How to Write an Eective Literature Review

Sonia Martnez
Associate Professor
Mechanical and Aerospace Enginering
University of California, San Diego
soniamd@ucsd.edu
IDEA Student Center and Gordon Leadership Center Grad Talk
Main source: Literature Review from the Asian Inst. of Technology
What is a Literature Review? Types of Literature Review sources Context of a Literature Review Questions that a LR should answer A bad example of a Literature Review A good example of a Literature Review Summary References
Outline
1
What is a Literature Review?
2
Types of Literature Review sources
3
Context of a Literature Review
4
Questions that a LR should answer
5
A bad example of a Literature Review
6
A good example of a Literature Review
7
Summary
8
References
What is a Literature Review? Types of Literature Review sources Context of a Literature Review Questions that a LR should answer A bad example of a Literature Review A good example of a Literature Review Summary References
What is a Literature Review?
It is a critical description of the literature relevant to a particular research
A Literature Review (LR) should
never be just a list of previous work
contain the works that you consulted in order to develop your research
provide justication/background for the research undertaken:
The LR guides the reader to understanding the contribution of the
work by pointing out the shortcomings/gaps of the state of the art
If you leave this task to the reader, your paper may be rejected
What is a Literature Review? Types of Literature Review sources Context of a Literature Review Questions that a LR should answer A bad example of a Literature Review A good example of a Literature Review Summary References
Types of Literature Review sources
Journal articles (surveys, research papers). Provide technical
up-to-date information (last 2 years) about a research topic.
Books. Recent research monographs can be useful in your literature
review. Do not include citations of textbooks not in your LR, but you
can use them in later sections of your paper.
Conference proceedings. They provide information about the
latest/unpublished research. In general, less reliable than a journal
paper. Always cite the journal paper version if available.
Government or corporate reports. Depending on your eld of study
can be a useful source of information. They may outline general
research lines a particular organization is interested in funding.
What is a Literature Review? Types of Literature Review sources Context of a Literature Review Questions that a LR should answer A bad example of a Literature Review A good example of a Literature Review Summary References
Types of Literature Review sources
Theses and dissertations. Can be useful sources of information.
However they can be dicult to obtain, parts of the research presented
may have to be treated with caution.
Specialized magazines. Sometimes these are considered as reputable
as a journal. Other types of magazines can provide a good starting
point to nd more reputed work.
Other sources include newspapers and the Internet. These can point
you to the more reputed sources; in general avoid citing them directly
in your LR.
What is a Literature Review? Types of Literature Review sources Context of a Literature Review Questions that a LR should answer A bad example of a Literature Review A good example of a Literature Review Summary References
Context of a Literature Review
A Literature Review (LR) can appear as
part of a research paper introduction
part of a thesis (or thesis chapter) introduction
a section in a research proposal
To write an eective LR, we need to understand its relation
with other parts of an introduction:
I. Motivation
Overall motivation to study a particular set of problems
It can include a few citations of a survey, a book, or some authoritative
general reference
It includes also a research question or a thesis statement
What is a Literature Review? Types of Literature Review sources Context of a Literature Review Questions that a LR should answer A bad example of a Literature Review A good example of a Literature Review Summary References
Context of a Literature Review
II. Literature review. It should contain all citations except for the few in
the motivation part
It consists of several paragraphs depending on the
point/topic/approach that you address
Each paragraph starts with a sentence explaining the subtopic/approach
rst, possibly in contrast with previously mentioned approaches
Then, specic references supporting the taken approach are given
Each reference should be analyzed briey pointing to a specic aspect
(a solution) and a shortcoming of the work that will be addressed by
your research
Comparisons between references within the same subtopic can be made
What is a Literature Review? Types of Literature Review sources Context of a Literature Review Questions that a LR should answer A bad example of a Literature Review A good example of a Literature Review Summary References
Context of the Literature Review
III (a). Contributions (of a paper/thesis chapter.) Once you have provided
evidence that there are holes in knowledge in the current state of the
art, you present specic problems that are addressed in the paper
precisely lling those gaps
III (b). Implications for further research (research proposal.) Once the
state of the art has been presented, you present pausible ideas or
theories that you can use to ll the existing gaps
references to any research work, or better, none, in order to make the
statement of contributions stronger or emphasize the relevance of the
research.
What is a Literature Review? Types of Literature Review sources Context of a Literature Review Questions that a LR should answer A bad example of a Literature Review A good example of a Literature Review Summary References
Questions a LR should answer
The following should be answered by a literature review:
1. What do we already know in the immediate area concerned?
2. What are the characteristics of the key concepts or the main factors or
variables?
3. What are the relationships between these key concepts, factors or
variables?
4. What are the complementary existing theories/approaches?
What is a Literature Review? Types of Literature Review sources Context of a Literature Review Questions that a LR should answer A bad example of a Literature Review A good example of a Literature Review Summary References
Questions a LR should answer
5. Where are the inconsistencies or other shortcomings in our knowledge
which these works have not solved?
6. What views need to be (further) tested?
7. What evidence is lacking, inconclusive, contradictory or too limited?
8. Why study (further) the research problem?
9. What contribution can the present study be expected to make?
10. What research designs or methods seem unsatisfactory?
What is a Literature Review? Types of Literature Review sources Context of a Literature Review Questions that a LR should answer A bad example of a Literature Review A good example of a Literature Review Summary References
A bad example of a Literature Review
Keep in mind that the literature reiew should proide the context or your research by looking at
what work has already been done in your research area. It is not supposed to be just a summary o
other people's work!

