• Digital Manufacturing
• Smart Factory
Clearly defined research question(s) are the key elements which set the focus for study identification and data extraction [21] . These questions are formulated based on the PICOC criteria as presented in the example in Table 2 (PICOC keywords are underlined).
Research questions examples.
Research Questions examples |
---|
• : What are the current challenges of context-aware systems that support the decision-making of business processes in smart manufacturing? • : Which technique is most appropriate to support decision-making for business process management in smart factories? • : In which scenarios are semantic web and machine learning used to provide context-awareness in business process management for smart manufacturing? |
The validity of a study will depend on the proper selection of a database since it must adequately cover the area under investigation [19] . The Web of Science (WoS) is an international and multidisciplinary tool for accessing literature in science, technology, biomedicine, and other disciplines. Scopus is a database that today indexes 40,562 peer-reviewed journals, compared to 24,831 for WoS. Thus, Scopus is currently the largest existing multidisciplinary database. However, it may also be necessary to include sources relevant to computer science, such as EI Compendex, IEEE Xplore, and ACM. Table 3 compares the area of expertise of a selection of databases.
Planning Step 3 “Select digital libraries”. Description of digital libraries in computer science and software engineering.
Database | Description | URL | Area | Advanced Search Y/N |
---|---|---|---|---|
Scopus | From Elsevier. sOne of the largest databases. Very user-friendly interface | Interdisciplinary | Y | |
Web of Science | From Clarivate. Multidisciplinary database with wide ranging content. | Interdisciplinary | Y | |
EI Compendex | From Elsevier. Focused on engineering literature. | Engineering | Y (Query view not available) | |
IEEE Digital Library | Contains scientific and technical articles published by IEEE and its publishing partners. | Engineering and Technology | Y | |
ACM Digital Library | Complete collection of ACM publications. | Computing and information technology | Y |
Authors should define the inclusion and exclusion criteria before conducting the review to prevent bias, although these can be adjusted later, if necessary. The selection of primary studies will depend on these criteria. Articles are included or excluded in this first selection based on abstract and primary bibliographic data. When unsure, the article is skimmed to further decide the relevance for the review. Table 4 sets out some criteria types with descriptions and examples.
Planning Step 4 “Define inclusion and exclusion criteria”. Examples of criteria type.
Criteria Type | Description | Example |
---|---|---|
Period | Articles can be selected based on the time period to review, e.g., reviewing the technology under study from the year it emerged, or reviewing progress in the field since the publication of a prior literature review. | : From 2015 to 2021 Articles prior 2015 |
Language | Articles can be excluded based on language. | : Articles not in English |
Type of Literature | Articles can be excluded if they are fall into the category of grey literature. | Reports, policy literature, working papers, newsletters, government documents, speeches |
Type of source | Articles can be included or excluded by the type of origin, i.e., conference or journal articles or books. | : Articles from Conferences or Journals Articles from books |
Impact Source | Articles can be excluded if the author limits the impact factor or quartile of the source. | Articles from Q1, and Q2 sources : Articles with a Journal Impact Score (JIS) lower than |
Accessibility | Not accessible in specific databases. | : Not accessible |
Relevance to research questions | Articles can be excluded if they are not relevant to a particular question or to “ ” number of research questions. | Not relevant to at least 2 research questions |
Assessing the quality of an article requires an artifact which describes how to perform a detailed assessment. A typical quality assessment is a checklist that contains multiple factors to evaluate. A numerical scale is used to assess the criteria and quantify the QA [22] . Zhou et al. [25] presented a detailed description of assessment criteria in software engineering, classified into four main aspects of study quality: Reporting, Rigor, Credibility, and Relevance. Each of these criteria can be evaluated using, for instance, a Likert-type scale [17] , as shown in Table 5 . It is essential to select the same scale for all criteria established on the quality assessment.
Planning Step 5 “Define QA assessment checklist”. Examples of QA scales and questions.
