Literature review:Summing up!
Literature reviews are very demanding if done properly and in huge demand as they are a sum of all the stuff going on in particular facet of knowledge. They serve as an amalgamated source of information as one does not have to open each and every paper and study it to know about what's going on around in last few years in a particular field.They also serve as a wonderful source of lectures for students and save many professors the heck of preparing lectures (sorry! not for all professors).
But the aim of today's post is not to discuss these points but provide tips on how to write literature review that is sound and professional.Some of the key points to remember are:
1.After choosing a topic, search and research literature.
When searching the literature for pertinent papers and reviews, the usual rules apply:
2.keep track of the search items you use (so that your search can be replicated)
3.keep a list of papers whose pdfs you cannot access immediately (so as to retrieve them later with alternative strategies).
4.use a paper management system (e.g., Mendeley, Papers, Qiqqa, Sente)
5.Define early in the process some criteria for exclusion of irrelevant papers (these criteria can then be described in the review to help define its scope)
6.Do not just look for research papers in the area you wish to review, but also seek previous reviews.
7.Discuss in your review the approaches, limitations, and conclusions of past reviews.
8.Try to find a new angle that has not been covered adequately in the previous reviews
9.Incorporate new material that has inevitably accumulated since their appearance.
10.Keep focused, don't deviate from topic but do keep it of broad interest as well.
11.Aside from consistency, critical analysis is of utmost importance.
12.Get feedback from peers before final submission.
But the aim of today's post is not to discuss these points but provide tips on how to write literature review that is sound and professional.Some of the key points to remember are:
1.After choosing a topic, search and research literature.
When searching the literature for pertinent papers and reviews, the usual rules apply:
- be thorough,
- use different keywords and database sources (e.g., DBLP, Google Scholar, ISI Proceedings, JSTOR Search, Medline, Scopus, Web of Science), and
- look at who has cited past relevant papers and book chapters.
2.keep track of the search items you use (so that your search can be replicated)
3.keep a list of papers whose pdfs you cannot access immediately (so as to retrieve them later with alternative strategies).
4.use a paper management system (e.g., Mendeley, Papers, Qiqqa, Sente)
5.Define early in the process some criteria for exclusion of irrelevant papers (these criteria can then be described in the review to help define its scope)
6.Do not just look for research papers in the area you wish to review, but also seek previous reviews.
7.Discuss in your review the approaches, limitations, and conclusions of past reviews.
8.Try to find a new angle that has not been covered adequately in the previous reviews
9.Incorporate new material that has inevitably accumulated since their appearance.
10.Keep focused, don't deviate from topic but do keep it of broad interest as well.
11.Aside from consistency, critical analysis is of utmost importance.
12.Get feedback from peers before final submission.
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