The research process for the literature review of your dissertation/independent project requires a different approach from that you will have used during your taught modules.

For your dissertation/independent project you are responsible for finding, selecting, evaluating and managing all your research sources.

This guide is divided into several sections: 

Key Words  - this section asks you to think about your topic and what you are looking for to help you identify the search terms or keywords you will need to use to search for literature.  Making sure you search with the correct keywords will help you to find the most relevant literature. 

Where to search - this section provides an overview of where to search depending on the type of literature you need. It looks the pros and cons of different approaches to help you decide the best place to start searching.

Searching Effectively - covers advanced searching and how to put your search terms together to make your search effective.

Search Techniques - this section covers additional search techniques such as phrase searching and proximity searching. These techniques will help you make your search specific, helping you to reduce the number of search results.  

Further help - this section includes additional and useful links, such as referencing and BCU Library FAQs.