Do the researchers discuss any problems (limitations, threats) with the validity of their results (reliability)? | 1 – No, and not considered (Score: 0) 2 – Partially (Score: 0.5) 3 – Yes (Score: 1) |
Is there a clear definition/ description/ statement of the aims/ goals/ purposes/ motivations/ objectives/ questions of the research? | 1 – Disagree (Score: 1) 2 – Somewhat disagree (Score: 2) 3 – Neither agree nor disagree (Score: 3) 4 – Somewhat agree (Score: 4) 5 – Agree (Score: 5) |
The data extraction form represents the information necessary to answer the research questions established for the review. Synthesizing the articles is a crucial step when conducting research. Ramesh et al. [15] presented a classification scheme for computer science research, based on topics, research methods, and levels of analysis that can be used to categorize the articles selected. Classification methods and fields to consider when conducting a review are presented in Table 6 .
Planning Step 6 “Define data extraction form”. Examples of fields.
Classification and fields to consider for data extraction | Description and examples |
---|---|
Research type | • focuses on abstract ideas, concepts, and theories built on literature reviews . • uses scientific data or case studies for explorative, descriptive, explanatory, or measurable findings . an SLR on context-awareness for S-PSS and categorized the articles in theoretical and empirical research. |
By process phases, stages | When analyzing a process or series of processes, an effective way to structure the data is to find a well-established framework of reference or architecture. : • an SLR on self-adaptive systems uses the MAPE-K model to understand how the authors tackle each module stage. • presented a context-awareness survey using the stages of context-aware lifecycle to review different methods. |
By technology, framework, or platform | When analyzing a computer science topic, it is important to know the technology currently employed to understand trends, benefits, or limitations. : • an SLR on the big data ecosystem in the manufacturing field that includes frameworks, tools, and platforms for each stage of the big data ecosystem. |
By application field and/or industry domain | If the review is not limited to a specific “Context” or “Population" (industry domain), it can be useful to identify the field of application : • an SLR on adaptive training using virtual reality (VR). The review presents an extensive description of multiple application domains and examines related work. |
Gaps and challenges | Identifying gaps and challenges is important in reviews to determine the research needs and further establish research directions that can help scholars act on the topic. |
Findings in research | Research in computer science can deliver multiple types of findings, e.g.: |
Evaluation method | Case studies, experiments, surveys, mathematical demonstrations, and performance indicators. |
The data extraction must be relevant to the research questions, and the relationship to each of the questions should be included in the form. Kitchenham & Charters [6] presented more pertinent data that can be captured, such as conclusions, recommendations, strengths, and weaknesses. Although the data extraction form can be updated if more information is needed, this should be treated with caution since it can be time-consuming. It can therefore be helpful to first have a general background in the research topic to determine better data extraction criteria.
After defining the protocol, conducting the review requires following each of the steps previously described. Using tools can help simplify the performance of this task. Standard tools such as Excel or Google sheets allow multiple researchers to work collaboratively. Another online tool specifically designed for performing SLRs is Parsif.al 1 . This tool allows researchers, especially in the context of software engineering, to define goals and objectives, import articles using BibTeX files, eliminate duplicates, define selection criteria, and generate reports.
Search strings are built considering the PICOC elements and synonyms to execute the search in each database library. A search string should separate the synonyms with the boolean operator OR. In comparison, the PICOC elements are separated with parentheses and the boolean operator AND. An example is presented next:
(“Smart Manufacturing” OR “Digital Manufacturing” OR “Smart Factory”) AND (“Business Process Management” OR “BPEL” OR “BPM” OR “BPMN”) AND (“Semantic Web” OR “Ontology” OR “Semantic” OR “Semantic Web Service”) AND (“Framework” OR “Extension” OR “Plugin” OR “Tool”
Databases that feature advanced searches enable researchers to perform search queries based on titles, abstracts, and keywords, as well as for years or areas of research. Fig. 1 presents the example of an advanced search in Scopus, using titles, abstracts, and keywords (TITLE-ABS-KEY). Most of the databases allow the use of logical operators (i.e., AND, OR). In the example, the search is for “BIG DATA” and “USER EXPERIENCE” or “UX” as a synonym.
Example of Advanced search on Scopus.
In general, bibliometric data of articles can be exported from the databases as a comma-separated-value file (CSV) or BibTeX file, which is helpful for data extraction and quantitative and qualitative analysis. In addition, researchers should take advantage of reference-management software such as Zotero, Mendeley, Endnote, or Jabref, which import bibliographic information onto the software easily.
The first step in this stage is to identify any duplicates that appear in the different searches in the selected databases. Some automatic procedures, tools like Excel formulas, or programming languages (i.e., Python) can be convenient here.
