Writing a literature review: how to find good quality information for your project

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© Loughborough University 2009. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License.

Please note that this resource is accompanied by a text document and is part of five workshops on Key Skills for Engineering undergraduates.

The other workshops are:•Working in Groups – 90 - 120 minutes•Technical Report Writing - 90 minutes•Oral Presentations – 90 - 120 minutes•Preparing for Placement – 120 - 150 minutes.

Please note there is also an introductory document providing general instructions on the workshops.

Aims of the session

Participants will learn:

What a literature review is How to search for good quality information How to obtain full-text articles How to write up the literature review

Overview

Understanding a literature review Finding the literature Reading & Note taking Organising material Writing the literature review Citing & Referencing Checklist & Summary

A Literature Review

A critique of published work Shows work relevant to your project Not just a list Includes your comments Demonstrates your ability to source material Demonstrates your understanding Provides a background to your project

Preparing to search

Plan your search strategy ensure you understand the question / topic identify keywords consider limits e.g. date, language, document type

Select resource(s) quick search on the Library catalogue Use databases to search for journal articles

Objective: retrieve a manageable set of references

Topic

‘Health and safety issues on building sites, in particular relating to

occupational falls’

Explore your topic

Health and safety,building sites,

occupational falls

Types of fall

Types of site Regulations

construction

Health & Safety

HSE

highway

Cause of fall

from height slip and

fall

human error

faulty equipmentguidelineslaw

occupational health

accident prevention

Choosing your keywords

Consider synonyms e.g. costs / prices / finance

Consider alternative spellings e.g. organization / organisation

Note acronyms and abbreviations e.g. TQM / total quality management

Consider truncation / wildcard searching e.g contract* for contract, contracts, contracting etc.

Combining keywords

AND narrower search / fewer results e.g. construction AND costs

OR broader search / more results e.g. company OR firm

Doing the search

What sort of information is required? (journals, patents, etc)

Identify possible resources (databases, indexes)

Enter and refine your search terms (search technique)

Keeping records – email, save, print, bibliographic software.

How to find journal articles

Library catalogues only list titles of journals not what is inside them

To trace articles you will have to use databases

What is a database?

In this context a database is a journal index

Most often in electronic format Will indicate what journal material has

been published on your topic Contains references

Access to Electronic Information

Your Library may have a portal or search engine which allows simultaneous cross-searching of a number of different databases using the same search interface

You may have to access each database individually. Use help screens or tutorials to learn how to

get the best out of each interface

Hands-on practice

Your turn to try some searches

Evaluating results

Geographic coverage Standards, regulations, laws Quality of work Currency / accuracy Language Access

Finding full-text

Some databases or search engines provide links to full-text in PDF or HTML format

Where no link is present check availability on the Library catalogue

If no subscription is held consider using your inter-library loan service

Reading skills

identifying the questions which need to be answered actual reading

skimming - aims to find out if text is useful scanning - used when looking for specific information,

enables you to find keyword or phrases in text receptive - slower, paying attention to detail SQ3R - survey, question, read, recall, review

prioritising what is found recording pertinent information - note taking

Taking notes

No right or wrong method What works for you? Develop your own style

and stick to it Make a note of the bibliographic details Summarise – don’t copy out long passages Always use your own words Use quotation marks to indicate direct quotes

Organising Your Material

File material and notes in a logical way Index Cards Colour coding Mind Maps/ Spider diagrams Determine headings and sub headings

Writing Your Literature Review (i)

Don’t stare at a blank screen - write something!

Develop headings and sub headings A bit of writing is encouraging An interesting story that flows Determine departmental requirements Use of third person Active or Passive

Writing Your Literature Review (ii)

Length May be part of your introduction May be a stand alone chapter Spelling Grammar Punctuation Plagiarism

Citing

The purpose of a reference or citation is to describe a published item accurately and with sufficient detail to enable a reader to identify it and find it again.

No absolute rules but styles and conventions Main styles Harvard and Numeric Important to be consistent All information you didn’t know before you

read it needs to be cited

Bibliographic software

Software available for your desktop or via the web

Enables you to create and manage your own personal bibliographic database.

Either type the references in yourself, or import them from your database search results

Automatically formats references in a chosen style (e.g. Harvard) for use in a bibliography

Summary

Must be professional Allow time for proof reading Check your referencing Check for consistent layout Material from leaders in the field

GOOD LUCK!

This resource was created by Glynis Perkin and Stephanie McKeating of Loughborough University and released as an open educational resource through the Open Engineering Resources project of the HE Academy Engineering Subject Centre. The Open Engineering Resources project was funded by HEFCE and part of the JISC/HE Academy UKOER programme.

© 2010 Loughborough University

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License.

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