Focusing Your Literature Search
When beginning your literature search, it is important to understand the amount and type of research you need to find. Look for these terms in your assignment instructions to provide clarity about what your faculty expects.
Level of Comprehensiveness
| Level |
Description |
| Comprehensive |
Students are expected to review all relevant literature on a topic, as found in Library collections and free (open) access publications, but also review relevant sources beyond what is immediately and freely available (e.g. foundational scholarly articles not available through Library collections). This requires interlibrary loan support. |
| Comprehensive (Locally Accessible) |
Students are expected to review relevant literature on a topic to the extent that may be found in Library collections and free (open) access publications. They are not expected to review relevant sources beyond what is locally and freely available. |
| Exploratory |
Students are expected to review a small selection of relevant literature sources on a topic using Library collections and free (open) access publications. |