Choosing Sources

The choice may seem bewildering and the sources of information endless, so how do you filter the information to make sure that you have made the best most topical or relevant choices to support your work? This is a difficult one as it is, to some extent, subjective. What interests you most about the area of study will be the impetuous for the kind of research you do (Aveyard, 2007).

Focusing on a point is fine, but be sure before you do that the question your are addressing does not call for a wider perspective (Machi ,2008). Wikipeda or other Encyclopaedic websites can be an invaluable start to your research. It will give you an overview of the subject as well as the names with references to their work, of people who have had a major role in developing theory or perspective. The important topics that should be the mainstay of your work should be listed there along with any peripheral areas arising from that main subject. The information you get here however will not offer any opinion, just report the facts and people who feature in respect to the study area.

Peer reviewed papers can often offer an interesting and fresh perspective but be careful not to get seduced by the more outlandish stances. Unless the aim of your literature review is specifically to review some of the more maverick views, it is always best to stick to the papers that reflect the mainstream of work being done in your area of study. For example, in a study of Bio Agriculture concerning GM crop production your research may throw up a paper later exposed as being bogus (see Saunders & Ho, 2004). The fact that this paper was bogus is not really of concern, but your failure to spot it or to research enough to identify it as a fake, is. Research is always going to be a matter of being as thorough as you can.

The nature of your essay question will usually be the indicator to which references you will find the most useful, so it is worth reading that question a few times before you start. It may seem to be a statement of obvious, but read a few times, that essay question may just offer you the clue that will direct your research to the most useful conclusion. Again, and as always, end your essay with something that gives your reader something to think about!

Example references in a Harvard citation style

Aveyard, H. (2007) Doing a Literary Review, Open University Press; 1st edition.

Machi, Dr. L, A. ( 2008) The Literature Review, 6 Steps to Success, Corwin Press.

Saunders Prof. P., Ho, Dr. M-W., (2004) Bogus Comparison in GM Maize Trial, Retrieved on 1st May 2009 from: http://www.i-sis.org.uk/BogusComparison.php?