How to Write/Perform

Literature Review

MEE40008 Final Year Research Project 1

(Mechanical)
 What is a Literature Search?
 A literature search is an organized search for all of the
publications on a selected topic.
 A well-structured literature search is the most effective
and efficient way to locate sound evidence on the
subject you are researching.
 Evidence may be found in books, journals, government
documents and the internet*.

*Do NOT trust too much on the internet because

sometimes it is not verified or reviewed by trustworthy
reviewers.
What is the Purpose of a Literature
Search/Review? (1: Cognitive)
 To avoid reinventing the wheel
 To find out what other scholars are writing about your topic
 To broaden your knowledge on a topic
 To learn methods and approaches that are appropriate for
your study
 To learn appropriate theory to underpin your work
 To show your skill at finding relevant information
 To allow for critical appraisal of research
What is the purpose of a Literature
Search/Review? (2: Social)
 To demonstrate to your audience that your contribution
is new and different from everyone else’s.
 People will question your approaches unless you can
demonstrate through the literature review that you know
what everyone else has done.
 In Research Project: to demonstrate to your teachers
that you can do an effective literature review.
 Because literature reviews are an accepted part of
university projects/research and your project will not
look like a good project without one
What Information Should You Look
For?
 Publications that cover the same or a similar topic to
yours
 Publications that support your methods
✓ E.g. FEA, stress analyses, Fatigue analysis,
Fabrication process, control, programming, etc.
 Background information books
✓ E.g. Tensile test, mechanics of composite material,
Handbook,
Sources for Literature Review
 The Library
✓ Look through the list of journals and browse the
books on the shelves to find relevant ones
 Digital Libraries
✓ Need to use keyword searches to identify relevant
articles
 The Web
✓ Use keyword searches in Google
What is your question?
 Create a chart with possible keywords

 Stay focused, too often we get sidetracked with other

things that are interesting

 Researchers differ in their terminology if you search

only one term you may miss out

 Cooled air vanes = Failure of turbines = Materials

deterioration = Phase changes
Overall Structure

Research Topic

Specialist sub-area

Relevant
Primary
research

Your research question

What should I do before writing the
literature review?
 Narrow your topic
 There are hundreds or even thousands of articles and
books on most areas of study.
 The narrower your topic, the easier it will be to limit
the number of sources you need to read in order to
get a good survey of the material.
 Your instructor will probably not expect you to read
everything that's out there on the topic, but you'll
make your job easier if you first limit your scope.
 What should I do before writing the
literature review?
 Find a focus
 A literature review, like a term paper, is usually
organized around ideas, not the sources themselves
as an annotated bibliography. This means that you will
not just simply list your sources and go into detail
about each one of them, one at a time. No.
What should you write?
 The accepted facts in the area
 The popular opinion
 The main variables
 The relationship between concepts and variables
 Shortcomings in the existing findings
 Limitations in the methods used in the existing
findings
 The relevance of your research
 Suggestions for further research in the area.
What should you write?
 Layout
 Make sure that your literature review have an
academic and professional appearance. Here are
some points to make the look of your report
appealing to the reader
 White space: leave space between sections,
especially from the abstract. This gives an uncluttered
effect.
 Headings/sub-headings: these help to separate
ideas.
 Text boxes: you can use these for quotations or
paraphrasing to separate them from the rest of your
text. It is also pleasing to the eye.
What should you write?
 Graphics: centre your graphics, such as diagrams or
tables, to have space around them. Try not to bury
graphics in your text.

 Pagination: you can number pages or sections or

both, but the important thing to do is to be consistent.
The cover page normally is not numbered. The
content page and abstract page usually have a
separate numbering system to the body of your
literature review.
What should you write?
Language focus
 Create a balance between direct quotation (citation) and
paraphrasing. Avoid too much direct quoting. The verb
tense chosen depends on your emphasis.
 When you are citing a specific author's findings, use the
past tense: (found, demonstrated);
 When you are writing about an accepted fact, use the
present tense: (demonstrates, finds); and
 When you are citing several authors or making a general
statement, use the present perfect tense: (have shown,
have found, little research has been done).
How to review?
➢ Comparison across studies
 The aim is to extract key points by comparing and
contrasting ACROSS studies, instead of reading
one paper after another.
 Key points for a review may concern areas of
similarities and/or differences in:
 Research aim(s) or hypotheses
 Research design and sampling
 Instruments and procedures used
 How data were analysed
 Results or findings
 Interpretations
How to review?
 Find similarities and differences between studies at
different levels, e.g.:
 methodology
 methods
 types of data
 data analysis
 interpretation
 How to review?
➢ Tips on writing
Express one idea in a sentence. Ensure that all your sentences have
Sentences
a subject, verb and object.

