If you do not have a specific research problem, you should review the literature in your broad area of
interest with the aim of gradually narrowing it down to what you want to find out about. After that the
literature review should be focused around your research problem. There is a danger in reviewing the
literature without having a reasonably specific idea of what you want to study. It can condition your
thinking about your study and the methodology you might use, resulting in a less innovative choice of
research problem and methodology than otherwise would have been the case. Hence, you should try
Searching for the existing literature
To search effectively for the literature in your field of enquiry, it is imperative that you have at least
some idea of the broad subject area and of the problem you wish to investigate, in order to set
parameters for your search. Next, compile a bibliography for this broad area. There are three sources
that you can use to prepare a bibliography:
books;
b) journals;
the Internet.