Research

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Research Development Project

• The Literature Review
• 1. What is a Literature Review?

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Session objectives

•  The aim of this session is to describe
• The Nature of a Literature Review
• The Role of the Literature Review in relation to
  your Research Development Project
• Some Examples of a Literature Review
• The Different Elements of the Literature
• What the Literature is about
• Searching the Literature
• The Planning Tutorials

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What is a Literature Review?
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What is a Literature Review?

• The Literature Review is the means by which we
  establish what is already known and recorded
  about our chosen research topic.
• By Literature, we mean all the theories, research
  findings, facts and opinions that have been
  published about a topic.
• By Review we mean a well-structured critical
  report on the topic.  

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Aspects of the Literature ReviewThe Content

• It is an up-to-date detailed survey of what is
  known and understood about a particular topic.
• It consists of well-argued and critical
  evaluations of issues, problems or controversies.
• It encompasses both theoretical frameworks and
  research findings.
• It reveals width and depth in the reading of
  relevant and appropriate literature.

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Aspects of the Literature ReviewPresentation

• A Literature Review always focuses on particular
  issues, and the role of the review is to help you
  formulate stances towards those issues.
• A review of the literature is a coherent piece of
  work. In its own way it tells a story. It
  should lead the reader through the analysis and
  arguments for and against points of view, in a
  way which makes sense.
• It should be clearly written and follows the
  conventions of bibliographic reporting.

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Examples

• Advice on what a Literature Review consists of,
  and how to write one can be found at
• http//ec.hku.hk/acadgrammar/litrev/main.htm
• You will also find more information (and
  examples) in the LR Clarification and Links
  resource on The Website

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How does the Literature Review fit in to your
Project?
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The Role of the Literature Review in Relation to
your Project

• The Literature Review must be related to your
  project, both in its widest sense, and in terms
  of the specific issues explored.
• Part of the literature review should be a survey
  of the field. This should provide you with the
  breadth of understanding that will help you
  contextualise your project within an accepted
  body of knowledge.
• Part of the literature review should concentrate
  on an in-depth study of one or two specific
  issues directly related to your project. These
  should represent the current state of the art in
  these areas.

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Questions your Literature Review Needs to Answer

• What are the boundaries and definitions of the
  topic?
• What is the established body of knowledge or
  accepted wisdom in this area?
• Who are the main theorists? What do they say?
• Who are the main researchers? What are their
  results?
• What similar work has been carried out recently?
• How has this similar work been carried out?
• What were the results of this similar work?
• What is yet to be discovered or developed?

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The Role of the Literature Review in Relation to
your Project Deliverables

• Your completed Literature Review should provide
  you with good, solid background knowledge, which
  will allow you to create a better, more focused
  project which achieves its TOR more effectively.
• It will provide you with knowledge of methods,
  techniques and procedures used by others in
  similar projects.
• There may be tools, instruments or technologies
  that you can adopt or adapt for use with your
  project.
• It will also enable you to evaluate the completed
  project more effectively, and compare and
  contrast your results to what is already known.

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The Literature Review and your end-products

• The Literature Review will inform your Product
  design
• It might also inform how you create and implement
  it.
• It will also inform how you evaluate it at the end

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Some Examples

• In the next three slides are some examples of
  Literature Reviews that might be undertaken

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Example 1 Student awareness of Malware

• The Literature Review might consist of
• An examination of all of the theoretically
  different types of malware currently in existence
  and their dangers
• Research done into the number and types of
  malware currently to be found on personal and
  corporate computers, with historical trends
• Examples of software available on the market to
  eliminate malware, and evaluations or gradings of
  these done by reviewers
• Practical advice provided on how to eliminate
  malware and protect from infection
• It is likely that as part of the practical work
  following the review, the student would wish to
  undertake a survey or some examination of
  personal computers as part of the Literature
  Review a section should therefore explore how
  precisely other researchers have done this in the
  past, and critically analyse this methodology.

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Example 2Designing an on-line catalogue for a
furniture manufacturer

• The Literature Review might consist of
• An examination of the theory underpinning
  producing databases on the web and how this might
  be done, for example using different scripting
  languages ASP, JSP, PHP etc., and different
  databases Access, MySQL etc.
• An investigation into Multimedia Databases, the
  different types and how these function.
• An examination of what is currently the norm in
  furniture manufacturers what the web-presence of
  other manufacturers is like, an evaluation of
  relevant websites and an examination of the
  technologies on which they are based.
• The student will probably go on to develop a
  website for the manufacturer part of the
  Literature review should look at web development
  methodologies how this is currently being
  carried out and the process managed.

