Scoping the terrain of the large field of education research and practice to discover the Higher Education Management space had taught me to appreciate why the task of reviewing literature and the concept of GAP are important elements in the new knowledge production process.

Bearing that in mind, in March this year when DWU launched a fulltime Master of Research Methodology program and sought lecturers to teach a course, or unit as is known at DWU, I volunteered to teach the unit on Crafting the Literature Review.

This was an opportunity to hone further my research skills whilst giving back and ensuring the profession sustained itself, most critically in a context where recruiting Masters and PhD candidates to staff our universities is a steep challenge.

It was some years since a four -year investment in time and life had come to an end when I handed over my PhD thesis for examination. Graduation subsequently had been especially exhilarating considering two examiners in the field my interest passed my thesis without correction.

This was special! On their shoulders I hoped to build a career and my network amongst the emerging sub-tribe of Higher Education Manager Professionals; and make a small contribution as a member of the cosmopolitan tribe of academics.

From first meeting the key scholars in the field of Higher Education Management in the pages of the Victoria University library’s collections and databases, I continue to make acquaintances mainly through the social media spaces.

Leveraging four years of PhD study, post-study scholarship and fear of atrophy, I was eager to guide students in their efforts to produce a chapter-length literature review in their chosen field. In well- traversed terrains of research fields, often the best a new researcher can do is to find that tiny nook or cranny—the small gap-- in existing knowledge to provide a filler.

But it was going to take the best of my students' thinking and writing abilities. The title of the unit encapsulated the challenge. Reviewing literature was akin to a land surveyor determining the lay of the land and staking where others had made claims and marking where someone else could stake his or her small claim and build on. The task would require both thinking-reading and thinking-crafting skills. Both activities demanded high order cognitive engagement as well as high level mastery of the craft of writing for effective communication.

The thinking-reading demanded critical reading and active engagement with the text and aimed at breaking down ideas in analysis; teasing out strands of ideas and laying them out to see the connections and disconnections; understanding structure and meaning in presentation of the text to establish the logic of the arrangement of ideas; and ultimately finding the possible important missing piece in knowledge.

The thinking-crafting I saw as the beautiful art of synthesis that required the skills of a weaver pulling and stitching together the stands of knowledge using the connecting thread – the writer’s voice. The ultimate aim of writing a literature review was to present, inform and convince that a GAP existed in the field of the proposed research and it was worth the time and means to be invested.

In hindsight, were my students up to the challenge of reviewing existing knowledge, identifying the gap and presenting a coherent well-crafted paper? Suffice to say, I have a new appreciation for why post-graduate studies are not for everyone. I hope the students appreciate that research is an intense academic endeavor.