Defining 'the body of literature'

It's always difficult at first to gain a sense of the body of literature on your topic - particularly its boundaries. This is because 'the body of literature' relevant to your topic often does not pre-exist definition of your topic. Part of your task in early months of candidature is to explore the studies, frameworks, concepts and methods that might be relevant to your inquiry. As you prioritize these, it becomes clearer which areas of research you need to review.

For example, the literature review for a research project examining the sustainability of community-managed forestry practices in Papua New Guinea will not be limited to the literature on that particular topic. Indeed, there is not likely to be very much existing literature on that topic. However, there is a wealth of literature on ‘sustainability’, on ‘forestry practices’, and even on ‘community-management of forestry resources’. All these studies will need to be reviewed to define and contextualise these key terms in the proposed project.

Determining what literature or previous research is relevant to your topic involves careful thought about your project's relationship to the discipline or disciplines within which you are working.

Understanding the 'body' of literature also involves reading across articles and papers, rather than viewing each one independently. With this latter task, it can help to think about the following:

  • Is this topic well established and extensively researched within the discipline or is it an area of emerging interest and expertise?
  • Is there consensus or disagreement about the topic and how it should be approached?
  • What are the issues or themes that arise most frequently in consideration of this topic?
  • Can existing studies be grouped by method, results, approach or theme?
  • Within the body of literature on this topic, which studies or authors are producing outstanding results? Why are these results particularly significant?
  • What are the limitations of, and where are the gaps in, the existing literature?