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Information for Researchers

This guide contains information about services and resources specifically for academic researchers and postgraduates at University of Canberra.

Literature Review

The aim of a literature review is to show the analysis of existing literature on your topic. 

  • Compare and contrast different authors' views on an issue
  • Criticise aspects of methodology
  • Highlight exemplary studies
  • Identify patterns or trends in the literature
  • Highlight gaps in and omissions in previous research or questions left unanswered
  • Show how your study relates to previous studies
  • Conclude by summarising what the literature says

Literature Search

Literature search forms an important part of the Literature Review.  It is important to conduct a thorough literature search.

  1. it helps to identify the field and context in which your work is situated.
  2. it is a means of increasing your understanding of the key concepts, theories and methodologies in the field.
  3. it helps you to find out what others have done in the area so you can avoid duplicating previous work.
  4. it helps you to identify key people, organisations, literature with are relevant to your topic.

Follow the basic steps to conduct a literature search:

  • Analyse your research topic into concepts and find synonyms, related terms, definitions for the concepts
  • Find books, articles, theses, and other materials
  • Evaluate the search results and modify your search strategy if necessary.
  • Cite your sources - EndNote

Manage Your References

The University has a site license for EndNote.

EndNote is a full-featured bibliographic management package. It can be used to:

  • store and organise your references and attach PDFs, images, and other files
  • automatically generate citations and bibliographies in specific styles in word-processed documents
  • search and retrieve bibliographic records from library catalogues and journal indexing databases

Refer to the UC Referencing Guide for more information on how to reference your citations.

Self-paced online course

Research and Writing Skills for Dissertation and Projects: An Introduction is a free, self-paced online course, designed to help demystify the research process. The course includes modules on:

·         Preparing you research and managing your supervisor

·         Project-management techniques

·         Managing your time

·         The literature review

·         The importance of ethics

·         Research methodology and methods

·         Data collection methods

·         Data analysis

·         Structuring the argument and chapters

·         Writing up and disseminating your research

Click here to enrol in this free course via CANVAS.

Books on Literature Reviews in the UC Library Catalogue