In the second step, articles are included or excluded according to the selection criteria, mainly by reading titles and abstracts. Finally, the quality is assessed using the predefined scale. Fig. 2 shows an example of an article QA evaluation in Parsif.al, using a simple scale. In this scenario, the scoring procedure is the following YES= 1, PARTIALLY= 0.5, and NO or UNKNOWN = 0 . A cut-off score should be defined to filter those articles that do not pass the QA. The QA will require a light review of the full text of the article.
Performing quality assessment (QA) in Parsif.al.
Those articles that pass the study selection are then thoroughly and critically read. Next, the researcher completes the information required using the “data extraction” form, as illustrated in Fig. 3 , in this scenario using Parsif.al tool.
Example of data extraction form using Parsif.al.
The information required (study characteristics and findings) from each included study must be acquired and documented through careful reading. Data extraction is valuable, especially if the data requires manipulation or assumptions and inferences. Thus, information can be synthesized from the extracted data for qualitative or quantitative analysis [16] . This documentation supports clarity, precise reporting, and the ability to scrutinize and replicate the examination.
The analysis phase examines the synthesized data and extracts meaningful information from the selected articles [10] . There are two main goals in this phase.
The first goal is to analyze the literature in terms of leading authors, journals, countries, and organizations. Furthermore, it helps identify correlations among topic s . Even when not mandatory, this activity can be constructive for researchers to position their work, find trends, and find collaboration opportunities. Next, data from the selected articles can be analyzed using bibliometric analysis (BA). BA summarizes large amounts of bibliometric data to present the state of intellectual structure and emerging trends in a topic or field of research [4] . Table 7 sets out some of the most common bibliometric analysis representations.
Techniques for bibliometric analysis and examples.
Publication-related analysis | Description | Example |
---|---|---|
Years of publications | Determine interest in the research topic by years or the period established by the SLR, by quantifying the number of papers published. Using this information, it is also possible to forecast the growth rate of research interest. | [ ] identified the growth rate of research interest and the yearly publication trend. |
Top contribution journals/conferences | Identify the leading journals and conferences in which authors can share their current and future work. | , |
Top countries' or affiliation contributions | Examine the impacts of countries or affiliations leading the research topic. | [ , ] identified the most influential countries. |
Leading authors | Identify the most significant authors in a research field. | - |
Keyword correlation analysis | Explore existing relationships between topics in a research field based on the written content of the publication or related keywords established in the articles. | using keyword clustering analysis ( ). using frequency analysis. |
Total and average citation | Identify the most relevant publications in a research field. | Scatter plot citation scores and journal factor impact |
Several tools can perform this type of analysis, such as Excel and Google Sheets for statistical graphs or using programming languages such as Python that has available multiple data visualization libraries (i.e. Matplotlib, Seaborn). Cluster maps based on bibliographic data(i.e keywords, authors) can be developed in VosViewer which makes it easy to identify clusters of related items [18] . In Fig. 4 , node size is representative of the number of papers related to the keyword, and lines represent the links among keyword terms.
[1] Keyword co-relationship analysis using clusterization in vos viewer.
This second and most important goal is to answer the formulated research questions, which should include a quantitative and qualitative analysis. The quantitative analysis can make use of data categorized, labelled, or coded in the extraction form (see Section 1.6). This data can be transformed into numerical values to perform statistical analysis. One of the most widely employed method is frequency analysis, which shows the recurrence of an event, and can also represent the percental distribution of the population (i.e., percentage by technology type, frequency of use of different frameworks, etc.). Q ualitative analysis includes the narration of the results, the discussion indicating the way forward in future research work, and inferring a conclusion.
Finally, the literature review report should state the protocol to ensure others researchers can replicate the process and understand how the analysis was performed. In the protocol, it is essential to present the inclusion and exclusion criteria, quality assessment, and rationality beyond these aspects.
The presentation and reporting of results will depend on the structure of the review given by the researchers conducting the SLR, there is no one answer. This structure should tie the studies together into key themes, characteristics, or subgroups [ 28 ].
SLR can be an extensive and demanding task, however the results are beneficial in providing a comprehensive overview of the available evidence on a given topic. For this reason, researchers should keep in mind that the entire process of the SLR is tailored to answer the research question(s). This article has detailed a practical guide with the essential steps to conducting an SLR in the context of computer science and software engineering while citing multiple helpful examples and tools. It is envisaged that this method will assist researchers, and particularly early-stage researchers, in following an algorithmic approach to fulfill this task. Finally, a quick checklist is presented in Appendix A as a companion of this article.
