The research literature on violent extremism is vast, variegated, and growing by the day. From conflict and terrorism studies to governance, climate change, and migration, the quantity of existing research is too large for a single researcher or even a moderately sized team of researchers to penetrate or fully examine by traditional manual literature-review techniques. A peacebuilding practice area that frequently crosses disciplinary boundaries, the research on preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) draws on a wide array of theories and methodologies. There is clearly an emerging policy agenda centered on building effective responses to extremism, however, more controversies than consensus exist on the bounds of the P/CVE agenda as a policy portfolio or area of academic study. What exactly does violent extremism mean? Does the term encompass civil war, domestic and international terrorism, sectarian violence, genocide, or all of the above? What does it mean to counter violent extremism? Does countering violent extremism include the causes, consequences, or policy responses to violence? Where exactly in the world is our policy and research focus most needed and useful? Failing to find an exact definition of violent extremism itself, particularly one that policymakers and researchers might overwhelmingly agree on, research for this study finds traditional literature reviews are unlikely to yield satisfactory answers to these questions.