After completion of the first step within the academic working process – the search – the literature collecting with regard to the own topic has to be assessed in the way whether it contributes significantly to answering the research question developed or whether it should not be further taken into account.

By the assessment process it shall be determined which publications are relevant with regard to the own topic. Then, the relevant literature will be checked whether the information it contains is coherent and correct and whether the publications themselves comply with academic criteria. The objective of this working step consists on gaining the completest overview possible on the state of academic debate regarding the topic.