Literature Review

Surabaya, 6 May 2020

Dhany Arifianto
Hitachi Fellow
 What article ?
A scientific article is a publication that is based on
empirical evidence. It can support a hypothesis with
original research, describe existing research or
comment on current trends in a specific field.

Types of scientific research include:

- Descriptive
- Analytic
 What is a Literature Review?
A literature review
Surveys scholarly sources relevant to a particular issue,
area of research, or theory
Provides a description, summary, and critical evaluation
of each work
Offers an overview of significant literature published on a
topic
Gives future research context by telling the story of work
done so far

(adapted from http://library.ucsc.edu/ref/howto/ literaturereview.html)

 Functions of Literature Reviews
Establish research context
Show why the question is significant
Illustrate and describe previous research, including
gaps and flaws
Ensure that research has not been done before
Understand the structure of the problem
Demonstrate your knowledge of the field
Synthesize previous perspectives and develop your
own perspective
Point the way to future research
 How to find a reputable article ?
Based on Impact Factor (IF) data, the Journal Citation
Reports published by Thomson Reuters provides yearly
rankings of science and social science journals, in the
subject categories relevant for the journal.
Quartile rankings are derived for each journal in each of its
subject categories according to which quartile of the IF
distribution the journal occupies for that subject category.
Q1 denotes the top 25% of the IF distribution,
Q2 for middle-high position (between top 50% and top 25%),
Q3 middle-low position (top 75% to top 50%), and
Q4 the lowest position (bottom 25% of the IF distribution)
 How to find a reputable article ?
Go to
https://www.scimagojr.com

Type your journal name

(NOT article title)

The journal Quartile will be

displayed

If the journal name is NOT

displayed at SCIMAGOJR,
avoid that journal.
 Never ever use…

https://predatoryjournals.com/metrics/ https://predatoryjournals.com/journals/

Wikipedia or personal blogs are NOT scientific sources, either.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Academic_use
 Here is why

http://jlsb.science-line.com/attachments/articl
e/16/JLSB-%202012-%20B33,%20167-177.pdf

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-03759-y
DEMO
How to find a reputable article ? (example)
scimagojr

Journal name keyword

Q1
 How to find a reputable article ? (example)
Professional Association

Commercially published,
Nature is the highest quality journal
to dates
Review vs Technical / Research journal article ?
Review vs Technical / Research journal article ?
 How to start writing ?
• Explosion was caused by failure
of O-rings in the solid rocket
boosters

• Engineers knew of O-ring

problems well before fatal
launch

• Engineers failed to communicate

seriousness of problem
Space Shuttle Challenger
(January 28, 1986)
Deciding to Publish and
Submitting Your Paper
• What to publish?
• abstract vs. full report
• Choosing your forum
• Which type of journal is best for you?
• What audience are you targeting?
• Research the journal
• Publication guidelines
• Article style

Failure to publish the results of the

research that you conducted is unethical
A Matter of Difference

1. Subject Matter 2. Writing Constraints

audience
occasion
purpose

3. Purpose of Writing 4. Writing Style

To inform

To persuade
Communication Needs
Reports
Articles
Proposals
Web Pages Conferences
Lectures
Meetings
Posters

specific general
technical technical non-technical
audiences audiences audiences
Writing Stages
1.
1.Getting
Gettingin
inthe
theMood
Mood 2.
2.Writing
Writingthe
theFirst
FirstDraft
Draft

3. 4.
4.Finishing
3.Revising,
Revising,Revising,
Revising,Revising
Revising Finishing
 ???

