- In this course, we'll take a look
at one of the easiest and most used tools
in research, the literature review.
A literature review is the act of reviewing
and summarizing key documents,
publications, articles and books
centered around a specific topic.
A literature review is the principal tool
used for conducting secondary research.
Say for example, you've been given a project
to design a promotional poster
that captures the spirit of a new band
that plays classic rock songs from the 1970's
and you know very little about 70's rock
and even less about this band you need to promote.
This sort of thing happens from time to time
and it can be a little frightening.
Designers are asked to work on a subject
that we might know nothing about.
So how can we begin?
An easy way to start is by making a list
of everything that we need to know.
In this case, the list might look something like this.
What was influencing rock music in the 70's?
What are some of the popular 70"s rock bands?
How did band posters look in the 1970's?
And what is psychedelic graphic design?
Now we need to locate our information.
Where's the first place people tend to look?
The internet.
But as you know, the internet can lead you
to some unreliable information.
So before we talk about that,
let's consider a couple of other classic
and reliable sources of information.
A great place to start is the local library.
Libraries have a huge amount of valuable information
waiting for you.
Often times, libraries have special subscriptions
to online databases that are full of research materials.
In addition to the resources available,
the best part about a library
is the people that are working there.
Talk with a librarian or research assistant
to help you locate books and other sources
related to your topic.
They're experts at searching for information
and trust me, they love to help.
You can also do this research on your own.
Have a set of key words ready
that are related to your topic
to use for searching the library's databases.
In the case of our topic,
we might look up 1970's rock and roll,
psychedelic graphic design,
music and politics,
Vietnam music and maybe more.
So in this case, a literature review
can be used to gather broad, contextual information
that can help inform how you approach a project,
such as the stylistic approach,
the subject matter,
wording and appropriate language,
and historical references.
Besides asking a librarian for help,
another useful technique is to use the cited sources
or bibliography in one book
to lead you to another book.
If an author mentions a researcher
or quotes someone or something often in their work,
it's probably a good idea to follow that source
and look for some additional information.
This can be great to find new leads,
but be careful not to get caught in an endless cycle
of chasing names and resources.
Sometimes these connections pay off
and other times you have to let them go
and move on.
So now let's talk about the internet.
It can be a great source for information.
Published research, especially what you'll encounter
through an online academic database,
can sometimes be rather complex.
What I like about the internet
is that online articles get to the point quicker
and do so with simple, easy to understand language.
I found that larger design blogs,
online newspapers and magazines
can be great online resources.
The important thing to remember
is to choose credible sources of information.
A good literature review can be an important,
time saving tool for your research process.
Let's say you've been asked to develop
instructional pamphlets that teach
safe sanitation methods to young children.
This scenario brings all sorts of questions to mind,
but before we panic and we think about all the research
we'll need to do, we should begin by investigating
how much this topic has already been researched
in the past.
A good way to do that is a well-rounded search
covering the library, online academic databases,
and the internet.
A well-rounded search might take a little more time,
but you could find out that there's been quite a lot
of research already done on communicating
with children.
It might not be about sanitation,
but you can take what you've learned
and apply it to your specific context.
This technique saves a huge amount of time
and effort on your research
and it also helps you going down a path
that someone has already proven
to be ineffective.
Literature reviews can be a fairly easy
or complex tool to do.
It all depends on the amount of information
you're looking for.
Remember, a good literature review
pulls from a combination of multiple sources.
So don't shy away from non-traditional avenues
like the internet and academic journals.