KIT714
ICT Research Principles
School of ICT
College of Sciences and Engineering
LITERATURE REVIEW
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What is a literature review?
Critical analysis of published sources on a particular topic
Provides a summary, classification, comparison and evaluation
Raises questions and identifies areas to be explored
Can be incorporated into an article, research report or thesis or can be a
separate standalone document.
It should highlight the main arguments, trends and gaps in your research
area.
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Why do a literature review?
To familiarise yourself with the current state of knowledge on your topic
Identify what has already been done previously to prevent duplication and
give credit to other researchers
Identify issues from work already done: gaps in research, conflicts in
previous studies, open questions left from other research
Identify need for additional research (justifying your research)
Place your own research within the context of existing literature making a
case for why further study is needed.
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Planning your literature review
1. Identify an area of interest
Start by thinking about the broad ICT areas that you are interested in.
Examples include:
◦ Health Informatics
◦ Artificial Intelligence
◦ Cybersecurity
◦ Blockchain
◦ Human Computer interaction
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Planning your literature review
2. Read broadly  Look for books and articles
◦ Use a variety of sources – books, journal articles, conference papers etc
◦ Determine your search terms
◦ Search by keyword, subject and also author
◦ Use key databases to search for articles e.g. ScienceDirect, Scopus, ACM
Digital Library, IEEE Explore
◦ Ensure that you keep a record of all the articles that you have
◦ Evaluate the information presented applying your critical thinking skills
e.g. How reliable is the information? Is the information biased? How
current is the information? Are the topics covered in sufficient depth?
What are the strengths and weaknesses of the article?
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Planning your literature review
3. Define your research problem
◦ A research problem is a specific issue, difficulty, contradiction, or gap in
knowledge that you will aim to address in your research.
◦ Without a well-defined research problem, you are likely to end up with:
◦ Unfocused and unmanageable project
◦ repeating what other people have already said
◦ trying to say too much
◦ doing research without a clear purpose and justification.
◦ You need a clearly defined research problem in order to do research that
contributes new and relevant insights.
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Planning your literature review
3. Define your research problem
• Identify a broad problem area
• Learn more about the problem that you have identified.
◦ What is already known about the problem?
◦ Who/What is affected?
◦ What research has already been done? Is it a newly discovered problem?
◦ What are the current debates about the problem? Is there anything
missing?
◦ What are the consequences if the problem is not resolved?
◦ Pinpoint exactly what aspect your research will address
◦ What is your research question?
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Planning your literature review
4. Find a specific area (Narrow down your topic)
You will need to start narrow down your topic. This is usually a
gradual process and as you go through this process, your topic
should get more and more specific.
To narrow down your topic consider:
◦ Aspect
◦ Components
◦ Methodology
◦ Place
◦ Relationship
◦ Time
◦ Type
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Planning your literature review
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Quality and Safety in
Healthcare
Electronic Tools
Clinical
Handover
User-centred
approaches
Writing your Literature Review
Introduction
Define your topic and provide an appropriate context for reviewing the
literature
Scope of the review (identify which aspects of the topic will be discussed)
Layout of the review
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Writing your literature review
Main body
Organise the literature according to common themes – these should be the
headings and sub-headings in your document.
Analyse the articles
Critique the literature
Synthesise (make connections) between the ideas presented in the literature
Paraphrase the points presented in the literature
Quote the author if you want to repeat word for word what was said. Use quotation
marks “ “.
Move from a general wider view of the literature being reviewed to the specific
focus of your research
Make sure you clearly identify the gaps in the literature – what is missing? There
should be clear links between the gaps that you have identified in the literature to
your proposed research question.
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Writing your literature review
Conclusion
Summarise important aspects of the existing body of literature
Evaluate the current state of the literature reviewed
Identify significant flaw or gaps in the existing knowledge
Outline areas for future study
Link your research to existing knowledge.
