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Researching for your literature review: Home

About researching for your literature review 

A literature review shows your awareness of existing research in your field.

Reviewing the literature helps you:

  • Find out what is already known about a topic to locate gaps and justify the research being undertaken
  • Locate the work of important theorists whose ideas will inform the research
  • Identify useful methodologies, methods and documentary sources

Using this guide

Our guide is a learning module designed to help you:

  • Understand the elements of the literature review process with regard to selecting appropriate resources and searching
  • Apply advanced searching strategies as part of conducting your own literature review
  • Document and manage the results of your searches

As searching strategies vary for different disciplines, we have divided the guide into two sections: health/medical and education/social science.

Get help 

Get help from a librarian when you need support beyond what you can find in this guide. Bookings are available for students, educators, and researchers.