Research Gap Section
James Madison University Writing Center guidance describes literature reviews as synthesizing relevant scholarship in order to identify a research gap, question, or direction for further work. The gap is often integrated into the literature review or introduction rather than given its own heading, and its form varies by field and research design.
A Research Gap section or gap statement explains what relevant prior work has not yet resolved, covered, compared, or adequately understood and connects that gap to the need for the present study.
Key details
Important caveats
Scope Boundary
The gap is often integrated into the literature review or introduction rather than given its own heading, and its form varies by field and research design.
Further guidance
Content
Ground the gap in the literature rather than asserting that “no research exists”; specify what is missing, inconsistent, underexamined, or unresolved.
Practical Application
Synthesize what prior work has and has not resolved, then connect that bounded gap to the present study rather than claiming that “no research exists” without support.
Purpose
A Research Gap section or gap statement explains what relevant prior work has not yet resolved, covered, compared, or adequately understood and connects that gap to the need for the present study.
Reader Check
Is the gap specific, evidence-linked, and consequential enough to explain why the current study is needed?
Worked Example
Prior studies compare A and B in large firms, but the literature reviewed here does not establish whether the same pattern holds in firms with fewer than 50 employees. This study examines that narrower setting.
Sources and evidence
Sources are shown with the role they play in this guide. Historical or style-sensitive claims are kept within the evidence boundary described above.
- Literature Review (Research) (opens in a new tab)James Madison University Writing Center · University writing-center guidance that literature reviews synthesize relevant scholarship to identify a research gap, question, or direction for further work.