NVivo

NVivo can be an excellent tool to help with your literature review. Suggested steps include:

1. Use a bibliographic reference management tool to collect your references.
2. Import references and PDFs from that tool into NVivo .
3. Code your articles using themes and keywords
4. Query  the full text of the articles to discover and/or auto-code sections of your articles.
5. Annotate  and use memos or notes within NVivo to store your observations and ideas .

Here's a good demonstration of how to put the pieces together using an earlier version of NVivo (0:45 long):

And here's a detailed look at how one grad student used the Mac version of NVivo for her literature review (1:15 long):

More videos!

• Improving Your Literature Review with NVivo 11 for Windows
• NVivo and the Dissertation Literature Review

And one final blog post: Extending Your Literature Review With NVivo