How To Do Secondary Research or a Literature Review

Researching a topic that you know little or nothing about is actually quite common in both academic and professional settings. For example, at school you may be asked to research a specific topic for a class assignment, or have to select a topic from a short list. Professionally, you may need to learn about new technologies or markets to advance your career.

The challenge in this type of research lies in not knowing the topic's main concepts, keywords, and the topic’s relationship to broader ideas. This unfamiliarity can make it very difficult to formulate effective search strategies and navigate the available information. Think of this as being like traveling abroad. Before exploring a new city or country, you’ll first need to familiarize themselves with local customs, language, and geography. Similarly, as a researcher you’ll need to acquire a basic understanding of your topic's landscape before delving deeper.

The best way to get started is by using Wikipedia or some other encyclopedia.

1. Read the article carefully. Pay particular attention to:
   • Vocabulary. Identify the words used to describe the topic. In particular, look for words you are not familiar with or common words that are used in unusual ways. These may be useful  as keywords as you develop your search strategy.
   • Concepts. Make note of the key concepts of your topic.
   • Subtopics or specialties within the larger topic. These are often given separate sections within the Wikipedia article
   • Issues, problems, controversies, etc. These too are often given separate sections within the article.
2. Look at the references at the end of the Wikipedia article. This will give you some idea of what types of sources are commonly used to share information in that specific discipline
3. Read the references. Don't stop at just checking them: actually read them. Wikipedia is intended for a general audience, so it usually simplifies the concepts and language to make its articles more accessible. Reading the references will provide you with a better understanding of how the experts in the topic talk about it.
4. Look at the references in Wikipedia's references. This will give you a more accurate view of the types of sources used by researchers in that topic.
5. Scroll down to the end of the entry and look for a “See Also” section and/or table of related subjects. This will help you contextualize your topic. You can use this information to alter your search strategy or to find resources at the library. For example, here are those sections for the Wikipedia entry on quantum algorithms.

In this case one of the categories listed at the very bottom is theoretical computer science, so for more help finding resources, check the library’s computer science guide