Literature can be divided into two categories: one is original literature, that is, original published literature that has not been processed by others, such as journal articles, conference papers, research reports, etc. The other is second-hand literature, that is, documents that have been processed, sorted, commented or compiled from original documents, such as books, comprehensive articles, comments, bibliographies, etc.
The characteristics of literature include: firstly, literature has timeliness, and different types of literature have different timeliness, so they need to be selected and used according to specific conditions; Secondly, the literature has credibility and reliability, which needs to be evaluated according to the source, author, publishing house and so on; In addition, the literature also has the characteristics of accessibility, readability and citation, so it needs to be selected and used according to the research purpose and demand.
In academic research, literature is an important basis and support for researchers to carry out theoretical construction, empirical analysis and comprehensive evaluation. Therefore, mastering the acquisition, utilization and management methods of various literature resources is one of the necessary skills to improve the level and ability of academic research.