A literature review should demonstrate your knowledge of the research that has been conducted in the past and should place your research in the context of this work. A literature review can have a number of purposes within a research project. These include:

• demonstrating and clarifying your understanding of your field of research;
• identifying patterns and trends in the literature;
• identifying gaps in the literature and seeking new lines of inquiry;
• identifying similarities and differences in previous research and placing your work in perspective;
• justifying your own research;
• increasing your breadth of knowledge of your subject area;
• identifying seminal and influential published works in your field;
• identifying relevant journals, publishers and conferences to search;
• providing the intellectual context for your own work, enabling you to position your project relative to other work;
• identifying experts working in your field (a researcher network is a valuable resource);
• carrying on from where others have already reached.

Read Chapter 2 Review of the literature in Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2023). Research design: Quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (6th ed.). SAGE Publications Ltd.

The Cochrane Library defines a systematic review:

A systematic review attempts to identify, appraise and synthesize all the empirical evidence that meets pre-specified eligibility criteria to answer a specific research question. Researchers conducting systematic reviews use explicit, systematic methods that are selected with a view aimed at minimizing bias, to produce more reliable findings to inform decision making.

Key characteristics of a systematic review are:

• a clearly stated set of objectives with pre-defined eligibility criteria for studies. This protocol can be registered
• an explicit, reproducible methodology
• a systematic search that attempts to identify all studies that would meet the eligibility criteria
• an assessment of the validity of the findings of the included studies, for example through the assessment of risk of bias
• a systematic presentation, and synthesis, of the characteristics and findings of the included studies. (Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions, 2022)

You might also come across scoping reviews which provide an ‘environmental scan’ (preliminary assessment or map) of the literature that is currently available in an area of research. They inform further research rather than produce evidence to inform a decision.

Characteristics include:

• A quick search than can inform if a full review is needed.
• Systematic approach.

For further details see our Systematic and Systematic-like Review Library Guide. This guide provides practical information on checking for existing reviews/protocol, developing a protocol, screening, and data extraction. Also view the steps involved in a systematic or systematic-like review.

It can be challenging to develop your own research topic. It must be narrow and focused enough to be interesting and manageable, yet broad enough to find adequate information. When developing your topic, you will need to keep the following things in mind:

• brainstorm for ideas
• gather background information
• focus your topic

Start thinking about something that genuinely interests you. Conduct a general background search for information on an area of interest through websites, books or the media. This will help you to become familiar with the research history in the area related to your topic.

It is also helpful, when considering a topic, to think of the 5 W questions: who, what, when, where and why:

WHY would you choose this topic?  What interests you about it?  Do you have an opinion about the issues involved? Is this topic of general interest in your academic field?
WHO are the information gatekeepers on this topic?  Who might publish information about it?  Who is affected by the topic?  Do you know of organizations or institutions affiliated with the topic?
WHAT are the major questions for this topic?  Is there a debate about the topic?  Is there a range of issues and viewpoints to consider?
WHERE is your topic important: at the local, national or international level?  Are there specific places affected by the topic?
WHEN is/was your topic important?  Is it a current event or an historical issue?  Do you want to compare your topic by time periods?

Adopted from MIT Libraries. Selecting a research topic.   Retrieved from http://libguides.mit.edu/select-topic

Background information can help you prepare for research by explaining the language or jargon, and issues related to your topic, especially when you're investigating a field that's unfamiliar to you. Background information will also help you to answer the Who, What, Where and When of your topic.

Reference resources, including dictionaries and encyclopaedia; review articles, books and media are a great place to start searching for background information.  

A topic will be very difficult to research if it is too broad or narrow. Some common ways to limit a topic are by geographical location, time frame, aspect or sub-area or population group.

Similarly, a topic may be too difficult to research if it is too locally confined or too recent for anything substantive to have been written. Think of related ideas, by doing some more background reading or review the keywords you are using. You may not be finding enough information because you are using less common words or too much jargon. A thesaurus can help to find alternative keywords.

Developing a mind map may also be a helpful way to show links and relationships between ideas and help to focus your research.

In developing your research proposal you need to explicitly consider the ethical and safety implications.  If your proposed course of research raises ethical or safety issues then you may need to obtain formal ethical and or safety clearances before undertaking your research.

The University has several committees through which ethics and safety related issues are approved see Charles Sturt University's Research Ethics & Safety webpage for more information.

Research Data Management (RDM) is the collection, organisation, preservation and sharing of research data. If you are using or collecting any data in your project you need to develop a RDM plan detailing your intentions of managing your data. View our RDM Library Guide for further details.