Writing a Literature Review

(Current Status and Future Trends)

Dr. M Krishna

Feb 2019
 General Guidelines to
Writing a Literature Review

R V College of Engineering
 General Guidelines to
Writing a Literature Review
 Introduce the literature review by pointing out the major research topic
that will be discussed

 Identify the broad problem area but don’t be too global (for example,
discussing the history of education when the topic is on specific
instructional strategy)

 Discuss the general importance of your topic for those in your field

 Don’t attempt to cover everything written on your topic

 You will need to pick out the research most relevant to the topic you are
studying
R V College of Engineering
 General Guidelines to
Writing a Literature Review
 You will use the studies in your literature review as “evidence” that your
research question is an important one

 It is important to cover research relevant to all the variables being

studied

 Research that explains the relationship between these variables is a top

priority.

 You will need to plan how you will structure your literature review and
write from this plan.

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 Organizing Your Literature Review

How to Organize Literature?

Unorganized Organized

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 Organizing Your Literature Review

 Topical Order—organize by main topics or issues; emphasize the

relationship of the issues to the main “problem”
 Chronological Order—organize the literature by the dates the research was
published
 Problem-Cause-Solution Order—Organize the review so that it moves
from the problem to the solution
 General-to-Specific Order—(Also called the funnel approach) Examine
broad-based research first and then focus on specific studies that relate to
the topic
 Specific-to-General Order—Try to make/discuss specific research studies
so conclusions can be drawn

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 Literature Review

 After reviewing the literature, summarize what has been done, what has not
been done, and what needs to be done
 Remember you are arguing your point of why your study is important!
 Then pose a formal research question or state a hypothesis—be sure this is
clearly linked to your literature review
 All sources cited in the literature review should be listed in the references
 To sum, a literature review should include introduction, summary and critique
of journal articles, justifications for your research project and the
hypothesis for your research project R V College of Engineering
 Common Errors Made in Lit Reviews

 Review isn’t logically organized

 Review isn’t focused on most important facets of the study
 Review doesn’t relate literature to the study
 Too few references or outdated references cited
 Review isn’t written in author’s own words
 Review reads like a series of disjointed summaries
 Review doesn’t argue a point
 Recent references are omitted
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 Writing the Literature Review (Plagiarism)

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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 RV Rules for Literature Survey

Literature Review (Number of references should be at least 50)

This section is to present the-state-of-the-art in the area of the project,
unresolved Issues, emerging opportunities, new directions, Literature
Review may be sub-sectioned to enhance clarity as:
1) Review of Materials
2) Review of Processing Technologies
3) Review of Experimental studies
4) Review of Analytical model
5) Review of Numerical Analysis

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 Citing Sources

Choose source texts carefully [Prefer strong to weak choices]

Strong Choices
Articles from peer-reviewed journals (print or online)
Peer-reviewed or academic books
Scholarly websites

Weak Choices
Wikis Newspapers Magazines
Encyclopedias Dictionaries Popular books General

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 Citing Format

Citation - Multiple and Double Authors (Format and examples)

Lin et al [20] found that nanoclay reduces the impact strength of fibre
reinforced composites along the fibre direction by 18 % for 5 wt % clay
loading (Multiple)

Quaresimin and Varley [23] found a significant reduction in the interlaminar

strength in epoxy systems reinforced with nanoclay.(Double)
Citation – Multiple Sources (Format and examples)

This result is in agreement with previous observations [11-16] however in

contract to some others [17]

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 Last Paragraph of Literature Review
(This is a mandatory paragraph – Don’t section)
In this paragraph:
 Identify the Literature Gap
 State the Innovativeness of your research
 State the Uniqueness of your research
 Connect your research with Literature Gap
 The last sentence of this paragraph shall be the objective of the
research / project.

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 Last Paragraph of Literature Review
(This is a mandatory paragraph – Don’t section)

Review of literature [1-50] indicated that most of the authors have worked on
laser cutting and grooving of both thermoplastic and thermoset based PMC.
Investigations on laser drilling of PMC are scarce. The authors agree that
the main issue in laser drilling is minimization of damage zone due to
differential heat transfer characteristics. Multiobjective response optimization
is not yet attempted. The main objective of this research / project was to
investigate the influence of nanofillers of superior thermal conductivity
and heat transfer characteristics on the quality of drilled holes in PMC.

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 References

1. Journal Paper: Name initial, “title”, Journal name, vol. **(issue), year, pp.**
Eg: 1. Honig, M.L., Steiglitz, K., and Gopinath, B., “Multichannel signal processing for data communication in the presence of
crosstalk”, IEEE Trans. Communications., vol. 38, (4), 1990 , pp. 551–558.
2. Proceeding / conferences : Name Initial, “title”, Proceeding of the ***, Editor name, place, year, pp. ***
Eg: 2. Shin, K.G. and Mckay, N.D. “Open Loop Minimum Time Control of Mechanical Manipulations and its Applications’”
Proceeding of the . Amer. Contr. Conf., San Diego, CA, ,1984, pp. 1231-1236.
3. Thesis (Masters / Doctoral) : Name, initials, “title”, University, Year
Eg: Nongpiur, R C, “Near-End Crosstalk Cancellation in xDSL Systems” Doctoral thesis, University of Victoria, 2005
4.Annual reports / manual: Name (optional), “title”, Report number, Agencies, Year
Eg: The International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors, Report-7, ITRS, 2011,
5.Patent: Name initial, “title of patent”, Patent number, date of patent
Eg: Bischoff F, “Apparatus for vapor deposition of silicon,” U.S. Patent 3 335 697, Aug. 15, 1967.
6. Books / Manual / standards datahand books : “Title “, publisher, year
Eg: “Ferrous Material Testing Procedure “ ASTM Standard- vol.3, Americal Society for Testing Materials, 2003
ANNEXURE /Appendix : Could include programs, company profile, specimen /representative calculations, Data sheets,
additional theory or related information, publications if any or any other information relevant to the work.

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Doubts or Questions ?