literature review for an undergraduate dissertationstaff.iium.edu.my/adah510/fyp seminar literature...

2/3/2017

Prof. Dr Othman O. Khalifa 1

Literature Review for an

undergraduate dissertation

Prof. Dr Othman O. Khalifa

Electrical and Computer Engineering


Outlines

• Introduction

• Why do we write literature reviews?

• Steps to write the literature review.

• Strategies for writing literature review.

• Writing the literature review.

• Tips for successful writing.

• Common Errors in writing Literature Reviews.

• End


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Outline of your Dissertation

Be aware that your particular research project will

generally include these sections in this order :

• Introduction

• Literature Review

• Research Problems/Objectives

• Methodology/Proposed solution and Implementation

• Results analysis/Findings

• Discussion/Conclusion(s)

• Future work

• References Prof. Dr Othman O. Khalifa 3

Literature Review

What is a Literature Review?

– A literature review discusses published

information in a particular subject area, and

sometimes information in a particular subject

area within a certain time period.

– The 'Literature Review' is the part of the

dissertation where there is extensive reference to

related research and theory in the field


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• Overall, the function of a literature review is to

show how related work in the field has shaped

and influenced your research.

Then...

• A literature review summarises, critically

analyses and evaluates previous research

available on the subject, presenting this in an

organised way. It should address a clearly

articulated question or series of questionsProf. Dr Othman O. Khalifa 5

Introduction …

• It is NOT:

– A descriptive list or summaries of books/articles

etc

– An exhaustive bibliography on everything ever

written on the topic- you need to make a decision

about what to include.

– A re-statement of the studies previously done

– Your arguments and ideas (like an essay)


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• Questions you need to ask yourself when you are

planning and drafting your Literature Review:

– What has been done in your field of research? What principles of

selection are you going to use?

– How are you going to order your discussion? Chronological,

thematic, conceptual, methodological, or a combination? What

section headings will you use?

– How do the various studies relate to each other? What precise

contribution do they make to the field? What are their limitations?

– How does your own research fit into what has already been

done?


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Why do we write literature reviews?

� Literature reviews provide you with a handy guide to a particular topic.

� If you have limited time to conduct research, literature reviews can give you an

overview or act as a stepping stone.

� For scholars, the depth and breadth of the literature review emphasizes the

credibility of the writer in his or her field.

� Literature reviews also provide a solid background for a research paper’s

investigation.

� Comprehensive knowledge of the literature of the field is essential to most

research papers.

Prof. Dr Othman O. Khalifa

9

Why do we write literature reviews?

� To provide a historical context for your research .

� To give an overview of the current context in which your

research is situated .

� To show relevant theories and concepts for your research.

� To provide definitions and relevant terminology for your

research.

� To describe related research in the field and how your work

extends this or addresses a gap in previous work in the field .

� To provide supporting evidence for a practical problem which

your research is addressing.


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� To demonstrate an in-depth understanding of your topic area.

including key concepts, terminology, theories and definitions.

� To identify what research has been done in that area.

� To find gaps in the research or current areas of interest to help

you. formulate your own research question.

� To identify the main research methodologies in your subject

area.

� To convince the reader that your research questions are

significant, important and interesting.

� To convince the reader that your thesis will make an original

contribution to the area being investigated. 11

Steps to write the literature review

1. Define your topic: you must define your topic and components of your topic.

2. Find relevant literature on your topic and follow trails of references .

- Search for materials: use search tools (such as the library catalogue, databases,

bibliographies).

3. Identify ideas/theories/approaches/methods/systems to the topic that have emerged from reading.

4. Evaluate what you have found: - Read and evaluate what you have found in order to determine which material makes a significant contribution to the understanding of the topic

5. Introduce and explain each (idea/method/theory/approach), present evidence from readings (agreements/ disagreements), critically commentate and relate to your own research.

6. Analysis and interpretation: provide a discussion of the findings and conclusions of the pertinent literature.

12

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Steps to write the literature review...

� Always begin with

an introduction to

the review & end

with a summary

� Make the connection

for the reader between

the subtopics & the

topic

�Always cite

your sources

� Present your

knowledge on the

topics & subtopics

� Summarize each

subtopic

�Include a transition

paragraph from one

subtopic to the next


Strategies for writing literature review

1. Define a Topic

- How to choose which topic to review?

-The topic must be interesting to you

- important keywords

- A well-defined issue (otherwise you could potentially include thousands of publications)

2. Search and Re-search the Literature- keep track of the search items, papers that easy to access.

- define early in the process some criteria for exclusion of irrelevant papers (criteria )

- do not just look for research papers in the area you wish to review, but also seek

previous reviews.

3. Take Notes While Reading- (-so that you will not forget)


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Strategies for writing literature review

Keep the Review Focused and Relevant

- The topic should be narrow. You should only present ideas and only report on studies that are

closely related to topic).

Be Critical and Consistent

-After having read a review of the literature, a reader should have a rough idea of:

- the major achievements in the reviewed field,

- the main areas of debate, and

- the outstanding research questions.

Be Up-to-Date, but Do Not Forget Older Studies- Today's reviews of the literature need awareness not just of the overall

direction and achievements of a field of inquiry, but also of the latest studies, so

as not to become out-of-date before they have been published. 15

Writing the literature review

Introduction

Could include:

• Why the topic is important- is it an area of current interest?

• The scope of the review- the aspects of the topic that will be

covered.

• How the review is organised

• Has the topic been widely researched? Or not?

• Significant gaps in the research into your topic


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Writing the literature review .....

