Starting out on the MRes
The first tasks on the MRes are Literature Review and writing the research proposal. I’ve been reading the book, Doing your research project by Judith Bell and summarise below the different functions that a literature review may have:
To gain knowledge about the subject area and to find out about the major research issues and debates
Discover who has done credible and interesting work and critically appraise their work
Find out where there are gaps in the literature and research.
Carrying out a review of the literature will help focus my own research topic. Identify key issues and hot topics
Draw parallels between related research
Learn from how others have approached the research topic. Look at key words used and research questions
To justify how and why I’ve done the research in the way I have.
Compare research with my own