How to Do a Literature Review: Identifying a Topic

Use the following tips to help you choose a research topic:

• Consider topics that interest you
• Discuss your topic ideas with your instructor or a reference librarian
• Do a preliminary search on your topic
• Narrow and choose a focal point for your topic
• Write your topic out as a statement or question

When choosing a topic, it is important that you choose a strong topic.  It should also be one that is of interest to you.  Think about several ideas or topics about which you would like to learn more.  Determine what the main concepts or keywords are for each topic.  Use these as search terms to do brief preliminary searches on each topic.  From these searches, choose the topic that is the strongest.  If you are finding very little information, the topic may be too narrow or has little or no research about it.  Make sure that the topic you choose is one in which a significant amount of research has been done on it.

On the other hand, you do not want a topic that is too general or broad.  You may need to narrow your topic.  Make sure that you develop your topic by identifying a focal point.  If needed, keep refining your topic so that it isn't too broad or general.

Once you have completely developed your topic, write down your topic in a statement or question form.

To identify the scope of your literature review, you need to consider the following:

• How long should the literature review be?
• How many sources/citations are required?
• Is there a publication date requirement for the literature under review?
• What type of resources should be consulted? (e.g. peer review journals, trade journals, books, websites, etc.)
• Should your literature review focus on a theoretical issue, on a topical issue, or on qualitative/quantitative research?

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