Group sentences that express and develop one aspect of your topic.
Paragraphs
Use a new paragraph for another aspect or another topic.

Use sentences and paragraphs with appropriate use of commas,

Consistent Grammar colours and semi-colours. Incorrect use of punctuation can affect
the meaning.

Use words that link paragraphs and which show contrast and
Transition Words development to your argument e.g. ‘hence’, ‘therefore’, ‘but’,
‘thus’, ‘as a result’, ‘in contrast’.
 How to review?
 Pitfalls
1. Vagueness due to too much
2. Inappropriate generalisations
3. Limited range
4. Insufficient information
5. Irrelevant materials
6. Omission of contrasting view
7. Omission of recent work
Types of Literature
Research Journals
 Articles
 Reviews/commentaries/replies
 Reviews
Books
 Topic books
 Handbooks
 Theory books
Online reports
 Research institutes
 Government organizations
Sources of Literature
1. Library
Hard copies of books and journals
Interlibrary loan
Online library
Sources of Literature
2. Internet
 Online Search Engines
Google Scholar
Scopus
Science Direct
 Websites
Government departments, research
institutes, etc.
 Literature search techniques
 Keyword search
 To find topically relevant information from digital
libraries, databases, or the web

 Browsing
 To browse through collections of potentially relevant text

 Chaining
 Tracking references and citations to find articles
relevant to a topic
 Alternative literature search strategy
 A practical strategy?
 Do general searches until you find a paper that you
think you could understand & use it as the basis for
your research
 Author/reference/citation chain from this paper
 Keyword searches to get papers relevant to subtopic
Your progress
The following should occur as you progress

✓ Increase in knowledge of the subject

✓Increase in general knowledge of the specialist topic
✓Increase in your specialist vocabulary
✓Increase in confidence that you can complete the task
Critique the Literature
 Is it relevant to my research?
 Is the study significant? Strengths and
weaknesses
 What theories or methods are used?
Critique the Literature

 Is the research biased by emotions or public

opinion?
 Who is the target reader?
 Public, academic peers, policy makers
How Is A Literature Review Different
From An Academic Research Paper?
 An academic research paper and a literature review
contain some of the same elements.
 The main focus of an academic research paper is to
support your own argument.
 The focus of a literature review is to summarize and
synthesize the arguments and ideas of others.
 The academic research paper also covers a range of
sources, but it is usually a selected number of sources,
because the emphasis is on the argument.
 Literature review can also have an “argument,” but it is not
as important as covering a number of sources
Final Notes
 A literature review is a piece of discursive prose, not
a list describing or summarizing one piece of
literature after another.
 It is usually a bad sign to see every paragraph
beginning with the name of a researcher.
 Instead, organize the literature review into sections
that present themes or identify trends, including
relevant theory.
 You are not trying to list all the materials published,
but to evaluate it according to the guiding concept of
your thesis or research question.
A Good Literature Review is:
 Focused and narrow.
 Concise (Short) and economically.
 Logical and progressing smoothly from one idea to
the next.
 Developed and leave no story half told.
 Integrative and telling how the ideas are related.
 Discerning (wise) and telling how some studies
different than others.
 Current and dwell on work being done.
Sources
 http://www.nursingtimes.net/ntclinical/how_to_conduct_a_lite
rature_search.html
 http://alphaplus.ca/pdfs/litrev.pdf
 http://www.squidoo.com/writealiteraturereview
 http://newadonis.creighton.edu/HSL/Guides/Lit-Review.html
 http://www.utoronto.ca/writing/litrev.html
 http://www.languages.ait.ac.th/EL21LIT.HTM
 http://www.iris.ethz.ch/msrl/education/iris_studies/pdf/literatu
re_review.pdf
 http://library.stkate.edu/pdf/litreview.pdf
 http://www.udel.edu/htr/Gradresearchmethods/chapter6.pdf