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Example 3The Application of Mobile and Ad hoc
Networking to Education.

• The Literature Review might consist of
• An explanation of what is meant by ad hoc
  networks, outlining the difference between these
  and fixed networks.
• An exploration of the theory of mobile and ad hoc
  networking, how this might work in principle, and
  some of the practical issues in implementing it.
• A survey of some of the research carried out in
  this area in the past 5 years.
• An examination of how some of this might be
  applied in an educational context what would be
  the advantage to using these over fixed networks.
• The student will probably go on to undertake some
  practical experimentation in this area part of
  the Literature review should look at
  methodologies used in previous research, and
  critically analyse the effectiveness of these
  methodologies.

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What are the Elements of the Literature?
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The Elements of the Literature

• The Literature in a particular topic is made up
  of all the writings, theories, opinions and
  research evidence.
• It comes in a variety of forms from various
  sources you should attempt to consult with a
  wide variety of different sources
• Some of these sources are more reliable than
  others you should ensure that you base your
  study on the most reliable sources.

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The Elements of the Literature 1

• The Major Elements of the Literature in any
  field, will consist of some or all of the
  following
• Refereed Journal Articles (paper or electronic)
• Books (non-teaching texts)
• Theses
• If your Literature Review does not contain any
  of the above items, then it is deficient and you
  will lose marks

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Why are these elements so Important?

• All of the elements on the previous slide will
  have gone through rigorous quality assurance
  processes to ensure that their material is as
  valid and reliable as possible.
• Journals are normally peer reviewed each
  journal article will have been dissected, pored
  over and criticised by at least three separate
  experts in the field, who will have demanded
  modifications to be made before it is published.
• Books have both a peer review and an editorial
  process
• Theses are supervised by active researchers who
  are experts in the field, are scrutinised by
  Internal University Markers as well as three
  independent markers each PhD student is required
  to defend their thesis in a viva.

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The Elements of the Literature 2

• In particular fields, some or all of the
  following may also be major elements
• Official Publications
• Corporate Documents

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The Elements of the Literature 3

• Important elements in some fields will be
• Conference Papers
• Unpublished Research
• Pamphlets

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The Elements of the Literature 4

• You will probably need to consult
• Encyclopaedias
• Dictionaries
• Teaching Materials
• Internet Sources
• Please note that Internet Sources (unless they
  are refereed journal articles) are way down the
  list in terms of prominence here.

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The Elements of the Literature 5

• You might also find some of these useful
• Trade Journals (e.g. Computing Weekly)
• Software ( documentation)
• Websites of Particular Organisations
• Newspaper Articles
• Scripts of TV, Radio broadcasts
• Letters, Correspondence

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The Elements of the Literature 6

• You might also consider including
• Personal Observations
• Transcripts of Conversations
• Field Notes

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The Elements of the Literature 7

• You will find the following useful ways in to
  some of the other elements
• Abstracts
• Indexes
• Bibliographies
• Book Reviews

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What is the Literature About?
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What is the Literature about?

• All of the elements in the previous section
  contains information. This can be broken down
  into various categories
• Descriptions of Research
• Statements of Theory
• Reviews of the Field
• Legislative or Official Documents
• Statements of Informed Opinion
• Exhortations by interested parties
• Examples of Current Practice

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Research

• Research Evidence is the most important
  foundation of the Literature review.
• Research is carried out to determine what is, and
  is not, true.
• Good research evidence provides clear, objective
  results.
• Research Evidence will be found in refereed
  journal articles, and some books.

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Theories

• Theories are important conceptual frameworks,
  devised on the basis of observations and
  evidence.
• They normally have explanatory predictive
  power.
• Theories will be found in refereed journals and
  some books.

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Reviews

• Reviews are surveys of the topic (in fact what
  you are trying to do!)
• They are normally written to try to summarise
  the story so far, in a particular topic.
• Often this is done as a precursor to new theory
  building, or to create the justification for a
  piece of research.
• Theories will be found in refereed journals and
  some books.

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Legislative or Official Documents

• Typical of these are Legal Documents such as the
  Data Protection Act.
• When citing such documents you should take care
  to find out what the DPA actually says, not just
  what people think it says.
• Other Official Documents might be Government
  White Papers, Green Papers, Hansard Reports also
  included are reports from government agencies
  such as Ofsted.

