Research Maps are the key to making new discoveries.

Dear Scholar,

The most frequent question people ask me during my literature review webinars is, "Have you tried tool X"? The answer is yes; I have tried almost every tool, but most of them are not mature enough and have not stood the test of time. While the tool is not as important as your ability to use it and your knowledge, a good tool can greatly speed up your literature review. This is what this week's email is about.

In other news, I am inviting you to my upcoming literature review webinar on October 26th. Below, I present a topic highlight from the webinar: Information synthesis using research maps.

​Litmaps vs ResearchRabbit vs Connected Papers (15 min read)

When you search for literature using Google, you miss important papers. A better way is to use a citation search tool that exploits how papers are connected through citations and references to find the most impactful paper. This can save you a lot of time when reviewing your literature. This article compares the strengths and weaknesses of each tool and which one your should pick for yourself or your lab.

Upcoming Webinar: The AI Literature Review

If you missed my announcement last week, the literature review webinar is coming back into its 4th round in October, and we will dive into a new AI-driven workflow that will help you build an understanding of a topic before even reading the first paper. The discounted tickets for this mailing list are completely sold out - thank you for your trust.

(If you are a student or come from a lower-income country, you can still get a discount; email me from your institutional address).

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Topic highlight: Information Synthesis

Synthesizing information is the hardest part of a literature review. Luckily, if you have a strategy, you know exactly how to do it! The strategy in this webinar is called "Divide, Visualize and Conquer". If you imagine yourself learning to play the guitar, for example, you will be overwhelmed by the various actions every finger and hand has to perform synchronously. But a good guitar teacher will break it down into a set of independent exercises and then start joining the separate skills until you can play a melody. A literature review is very similar.

1. First, you need to divide the big topic into "atomic bits" or facts that can be connected to create something bigger.
2. To understand this big picture, you need to visualize the connections. Summarizing knowledge visually creates an overview of hundreds of papers in one diagram, which I call a "Research Map".
3. Lastly, you look at your visual diagram and identify the parts that are missing or need to be extended. Pointing out the weaknesses or future directions of a field is exactly what distinguishes a great literature review.

Here is what a small part of such a research map looks like:

If you want to learn this technique in detail, sign up for the upcoming webinar. I will also introduce new tools that help you do this more easily.

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FAQ - I want to join, but the time doesn't work for me

The webinar will be recorded. The recording will be edited and annotated. The result is a mini-course on the topic with additional comments and links. Moreover, any questions we don’t have time to answer in the live webinar will be answered in the text as part of these materials. In fact, around half of my participants don't join in person.

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Ilya Shabanov,

The Effortless Academic​

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