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Analysis and synthesis: An example
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https://www.monash.edu/rlo/graduate-research-
writing/write-the-thesis/introduction-literature-
reviews
Which paragraph shows Evidence of
Synthesis?
Franz (2008) studied undergraduate online
students. He looked at 17 females and 18 males
and found that none of them liked APA. According
to Franz, the evidence suggested that all students
are reluctant to learn citations style. Perez (2010)
also studies undergraduate students. She looked
at 42 females and 50 males and found that males
were significantly more inclined to use citation
software (p < .05). Findings suggest that females
might graduate sooner. Goldstein (2012) looked at
British undergraduates. Among a sample of 50, all
females, all confident in their abilities to cite and
were eager to write their dissertations.
Studies of undergraduate students reveal
conflicting conclusions regarding relationships
between advanced scholarly study and citation
efficacy. Although Franz (2008) found that no
participants enjoyed learning citation style,
Goldstein (2012) determined in a larger study that
all participants watched felt comfortable citing
sources, suggesting that variables among
participant and control group populations must
be examined more closely. Although Perez (2010)
expanded on Franz's original study with a larger,
more diverse sample...
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https://www.simplypsychology.org/synthesising.ht
ml
How do I synthesise The Literature?
Step 1: Organise your sources using a synthesis matrix, allows you to see the relationships
between sources.
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Source 1 Source 2 Source 3 Source 4
Theme 1
Theme 2
Theme 3
Theme 4
How do I synthesise The Literature?
Step 2: Organize the structure of your document thematically
Each paragraph or section focuses on a specific theme and explains how that
theme is approached in the literature.
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How do I synthesise The Literature?
Step 3: Write the topic sentence in each paragraph
Each paragraph should discuss a few different sources and you should be able to
condense the overall point of the paragraph in one sentence – the topic sentence.
Examples of topic sentences include:
◦ Early research on [x] focused heavily on [y] (List all references that say this).
◦ Several authors have pointed out the merits of this approach (List all references that
say this)
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How do I synthesise The Literature?
Step 4: Revise, edit and proofread
Synthesising literature does not happen at once. It involves redrafting, revising,
editing and proofreading your work.
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A check list for Synthesising the literature
Did I introduce the paragraph with a clear and focused topic sentence?
Did I discuss more than one source in the paragraph?
Did I mention only the most relevant findings, rather than describing every
part of the studies?
Did I discuss the similarities or differences between the sources, rather
than merely summarise each source in turn?
Did I put the findings or arguments of the sources in my own words?
Is the paragraph organised around a single idea?
Is the paragraph directly relevant to my research question or topic?
Is there a logical transition from one paragraph to the next?
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Is this an effective literature review?
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Smith and Jones (2003) argues that…………………………………………………………………...
………………………………………. They also state that …………………………………………...
………….. However, Smith and Jones (2003) believe that………………………………………etc
In a recent article, Mansfield (2015) lists several factors associated with ………………………..
………………………………………………… He also found……………………………………… and
found……………………………………………………………………………………………etc
Tan (2012) argues that ……………………………………………………………………....................
……………………………………………………He also states that …………………………and…
…………………………and…………………………………………………………........................etc
Clark (2008) found that ………………………………………………………….. She also found
that………………………………………………………………….and that………….........................
……………………………………………………………………………….......................................etc
How to Formulate a Good research question?
Clear and focused, addresses a single topic only
Not too broad or too narrow
Research questions should have complex answers, not just a yes
or no
Good questions do not ask for value judgements.
Should be analytical rather than descriptive
Should always be phrased as a question and end with a question
mark(?)
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Useful resources
http://www.citewrite.qut.edu.au/write/litreview.jsp
http://Sydney.edu.au/stuserv/learning_centre/help/evidence/ev_type.shtml
https://www.uq.edu.au/student-services/phdwriting/phlink18.html
http://unimelb.libguides.com/lit_reviews
https://www.rlf.org.uk/resources/the-structure-of-a-literature-review/
http://www.web.uwa.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/1900329/How-
to-review-the-litaruture.pdf
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