Stage 2
Research Gap
Identifying what existing writing has not answered, and stating it precisely.
Finding the gap
A gap is not simply an unwritten topic. It is a point where existing scholarship is silent, contradictory, outdated after a legal change, or untested against new facts.
Read recent commentary in your area and note where authors disagree or where they say further study is required. Those sentences are often the clearest signposts to a gap.
Stating it
Write the gap in two or three sentences: what is known, what is missing, and why the absence matters. If you cannot write it plainly, the gap is not yet defined.