Angela Carrera-Rivera: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing-Original. William Ochoa-Agurto : Methodology, Writing-Original. Felix Larrinaga : Reviewing and Supervision Ganix Lasa: Reviewing and Supervision.
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Funding : This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Grant No. 814078.
Carrera-Rivera, A., Larrinaga, F., & Lasa, G. (2022). Context-awareness for the design of Smart-product service systems: Literature review. Computers in Industry, 142, 103730.
1 https://parsif.al/
Reference management. Clean and simple.
Where are systematic literature reviews used, what types of systematic literature reviews are there, how to write a systematic literature review, 1. decide on your team, 2. formulate your question, 3. plan your research protocol, 4. search for the literature, 5. screen the literature, 6. assess the quality of the studies, 7. extract the data, 8. analyze the results, 9. interpret and present the results, registering your systematic literature review, frequently asked questions about writing a systematic literature review, related articles.
A systematic literature review is a summary, analysis, and evaluation of all the existing research on a well-formulated and specific question.
Put simply, a systematic review is a study of studies that is popular in medical and healthcare research. In this guide, we will cover:
➡️ Visit our guide to the best research databases for medicine and health to find resources for your systematic review.
Systematic literature reviews can be utilized in various contexts, but they’re often relied on in clinical or healthcare settings.
Medical professionals read systematic literature reviews to stay up-to-date in their field, and granting agencies sometimes need them to make sure there’s justification for further research in an area. They can even be used as the starting point for developing clinical practice guidelines.
A classic systematic literature review can take different approaches:
Writing a systematic literature review can feel like an overwhelming undertaking. After all, they can often take 6 to 18 months to complete. Below we’ve prepared a step-by-step guide on how to write a systematic literature review.
When carrying out a systematic literature review, you should employ multiple reviewers in order to minimize bias and strengthen analysis. A minimum of two is a good rule of thumb, with a third to serve as a tiebreaker if needed.
You may also need to team up with a librarian to help with the search, literature screeners, a statistician to analyze the data, and the relevant subject experts.
Define your answerable question. Then ask yourself, “has someone written a systematic literature review on my question already?” If so, yours may not be needed. A librarian can help you answer this.
You should formulate a “well-built clinical question.” This is the process of generating a good search question. To do this, run through PICO:
Now you need a detailed strategy for how you’re going to search for and evaluate the studies relating to your question.
The protocol for your systematic literature review should include:
For a full guide on how to systematically develop your protocol, take a look at the PRISMA checklist . PRISMA has been designed primarily to improve the reporting of systematic literature reviews and meta-analyses.
When writing a systematic literature review, your goal is to find all of the relevant studies relating to your question, so you need to search thoroughly .
This is where your librarian will come in handy again. They should be able to help you formulate a detailed search strategy, and point you to all of the best databases for your topic.
➡️ Read more on on how to efficiently search research databases .
The places to consider in your search are electronic scientific databases (the most popular are PubMed , MEDLINE , and Embase ), controlled clinical trial registers, non-English literature, raw data from published trials, references listed in primary sources, and unpublished sources known to experts in the field.
➡️ Take a look at our list of the top academic research databases .
Tip: Don’t miss out on “gray literature.” You’ll improve the reliability of your findings by including it.
Don’t miss out on “gray literature” sources: those sources outside of the usual academic publishing environment. They include:
Gray literature sources are more likely to contain negative conclusions, so you’ll improve the reliability of your findings by including it. You should document details such as:
➡️ Read more about gray literature .
This should be performed by your two reviewers, using the criteria documented in your research protocol. The screening is done in two phases:
Make sure reviewers keep a log of which studies they exclude, with reasons why.
➡️ Visit our guide on what is an abstract?
Your reviewers should evaluate the methodological quality of your chosen full-text articles. Make an assessment checklist that closely aligns with your research protocol, including a consistent scoring system, calculations of the quality of each study, and sensitivity analysis.
The kinds of questions you'll come up with are:
Every step of the data extraction must be documented for transparency and replicability. Create a data extraction form and set your reviewers to work extracting data from the qualified studies.
