Reviewing the Literature Topic

Reviewing the literature is a major part of any research process. It is important for many reasons, including finding the basis for your research, checking the current knowledge and thinking in your subject area and demonstrating that you can find, read and synthesise a range of literature in your subject domain. As you create your literature review, you will also be building your skills in literature sourcing, retrieval and management, i.e. effective reading, synthesis, rationale-building, organisation and writing. As you study the learning units in this topic you need to consider how you will locate the relevant literature, read and synthesise what it contains, identify gaps, manage your bibliography, and develop your argument / rationale / research questions.