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Literature Review: Topic Development

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Created on November 7, 2025

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Preliminary Literature Review: Topic Development

START

by Dr. Olga Koz, Collegiate Librarian and IRML Evidence Synthesis Methodologist

Objectives

of the learning module

Learn

Develop

Understand

Discover

Review Purposes
Topic, Concepts, Question
Tools
Definition, process

Finding gaps in research Framing the research Positioning research in the literature

Learn and understand the process of preparation for research, including reviewing literature to develop a research topic and question

Sources and Tools availble at the library or outside of the library walls

Learn about the process of the development of a research topic, question, concepts clarification

01

Understand

Learn and understand the research preparation process within the college or high school curriculum, including reviewing literature as a key part of it.

start

Definition

01

A preliminary literature review involves identifying and analyzing existing research to develop a research topic, clarify key concepts and connections between them, and learn about the key literature in the area of research Essentially, it's a simultaneous learning and research process.

Research Planning

01

College/High School curriculum

Hopscotch Research Design by Dr. Jorrin Abellan

Hopscotch Research Design Model

+ info

Research Proposal with Literature Review by Dr. Koz

How
What
Why
Topic & Concepts Development
Problem or Interest
Research Question
Protocol evaluation, ethical, research integrity, rigor
Theoretical & Concept. Framework
Literature Review

Gaps in knowledgetthe study, positioning

Research Design
Goals or Purposes
Approach to research, worldview, paradigms

02

Develop

Research Concepts, Topic and Question

start

Topic Development

02

The role of the literature review
  • Scholar-practitioner
  • Applied research
  • Student with focus on local issues and needs
  • Conceptual Learning for a student
  • New topic for a researcher

Transcript

02

Topic Elements - Narrow the topic

Disciplinary Index: Topic Mapping

Thesaurus Subject Dictionaries, Concept Mapping

Problem of Practice/Research Gaps

Filters in the databases/indexes to narrow a topic

Topic Development

For qualitative vs. quantitative research

Quantitative Study: 2 narrow operational concepts or variables

Qualitative study: Broad concept or a phenomenon

+ info
+ info

Transcript

Research Question Structure

02

If you fully develop the research topic, it will be easier to formultate a research question based on the research types and methodology

Learn more about a research question structure

https://libguides.kennesaw.edu/questions/structure

03

Discover

Sources and Tools available at the library or outside of the library walls

start

Preliminary Search

Tooltip

Systematic search

Learn more about

Sources

for research topic development

Concepts Connecting

Title 01

Concepts/Broad/Narrow/Relevant Terms Clarification & Connection
Subtitle here

Knowledge Mapping

Subject scientific dictionaries, research handbooks- clarify terms and concepts

Synopsis, Summaries, Gale Topic Finder, "Dimensions," and other literature mapping tools

Check the academic databases Subjects or Thesaurus option, concept mapping tools

ThesaurusBrowsing

List of databases with a thesaurus and tutorials how to do this search by a database

Academic Databases

Gale Databases

Gale Topic Finder

Gale In Context: High School and Gale OneFile: High School Edition

Video

PDF

Research Topic Overview

Open Access AI app

Research Topics Visual Map Concept Mapping Link to texts

Link

Info

AI Research Topic Generators

Paperguide

Lorem Ipsum

The example of the AI driven Topic Generator

  • Lorem ipsum dolor sit
  • Consectetur adipiscing
  • Donec eu porta justo
  • Sed interdum dui
  • Integer convallis in
  • Be aware of the limitations of using generic GPTs for research
  • Complimentary tool

Transcript

Guides to Research Planning & Literature Review Review

04

Link

05

Quiz

What tool is the most helpful for research topic development?

start

Quiz

Select a tool or technique

Select a tool

Quiz

Wrong!

Limitations of GPTs

Oops!

  • Hallucinations and Inaccuracy
  • Lack of "Out-of-the-Box" and Genuine Thinking
  • Lack of Contextual and Domain Expertise

Quiz

Make a decision

Narrow the topic

Make a decision

In a quantitative study, limiting concepts provide boundaries that keep the research feasible.

Include speciifc population (age, education or other charsacteristics)

Finding small gap in knowledge in research or evidence

Limiting the scope, the context, the setting of the study

Bibliography

Write a subtitle here

Interactive Research Methods Lab (IRML) https://irml.kennesaw.edu/start_here.php

01

Koz. O. Preliminary Literature Review

02

Koz. O. Guide to Research Planning

03

04

Koz. O. 2025. Research Topic Development: Tutorial

Lesson completed!

KnowledgeMap overviews research topics and the documents related to each area. Identify relevant content. Separate the wheat from the chaff: AI pipeline clusters similar documents together despite ambiguous terms. Identify relevant concepts with the help of AI: one of the most difficult tasks when you are new to a research field is to learn the “language” of the field. Find open content: the Knowledge Maps include both closed- and open-access documents.

The quantitative approach requires you to take a broad topic and rigorously narrow it down to just two primary operational concepts or variables. You must then define precisely how you will measure them, turning abstract ideas into concrete variables. Finding theories that establish existing relationships might help. This diagram illustrates the reduction process. The broad topic is distilled into two clear concepts ("Academic Pressure" and "GPA"). These are then operationalized into measurable variables (e.g., a test score for pressure, an official GPA for performance). The final question is a linear, testable hypothesis about the relationship between these two specific variables.

The qualitative approach involves starting with a broad topic or construct and then exploring the connections among many concepts that emerge. You might narrow down at the beginning, but you expand and capture the phenomenon's complexity during the study.As shown in the diagram above, a broad topic like "College Student Stress" explodes into a web of interconnected, non-linear concepts. The goal is not to isolate them but to understand how they interact. The final research question reflects this by being open-ended ("How..."), focusing on the process of navigation and the meaning of the experience.

What is the role of the literature review in the process of the research topic and question development? It depends on who you are as a researcher and your access to scientific knowledge. If you need to learn about the topic, a preliminary review of knowledge is detrimental. If you have access to the latest research, you should review it to figure out the gap in research to justify the selected topic or question.

When using generative AI tools (like ChatGPT) to come up with research ideas, watch out for these three major pitfalls: They make things up: AI will sometimes confidently give you fake facts or invent fake sources—a problem known as "hallucinating." They aren't truly original: AI lacks real critical thinking. It tends to recycle existing ideas rather than giving you something genuinely new. They are biased: AI mostly learns from the free, public internet. It absorbs the biases found there and often cannot access high-quality, paywalled scientific journals. A Better Alternative Specialized AI tools like Paperguide are built differently. Because they pull information directly from real academic databases, they are much better at avoiding bias and fake facts. The Catch: Even with a great academic AI tool, the hardest part is still up to you. The AI can only give you good answers if you know how to ask a strong, clear research question in the first place.

I want to emphasize that developing the topic or "topic reduction", moving from the initial broad to a more specific area of research, is different if one conducts a qualitative or quantitative study. Quantitative topics should include a limited number of variables that are easier to measure. In contrast, a more inductive or qualitative study might focus on whole cases, experiences, phenomena, and multiple concepts.

The primary purposes of a preliminary literature search are to clarify the core concepts and constructs related to your research topic, identify key terms, and establish a search strategy. This process typically begins by defining main ideas and determining the vocabulary and terminology that will guide your exploration. The next step involves locating seminal works and conceptual papers that connect these concepts, providing a foundation for understanding the relationships within your topic area. As you move from conceptual mapping to literature mapping, you progressively narrow your research topic and sharpen your research question, ensuring that your inquiry is both focused and grounded in the existing body of knowledge.