Abstract
State of the Art research has become established as an important methodological procedure for mapping and analyzing scientific production across different fields of knowledge. Despite its widespread use, many studies tend to emphasize the presentation of results while paying limited attention to the challenges involved in constructing the research corpus. In this context, this article aims to discuss the State of the Art as a methodological procedure, reflecting on its challenges, decisions, and potentialities in the construction of a research corpus. To this end, we draw on the experience developed in a doctoral dissertation that investigated the presence of Indigenous literatures in Brazilian school education. Methodologically, the study combines a theoretical discussion of State-of-the-Art research with an analysis of the corpus construction process, encompassing the selection of databases, the definition of keywords, the refinement of search strategies, the selection of studies, and the systematization of the information produced. The reflections demonstrate that corpus construction is not merely a technical stage, but rather a process marked by methodological choices, reformulations, and ongoing decision-making. The results indicate that factors such as the specificity of keywords, the indexing systems of the databases consulted, and the inclusion and exclusion criteria directly influence both the configuration of the corpus and the findings obtained. We conclude that State-of-the-Art research goes beyond the function of a bibliographic survey, constituting a procedure capable of identifying trends, gaps, academic silences, and movements in the constitution of research fields, thereby contributing to the development and strengthening of new studies.