The Literature Review in 3 Key Steps

The “What”, “Why” and “How” of The Academic Literature Review

Adapted from Boston University Alumni Medical Library

3 Steps to a Literature Review

• A review and quick summary of how to conduct a literature search for your EA Project

3 Key Steps: 1. Start your engines

Think of it like doing a Google search for buying a car

What do you want to do? Buy a car, find a particular car, find out how to negotiate prices, etc.?

Key word searches are trial and error and need to be refined/narrowed

1. Go to your library’s digital search page and choose ACM, IEEE, & ERIC as your search engines– Then start your searches– Expect to get LOTS of

results, and then refine and narrow down to get what you really want

– Use the “find more articles like this one” feature if available

3 Key Steps: 2. Skim & Select

19 hits from the IEEE search on “interest in computing” + “high school” + “robots”

Skim all abstracts Select articles of interest to

your project Read those articles Take notes of important stuff:

findings, methods, other prominent studies cited

Devise a system for note taking and managing your references

• TIP: Take note of studies that keep coming up in introductions- you want to read these

• Visit your library’s website for reference management software- freeware exists (Zotero), and many campuses offer licensed software like (Endnote)

3 Key Steps: 3. Sum it up

What does it all mean?• What categories are there?• What is similar to your

study?• What is different?• What is known collectively

from this literature? Perhaps: that robotics

education is successful, or not, or it depends upon certain factors, or something else?

• Why is your study relevant?– The ‘So What?’ question

• Perhaps your study: adds evidence to support

robotics education in high schools

has never been done before replicates other studies but

with a different population ETC…..

UNC Charlotte’s Library Resource Page

AND NOW THE BACKGROUND…….

WHAT IS A LITERATURE REVIEW?

What is it?A literature review

• surveys scholarly articles, books and other sources (e.g. dissertations, conference proceedings) relevant to a particularissue, area of research, or theory.

• provides a short description and critical evaluation of work critical to the topic.

• offers an overview of significant literature published on a topic.

(Lyons, 2005)

WHY CONDUCT A LITERATURE REVIEW?

Why? A literature review can be conducted for a variety of reasons:

1. For a review paper

2. For the introduction (and discussion) of a research paper, masters thesis or dissertation

3. To embark on a new area of research

4. For a research proposal

(Burge, 2005)

5. And last, but not least, for contextual information for your EA Project!

Why?

Conducting a literature review will help you:

• Determine if proposed research is actually needed. Even if similar research published, researchers might suggest a need for similar studies or

replication.

• Narrow down a problem. It can be overwhelming getting into the literature of a field of study. A literature review can help

you understand where you need to focus your efforts.

• Generate hypotheses or questions for further studies.

(Mauch & Birch, 2003)

And for your EA Project:

Conducting a literature review will give you:• Background knowledge of the field of inquiry:– Facts– Eminent scholars– The most important ideas, theories, questions and

hypotheses• Knowledge of field-specific methodologies and

their usefulness in particular settings

(Mauch & Birch, 2003)

HOW TO CONDUCT A LITERATURE REVIEW

How?Outline of review process:

1. Formulate a problem – which topic or field is being examined and what are its component issues;

2. Search the literature for materials relevant to the subject being explored. Searching the literature involves reading and refining the problem;

3. Evaluate the data – determine which literature makes a significant contribution to the understanding of the topic;

4. Analyze and interpret – discuss the findings and conclusions of pertinent literature• Use the literature to contextualize the problem/issue under study

5. Format and create bibliography

(Lyons, 2005)

How?

1. Formulate a problem/issue:• Create an overview of relevant literature regarding

Computing Education Interventions

2. Search the literature:• Use library resources/databases including IEEE, ACM

and ERIC• Don’t restrict your search to peer-reviewed journal

articles. Include academic books too.• Refine the problem/issue based on your initial review• Networked computing to facilitate learning among

elementary school students

How? 3. Evaluate the data. Determine which literature contributes

to the understanding of the problem/issue.4. Analyze and interpret. Read the article, book chapter, etc.,

and summarize findings and relevance• Focus particularly on problem statement, method, results

5. Format and create bibliography• Use a citation management program such as Endnote to

organize and manage citations and create bibliographyo Organize and store referenceso Make in-text citations based on required style (e.g., APA)o Create a list of references based on required style

• Most colleges and universities provide student access/download of citation management programs

Example Searches

• IEEE: “interest in computing”

• Refined by adding “ high school”

• Declare bingo and begin skimming the articles, or further refine at your discretion– Consider using outreach

type, e.g. ‘robots,’ ‘gamemaker,’ ‘Alice,’ or ‘CS unplugged’

• 38,000 hits

• 135 hits

• TIP: read an article that ‘jumps out’ at you, and use it’s key words to refine further

• TIP: use variations of words: ‘robots,’ ‘robotics,’ etc.

References

• Burge, C., 7.16 Experimental Molecular Biology: Biotechnology II, Spring 2005. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology: MIT OpenCouseWare), Retrieved 12/15/2008, from http://ocw.mit.edu. License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA

• Lyons, K. (2005). UCSC library - how to write a literature review. Retrieved 1/22/2009, 2009, from http://library.ucsc.edu/ref/howto/literaturereview.html .

• Mauch, J. E., & Birch, J. W. (1993). Guide to the successful thesis and dissertation : A handbook for students and faculty (3rd , rev. and expand ed.). New York: Marcel Dekker.