CE5412 – Research

Seminar

Literature Review – Part 2

Dr. Ashani Ranathunga

PhD (Monash), BSc Eng Hons (Ruhuna)
MSPE, MISSMGE, AMIE(SL)
Sources for Literature Review

Electronic
databases
Magazines
& news Books
papers

Research
Sources Journals
reports

Encyclopedia Conference
& dictionary papers

Thesis
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 Annotated Bibliography

Thematic Organization
Steps of
Literature More Reading

Review
Write individual sections

Integrate sections

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1. Annotated Bibliography
• At this stage, researchers read articles, books &
other types of literature related to the topic of
research & write a brief critical synopsis of each
review.
• After going through the reading list, researchers will
have an annotation of each source of related
literature.
• Later, annotations are likely to include more
references of other work since previous readings will
be available to compare, but at this point the
important goal is to get accurate control over the
variables under study
2. Thematic Organization
• At this stage, researchers try to;
Ø find common themes of research topic &
organize the literature under these themes,
subthemes, or categories.
Øorganize literature under themes, which relate to
each other & are arranged in a chronological
manner.
Øestablish coherence between themes & literature
discussed under theses themes.
3. More Reading
• Based on the knowledge gained through primary
reading, researchers have a better understanding
about the research topic & the literature related to
it.
• At this stage, researchers try to
Ø discover specific literature materials relevant to the
field of study or research methodologies which are
more relevant for their research.
Ø look for more literature by those authors, on those
methodologies, etc.
Ø set aside some less relevant areas or articles which
they pursued initially.
Ø integrate the new readings into their literature
review draft, reorganize themes, & read more
4. Write individual sections
• At this stage, researchers start writing the literature
under each thematic section by using previously
collected draft of annotations.
• Here they organize the related articles under each
theme by ensuring that every article is related to
each other.
• Furthermore, related articles may be grouped
together by ensuring the coherence between
different segments of the literature abstracts.
• While writing reviews, the researchers focus on the
theme of that section, showing how the articles
relate to each other & to the theme, rather than
focusing on writing each individual article.
• The articles are used as evidence to support the
critique of the theme rather than using the theme as
an angle to discuss each article individually.
5. Integrate sections
• In this section, researchers have a list of the thematic
sections & they tie them together with an
introduction, conclusion, & some additions &
revisions in the sections to show how they relate to
each other & to the overall theme.
Writing Literature Review

Introduction

Body Conclusion

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1. Introduction
• While writing the introduction, following steps
should be taken care of:
Ø Define or identify the general topic, issue, or area of
concern, thus, providing appropriate context for
reviewing the literature.
Ø Point out overall trends in what has been published
about the topic or conflicts in theory, methodology,
evidence, & conclusion or gaps in research &
scholarship, or a single problem or new perspective
of immediate interest.
Ø Establish the writer’s point of view for reviewing the
literature, explain the criteria to be used in analyzing
& comparing literature & organization or review
(sequence).
2. Body
• Following measures need to be undertaken while
writing the body of the literature.
Ø Group research studies & other types of literature
(reviews, theoretical articles, case studies) according
to common denominators such as qualitative versus
quantitative approaches, conclusions of authors,
specific purposes or objectives, chronology, & so on.
Ø Summarize individual studies or articles with as
much as or as little detail as each merits according to
its comparative importance in the literature,
remembering that space denotes significance.
Ø Assist the reader with strong ‘umbrella' sentences at
the beginning of paragraphs, signpost throughout, &
brief ‘so what’ summary sentences at intermediate
points.
3. Conclusion
• The points to be taken care of in the conclusion are
as follows:
Ø Summarize major contributions of significant studies
& articles to the body of knowledge under review,
maintaining the focus established in the
introduction.
Ø Evaluate the current ‘state of the art’ for the body of
knowledge reviewed, pointing out major
methodological flaws or gaps in research,
inconsistencies in theory, & finding & areas or issues
pertinent to future study.
Ø Conclude by providing some insight into the
relationship between central topic of the literature.
Examples
• Example of a bad review
Sexual harassment has many consequences. Adams,
Kottke, & Padgitt (1983) found that some women
students said that they avoided taking a class or
working with certain professors because of the risk of
harassment. They also found that men & women
students reacted differently. Their research was
conducted through a survey of 1,000 men & women
graduate & undergraduate students. Benson &
Thomson’s study in social Problem (1982) lists many
problems created by sexual harassment. In their
excellent book, the Lecherous Professor, Dziech &
Weiner (1990) give a long list of difficulties that victims
have suffered.
Examples
• Example of a good review
The victims of sexual harassment suffer a range of
consequences, from lowered self-esteem & loss of self-
confidence to withdrawal from social interaction,
changed career goals, & depression (Adams, Kottke, &
Padgitt, 1983; Benson &Thomson, 1982; Dziech &
Weiner, 1990). For example, Adams, Kottke, & Padgitt
(1983) noted that 13% of women students said that
they avoided taking a class for working with certain
professors because of the risk of harassment.
Points to consider
Ø Be specific & be succinct:

Briefly state specific findings listed in an article, specific methodologies

used in a study, or other important points. Literature reviews are not the
place for long quotes or in-depth analysis of each point.

Ø Be selective:

Researcher should narrow down a lot of information into a small space for
literature review. Just the most important points (i.e. those most relevant
to the review’s focus) must be mentioned in each work of review.

Ø Focus of current topics:

Researcher needs to analyze points such as if it is a current article, & if not,

how old it is: has its claims, evidence, or arguments been superseded by
more recent work; if it is not current, then if it is important for historical
background ; etc.
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Points to consider (cont.)
Ø Ensure evidence for claims

Researcher should focus on what support is given for claims made in

literature. What evidence & what type (experimental, statistical, anecdotal,
etc.) of evidences are offered? Is the evidence relevant & sufficient? What
arguments are given? What assumptions are made, & are they warranted?

Ø Focus on sources of evidences:

Researchers should ensure the reliability of the sources of the evidence or

other information – if they are from author’s own experiments, surveys,
historical records, government documents, etc. He should check how
reliable those sources are.

Ø Account of contrary evidences:

Does the author take into account contrary or conflicting evidence &
arguments? How does the author address disagreements with other
researchers?
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Points to consider (cont.)
Ø Reference citation:

Any references cited in the literature review must be included in the

bibliography. The common practice is that the reviewer does not list
references in the bibliography that are not directly cited in the literature
review or elsewhere in the paper /thesis.

Ø Avoid abbreviations:

Avoid technical terms, jargons & abbreviations.

Ø Simple & accurate sentence structure:

A researcher should use simple sentences & must avoid errors of grammar
& punctuation

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Points to consider (cont.)
Ø Organization of Literature Review:

A literature review is organized by subtopic, not by individual references. In

a typical literature review, the writers may cite several references in the
same paragraph & may cite the same reference in more than one
paragraph, if that source address more than one of the subtopics in the
literature review. Typically, discussion of each sources is quite brief. The
contribution the present reviewers make is organizing the ideas from the
sources into a cogent argument or narrative that includes their
perspectives.

Ø Referring original source:

The reviewer should focus on citing the material that originates with each
reference. This may require a careful reading of the reference. If the
reference author refers to another source whose ideas are relevant or
interesting, it is better to track & use that original reference.

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Source: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211339812000445
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