rather, these 2 weeks are your chance to take on the challenge.

Now you can intensively train how to write a thesis in 2 weeks.

And if a second attempt comes, you won’t have to start from scratch.

Treat Your Thesis as Priority Number 1

Whether you can write a thesis in 2 weeks doesn’t depend on whether you can write well or are blessed with other talents. What decides now is your time management.

If you don’t make your thesis your top priority, it will be very difficult.

If you really want a chance, then your thesis must be the only thing you focus on now.

(Besides your health, but more on that later)

Make a contract with yourself and signal to your environment that you will be unavailable for a short time as usual. Put your phone in the fridge in the morning and don’t get it out until after work.

(Please don’t actually put it in the fridge, put it in a drawer.)

#2 Your Research Strategy for a Thesis in 2 Weeks

Enough of the admonishing words, now let’s move on to the substantive strategy for your daring venture.

The first strategic decision you must make concerns your research strategy.

What do I mean by that?

Basically, your research question and the method you want to use to address it.

Scientific papers in social sciences, but also beyond, can be divided into empirical and non-empirical works.

Why No Empirical Thesis?

For an empirical research design, you need qualitative or quantitative data that you collect through a survey or interviews and then analyze.

I would advise you, if you can make this decision yourself, to not pursue an empirical research design in this situation.

Not because it’s more difficult or time-consuming than a conceptual or literature-based work.

The reason is that you depend on other people.

You need to get people to fill out your survey or give you an interview.

Any situation in which you rely on others should be avoided if you want to write a thesis in 2 weeks.

Last Resort: A Literature-Based Thesis?

The only scenario in which an empirical research design makes sense is if you have already collected the data or have been provided with it.

Or any other case where you completely control the implementation of your methods, such as a simulation.

So, ask yourself what dependencies you have in your strategy and eliminate them all.

If you don’t have data available, you’re left with a literature-based thesis.

You can write a review for which you collect your “data” in the form of scientific articles.

The good thing about it is that you can decide for yourself how quickly you get your literature.

What types of reviews there are and what the literature collection looks like, you’ll learn in my tutorial on how to write a literature review.

Not all supervisers would expect you to write a critical review or a systematic review in a 10,000 word thesis.

Your thesis can also address a research question that you answer with an unstructured analysis of literature.

However, I would recommend choosing a recognized review strategy and implementing it step-by-step.

The advantage is that you can refer to one or two methodology articles that explain exactly how to proceed.

All you have to do is follow the instructions.

So you don’t have to waste thoughts on how to structure your thesis or what your research question should look like.

Everything is predetermined, and you save valuable time and energy.

If you choose the research strategy of a standalone literature review, you don’t need to feel bad about writing a thesis that is less valuable than an empirical one.

The synthesis of literature is an important part of scientific practice and can lead to great results!

#3 Set Up a Work Plan to Write Your Thesis in 2 Weeks

The next step in your emergency plan is a strict time allocation. Since every minute counts, you must work with sharp deadlines that you keep for yourself.

To not make it unnecessarily complicated, I suggest dividing the remaining time into three equal thirds.

1. Data Collection (first third)

2. Data Analysis (second third)

3. Text Production (third third)

Assuming you have 2 weeks available, you have 4 days and a few hours per third. Set the deadline for each third in the calendar and stick to it.

This way, you also have a sense of achievement every 4 days that motivates you to keep going.

Now let’s focus on each specific third and what you need to do.

#4 Data Collection (First Third)

For simplicity, let’s assume you’ve chosen a systematic literature review as your research approach.

Literature Search & Screening (Day 1)

On this day, your goal is to gather all the literature you need. Define your search key words and databases and try to land somewhere between 100 and 500 hits.

Once you’ve collected all the hits based on your keywords, the screening follows in the second half of the day. Now read the titles and abstracts and sort out.

If you end up somewhere between 20 and 30 relevant articles, that’s OK.

If you’re below that, keep searching through forward and backward search. You’ll learn what that is in my other tutorial on literature reviews.