Here’s a free detailed template for recording data extraction, from Dalhousie University. It should be adapted to your specific question.
Establish a standard measure of outcome which can be applied to each study on the basis of its effect size.
Measures of outcome for studies with:
Design a table and populate it with your data results. Draw this out into a forest plot , which provides a simple visual representation of variation between the studies.
Then analyze the data for issues. These can include heterogeneity, which is when studies’ lines within the forest plot don’t overlap with any other studies. Again, record any excluded studies here for reference.
Consider different factors when interpreting your results. These include limitations, strength of evidence, biases, applicability, economic effects, and implications for future practice or research.
Apply appropriate grading of your evidence and consider the strength of your recommendations.
It’s best to formulate a detailed plan for how you’ll present your systematic review results. Take a look at these guidelines for interpreting results from the Cochrane Institute.
Before writing your systematic literature review, you can register it with OSF for additional guidance along the way. You could also register your completed work with PROSPERO .
Systematic literature reviews are often found in clinical or healthcare settings. Medical professionals read systematic literature reviews to stay up-to-date in their field and granting agencies sometimes need them to make sure there’s justification for further research in an area.
The first stage in carrying out a systematic literature review is to put together your team. You should employ multiple reviewers in order to minimize bias and strengthen analysis. A minimum of two is a good rule of thumb, with a third to serve as a tiebreaker if needed.
Your systematic review should include the following details:
A literature review simply provides a summary of the literature available on a topic. A systematic review, on the other hand, is more than just a summary. It also includes an analysis and evaluation of existing research. Put simply, it's a study of studies.
The final stage of conducting a systematic literature review is interpreting and presenting the results. It’s best to formulate a detailed plan for how you’ll present your systematic review results, guidelines can be found for example from the Cochrane institute .
Use a variety of resources - locate books , journals , and documents that contain useful information and ideas on your topic. Internet sites , theses & dissertations , conference papers , ePrints and government or industry reports can also be included. Do not rely solely on electronic full-text material which is more easily available. Reference sources such as dictionaries can assist in defining terminology, and encyclopaedias may provide useful introductions to your topic by experts in the field and will list key references.
Step 3: search and refine.
See the chapter below for a helpful overview of the literature review process, especially the sections on how to analyse the literature you have gathered and how to write up your literature review:
Literature Reviews and Bibliographic Searches. 2006. In V. Desai, & R. Potter (Eds.), Doing Development Research. (pp. 209-222). London, England: SAGE Publications, Ltd. Available at: http://0-dx.doi.org.oasis.unisa.ac.za/10.4135/9781849208925.n22 (A student will be prompted at some stage for his/ her student number and myUnisa password. A staff member will be prompted at some stage for his/ her Unisa Network username and login password).
This book is available in the Sage Research Methods Online database.
Group the sources into the themes and sub-themes of your topic. As you read widely but selectively in your topic area, consider what themes or issues connect your sources together.
You can organize the review in many ways; for example, you can center the review historically (how the topic has been dealt with over time); or center it on the theoretical positions surrounding your topic (those for a position vs. those against, for example); or you can focus on how each of your sources contributes to your understanding of your project.
Your literature review should include:
Some of the information on this page is indebted to the sources below:
Caldwell College Library
Monmouth University Library
University of Cape Town Libraries
A literature review is a critical and comprehensive analysis of existing research, studies, articles, books, and other relevant sources on a specific topic or subject. It serves as a foundational step in the research process, helping researchers understand the current state of knowledge, identify gaps in the literature, and establish a context for their own study.
Table of Content
In most research reports or research papers, you will see that literature review is an essential element and it forms the basis for advancing knowledge, facilitates theory development, discovers new research areas and closes old ones. When researchers want to understand the management dilemma, they study various books, articles and all other available sources.
In the research reports, the researchers present a summary of their search, study and evaluation of the literature that is already available related to the research topic. When the researcher presents a summary of their study of present literature in addition to their analysis of how this literature is related to or essential for the current research report; then, this process is known as literature review.
For example, in a research paper titled ‘Attrition Analysis in a Leading Sales Organisation in India’, authored by Mamta Mohapatra (International Management Institute, New Delhi, India), Amisha Gupta (Birlasoft, New Delhi, India) and Nikita Lamba (Genpact, New Delhi, India), literature review is presented as follows:
Organisations and researchers usually conduct literature review in order to establish how their own research fits within the context of existing literature.
