A research gap is a question that matters in your field and that earlier studies have not answered, or have answered in ways that don't settle it. In a master's thesis the gap is the reason your project exists: the introduction names it, the literature review shows it, and the research question follows from it. A gap is a claim about the literature, so you have to support it like any other claim.
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The University of Tartu's School of Economics and Business Administration lists, among the jobs of a thesis introduction, to “Identify the research gap, the problem that is interesting but not yet addressed.” Both halves of that definition count. A problem that is open but uninteresting is a gap no one needs filled. A problem that is interesting but already addressed is a topic, and you would have to show what is still unsettled about it.
The CARS model for introductions (create a research space), outlined by the linguist John Swales (1990) and described by Søk & Skriv, a guide run by the libraries of the University of Bergen, the University of Oslo, and Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, puts the gap in the middle step: “Identify a niche, a knowledge gap, and/or the relevance of your perspective, and state why there is a need to investigate the topic further”. The phrase to notice is the last one. A gap statement has to say why the open point is worth a study, and saying that it is open is only half of it.
A hypothetical example of a commentYour introduction says no study has looked at remote work and team trust in small firms, but section 2.3 of your literature review discusses two such studies. What does your thesis add to them?
A first comment on one part of your own draft, right away and without an account.
Get a free previewSeveral things look like gaps and don't hold up when a supervisor or second reader asks a follow-up question.
The Tartu guidelines also say where novelty usually comes from in a master's thesis: “The novelty is often related to newer data, the combination of data and methods, or the exact question to be asked.” The table sorts common gap types along similar lines. The names vary between fields, and one thesis can combine two of them.
| Type | What is open | What you need to show |
|---|---|---|
| Unanswered question | A question the literature raises and doesn't answer, often in the "future research" paragraphs of recent studies | That it is still open, and that no newer study has answered it |
| Conflicting findings | Studies reach different results on the same question | Where the studies differ (sample, measure, setting) and how your design can help explain the difference |
| Context or population | A result is known for one group or setting and not for another | Why the result could differ in your context, with a reason from theory or earlier work |
| Method | The question was studied in a way that leaves a known weakness | Which weakness, and how your design addresses it |
| Data or time | Earlier work uses older data, and something relevant has changed since | What changed and why it could alter the result |
| Theory | An explanation is assumed or untested, or two theories predict different things | Which prediction your study tests |
| Practice | Organizations or professionals face a problem the research hasn't addressed | Evidence of the problem, and how it connects to the academic literature |
Aalto University's master's program in accounting gives students starting a thesis a short list of questions, one of them: “Have you noticed a research gap in the literature or in practice?” Noticing is the start. These steps turn a hunch into a gap you can defend.
Master's students often worry that a gap must be something no one has ever thought of. Søk & Skriv is clear that this is not the expectation: “As a student, you are not expected to investigate something completely new to fill a knowledge gap, but you can at least contribute with your own unique approach to the matter based, for example, on your background and/or interests.”
Expectations differ by program, though. The University of Tartu's School of Economics and Business Administration, for its master's thesis in the form of a research article, asks for a novel contribution. Read your program's thesis guidelines or ask your supervisor how much novelty they expect. A modest, well-defined gap is usually easier to defend than an ambitious, vague one.
The introduction states the gap; the literature review shows it. Søk & Skriv's page on the IMRaD format, a structure used mostly in health care and the natural sciences, says that “The introduction should explain what we know, and what we are uncertain about”, and the gap sits between those two parts. The Tartu guidelines give the literature review a matching job: “The main objective is to motivate your analysis, i.e. to convince the reader that the topic is interesting, and that there are important questions still unanswered.”
In practice, the review leads to the gap step by step: what is established, where the studies stop or disagree, and why that matters for your question. Each section should serve that line, which is also the best test of how long a literature review should be. The gap then leads to your research question. A reader who has just read your gap should be able to guess roughly what your question will be.
This example is made up, and the student and studies are fictional. A master's student in environmental management plans a thesis on household food waste. Her first gap statement: "No study has measured household food waste in Porto."
Her supervisor asks what a measurement in Porto would add to the studies from other European cities. She goes back to the literature and finds that recent studies disagree on whether weekly shopping reduces waste, and that most of them come from cities where large supermarkets dominate. Her own pilot interviews suggest that many households in Porto buy fresh food at markets several times a week. Her gap becomes a question about the shopping pattern, with Porto as a setting where it can be studied, and she can explain why the city matters for the answer. The research question follows directly. The final wording is hers to settle with her supervisor.
| Mistake | How it shows in the draft | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| The gap is asserted, not shown | "There is a lack of research on X" with no citation | Which studies come closest, and what do they leave open? |
| The review contradicts the gap | The introduction says no one has studied X; the review discusses a study of X | Does the gap statement account for every study in your review? |
| Gap and question don't match | The gap is about why; the question is about how much | Does answering the question fill the gap you named? |
| The gap moves | Introduction, abstract, and discussion each describe a slightly different gap | Is the gap worded the same way, or deliberately updated, in every chapter? |
| The contribution overreaches | The conclusion claims the thesis fills the gap in general | Which part of the gap did your data actually cover? |
| An outdated search | The newest cited study is several years old | Has anything been published since you last searched? |
Esmond evaluates every assignment before you submit. It never writes it.
Esmond is an AI tool that doesn't write for you. If your course doesn't allow any AI tools, don't use Esmond for that work. If you're unsure, ask your instructor or advisor.
Esmond reads the draft you made and flags factual errors, inconsistencies, and blind spots. For a research gap, that means checking the gap against your own text: where the introduction claims something is unstudied and the literature review discusses a study that seems to cover it, where the research question doesn't answer the gap you named, or where the conclusion claims more than your data cover. It adds no text to the thesis. See how Esmond works.
Esmond doesn't search databases or open your sources, so it can't tell you whether a gap exists in the literature as a whole. Your search and your supervisor settle that. Esmond reads your paper or thesis against the standards of your field, and it isn't set to any one university's guidelines.
A question that matters in your field and that earlier research hasn't answered, or has answered in ways that disagree. The University of Tartu guidelines put it as a problem that is interesting but not yet addressed.
Only with a reason. If you can explain why the result in your country could differ from the studies elsewhere, you have a context gap. Without that reason, a reader will ask why the existing studies don't already answer your question.
Usually not. Søk & Skriv says students are not expected to investigate something completely new and can contribute with their own approach. The University of Tartu's School of Economics and Business Administration does ask for a novel contribution in its master's thesis in the form of a research article, so check your program's guidelines.
It is stated in the introduction, shown in detail in the literature review, answered by the research question and method, and revisited in the discussion.
There's no set number. You need the studies that come closest to your question, so a reader can see what each one leaves open. Your supervisor can tell you whether anything important is missing.
Read on November 7, 2026.
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