lere are some o the questions your literature reiew should answer:

1. \hat do we already know in the immediate area concerned
2. \hat are the characteristics o the key concepts or the main actors or ariables
3. \hat are the relationships between these key concepts, actors or ariables
4. \hat are the existing theories
5. \here are the inconsistencies or other shortcomings in our knowledge and understanding
6. \hat iews need to be ,urther, tested
. \hat eidence is lacking, inconclusie, contradictory or too limited
8. \hy study ,urther, the research problem
9. \hat contribution can the present study be expected to make
10. \hat research designs or methods seem unsatisactory

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It's easy to write a bad literature reiew and diicult to write a good one. 1he main mistake that a lot
o people make is to write a literature reiew that looks like this:

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Until recently many researchers hae shown interest in the ield o coastal erosion and the
resulting beach proiles. 1hey hae carried out numerous laboratory experiments and ield
obserations to illuminate the darkness o this ield. 1heir indings and suggestions are
reiewed here.

JAClO\SKI ,1964, deeloped a model inestigation conducted on the interlocking precast
concrete block seawall. Ater a result o a surey o damages caused by the seere storm at
the coast o USA, a new and especially shaped concrete block was deeloped or use in
shore protection. 1his block was designed to be used in a reetment type seawall that would
be both durable and economical as well as reduce wae run-up and oertopping, and scour
at its base or toe. It was proed that eectie shore protection could be designed utilizing
these units.

lOM-MA and lORIKA\A ,1964, studied waes orces acting on the seawall which was
located inside the sur zone. On the basis o the experimental results conducted to measure
waes orces against a ertical wall, the authors proposed an empirical ormula o wae
pressure distribution on a seawall. 1he computed results obtained by using the aboe
ormula were compared well with the ield data o wae pressure on a ertical wall.

SLLLZOV and ZlLLLZN\AK ,1965, conducted experiments on scour o sea bottom in
ront o harbor seawalls, basing on the theoretical inestigation o solitary wae interaction
with a ertical wall using Boussinesque type equation. It showed that the numerical results
were in reasonable agreement with laboratory experimental data.

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What is a Literature Review? Types of Literature Review sources Context of a Literature Review Questions that a LR should answer A bad example of a Literature Review A good example of a Literature Review Summary References
Why is it bad?
It oers a summary of previous research, answers question 1
Does not answer any other question. It does not evaluate the
summarized research, does not show any relationship between theories
Organized by listing authors, presented using chronological order,
instead of organized using the research (key concepts or theories). A
chronological order should be avoided
It is not critical
It does not relate to the writers research
What is a Literature Review? Types of Literature Review sources Context of a Literature Review Questions that a LR should answer A bad example of a Literature Review A good example of a Literature Review Summary References
A good example of a Literature Review
beore your deence - more likely, you will unable to ind all your sources, a big headache or you
and your committee. 1o aoid this nightmare, always keep this inormation in your notes. Always
put reerences into your writing.

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lere is an example o using the literature to explain and deine a problem. 1his example is taken
rom an introduction because most thesis literature reiews tend to be too long or us to easily look
at. Although your literature reiew will probably be much longer than the one below, it is useul to
look at the principles the writers hae used.

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Automated storage and retrieal systems ,AS,RS, are being introduced into the industry and
warehousing at an increasing rate. lorecasts indicate that this trend will continue or the
oreseeable uture ,see |1|,. Research in the area o AS,RS has ollowed seeral aenues.
Larly work by lausman, Schwarz and Graes |6, | was concerned with storage assignment
and interleaing policies, based on turnoer rates o the arious items. Llsayed |3| and
Llsayed and Stern |4| compared algorithms or handling orders in AR,RS. Additional work
by Karasawa et al. |9|, Azadiar |2| and Parry et al. |11| deals with the design o an AS,RS
and the determination o its throughput by simulation and optimization techniques.