Read, Read, Read (Day 2 and Day 3)

Now make yourself comfortable somewhere where you’re undisturbed and read your 20-30 relevant articles.

No one said you can’t have fun with your turbo thesis. So go to your favorite place and start reading. You can’t get around reading. Because without input, no output. The more you read on these days, the easier text production will be later on.

Collect text passages for indirect and direct quotes in an excerpt table.

How to set it up, you’ll learn in my tutorial on how to write an excerpt, where you also get a template for a table to start with right away.

Literature Management (Day 4)

Load all your relevant articles into your literature management tool (e.g., Mendeley or Zotero) and check if all metadata are correctly entered.

If not, supplement them for each article. If you have additional literature that you already know from your studies, add it and check the meta data of those.

If your thesis has about plus or minus 10% as many references as pages required, then you’re in a good range regarding the length of your reference list.

For a literature review, you can rather assume plus 10%.

Don’t skip the steps with literature management, because at the end of text production, you can generate your bibliography with one click and save valuable time.

If you still have time left, continue reading your 20-30 relevant articles.

#5 Data Analysis (Second Third)

The next 4 days you’ll be busy with data analysis. You’re preparing everything for the results and discussion section of your thesis here.

Analysis (Day 5-7)

For a qualitative evaluation of literature, as is the case with a most review types, the analysis mainly consists of coding.

This is nothing more than forming abstract categories based on your material, which consists of your 20-30 relevant articles. You can find plenty of tutorials on coding techniques on my channel.

The goal now is to form categories that summarize the contents of all your relevant articles. That’s now your task.

No matter which method you follow, empirical, literature-based, programming, design science – watch how the pros do it and follow their structure.

Scientific papers always follow the same blueprint. You just need to recognize the blueprint that is right for your thesis, adopt it, and fill it with your own content.

It’s not necessary to reinvent the wheel. On the contrary: Your supervisors want to recognize a blueprint that is common in their research discipline.

Creating Figures and Tables (Day 8)

Create a figure for your methodology section that reflects your data collection.

In the findings section, add tables that summarize your literature analysis.

For the discussion section, add a table or figure that abstracts your results (which are the categories you have built) and provide a small theoretical contribution (e.g., organize the categories in a small framework).

Again, I can only recommend that you take an example from existing research papers.

It is important that you create all your figures yourself and insert them in high resolution into your thesis. No pixels!

Detailed tutorials on writing methodology chapters, a findings and discussion section can be found on my channel or my online course.

Check out the video description for more info.

#6 Text Production (Third Third)

The last third is dedicated to text production. Don’t be intimidated by the fact that you haven’t written anything yet.

In the first and second thirds, you laid the foundation for what you’re writing about. If you start writing on day 1, you write into the blue without knowing where the journey is going.

Normally, I would recommend not starting with the introduction. In this case, however, you have already done all the preliminary work and can “write from the top.”

Open your literature management software and your excerpts from the first third and get started.

• Introduction and Background Section (Day 9)

• Methodology and Findings (Day 10)

• Discussion and Conclusion (Day 11)

• Revision (Day 12)

On day 12, you start again with the introduction and revise all chapters so that they are linked to each other.

Use the same terms, add references where you need more evidence, and check where you can make grammar improvements.

If you’ve been counting, this emergency plan leaves 2 days left.

At least one day is a buffer for formatting. After all, you still have to create your reference list, maybe an appendix, proofread and print your work, prepare a digital submission, and so on.

The last remaining day is your joker. Save it as long as possible and use it for unforeseen emergencies that are more important than this stupid thesis.

If everything goes well and you still have the joker day after completing the second third, then use it for a break. Which brings us to the last point of the video.

#7 Mental and Physical Health Management

As stressful as it may sound to want to write a thesis in 2 weeks – a 10,000 word thesis is by no means more important than your health.

You can simply write it again and failing is not bad at all. Who cares?

