School of Communications

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• School of Communications
• MAP
• MACCs
• Julie Allen
• Humanities Librarian
• October 2006

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What is a literature Review?

• A literature review is a critical look at what
  has been published on a topic by accredited
  researchers and scholars.
• It is an evaluative report of information found
  in the literature related to your selected area
  of study.
• In addition to conveying the knowledge and ideas
  on a topic, it should describe, summarise,
  evaluate and clarify this literature.

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Why do a literature Review?

• provide a context for the research
• justify the research
• ensure the research hasn't been done before
• is the research area saturated?
• outline gaps in previous research
• develop a good working knowledge of your research
  topic

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Stages in doing a literature Review

• Define your research topic
• Look at information resources
• Use the information resources
• Develop your search strategy
• Retrieve the information
• Organise the information
• Write the literature review

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Print Resources

• Books
• Journals
• Reference
• Government Publications
• Statistics
• Theses
• Newspapers

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Electronic Resources
Databases
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Some useful journals

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Scholarly vs popular

• shorter articles, broad overviews
• written by journalists
• written in general language
• contain colour photographs and advertising
• articles not peer-reviewed

• longer articles, in-depth analysis
• written by experts in the field
• written in the jargon of the field
• articles very structured and may include
  abstract, introduction,
• articles are usually peer-reviewed
• (critically reviewed and evaluated by board of
  experts)

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Locating Journal Articles -1

If journal is not available in DCU use your
ALCID card to go to another library
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Locating Journal Articles -1

• If you know the journal article you are looking
  for

Manzini, S. 2003. Effective Communication of
Science in a Culturally Diverse Society. Science
Communication, V.25 (2), pp 191-197.
A - Z of journals
If journal is not available in DCU use your
ALCID card to go to another library
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Locating Journal Articles -2

• If you do not have a specific reference and want
  to search for articles on a chosen topic

Go to Databases
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Databases

• most efficient way to search for journal articles
  is to use the librarys electronic databases
• you can search by entering your own search terms
• some databases will provide you with Full Text
• others will only provide you with the Abstract

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Searching Databases

• title
• keywords
• authors(s)
• journal name
• publication date
• language
• subject terms

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Search Strategy

• Identify main concepts that represent the
  information you are looking for (keywords)
• Think of alternative or similar words for these
  keywords
• Use dictionaries etc. to help define terms

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Search Strategy contd..

• How far back do you want to search for
  literature?
• Do you know of any papers already written on the
  topic? Or possible authors?
• Construct your search statement using Boolean
  Logic

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Boolean Logic

• OR
• (broadens search)
• I want documents that contain either word
• university OR college

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Boolean Logic

• AND
• (narrows search)
• I want documents that contain both words
• media AND ethics

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Boolean Logic

• NOT
• (excludes a term)
• Throw out any documents that contain this word
• ireland NOT northern

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Search Strategy

• Impact of television violence on children

Concept 4 Kids OR boys OR girls
Concept 2 TV OR television OR media
Concept 3 aggression OR hostility OR brutality
Concept 1 Impact OR effect
AND
AND
AND
(Impact or effect)
AND
(TV OR television OR media)
AND
(Aggression OR hostility OR brutality)
AND
(kids OR boys OR girls)
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• World Wide Web

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• Use quotation marks to look for a phrase, name
  of film etc.
• Use to signify AND
• freedom of information act ireland
• Use to signify NOT
• ireland higher education -galway
• OR central statistics office OR CSO

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Domain Name Examples
.ac.uk academic institution in the
UK .edu educational facility in the
US .gov government .org other
organisations/institutions .com commercial
organisation Country Codes .ie Ireland .de Ger
many .fr France .se Sweden
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Evaluating Information on the Web

• Anyone can publish on the Web!
• Information on the web is not screened in any way
  to make sure it is accurate.
• The following are some criteria that should be
  considered when deciding to use information from
  the Web
• Authority, Accuracy, Bias, Currency, Coverage
• Who? What? Why? When? Where?

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Academic Subject Gateways
Gateways bring together selected web resources
which have been assessed by subject specialists
for quality of content

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Advantages

• Links to quality sites (sites are evaluated)
• Faster more reliable and easy access information

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Citing Referencing

• Several styles
• Preferred style Harvard
• Citing Referencing a guide
• for students

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Dont forget to keep a record! Avoid
plagiarism How?
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Demonstration of Databases
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