CHAPTER - III

Literature Review
 Introduction
Literature is defined as a broad, comprehensive, in-depth,
systematic, & critical review of scholarly publications,
unpublished scholarly print materials, audiovisual materials,
& personal communications
includes books, journal articles, electronic journals database,
newspapers, magazines, theses /dissertations, conference
proceedings, reports, & documentaries.
A literature review can be just a simple summary of the
sources, but it usually has an organizational pattern &
combines both summary & synthesis.
A summary is a recap of the important information of the source.
A synthesis is a re-organization, or a reshuffling, of that
information. It might give a new interpretation of old material or
combine new with old interpretations.
 Review of literature
 Literature Review is the documentation of a comprehensive
review of the published and unpublished work from
secondary sources of data in the areas of specific interest to
the researcher.
 The main aim is to find out problems that are already
investigated and those that need further investigation.
 It is an extensive survey of all available past studies relevant
to the field of investigation.
 It gives us knowledge about what others have found out in
the related field of study and how they have done so.
Scientific Literature Review:
• A scientific literature review is a critical account of what has
been published on a topic by accredited researchers.
It may be:
• A stand-alone assignment
• An introduction to an essay, report, thesis chapter, etc.
• Rationale for engaging in primary research.
• Part of research/grant proposals
Writing a literature review will:
• Improve your topic knowledge
• Provide insight on your topic to others
• Demonstrate your data search abilities
• Demonstrate your critical analysis skills
• Demonstrate your communication/writing skills
 Purpose of review
 To gain a background knowledge of the research topic.
 To identify the concepts relating to it, potential
relationships between them and to formulate researchable
hypothesis.
 To identify appropriate methodology, research design,
methods of measuring concepts and techniques of
analysis.
 To identify data sources used by other researchers.
 To learn how others structured their reports.
 Why we do Literature Review?
• Provides with a handy guide to a particular topic.
– If you have limited time to conduct research, literature reviews can
give you an overview or act as a stepping stone.
• Provides a solid background for a research paper's
investigation.
– Comprehensive knowledge of the literature of the field is essential to
most research papers.
• For professionals, they are useful reports that
keep them up-to-date with what is current in the
field.
• For scholars, the depth & breadth of literature review
emphasizes the trustworthiness of the writer ‘s field.
 Why we do Literature Review? …….
• to take a critical look at the literature that are in the area
your research.
– A literature review is not a shopping list of everything that
exists, but a critical analysis that shows an evaluation of the
existing literature & a relationship between the different works.
• In the context of a thesis, the literature review provides a
background to the study being proposed.
• The background may consider one or more of the
following aspects depending on the research question
being posed:
– Theoretical background – past, present or future
– Methodology &/or research methods
– Previous findings
– Rationale &/or relevance of the current study
 Why we do Literature Review? ……
• Hart (1998) listed the following purposes of a review
– Distinguishing what has been done from what needs to be done;
– Discovering important variables relevant to the topic;
– Synthesizing & gaining a new perspective;
– Identifying relationships between ideas & practice;
– Establishing the context of the topic or problem;
– Rationalizing the significance of the problem;
– Enhancing & acquiring the subject vocabulary;
– Understanding the structure of the subject;
– Relating ideas & theory to applications;
– Identifying methodologies & techniques that have been used;
– Placing the research in a historical context to show familiarity
with state-of-the-art developments.
 Books

Journals

Research reports

Conferences, seminar,
presentation reports
 Thesis, dissertation

Bibliography

Five year project reports

National /
International reports
Dictionaries, Encyclopedia
Institutional reports, Library
 Identify the potential reference

Locate the references

Scan through relevant and appropriate reference Discard irrelevant and

inappropriate references

Read selected references and make notes

Organize references

Analyze integrated references

Write review of related literature. ( How it has been

beneficial in your design development /, data collection
and analysis etc
CRITIQUING (Evaluating) THE LITERATURE
REVIEW
1. Are relevant studies identified and described?
2. Are relevant theories identified and described
3. Are primary sources cited in the review?
4. Are the references current?
5. Are relevant landmark studies described?
6. Are the source paraphrased to promote the flow of the content
presented ?
7. Is the literature review clearly organized and logically
developed?
8. Is the current knowledge about the research problem described?
9. Does the literature review clearly provide a basis for the study
conducted?
Scientific Literature Review:
• A scientific literature review should:
Critically analyse a selected topic using a published body of
knowledge through summary, classification, and comparison
of prior research studies, reviews of literature, etc.

• Be related directly to the topic you are developing

• Provide a clear statement of the topic or problem
• Provide a clear range of research on the topic
• Provide an evaluation of the research
• Present results into a summary of what is and is not known
• Provide an indication of what further research is necessary
• Identify areas of controversy in the literature
Things to do before writing the literature review
• The format of a review of literature may vary from
discipline to discipline & from assignment to assignment.
– A review may be a self-contained unit, not an end in itself -- or a
preface to & rationale for engaging in primary research. A
review is a required part of research proposals & often a chapter
in thesis & dissertations.
• Develop an organization for your review at both a global
& local level:
• First, cover the basic categories
– Just like most academic papers, literature reviews also must
contain at least three basic elements:
• introduction or background information section
• body of the review containing the discussion of sources
• conclusion &/or recommendations section to end the paper.
Sections in a scientific literature review
Typically 3 sections!
• Introduction: An overview of the topic under consideration,
along with the objectives of the literature review.

• Main body: Collates research into topical areas. Provide

explanation of how research articles are similar to and vary
from the other.