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Statements of Informed Opinion

• These normally occur in books or articles by
  respected authors, but can also occur in
  government or corporate documents.
• Such statements are made where there is not
  conclusive evidence to back up a point of view,
  but where the author or authors have a wealth of
  experience in the field
• Clearly such opinions should be treated
  carefully however the opinions of experts
  should be taken far more seriously than other
  non-experts.

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Exhortations by Interested Parties

• Very often you will find that authors express the
  view that such-and-such a thing should or should
  not happen.
• For example It is good practice to have a
  back button on each page of a website.
• You need to treat such statements very carefully.
  It is interesting that one particular author has
  expressed this view, but that does not mean it
  should happen, nor that it is actually desirable
  if it does happen.

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Examples of Current Practice

• These can be treated as case studies or
  evaluations these might be applicable where the
  project is intending to develop a particular
  piece of software.
• A case study would look at how a particular piece
  of software is currently used within a specific
  organisation
• Evaluations might be appropriate where the
  project is intending to develop a similar piece
  of software (e.g. a website) and similar software
  in current use is held up for scrutiny.

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Searching The Literature
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What is a Literature Search?

• A Literature Search simply means that you are
  trying to find as much information as you can
  that has been written on one particular topic.
• As we have seen, the Literature is vast, diverse
  and very complex this task can be a time
  consuming and very confusing.
• It is easy to get sidetracked, to wander off into
  interesting areas or to lose sight of what you
  are doing or why.
• In order to be successful, you need a clear head,
  a good vision of what exactly you are looking
  for, and a well-thought through strategy.

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Starting the Literature Search

• You will need to create a Literature Review
  Section in your Research file. This will
  eventually contain things like
• To do lists
• Photocopies of articles
• Handwritten extracts
• Quotations
• Plans, structures
• Notes ideas
• Drafts
• Bibliography

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Where to start?

• Search engines Google, Yahoo, Copernic
• Subject gateways, e.g
• Internet Guide to Mathematics, Engineering
  Computing
• http//www.eevl.ac.uk/computing/index.htm
• Computing Science Index Abstracts
  http//citeseer.ist.psu.edu
• Library Books - Computing Sections, specialist
  computing journals (hard copies and e-books)

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Other Possible Sources

• Hope LRD web pages
• OPAC
• Subject pages
• Electronic Journals
• Athens
• Document on Accessing Journals via Hope Live

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Accessing Electronic Resources in General
Electronic Journals
On-line databases
Search for title on OPAC and select Online
Journal option. A password may be required which
can be obtained from your College Librarians.
Access the Athens web page www.athens.ac.uk or
use the Online Databases link from the LRD web
page
Use your Athens user names and password to login
Access the Electronic journals link from the LRD
web pages www.hope.ac.uk/lib/lrd.htm
Select database to use Emerald Computer
Abstracts. Web of Science Expanded Academic Index
Access via Athens, e.g. Swetswise
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Athens Authentication

• Gateway to electronic resources
• Personalised login
• User Name
• Password

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Search strategiesLibrary Internet

• Define topic identifying key words
• Think of alternative terms you may need to use
• (e.g. e-commerce, B2C, e-business)
• Consider language e.g. American spelling
• (e.g. color, colour)
• Truncation
• (multimedia gt media)
• Combining terms AND, OR, NOT

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Identifying materials relevant for your research
Identify your topic area and key search terms
Identify research and information sources
Formulate search strategy accordingly
Undertake search
Too much retrieval
Insufficient retrieval
Refine/ Make the search more specific
Refine, i.e. Make the search wider
Search again
Document fully
Sift, sort, and weight
Exclude
Include
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Following up identified references
Check IOM Library Catalogue
Item present
Item not present
Is item available?
Apply for via the material delivery Service
Check Liverpool Hope Catalogue (OPAC)
No Place reservation
Yes Find material on shelves and loan
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Searching The Literature 1

• If you are uncertain as to how to begin, you
  should list all of the keywords that you think
  will lead you into your topic.
• For example if you are searching for information
  on Web construction, you should use keywords
  like design, usability, navigation, as well as
  languages like xhtml, asp, php, perl etc.
• As you collect more and more material, you should
  note down the keywords which seem to crop up in
  the text, but which you had not considered at
  first.

