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Topic 2.2 of Research Design and Literature Review

The Literature Review Process

What a literature review is actually for, the six stages that take a topic from vague interest to a named research gap, how to build a Boolean search string, and how snowballing catches what keyword search misses.

~35 min total·4 quadrants of structured content

By the end of this topic, you will

Explain the four things a literature review does beyond summarising prior work
List the six stages of a literature review in order
Build a Boolean search string that groups synonyms with OR and joins distinct concepts with AND
Apply backward and forward snowballing to extend a database search

Quadrant 1 · e-Tutorial

Video lectures and walkthroughs

Quadrant 2 · e-Content

Articles and case studies

research-methodology

The Literature Review Process

A literature review is not a summary of everything ever written on a topic. Six stages, a worked search-string example, and why snowballing catches papers that keyword search quietly misses.

12 min read

Quadrant 3 · Web Resources

Downloadable material and curated external links

Web resources coming soon.

Quadrant 4 · Self-Assessment

Test your knowledge — earn a certificate on first pass

Assessment coming soon.