• Conclusion: Discuss the research with the best outcome,

most convincing in its argument, which makes the greatest
contribution to the understanding and development of topic
under research….
… AND WHY YOU INCLUDED THAT INFORMATION??!!
How to Write a Scientific Literature Review?
Development of the literature review requires four stages:

1. Problem formulation - which topic is being examined and

what are its component issues?

2. Literature search - identifying relevant research

3. Data evaluation - determining which literature makes a

significant contribution to the understanding of the topic

4. Analysis and interpretation - discussing the findings and

conclusions of pertinent literature
 1. Problem Formation

Ask yourself questions like these:

• What is the specific thesis, problem, or research question that my literature

review helps to define?

• What type of literature review am I conducting? Am I looking at issues of

Theory? Methodology? Quantitative research (e.g. on the effectiveness of a
new procedure)? Qualitative research (e.g., studies of loneliness among
migrant workers)?

• What is the scope of my literature review? What types of publications am I

using (e.g., journals, books, government documents, popular media)?

• What discipline am I working in (e.g. Hybrid power generation, Smart Grid

technology, AI Techniques, Internet of things etc.,)?
 2. Literature Search & 3. Data Evaluation
In assessing each source, consideration should be given to:

• Provenance (Place of Origin) - Author's credentials? Are

the author's arguments supported by evidence (case studies,
statistics, recent scientific findings, good experiments)? TIP: Take notes
while reading!

• Objectivity - Is the author's perspective fair? Is contrary  Impressions

data considered? Is information ignored to prove the  Interesting
author's point? research
 Key Studies
 Contradictory
• Persuasiveness – Is some of the author's theses/data more Information
or less convincing?

• Value - Are the author's data/conclusions convincing? Does

the work contribute in a significant way to an
understanding of the field?
4. Analysis and Interpretation
• How good was my information seeking? Has my search been wide
enough to ensure all relevant material is included? Has it been narrow
enough to exclude irrelevant material? Is the number of sources I've used
appropriate for the length of my paper?

• Have I critically analysed the literature I use? Do I follow through a set

of concepts and compare appropriate information? Instead of just
listing and summarizing research, do I assess them, discussing
strengths and weaknesses?

• Have I cited and discussed studies contrary to my perspective?

• Will the reader find my literature review relevant, appropriate,

interesting and useful?
Writing the Introduction
• Define or identify the general topic, issue, or area of concern,
thus providing an appropriate context for reviewing the literature.

• Point out overall trends in what has been published about the
topic; or conflicts in theory, methodology, evidence, and
conclusions; or gaps in research and scholarship; or a single
problem or new perspective of immediate interest.

• Establish your point of view for reviewing the literature; explain

the criteria to be used in analyzing and comparing literature and
the organization of the review.
Writing the Main Body

• Group research topics according to common denominators and

back up main points with research including reviews, research
articles, theoretical articles, case studies, etc.).

• Summarize individual studies or articles with as much or as

little detail as each merits, remembering that space (length)
denotes significance.

• Provide strong "umbrella" sentences at beginnings of

paragraphs, "signposts" throughout, and brief “why I included
this information" summary sentences at end of paragraphs.
Writing the Conclusion
• Summarize major contributions of research and articles to the body of
knowledge under review, maintaining the focus established in the introduction.

• Evaluate the main body of information reviewed, pointing out major

flaws/gaps/inconsistencies in research and issues pertinent to future study.

• Conclude by providing some insight into the relationship between the central
topic of the literature review and the proposed scientific endeavour.

• Provide closure so that the path of the argument ends with a conclusion of
some kind.

NOTE: A literature review in a thesis or dissertation usually leads to the research

questions that will be addressed.
 What should you write?

• the accepted facts in the area

• the popular opinion
• the main variables
• the relationship between concepts & variables
• shortcomings in the existing findings
• limitations in the methods used in the existing
findings
• the relevance of your research
• suggestions for further research in the area.
 How to review?

• The whole process of reviewing includes:

1) Searching for literature
2) Sorting & prioritizing the retrieved literature
3) Analytical reading of papers
4) Evaluative reading of papers
5) Comparison across studies
6) Organizing the content
7) Writing the review
Final Note – TIPS!!
A scientific literature review should:

 Be a piece of discursive prose

 Organize the literature review into sections that present topics, including relevant
theory.

 Not list all the material published, but instead show evaluation according to the
guiding concept of your thesis or research question

 Show you understand the relevance and significance of the different publications,
and how they relate to each other.
Final Note – TIPS!!
A scientific literature review should not be:

• A list describing or summarizing one piece of literature

after another.

• It's usually a bad sign to see every paragraph beginning

with the name of a researcher.
 Sample Literature survey on Artificial Intelligence
• The theory and practice of reasoning in artificial intelligence has extensive
documentation (Atkinson and Bench-Capon (2007)). The work by Tobies (2000)
studies the complexity of the combination of the description logics ALCQ and
ALCQI with a terminological formalism based on cardinality restrictions on
concepts. These combination can naturally be embedded into C∧2, the two
variable fragment of predicate logic with counting quantifiers, which yields
decidability in next time. In another work, Cheng and Druzdzel (2000) develop
an algorithm for evidential reasoning in large Bayesian networks. An adaptive
importance sampling algorithm, AISBN that shows promising convergence rates
even under extreme conditions is developed. Cristani (1999) introduces a novel
algebra for reasoning about spatial congruence, thus, showing that the
satisfiability problem in the spatial algebra MC-4 is NP-complete, and present a
complete classification of tractability in the algebra, based on the individuation
of three maximal tractable sub classes, one containing the basic relations. The
concept of conditional plausibility is well treated in Halpern (2001). Halpern
defines a general notion of algebraic conditional plausibility measures. It is
shown that algebraic conditional plausibility measures can be represented using
Bayesian networks.