Someone Published Before Us. Is Our Literature Review Worthless?

As with all academic papers, there's the scary moment when you're about to finish and you see that someone published before you. For the most part, it's going to be OK. With a literature review, you may have studied similar articles and attempted to look at the same trends from the data, but your analysis can vary significantly and there are still some ways to save it:

1. 1Read the other paper thoroughly and understand exactly what they studied, why, and what they reported as findings.
2. 2Compare the methods, motivation, analysis, and synthesis to what you've written already. You have a distinct advantage here because you know everything they've done and can adjust accordingly.
3. 3Make adjustments or note differences. If another review was on “learning outcomes from children age 3-5 after geocaching” but you are studying “emotional intelligence improvement from children age 4-6 after geocaching,” there's a distinct difference in what you're measuring.
4. 4If needed, change your analysis and data manipulation strategy. Create new variables that add depth the previous study didn't have.
5. 5Don't give up. If you have something unique and not a carbon copy of the other review, ask a colleague or peer their thoughts and discuss how to improve your paper beyond what is already published.

When you're getting to the end of any literature review, nerves are normal. If you're making sure you have everything you need from each paper, a literature review platform can ensure you didn't forget key quotes, figures, or tables from papers that make your review stand out.