When building a house there is nothing more important than planning. When the building starts there are thousands of pieces that must be taken into account, and meld together in perfect order; to achieve as close to a perfect construct as is humanly possible. The article Scholars before Research: On the Centrality of the Dissertation Literature Review in Research Preparation by Boote and Beile guides me to reflect on this process. First, I can see the articles of research as the planning piece. It is not enough to simply know they exist but to be able to interface and interact with their knowledge in a meaningful way to create a guided plan; either for formulating a paper or building a project. Second, the act of undertaking and constructing a literature review is akin to starting the foundation of a house. Without a great deal of care at this stage the entire process will be for naught. 

As the researcher preparing for the daunting task of constructing a dissertation, or of building a house it must be understood that “to be useful and meaningful, education research must be cumulative; it must build on and learn from prior research and scholarship on the topic” (Boote & Beile, 2005, p. 3). To be clear, knowledge must speak to knowledge which henceforth speaks to understanding. This conversation that the researcher conducts with themselves regarding the research guides them in linking the information to create an effective product. To put this in another way, it is not enough to simply know how to build a foundation, or to construct a wall; the researcher must know how both of these constructs interface in order to effectively build their house. This process follows the same logic for constructing a paper; knowledge in isolation is nothing until examined in a larger context.

“Novice education researchers learn the craft of constructing a foundation on which their research can be built” (Boote & Beile, 2005, p. 4). Without the researcher ensuring their that their foundation is stable, everything beyond that will be feeble. This applies to both literature and construction. How then are these standards determined? In construction, the British Columbia Building Code sets out the minimum professional standards that must be followed when building a house. In academia “The standards and criteria of good literature reviewing are part of the hidden curriculum of good graduate programs.” (Boote & Beile, 2005, p. 13) As I am intimately familiar with the framework established by the building code, I am fortunate to have been privy to the framework established by Boote and Beile in their article. As such, my future symbolic home is far more likely to withstand the test of time as it will be built with a solid foundation.