ACAP Pathfinder: Literature Review

Searching for resources to write a literature review must be done in a methodical and thorough manner, using different types of literature, from a variety of sources. You should consider material such as books, journals, theses, conference proceedings, websites, encyclopaedias, handbooks, newspapers, government publications and statistics. However, most of the literature in your review should be of a scholarly or academic nature. See the Evaluating the Literature page in this guide for more information about assessing the quality of resources.

To begin searching systematically use the following steps as a guide: 

• The Research Question: The iterative process of articulating and refining your question, thesis statement or hypothesis
• Types of Literature: Identify the different types of literature you'll be using
• How to Search: Develop the search strategy using advanced searching techniques across multiple platforms
• Recording the Search: Search the literature systematically while cataloguing the results
• Reference Management: Use My Library, Mendeley (RIS) to keep track of the literature you find.