Please read (included)

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3715443/

20
Plan your writing
• Ask two questions before starting:
What is new in your work?
What are you going to write?
• Emphasize on the originality and significance of
your work.
• Organize your thinking and decide the structure
(outlines) of your paper.
• Stick on your central points throughout the whole
paper and remove all unnecessary discussions.
Reader-oriented Writing
• Purpose of your writing: disseminating your research
results.
Don’t write if there is nothing to write
Don’t make a simple problem complicated to fool people
Don’t hide technical details
• Reader-oriented writing: Write in a way that would lead
readers to follow your thinking, NOT in the way of your
thinking.
Well-organize your thinking
Give enough and clear explanation (never leave reader to guess)
Try to present your idea in an accurate way (no ambiguous)
Always think how readers would interpret your writing (assume you’re a reader)
• Use simple/ plain English
Purpose of technical writing: express your idea correctly & clearly.
Instruction to Authors
• A basic rule is to read the instructions to
authors.
• If your paper conforms exactly to a journal’s
guidelines, it is much more likely to be
received favourably by the editor.
• Usually the journal accepts manuscript written
in *.doc (align text left) or *.tex (specific *.cls)
• Check also how you should write the
bibliography
The Design
Identify your readers

Construct the The well-written papers

master-plan are read,
remembered, cited.
Construct the first Poorly written papers
draft are not.
Clarity, readability,
style

The visual presentation

24
 Concept: Making a concept sheet

• When you can’t

write, it is because
you don’t know
what you want to
say. The first job is
to structure your
thinking.
• What should be in
the paper? What
else might be
relevant?

25
Embodiment: The first draft
• Now the hard work. Break the job down into stages. The usual stages in
wiriting a paper are set out in the boxes below.

Acknowled
Title Conclusion
gements

Attribution Discussion References

The
Introduction Figures
abstract

Appendice
Results Method
s

26
Planning a
draft paper

27
An article structure

Reader’s interest
Introduction

Writer’s interest
Body

Conclusion

Appendices

28
 An article structure

Put what interests reader in an abstract

Abstract Introduction

Foreward

Body
Summary

Conclusion

Appendices

29
An effective abstract
Abstract Whole document

Contex
Problem statement Introduction
Methods

Results/ Findings
Conclusions & Perspective
Body

Conclusion

Appendices

30
An effective sentence

Construct your sentences

Like you structure your ideas
One idea = one sentence
Complex idea = complex sentence

Topic = grammatical subject

Identify people when people matter

Main idea = main clause

That is not subordinate clause

31
An effective sentence .

In Fig. 3, it can be seen that a very good agreement is

achieved between experimental and simulation results.

Main clause
In Fig. 3, it can be seen that a very good agreement is
achieved between experimental and simulation results.
Main idea

32
An effective sentence ..

In Fig. 3, it can be seen that a very good agreement is

achieved between experimental and simulation results.

A very good agreement is achieved between experimental

and simulation results (Fig. 3).

Experimental and simulation results agree (Fig. 3).

33
An effective sentence ...

34
An effective sentence ....

This region is believed to be the source of many short-

period comets.

This region is believed to be the source of many

short-period comets [2].

35
An effective sentence .....

Identify people
In third person
Astronomers believe this region to be the source ...
Asimov et.al. believe this region to be ... [7]

In first person
We believe this region to be the source of ....
Our observations suggest this region to be ...

36
Figure caption
-26.406

-26.408

-26.41
Output power (Watt)

-26.412

-26.414

-26.416

-26.418

-26.42

-26.422
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
time (second)

“Output power versus time.”

“Time series for the output power.”
“Evolution of the output power as a function of time.”
“The output power fluctuates over time in unexpected ways

37
Figure caption

38
Figure caption

39
 Detail I: the grammar

• Grammar tells the reader the function of words and their

relationship. Mess up the grammar and you confuse the
reader.

40
Detail II: Spelling, Punctuation and Style

• A good style lifts writing from that which is dull and

ordinary to that which is distinguished, memorable,
individual.
• There is no formula for instant style – it is partly a
personal thing.
• Style is approached through palinness, simplicity,
good structure and desire to convey information to
the reader in the most accessible way.

41
Detail II: Style
• Be clear: the essence of technical writing is
communication. The first quality, with precedence
over all others, is clarity.
• Write from an appropriate design; poor writing
lacks order.
• Define everything: define all symbols and
abbreviations
• Avoid empty words: clichés, weak qualifiers.
• Revise and rewrite: nobody gets it right first time

42
Detail II: Style
• Do not overstate, over emphasise or apologise
• Avoid being patronising, condescending or
eccentric

43
Detail II: Style
• Use appropriate language: minimise the use of
acronyms and abbreviations
• Good opening (first sentence)
• Seek helpful examples and analogies
• Linking sentences: each sentence in a paragraph
should lead logically to the next.
• Observe good writing: when you read a good
opening, an apt analogy, an illuminating example,
or an idea well expressed, re-read it.

