Searching the literature and managing references and resources

Whether you are writing an assignment, essay, review, report or thesis, a sound knowledge of the literature relating to your subject is fundamental to good research and communication. Literature comes in many formats, ranging from published books, journals and periodicals through to unpublished works such as government documents, technical reports and conference proceedings. Literature can be categorised into primary sources, original written work, or secondary sources, like a textbook that provides a critique or summary of one or more primary sources. You might also see a distinction between 'mainstream' published literature and what is referred to as grey literature . The latter can be difficult to find using regular search techniques, and might not have been peer-reviewed or through a ormal editorial process. Examples include technical reports or 'white' papers. During your search for information, you may refer to several or all of these forms of literature. A literature review can be a work in itself or it can be integrated into sections of a larger work, such as the introduction and discussion chapters of a thesis or research eport'which is why developing skills in literature earching is so important.