ACAP Pathfinder: Literature Review

The first and possibly most important step in the process is identifying the topic for review. Choose a topic that will:

• Hold your interest
• Not be too broad in scope, leaving you with an overwhelming amount of literature
• Not be too obscure or narrow in scope, leaving you with a lack of appropriate literature.

Choosing a topic may be done by identifying a problem or area of interest out of professional or clinical practice (or placement). This may help to hold your interest throughout the process. Ideas may also be gleaned by reading literature in and around a general topic. This may include looking at evidence-based practice, other literature reviews or systematic reviews, and research, theoretical or opinion articles.

Articulating the topic, by writing a hypothesis or thesis statement in clear and concise academic language, will prepare you for the literature search. The more clearly defined your statement, the easier it will be to choose appropriate keywords and phrases, thus facilitating the formulation of a methodical and effective search strategy to find the most appropriate literature.

If you are having trouble articulating the research question, look through the support material on the first page of this guide, book a session with Academic Skills Advisors or contact your teacher or tutor.  These resources will guide you through the research steps such as:

• Identifying a possible research project
• Conducting a preliminary review of the literature
• Defining a research question
• Preparing a research proposal
• Obtaining ethics approval.

After writing the initial statement and beginning the literature search, you will most likely need to refine or broaden the scope of the topic depending on the results of your initial searches. You may also need to further clarify the statement as you collect new key terms and concepts from the material you find. You may even need to change the focus or rethink the topic completely, keeping in mind that you will be limited by time (a due date) and a word count. These adjustments to your thesis statement will then inform a new set of criteria with which to search the literature.