The Role of Literature

Discussion Group with Helen Kindred (12/10/2021)

In the spirit of 'getting back in the groove', here is my summary of what we discussed today on the Zoom call...

We were looking at the 'role of literature'
('literature' meaning resources that already exist such as books, TED talks, recordings of performances etc.)

What does literature have to offer???

- Different perspectives (if they disagree with you: why? what brought them to that conclusion?)
- Validates your experience (key to mention that we should not be looking to 'back up' our thoughts but to expand and contextualise them)

If you're struggling to find much on a subject, don't be afraid to:

- Look into authors in different fields to you who are still looking at the same ideas
- Look at an author's full body of work as they may have other literature that can help/this will help you understand what has influenced them
- Look at an author's reference list 
- Address clear gaps in the literature (very current topics might not have been written about yet, share your take!)

What's key is to...
Have a DISCUSSION with the literature
-ask questions
- try to understand further

REMEMBER:
Your literature review needs have subject specific literature and research methods literature!

Advice from Clare (Module 3)
Don't go overboard on the literature, it's better to have less and to contextualise them properly. 

According to Helen, a good amount of sources is 8-10

Hope this helps anyone who missed the call today!x