Main body: General writing advice

“Provide the reader with strong "umbrella" sentences at

beginnings of paragraphs, "signposts" throughout, and brief

"so what" summary sentences at intermediate points in the

review to aid in understanding comparisons and analyses”.

• Use language to show confidence/caution:

e.g. There is clearly a link.../This suggests a possible link...

• Use you own voice to comment on the literature

(advantages/disadvantages) or limitations/strengths



Critical writing in a literature review can include…� Comparing and contrasting different theories, concepts etc and

indicating the position you are taking for your own work

� Showing how limitations in others work creates a research gap for you.

� Strategic and selective referencing to support the underpinning

arguments which form the basis of your research

� Synthesising and reformulating arguments from various sources to

create new/more developed point of view

� Agreeing with/defending a point of view or finding

� Accepting current viewpoints have some strengths but qualifying your

position by highlighting weaknesses

� Rejecting a point of view with reasons (e.g. Lack of evidence)

� Making connections between sources. 18

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Conclude your literature review with a statement which

summarises your review and links this to your own

research/current issues:

In conclusion, extensive research has shown that ......

...........

This research therefore fills an evident gap in ......research, bringing

these two concepts together in an important investigation of ....


Research Technique Features

Used

Domain Disadvantage /

Advantage

Future Direction

Lin et al. 2007

A priori algorithm

Association rule

mining

Pre-filtering

architecture

Audiovisual Weather

Sports

Commercial

Reduce the amount of misclassification errors.

Able to identify a high

percentage of positive

instances in each concept

Due to the different properties of the data

sets representing the

semantic concepts

such as weather,

commercial, and

sports, they proposed

to use different strategies to merge the

rules.

Davis & Tyagi

2006

Probabilistic reliable-

inference framework

Hidden Markov Model (HMM) output

likelihoods and action

priors

Maximum likelihood

(ML) and maximum

a posteriori (MAP)

Motion Walking, running,

standing, bending-

forward, crouching-

down, and sitting

The system only makes

classifications when it

believes the input is

‘good enough’ for discrimination between

the possible actions

Example

Such a table provides a quick overview that allows the reviewer to make sense of a large

mass of information.

Table to summarize your Literature Review


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• Don’t forget about the referencing!

– Keep a record of all the sources that you use!

– Use the referencing style recommended by your

institution e.g IEEE/APA

• Grammar, spelling and punctuation

• Plagiarism : Plagiarism is a serious offence.

Copy and paste for the report content is

prohibited.


Tips for Successful Report Writing

� Be realistic

�Plan to write regularly

� Make a time plan and stick to it

� Write up section as soon as it’s ready

� Keep track of tense. Most experiments and procedures will be

described in the past tens.

�Keep track of singular and plural forms.

� Group sentences that express and develop one aspect of your topic.

�Use a new paragraph for another aspect or another topic..


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Tips for Successful Report Writing

� Use sentences and paragraphs with appropriate use of commas.

Incorrect use of punctuation can affect the meaning

� Use words that link paragraphs and which show contrast and

development to your argument e.g. ‘hence’, ‘therefore’, ‘but’,

‘thus’, ‘as a result’, ‘in contrast’.

� Referencing is a standardized method of acknowledging sources

of information and ideas used in the course of the study/project in

a way to identify the source.


Tips for successful writing …..

� After reviewing the literature, summarize what has been done,

what has not been done, and what needs to be done.

� All sources cited in the literature review should be listed in the

references.


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What are the examiners looking for?

Show your reader that you...

– have a clear understanding of the key

concepts/ideas/studies/ models related to your topic

– know about the history of your research area and

any related controversies

– can discuss these ideas in a context appropriate for

your own investigation

– can evaluate the work of others


What are the examiners looking for? ...

• Clarify important definitions/terminology

• Develop the research space you will also

indicate in the Introduction and Abstract

• Narrow the problem; make the study feasible


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Common Errors in writing Literature Reviews

� Insufficient information

� Irrelevant material (Review doesn’t relate literature to the study)

� Omission of recent work (Not up to date)

� Review isn’t logically organized or Bad organization and structure

� Review isn’t focused on most important facets of the study

� Too few references or outdated references cited


Common Errors in writing Literature Reviews ..

� Review isn’t written in author’s own words

� Review reads like a series of disjointed summaries

� Review doesn’t argue a point

� Unclear, wordy sentences.

� Inflated verbiage� Whenever possible, avoid jargon, intensifiers (very, really, totally, completely, truly), and

adverbs (-ly words)

� Lack of Critical Appraisal: Be sure to indicate how strong or how

weak the overall evidence is for each main point of your literature

review . Prof. Dr Othman O. Khalifa 28

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Common Errors in writing Literature Reviews …

• Repetition of Ideas, Sentences.

• Unjustified claims

• Poor flow of ideas in sentences


Oooops

Plagiarism includes (Galvan, pg. 89):

1. Using another writer’s words without proper citation

2. Using another writer’s ideas without proper citation

3. Citing a source but reproducing the exact word without quotation marks

4. Borrowing the structure of another author’s phrases/sentences without giving the source

5. Borrowing all or part of another student’s paper

6. Using paper-writing service or having a friend write the paper


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Turnitin (www.turnitin.com)


Summary

A literature review is not rewriting of the literature but critical

review of content of the literature.

It should summarizes and evaluates the literature that you

have used in your study by considering:

• How that literature has contributed to your area of research

• The strength and weaknesses of previous studies

How the review provides information for your own research


•

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Thank you

Wassalam


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