Only go through such a sprint, as I have described it, if you feel physically and mentally fit. If you’re already at your limit, then listen to your body and don’t make it worse.

Your health always has priority number 1, because if it’s out of balance, then you won’t enjoy a passed thesis anyway.

Since this emergency plan requires full days of work, I recommend planning them intelligently.

Work with 90-minute deep work sessions and take breaks in between.

In the middle of the day, I recommend a longer break. Go running or to go to the gym – after that you can continue fresh.

In the evening, set a limit that you don’t exceed. So that you still have enough time to wind down and don’t get less than 8 hours of sleep.

Try not to rely too much on junk food and caffeine, but on food that supplies your brain as best as possible.

Over a period of 2 weeks, it makes a big difference what fuel you give your body.

And now stop procrastinating and get started – time is ticking!

You can’t figure out the process of finding articles for your literature review?

I hear this a lot.

The most common question I get from students is this: The topic I’m writing about is so new, there’s just no literature on it. What should I do?

In this article, we’ll get to the bottom of this. To do this, we’ll discuss the 5 biggest mistakes in searching literature for your research.

If you stick with it until the end, I even have an example for you on how you can craft an amazing literature review section, even if at first glance there seems to be no literature about the topic.

https://youtu.be/an5eqrgdd7U

#1 Too narrowly defined search terms

The first mistake students make when trying to figure out how to search for literature effectively is using too narrowly defined search terms.

The results of a literature search can only be as good as the filtering mechanisms you use.

Let’s use a simple example. For this, we need a topic that is so new that there is little or no literature to be found on it.

The example is: Universal Wallets

Universal Wallets are storage places for digital valuables. Maybe you have your own digital wallet to store cryptocurrencies or NFTs in.

In a Universal Wallet, however, you can store not only NFTs and coins but also other things like digital identity documents or other proofs of your identity.

Boolean Operators

For searching in literature databases, finding literature can be as simple as entering search terms. Using Boolean operators can help you to be more effective in your search.

If you are doing a systematic search process that you want to document in your methods section, this is an absolute must, because it ensures replicability.

But even if you keep your search terms for yourself and write a “regular” literature review section, Boolean operators can help you big time.

Especially the “OR” operator. For example, with “Universal Wallets,” you would get a low number of hits for the search term “Universal Wallet” in most databases.

In Google Scholar, however, an algorithm automatically combines your search term with synonyms and also gives you the next best results.

But if you’re searching on another database, that’s of no help to you.

Through the Google Scholar search results, though, I came across synonyms that I would never have searched for.

Wireless Wallets, Cloud Wallets, Electronic Wallets, Hardware Wallets, Wallet System, and Mobile Wallet seem to be related terms.

From this, you could make the search string “wireless” OR “cloud” OR “electronic” OR “hardware” OR “mobile” AND “wallet” for your database search on Scopus, Web of Science and so on.

You’d have to search for Wallet System separately or use brackets to include the term “wallet system.” It’s just a bit cumbersome because here “wallet” is the first word and not the second.

Forward and Backward Search

If a refined database search yields no results, then you need to delve into some other tricks.

With a forward and backward search, you can find the sources upon which the few hits you did find are based, or sources that have cited them afterwards.

The best hit for the term “Universal Wallet” was the paper “Universal Wallets” by Jorgensen and Beck (2021). For the backward search, we simply look at the bibliography and see what we can find there.

Ha!

One paper cited there uses the term “Digital Wallet.” That’s something I could have thought of by myself.

But most often, when finding literature, I do not.

Now, searching for “Digital Wallet” yields endless results. A digital wallet is, of course, not what is meant by “Universal Wallet,” but it is still a related technology.

Thus, it’s perfectly feasible to build on the term “Digital Wallet” to describe what exactly is new about a “Universal Wallet” and why we cannot simply transfer the research on digital wallets to this more nuanced version of the technology.

#2 Inappropriate Databases for Finding Literature

The search terms are one thing. But if the database you are searching on simply does not cover enough sources, then even the best search terms and operators won’t help.

