How to conduct a literature review

Click to edit Master subtitle style Tamer El Sharnouby, PhD Faculty of Commerce, Cairo University December 2011

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! :

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Agenda

Thesis Structure of Good Research

Characteristics Criteria

of Good Literature Review Review

Literature Why

Literature Review the Literature

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Searching

Agenda
Procedures What

for a systematic LR

should be included in LR chapter? of LR

Objectives

Referencing Types AVOID

of LR
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1- Thesis Structure

Chapter 1: Introduction (Includes, prob. def., objectives, theoretical framework, questions, methodology, thesis strucutre) 2: State-of-the-Art OR Literature Review (Where we stand, where we go and theories/models behind) 3: Theoretical Framework and Methodology (research design and development of data collection instrument)
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Chapter

Chapter

Criteria
Research problem Literature review

2- Characteristics of good research

Poor project
Unclear and unfocused A list of items Relevance unclear Little or no evaluation Research questions missing Unclear research design No justification of choice Not linked to the literature Unclear findings No link with the literature

Good project
Sharply focused Related to academic debate Critical evaluation of relevant, up-todate literature Linked to focused, feasible questions Cohesive design Excellent review of research design options Linked to the literature Clear findings Analytical manner of discussion Generate new knowledge Linked to the literature Linked to research questions Attention given to implications and limitations All sources cited in the text and bibliographic details listed at the end Clear follow of ideas Appropriate grammar and spelling

Methodology

Analysis and discussion

Conclusions

Not linked to research questions Implications and limitations of results not addressed Plagiarism Difficult to follow Grammar and spelling mistakes

Referencing
Communication

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3- Criteria of Good Literature Review

Critical

review,

evaluation of relevant literature

It

demonstrates an adequate understanding of the relevant literature in the field, an appropriate range of literature sources from accredited scholars and researchers, the research variables, Tamer
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Citing

Covering

4- Literature Review
Before

topic.

starting ....you need to have a research

Represents

a significant portion of the total time you will spend on your research SO you need to start ASAP.
LR starts as soon as you have your first thoughts on a potential topic and continues until you submit your thesis.

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Literature Review
The All

existing body of knowledge,

sources of published data on a particular topic, literature search is a systematic process with a view to identifying the existing body of knowledge on a particular topic. more about the subject and the December methodologies used Tamer in previous research.

Learn

5- Why literature review

Research

gap(s) (research problem)

Understanding

the meaning, underpinnings, and dimensions of the concept within the literature. between scholarship and practice.

Gap(s)

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6- Searching the literature

A

literature review is an account of what has been published on a topic by accredited scholars and researchers aiming at identifying the existing body of knowledge on a particular topic. helps the researcher to learn more about the subject and the gaps and deficiencies in our knowledge.

This

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The literature sources

All sources of secondary data relevant to your study: Books (topic/methodology) Research (books, articles, conference papers) Business topics in professional journal, newspapers and broadcast media. Statistics and industry data Archives Corporate reports Internal documents Tamer December e-resources (online databases)

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7- Procedures for a systematic LR

1- Defining the scope/context of your research which will help limit the material you collect. Limitations: Time. Find an appropriate cut-off date. Geography. Single or multidisciplinary approach. 2- Decide what sort of information you require .....The appropriate source.

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3- Identify Key words:

Extract keywords from your title (remember, you may decide to change the title later) Use some of the words other authors reported in the literature Try academic search engines such as Google Scholar, websites of national and international professional bodies (IMP). Use e-databases in your field such as Emerald, Ebscohost, ProQuest, ScienceDirect Tamer December

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4. Organize the Literature and Recording references: is hard, but finding it again Finding relevant info

later on can be even harder if you are not careful. Create a filing system to keep track of what you read. Each article you read should be summarized in one page containing
Title (type the title so that you can later copy-paste this into the References section of your paper) Source: journal article, book, etc. Research problem Research Questions or Hypotheses Data collection procedure Results or findings of the study

Sort these abstracts into groups of related topics Tamer December or areas which can then become the different

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Bear in mind that:

Searching

is very time-consuming....so focus your search at an early stage. will need to print relevant documents .... so focus your search at an early stage. research will reflect the quality of sources you search. Use a combination of digital and hard copy publications. to search throughout your project to keep your knowledge up to date. Tamer December

You

Your

Continue

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Do not use these sources:

-

Lecture notes, Open sources such as Wikipedia .... Seek the original sources, General surfing of the internet

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8- What should be included in LR chapter?

What

happened and when in the area of the research. no detailed explanation, the relevant theories, models that have been used for similar cases or studies. variables in connection with the models or theories stated in the literatures. So, you can write about the importance of the variables under study.
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With

The

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9- Objectives of LR
It

shares with the reader the results of other studies that are closely related to the study being reported relates a study to the larger, ongoing dialogue in the literature about a topic, filling in gaps and extending prior studies provides a framework for establishing the importance of the study as well as a benchmark for comparing the results of a
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It

It

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10- Manage your references

Use bibliographic software (such as Reference Manager) Or keep a list of your references in an ordinary Word document. Sort these abstracts into groups of related topics or areas which can then become the different sections of your review
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Referencing
You

MUST follow one of the standard systems of referencing. citation is an acknowledgment of the original source of information or ideas whether reproduced exactly, paraphrased or summarized. Why: Evidence of your literature searching, Support your argument,
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Referencing
References:

a list containing the bibliographic details of the sources cited in the text. Why: Provide full bibliographic details that support the citations, Allow supervisors, examiners, researchers to locate the source of the works you have cited.
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The Harvard system (author-date system)

In

the text: the surname of the author(s) and the date of publication, plus the page number if a quotation is used or any other exact reproduction of data (table, diagram) Citing more than one source...write the oldest first. If there are two authors, both should be named in all citations. If there are three or more authors, all their names should appear first time and then use the name of the Tamer author followed first December

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11- Types of LR
Thematic Review: a theme is identified and studies found under this theme are described. Major ideas and findings are reported rather than details. Main themes are likely to be broken into various subgroups. Your thematic analysis can be facilitated by recording Author Subject Methodol Sample Main Location key details of the previous studies. and categori ogy size findings / date es country Study-by-study Review: a detailed summary of each study under a broad theme is provided. Link summaries (or abstracts) using transitional sentences. Must be organized and flow coherently Tamer December 24 under various subheadings.

Guide to write a LR (Summary)

Select

only material that is relevant to the topic Identify themes and group of materials Define key terms Compare results and methods of previous studies Be critical and demonstrate relevance to your research Set the context for your study Identify gaps or deficiencies in the literature that your study will address Tamer December Conclude with your research questions

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AVOID
Avoid

LONG quotations (i.e., lengthy chunks of text directly quoted from a source, shopping list approach,

Avoid Avoid

plagiarism (the act of taking someones words, ideas or other information and passing them off as your own)

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Questions?

Tamer El Sharnouby telsharnouby@gmail.com

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