44
After Submission
• Publication Procedure (6-12 months)
• Author submits
• Editor is assigned to manuscript
• Editor assigns reviewers (associate editors) to inspect
• Reviewers decide on whether to review paper
• Several reviewers inspect and edit
• Editor decides on accuracy of revisions and whether to accept
paper
• If accepted, editor sends paper back to author with revisions
• Author revises paper and sends it back
• Possibility of second review process
• Publication!
What is Peer Review?
• Review process for scientists by scientists
• Purpose
• To filter what is published as “science”
• To provide researchers with perspective
• Where is peer review used?
• Scientific publication
• Grant review
• Tenure promotion
Constraints of Peer Review
• Slow
• Conflicting views
• Confronting theory bias
• Personal views
• Objective vs. personal edits
• Fraud
• Data manipulation and
invention
“Editors and scientists portray peer
review as a quasi-sacred process that
helps to make science our most
objective truth teller. But we know
that the system of peer review is
biased, unjust, unaccountable,
incomplete, easily fixed, often
insulting, usually ignorant,
occasionally foolish, and frequently
wrong.”
-- Richard Horton, editor of
The Lancet,
Scientific Misconduct
• Gift Authorship
• Redundant Publication
• Plagiarism
• Fabrication
• Falsification
• Conflict of Interest
Researching & Writing
a Literature Review
 Expectations of graduate students
• Grad students have different backgrounds
• Not every grad student has done research
• Not everyone has experience reading the literature

No problem.
You are learning to ask questions
Do so! No one expects you to know
everything. Your job is to learn to seek out
answers
Knowing that information is out there can be
empowering!
Talking about the literature…

• “What does the literature show us?”

• “Connect your ideas to the literature.”
• “Survey the literature on the topic.”
Talking about the literature…

• What it IS:
• Scholarly communication
• A published record of
research
• Challenging to read and
digest
• Indexed, searchable with
research databases
 X
Talking about the literature…

• What it IS NOT:
• Common knowledge
• i.e., handily summarized in Wikipedia
• Easy to find

X
• If you just Googled it, you overlooked
something.
• Available freely online (mostly)
• This distinction can be transparent on
campus: the “free” internet vs. library
subscriptions
Talking about the literature…

• Let’s focus on “What are lit reviews?” and

“Why?” and the conceptual approach first…

• Follow-up workshops will tackle the “How?”

• But we’ll look at a examples as we go
What is a Literature Review?
A literature review
Surveys scholarly sources relevant to a particular issue,
area of research, or theory
Provides a description, summary, and critical evaluation
of each work
Offers an overview of significant literature published on a
topic
Gives future research context by telling the story of work
done so far

(adapted from http://library.ucsc.edu/ref/howto/ literaturereview.html)

 Functions of Literature Reviews
Establish research context

Show why the question is significant

Illustrate and describe previous research, including

gaps and flaws

Ensure that research has not been done before

Hey, did you notice that the bullets here are

checkboxes?
Functions of Literature Reviews
Understand the structure of the problem

Demonstrate your knowledge of the field

Synthesize previous perspectives and develop your

own perspective

Point the way to future research

Review article examples:
http://go.ncsu.edu/litrev1
http://go.ncsu.edu/litrev2
Digging Into the Literature
= Major works

C
A
Digging Into the Literature
= Major works
= Studies that rely on major works

C
A
Digging Into the Literature
= Major works = Something new!
= Studies that rely on major works

C
A
New!
Digging Into the Literature – How?
Aspect How?
Major works •Literature databases
•Colleague recommendations
•Cited work
Related works Citation searching:
•Web of Science
•Google Scholar
New information •Articles alerts/RSS feeds
•Tables of Contents

Put it all together, you have a literature review!