When you use databases, primarily use those in which the research of your own discipline is indexed.

A medical researcher searches on PubMed, a computer scientist on IEEE, and a psychologist on PsycNet. However, sometimes it pays to look beyond the confines of a discipline.

So make sure you also check out interdisciplinary databases. This could be something like Google Scholar, Scopus, or Web of Science.

Or you could look directly into another discipline if you already have an idea of who else might be interested in your topic outside your research field.

The more you can cover with your databases, the better. In the worst case, you find nothing there. But at least you’ve tried.

#3 Old Wine in New Bottles

Regarding “Universal Wallets,” there is certainly a difference compared to “Digital Wallets” or the good old-fashioned wallet.

However, this may not always be the case with other terms.

Take, for example, the topic of Digital Transformation.

The term has only been a trend topic for a few years, and since then, there has been a lot of research on it.

But what’s actually new about it?

Haven’t companies been introducing technology to improve their processes for 50 years?

Yes, they have. And there’s plenty of research literature on that. It’s just not found under the label “Digital Transformation.”

But if you search for “IT-enabled Organizational Transformation,” you get some hits from the last millennium!

And these hits might be relevant for someone wanting to study Digital Transformation.

So, when it comes to your topic, ask yourself: Is the topic really as new as the term describing it?

#4 Too Much Description

This mistake deals with the goal of your literature search. You want to write a literature review section on your topic and diligently cite relevant literature.

This approach isn’t necessarily wrong.

But you write a truly excellent literature section when you change your goal.

A poor literature review section merely recounts research on a topic but fails to gather enough relevant literature.

A mediocre literature review section manages to do so, but only describes what has been researched on the topic.

A fantastic literature review section gathers relevant literature, explains what has been done so far, and critiques or interprets what this means.

So, especially with a new topic, don’t focus too much on finding literature and citing every single source that somewhat fits the topic.

Instead, try to develop your own argument using a handful of relevant findings. For example, you could explain the difference between the new term and existing ones.

Or you could further develop the argument you used for motivation in your introduction.

We’ll look at an example of this at the end of the video.

#5 Your Doughnut Has No Hole

If you’re writing a non-systematic literature review section, completeness is not a criterion. So your “cheese” of literature can have holes, as long as you develop an exciting argument.

But if you have a sweet tooth, try imagining the metaphor of a doughnut.

Let’s say you’ve convinced me, and your topic is indeed so new that there’s little research on it. And Finding literature isn’t always straightforward.

What you can do then is not look for the hole in the middle, but for the surrounding dough. What are the terms and phenomena that are closely related to your topic?

Work your way through the databases, gathering literature on somewhat broader topics and terms, and approach the doughnut’s hole argumentatively.

For “Universal Wallets,” you could start with the topic of Digital Wallets, explain what Crypto-Wallets are, and from there move on to Universal Wallets.

An Example for a Literature Chapter on a “Brand New” Topic

As luck would have it, I found an excellent example for you. In their paper on “Universal Wallets,” Jörgensen and Beck (2021) did almost exactly that.

They start not with the topic of Digital Wallets but directly with Crypto-Wallets. That’s how they begin their literature review section.

When it comes to “Universal Wallets,” they continue to cite literature.

But if we take a closer look, we realize that this literature has nothing directly to do with the term.

The chapter is a perfect doughnut!

The first source they cite is titled “Digital Lifestyle.” This source is somewhat more broadly related to the topic.

Then, the authors cite sources on “The Token Economy” and “Identity Ecosystems.” These two sources are closer to “Universal Wallets,” but neither directly refers to it.

Further sources revolve around “Blockchain Identity Management Systems” and “The potential of blockchain in education and health care.”

The last source is a report from the World Wide Web Consortium on “Universal Wallets.” When the academic literature is not yet extensive, reports from industry can also be helpful.

From this example, you can see how to write a literature review section on a topic without using a single academic source on that topic!