Seeral researchers addressed the problem o the optimal handling unit ,pallet or container,
size, to be used in material handling and warehousing systems. Steudell |13|, 1anchoco and
Agee|14|, 1anchoco et al. |15| and Grasso and 1anchoco |5| studied arious aspects o this
subject. 1he last two reerences incorporate the size o the pallet, or unit load, in ealuation
o the optimal lot sizes or multi-inentory systems with limited storage space. In a report on
a speciic case, Normandin |10| has demonstrated that using the 'best-size' container can
result in considerable saings. A simulation model combining container size and warehouse
capacity considerations, in an AS,RS enironment, was deeloped by Kadosh |8|. 1he
general results, relecting the stochastic nature o the low o goods, are similar to those
reported by Rosenblatt and Roll |12|. Neertheless, container size was ound to aect
strongly oerall warehousing costs.

In this paper, we present an analytical ramework or approximating the optimal size o a
warehouse container. 1he approximation is based on series o generalizations and speciic
assumptions. loweer, these are alid or a wide range o real lie situations. 1he
underlying assumptions o the model are presented in the ollowing section.

Notice how the writers hae:

L<5?64@ similar inormation: "Steudell |13|, 1anchoco and Agee|14|, 1anchoco et al. |15| and
Grasso and 1anchoco |5| studied arious aspects o this subject."
Shown the relationship between the work o dierent researchers, showing
similarities,dierences: "1he general results, relecting the stochastic nature o the low o
goods, are =787:9< to those reported by Rosenblatt and Roll |12|."
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What is a Literature Review? Types of Literature Review sources Context of a Literature Review Questions that a LR should answer A bad example of a Literature Review A good example of a Literature Review Summary References
Why is it good?
Grouped similar information
Shows the relations between dierent works
It is organized following the outline presented earlier
It is organized around ideas and not researchers
What is a Literature Review? Types of Literature Review sources Context of a Literature Review Questions that a LR should answer A bad example of a Literature Review A good example of a Literature Review Summary References
Summary
In order to write a good LR, remember that:
Write with a purpose, a research problem in mind
Select references that are only relevant to your work
Establish relationships with dierent works and your own
Write and rewrite
Questions?
What is a Literature Review? Types of Literature Review sources Context of a Literature Review Questions that a LR should answer A bad example of a Literature Review A good example of a Literature Review Summary References
Some links
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1he Literature Reiew: A lew 1ips on Conducting It: http:,,www.utoronto.ca,writing,litre.html

1he Literature Reiew: http:,,www.library.cqu.edu.au,litreiewpages,

low to \rite a Literature Reiew: http:,,library.ucsc.edu,re,howto,literaturereiew.html

low to \rite a Literature Reiew:
www.unc.edu,depts,wcweb, handouts_pd,Literature20Reiew.pd

\riting at Uniersity. Literature Reiew:
http:,,www.canberra.edu.au,studyskills,writing,litreiew.html
1he Literature Reiew: http:,,www.deakin.edu.au,library,litre.html
Research and \riting: using the literature: http:,,www.clet.ait.ac.th,LL21LI1.l1M
Academic \riting: Reiews o Literature
http:,,www.wisc.edu,writing,landbook,ReiewoLiterature.html
Dissertation Doctor ,lumorous, luman Interest Side - but some good adice as well,
http:,,www.dissertationdoctor.com,
\riting the Literature Reiew: http:,,www.ems.uq.edu.au,phdweb,phlink18.html
1he Literature Reiew: A lew 1ips On Conducting It: http:,,members.dca.net,~areid,litiew.html
\riting a Psychology Literature Reiew: http:,,depts.washington.edu,psywc,handouts,litre.html
low 1o \rite A Literature Reiew: http:,,www.sportsci.org,jour,9901,wghreiew.html
1he Masters Project and Literature Reiew:
http:,,www.mcb.co.uk,imc,coursewa,mba,projectguide.htm
Laluatie Or Integratie Literature Reiews - short and to the point:
http:,,www.tele.sunyit.edu,litre.htm
low to \rite a Literature Reiew: http:,,helena.upa.pdx.edu,MB,litreiew.html
lelpul lints In \riting A Literature Reiew - prescriptie but some sensible adice
http:,,www.educ.drake.edu,nri,syllabi,reha222,Paperhints
Doing a Literature Reiew: Some Basic Principles:
http:,,www2.auckland.ac.nz,mch,hrmas,litreiew.htm

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