Overview of the Process

Topic Research and

Collect Information

Writing RefWorks
and
revision
Work with Articles
and Brain
Overview of the Process
Topic

Initial topic won’t be your final topic!

Choose, explore, focus
Refine as you go based on:
 Availability of research – too much? too
little?
 Discovering new ideas
 Writing progress
Overview of the Process

Topic Research and

Collect Information

Search databases
Find, evaluate, and select articles
 Overview of the Process

Topic Research and

Collect Information

Save your work in a

citation mgr. RefWorks
Read, analyze,
synthesize
Develop your Work with Articles
conceptual framework and Brain
Overview of the Process

Topic Research and

Collect Information

RefWorks
Refine topic?
Use your citation
manager to stay
Work with Articles
organized
and Brain
Overview of the Process

Topic Research and

Collect Information

Writing RefWorks
and
revision
Work with Articles
and Brain
Proceeding…(use worksheet handout)
Develop draft topic
 Discuss with advisor, colleagues

Find a literature review (or book/chapter)

 Identify key terms and concepts
 Use bibliography to find sources

Search the major disciplinary database

 Check with colleagues, a librarian
 Each will have different ideas of where to search!
 Determine scope and facets of topic
 Collect useful, current sources
Proceeding…
Search other key databases (another
discipline?)
• Round out understanding of scope, facets, terms, concepts
Search a Citation database
• Best ones: Web of Science, Google Scholar
• Web of Science has better tools
• Scholar can complete picture
• Identify key/seminal papers/research
• Identify key researchers, research centers, journals
• Trace citations back and forward
Questions that come up…
• How do I know I have the “right stuff”?

• How do I know when I’m done?

• How do know what’s important?

• No set answers…for each individual to

decide.
Housekeeping Tips
Use a citation management system
◦ Such as RefWorks, Zotero, Mendeley, etc.
◦ One word for these: invaluable. You are absolutely doing
more work in NOT learning about these.
Always get the complete citation information
◦ Article title, journal title, author, year/volume, pages,
abstract
Keep track of searches, notes, ideas, etc. (back to
the worksheets)
Fully citing sources = avoiding plagiarism
Read Synthetically: Pull it All Together

 Look at all articles to identify relationships

 Classify or group papers, or paper sections, by
topic, method, theme
 Compare and contrast papers addressing similar
questions
◦ Discover relationships between sources
◦ Discover critical gaps and disagreements
 Fit within the generated outline, or adapt outline
The Synthesis Matrix
• Tool to aid in writing a document showing synthesis
• Based on a grid
Concept 1 Concept 2 Concept 3 Concept 4

James, et xxxxx xxxxx

al.

Chung xxxxx xxxxx

Levy xxxx xxxxx

Models of Paper Structures
“Stringing” Model:
Organization of a Simple
Summary Paper
• Introduction
· Paragraph 1: Summary or
description of article 1
· Paragraph 2: Summary or
description of article 2
· Paragraph 3: Summary or
description of article 3
• …and on…
• Summary and conclusions
“Synthesis” Model:
Paper showing Synthesis of Sources and
Sequencing by Theme
• Introduction--Introduce context, topic,
importance, research questions, overview
· Theme A: Introduce concept or theme,
discuss/compare the relevant parts of
papers 1, 3, and 4
· Theme B: Introduce concept or theme,
discuss/compare the relevant parts of
papers 2,4, and 5
· Theme C: Introduce concept or theme,
discuss/compare the relevant parts of
papers 5 and 6
• Final paragraphs --Summarize and highlight
conclusions, unresolved issues, identify
possible next steps in research and/or
practice.
Some Tips for Writing
• Write as you go: don’t wait until you’ve finished
searching the literature
• Set some times to write regularly, and do it!
• Start with the easier sections (probably not the
introduction)
• Jot down notes and ideas and keep them handy
• Get feedback, and don’t take it too personally
• Aim for a style that is clear, simple, and
straightforward
Moving forward
• Other library workshops on:

• Doing Literature Searching

• How to identify good databases
• Maximizing your use of them
• Citation management
• How to save all of this work