Avoiding the 5 mistakes I mentioned have taught you how to search literature effectively.

So from now on, “My topic is too new” is no longer an excuse. And if you meet someone who uses this excuse in your presence, send them this article! 🙂

Are you feeling completely overwhelmed and don’t know how to start your literature review?

On top of that, time is running out, and you can’t afford to spend hours searching through various databases?

Fortunately, there are new, smart AI tools that are revolutionizing the world of scientific research.

In this article, I’ll show you the top 4 AI tools currently available that will help you write your literature review faster than ever before.

And I’m not talking about days—I’m talking about minutes! Let’s dive into how to write a literature review with AI!

#1 Paperdigest.org

If you’re in search of relevant publications on a specific topic, then paperdigest.org is the perfect tool for you.

You can easily input the subject of your research, for example, “Organizational Identity,” and with just one click, you’ll receive a comprehensive list of references for that theory.

The best part is that you have the option to choose: you can decide whether you want to see all the recent papers from the past year, the last five years, or all available papers.

Here, you need to tailor your search strategy to the goal of your literature review.

Goal: Explain a Theory

If this is your goal, I recommend selecting all available papers without any time restrictions and then working your way towards the more recent works.

If you’re writing a chapter about an established theory, you should never neglect foundational papers. These can be several decades old.

The AI tool provides you with an overview of how the theory has evolved over time and how you can narrate the theory’s development.

However, always incorporate your specific research question and your own argument while writing.

What you definitely don’t want is a theory chapter that sounds like it was generated by AI and reads like a Wikipedia article.

Goal: Review the Current State of Research

If this is your goal, then set the parameters to limit the selection to papers from the last 2-3 years. If the results become too sparse, gradually expand the time frame.

But don’t forget to check if there might be an extremely important paper that stands out. You can identify this by the number of citations.

You can selectively complement your literature selection from the last 2-3 years with these seminal papers.

What Else Can the Tool Do for You?

But that’s not all.

Paperdigest not only provides a list of papers but also summaries of these works.

You can create up to 5 summaries for free each day. If you need more, you can get the full version, which currently costs about 10 dollars per month (as of September 2023).

Remember to export or save the list of papers, as it can serve as a starting point for your further work in your literature review.

Paperdigest is best suited for when you’re not sure where to start with your literature review.

This way, you’ll get a summary of the most important and influential works on your topic. From there, you can continue your review.

At this point, I would like to remind you that you should not blindly use Paperdigest or any other of the following tools.

They are currently the best tools on the market, but they are not perfect yet. The AI in this field is just getting started and is constantly evolving.

The quality of your literature review still depends on you and how well you can connect the literature with your own argument and an original research question.

#2 Elicit.org

Thanks to Paperdigest, you now have an overview of your topic.

As you read the papers, make note of all the questions that come to your mind.

And now, our next tool comes into play: Elicit.org (which is currently free to use).

There is also a newer version available on elicit.com, but for the purposes I’m showing you, you should use elicit.org.

When you go to elicit.org, you can ask the tool a research question or enter all the questions that came to your mind while reading the papers.

Let’s take an example.

Let’s say you want to explain the theoretical concept of organizational identity in your literature review. Simply ask elicit: “What is organizational identity?”

And you’ll instantly receive a list of relevant sources.

If you sort them by citations, the most relevant articles will be displayed. Or you can sort them by year so that the most recent papers appear at the top.

If you click on the question box again, you can click on “Brainstorm more questions,” and you’ll be presented with additional questions related to your topic.

For example: “What are the components of organizational identity?” or “How does organizational identity affect employee engagement?” And you can again view relevant sources for these questions.

By doing this, you can delve even deeper into your topic and conduct an excellent literature search for your review.

One of the best features is also that you can display a summary of the abstract to quickly assess its relevance to your work.

Furthermore, you can view additional details of the papers, such as the number of study participants, interventions, and results.

This is especially handy if you want to examine papers based on their methodology.

