EdD in Educational Leadership: Writing the Literature Review

Research Tips

Tips to keep in mind while you are searching:

• The purpose of the Literature review will be to explain the background of your research problem. You will be searching for a comprehensive review of the discussion by scholars of your research problem up to this point in time.
• Look for well known studies that have been cited by others. Evaluation is key to locating reputable sources. (Seminal works are useful at this point) 
• Review the references of each article you find to determine if any of the resources they used might be pertinent to your dissertation as well (Sometimes called data mining)
• Search for each article you use in Google Scholar, then click on "Cited by" to see which articles have been written more recently that cite the article you are looking at to see the most up-to-date research on that particular topic
• If you can't find the full text of the article, submit an Interlibrary Loan request (ILLIAD) and we will try to get it for you.  Check Google Scholar first to see if the full text is available. (If you request a book, you will need to come to the Manhattanville University Library to pick it up and return it)
• Keep track of your searches! Record which database you're using, what search terms and limiters worked, and make notes about the results and where you're going from there in case you need to stop. One option is to use the Research Worksheet (Use whatever strategy works best for you)
• Save your articles. Follow the following suggestions
• Organize and save your sources in whatever strategy works best for you.  Here are some possible suggestions
• Use a citation manager
• Create a folder on your computer or Google Drive. Name the folder. (Call it whatever you think best)
• Create a subfolder. Name the folder “Articles.” Save all of your articles to this folder by saving the file in the following manner:
  • First author's last name_Year of publication_first word of title (Your articles will then be alphabetized)
• DON'T save an article, by copying and pasting the link from the browser's search bar. It won't work the next time you try to open it. DO copy and paste its permalink/stable URL/persistent link. You can also email it to yourself and save it later.
• Adapted from Education Doctoral Program Orientation. (2025, May 14).  Doane University. Crete, NE. https://libguides.doane.edu/EDD/litreview

What are Seminal Works

Seminal works, sometimes called pivotal or landmark studies, are articles that initially presented an idea of great importance or influence within a particular discipline. Seminal articles are referred to time and time again in the research, so you are likely to see these sources or named authors/researchers frequently cited in other journal articles, books, dissertations, etc.

In order for a work to be considered seminal, it should have led to:

• a much higher level of understanding in the field, and/or
• a paradigm shift, and/or
• an entirely new research area

Identifying seminal articles relies heavily on your own thoroughness in the examination and synthesis of the scholarly literature. Typically, there will not be any explicit labels placed on articles, identifying them as seminal. Rather, you will begin to see the same authors or articles cited frequently. It is important to keep in mind that seminal studies may have been published quite some time ago. Limiting a database search to only the past 5 years, for example, may exclude seminal studies from your results. To avoid overlooking pivotal research that may have occurred in years past, it is recommended that you do not use a date limiter, at least at first

How to Find Seminal Works

Although identification of seminal research will occur as you progress in your research, there are additional resources that may be used to help you visualize the development of research over time, and to identify possible seminal works. These resources and search techniques are described below.

• Highly Cited - A source has been cited in many other works is one indication that a particular source is seminal.

Note, though, that although all seminal articles will be highly cited, not all highly cited articles are necessarily seminal. In fact, the number of citations an article has received is not necessarily an indication of the article's quality. An article may have been mentioned in many other articles because it was particularly problematic, for example; other authors may have pointed out problems with its methodology, conclusions, etc.

Many databases and Google Scholar will indicate how many times a particular source has been cited.

As you perform literature searches on a topic and read the papers compare the reference lists of those sources. The items/authors that show up repeatedly are probably key figures in the research.

From:

Chaudhuri, L. (2025, May 6). Seminal works. Ed.D. Executive leadership library guide. Noreen Reale Falcone Library. Le Moyne College. Syracuse, NY. https://resources.library.lemoyne.edu/guides/EdD/Systematic-Review/Seminal-Works

Table 1: Signal Verbs

List of signal words-Table 2 Signal Verbs-Word Document includes complete list