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Searching the Literature 2

• Start with articles and books which give you a
  broad overview of the subject. It is fine at this
  stage to use lecture notes, materials and the
  internet. Do not worry too much about the
  provenance of the material.
• Use the bibliographies and the references within
  these texts to search for specific items cited
  and for more general writings by leading authors
  in the field (i.e. those whom everyone else seems
  to be citing).
• As you get deeper into the topic you will need
  books, conference publications, journal articles,
  and other specialist materials. You may even need
  to order materials on inter-library loan.

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Searching the Literature 3

• When you start to get deeper into the search,
  you should be looking for a seminal article
  which can not only help you widen out your
  search, but will help focus your thoughts, and
  might eventually become the lynchpin of your
  review
• This could be
• A critical review of the current state of the
  field
• A well-argued innovative theoretical work
• A groundbreaking piece of research

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Organising Your Thoughts

• As you gather more more material, you will
  become very confused, and possibly feel
  overwhelmed.
• You may well feel that the topic is vast, and
  that you cannot see how to possibly condense what
  you have read into 2500-3000 words.
• One way of working is to record the main ideas
  on a set of post-its, and spread them out on
  the floor, looking for connections, then
  recording the result in the form of one of the
  techniques shown in the following slides. Please
  do not try to use them all!!

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Relevance Trees
Multimedia Databases
Data Modelling
Indexing
Abstracting
Storage
Content-based Information retrieval
Relevance Trees establish the sub-areas of a
topic and the links between them by means of an
hierarchical structure.
Content-Based Queries
Keyword-Based Queries
Colour
Motion
Shape
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Research Territory Maps
Research Territory Maps establish how the
sub-topics relate to one another. The strength of
the relationships are signified by the thickness
of the lines connecting them
Inter-frame compression
Still image techniques
Intra-frame compression
De Facto Standards
Compression Techniques
Industry Defines
Moving image techniques
Defined by
Standards Organisation
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Spider Diagram
Abstracting
Spider Diagrams These establish a central node,
with sub-topics spreading outwards, signifying
how the topic is split into its sub-topics, and
creating possible linkages between discrete
elements in different areas.
Indexing
Storage
Multimedia Databases
Content-Based Information Retrieval
Top-Down
Data Modelling
Bottom-Up
Keyword-Based
Core E-R
Shape-Based
Content-Based Queries
Moovis
Colour-Based
Multimedia Description Model
Motion-Based
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Organising your Material

• You should create the following sections within
  your file
• Basic Terms Definitions
• Important Constructs
• Major Theories
• Crucial Research Results
• Unanswered Questions
• Reading List/Bibliography

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Reading Lists and Bibliographies

• A Reading List is simply a collection of the
  titles of the sources that you have consult, are
  currently consulting or plan to consult in the
  future. It is in no particular order, and there
  is no particular format to follow. It is
  basically for your own use.
• A Bibliography is a formal requirement, and
  contains all the materials on which you have
  based (or plan to base) your Literature Review.
  It follows Harvard Conventions, and is in
  alphabetical order of Author Surname.

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Time management expectations

• The process of literature searching takes time
  usually more time than people expect
• When you have identified material it may not be
  immediately available
• No one information provider can possess
  everything that a researcher requires

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Literature Review Tutorials
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The Planning Tutorials

• Three tutorials are suggested
• Literature Review Ideas
• The Content of the Literature Review
• The Outline Plan for the Literature Review
• You are expected to be producing work on a
  weekly basis, and the Literature Review should be
  progressing and developing as the time goes on.

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What Should I do Now?

• If you have not already started, you should now
  begin your Literature Search phase.
• Revisit the NLA section (in Project Tasks), and
  use that as your Lit Review Plan in embryo.
• Spend about an hour on the internet, and about an
  hour in the Library looking for suitable sources.
  Dont photocopy everything in sight, but do note
  down what look like useful sources, and compile a
  Reading List.
• Follow this up by starting your LR File, pursuing
  interesting-looking sources and redrafting and
  improving your LR Plan.
• Make an appointment to see your supervisor to
  discuss the plan and your current reading list.

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Tutorial 1 Suggested Agenda Ideas for the
Literature Review

• Following this lecture, at your next tutorial you
  should meet with your supervisor to discuss your
  current ideas and proposals for your Literature
  Review.
• You should bring to this session
• The section from your NLA outlining the current
  proposed content of your Literature Review.
• Your current Reading List of materials on which
  you hope to base your Literature Review.

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• Any questions?