#3 Litmaps.com

Would you like to have a visual overview of research literature? This could be especially interesting if your entire work is a systematic review and you want to create visual representations.

In this case, the tool “Litmaps” comes into play (the free version, in my opinion, is sufficient).

With Litmaps, you can see the order in which the literature was published, how it is interconnected, and how it relates to each other.

Furthermore, the tool provides recommendations for additional papers you could include based on this information.

Here, you get a comprehensive overview of the current state of research and can be confident that the sources are relevant to your topic.

Litmaps also only displays papers that have been cited multiple times. This ensures that these works are important to other researchers as well.

Because what Litmaps represents are called citation networks. A paper is a node, and the connections between papers are the references made between them.

When you select a specific paper, you can see all the works connected to the original paper.

When you click on a paper, you get a summary, references, citations, and other works strongly related to the topic.

This makes it easier for you to select and delve into relevant literature, and it can enrich your literature review with a compelling visualization.

#4 jenny.ai

The next tool is truly next level because it practically writes the review for you.

Here, you’re quickly entering the gray area between AI being a helpful tool and plagiarism, but we’ll discuss how to handle this at the end of the video.

With jenny.ai, you’ve never written a literature review as quickly before.

Generating text with Jenni.ai

After logging in, you can create a new document. Let’s say you’re working on a literature review, in which you’re using organizational identity as a theory.

Immediately, you’ll receive suggestions on how to start. If you like a suggestion, you can accept it, and Jenni AI will formulate the next sentence based on that. However, you can also ask for more suggestions until you’re satisfied.

Furthermore, you can introduce your own ideas into the tool to steer the text in a specific direction. Jenni AI can then continue to work based on this input and provide you with further text suggestions.

When it comes to citations, the tool is quite helpful as well. Currently, this is a weakness of many other tools, such as ChatGPT.

Suppose you want to include a citation. You simply highlight the relevant text, click on “Cite,” and Jenni AI will search various sources for relevant publications to support the sentence.

You can then easily add the desired citation. However, please note that you should verify the accuracy of your citations and the suggested sources. I cannot stress this enough, but you are responsible for doing so.

Jenny AI also offers various citation styles to choose from. My preferred style is APA, where the reference is placed in parentheses in the text. However, Jenni AI offers flexibility, allowing you to choose your citation style based on your supervisor’s requirements or the preferences in your research discipline.

Ask Jenny

Another really great feature is the chat function.

With a click on “Ask Jenny,” you can ask Jenny to perform various tasks for you. Think of this function as ChatGPT but optimized for research.

For instance, you can ask for headings for your subchapters, and you’ll receive an outline to which text will be automatically generated. It really can’t get any easier than this.

Jenny AI is genuinely impressive when it comes to writing.

Unfortunately, this convenience comes with a price, but it’s still quite reasonable, in my opinion.

With the free version, the AI generates up to 200 words per day. If you need more words, you’re looking at 20 dollars per month (as of September 2023).

You can get 20% off if you use my code SHRIBE20.

My Assessment of Literature Reviews with AI Tools

AI tools are here to stay.

From my perspective, it doesn’t make much sense to ignore or refrain from using them just because they are new. However, that doesn’t mean you can skip critical thinking.

Even with AI tools, your literature review will only be as good as your ability to understand and utilize this new technology.

The four AI-powered tools mentioned here can help you find relevant sources, create summaries, and enhance your literature research.

Of course, this also doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t read for yourself and become an expert in the subject of your research. It would be embarrassing if you were asked a substantive question about your work, and you couldn’t provide an answer.

Don’t leave the thinking to AI, but rather delegate repetitive tasks to it. Use the time you free up not to scroll through social media but to invest your cognitive resources in creative thinking that enhances your academic work.

As always, what we discussed today also means that you should be transparent about your use of AI. Describe in your methodology section or declaration how and which tools you used as aids.

Having gone through the steps, you now know how to write a literature review with AI!

For more on this topic, refer to my ChatGPT plagiarism video.