Apart from these, some other objectives of carrying out literature review are:
There are various reasons for carrying out literature review. Majorly, literature review helps in:
Some of the major functions of literature review are:
The second step in the research process is to carry out the review of already existing literature. Before engaging in literature review, the researcher must be clear as to what is the area and topic of research. There are four steps involved in the literature review process as shown in Figure:
In the literature review process, the first step is to find out what research has already been done in the area that the researcher has chosen. This step involves preparing a list or bibliography of existing sources of relevant literature such as books, journals, abstracts of articles on your research topic, citation indices and digital libraries.
After the researcher has identified related literature including journals, books, research papers, etc.; the next step is to study, evaluate and analyse the literature critically. This study of literature helps a researcher identify themes and issues related to the research topic.
An evaluation of literature helps in:
Since carrying out literature review is a time-consuming activity but the researcher has to do it within a limited time. In order to do so, the researcher usually establishes a boundary and parameters for the research work. Also, the researcher must sort information obtained from all the sources of literature. For a researcher, the theoretical framework acts as a base on which he can further or extend his research. At times, the researchers may modify their research framework after analysing the available literature.
The last step in literature review is to make a summary of all the literature that the researcher has studied and reviewed. Usually, writing a literature review starts with a write-up on the main theme of research followed by the important ideas on which the research would focus. After this, the all the major themes and sub-themes to be discussed are organised and related. This will help the researcher in structuring the literature review. The researcher should also identify and describe the theories and studies that are relevant for the study under consideration. The researcher should then list and describe all the gaps that are present in the current body of knowledge. In addition, the researcher may also explain the recent advances and trends in the given research field. To conclude, the researcher should compare and evaluate his findings on the basis of research assumptions, related research theories, hypotheses, applied research designs, variables selected and potential future work speculated by the researchers. Finally, the researcher must acknowledge, cite and quote all the sources that he/she has used in his research. One specific characteristic of literature review is that the researcher must ensure that he gives due credit to all people who have contributed in the research work.
While writing the literature review, the researcher must adopt or adhere to certain strategies as follows:
A researcher usually uses secondary data for literature review. Some of the major and widely used sources for literature reviews include articles in professional journals, statistical data from government websites and website material from professional organisations.
Apart from the previously mentioned sources, certain other sources of data can also be used by researchers that provide them first-hand information that is important for the study. These sources include reports, theses, emails, letters, conference proceedings, company reports, autobiographies, official reports, research articles, etc.
Apart from these, the researcher may also refer to other such as review articles, academic journals, books, newspapers, documentaries, encyclopaedias, dictionaries, bibliographies and citation indexes.
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The introduction to a literature review serves as your reader’s guide through your academic work and thought process. Explore the significance of literature review introductions in review papers, academic papers, essays, theses, and dissertations. We delve into the purpose and necessity of these introductions, explore the essential components of literature review introductions, and provide step-by-step guidance on how to craft your own, along with examples.
In academic writing , the introduction for a literature review is an indispensable component. Effective academic writing requires proper paragraph structuring to guide your reader through your argumentation. This includes providing an introduction to your literature review.
It is imperative to remember that you should never start sharing your findings abruptly. Even if there isn’t a dedicated introduction section .
There are three main scenarios in which you need an introduction for a literature review:
It is crucial to customize the content and depth of your literature review introduction according to the specific format of your academic work.
In practical terms, this implies, for instance, that the introduction in an academic literature review paper, especially one derived from a systematic literature review , is quite comprehensive. Particularly compared to the rather brief one or two introductory sentences that are often found at the beginning of a literature review section in a standard academic paper. The introduction to the literature review chapter in a thesis or dissertation again adheres to different standards.
The introduction of an academic literature review paper, which does not rely on empirical data, often necessitates a more extensive introduction than the brief literature review introductions typically found in empirical papers. It should encompass:
In a standard 8000-word journal article, the literature review section typically spans between 750 and 1250 words. The first few sentences or the first paragraph within this section often serve as an introduction. It should encompass:
In some cases, you might include:
Some students choose to incorporate a brief introductory section at the beginning of each chapter, including the literature review chapter. Alternatively, others opt to seamlessly integrate the introduction into the initial sentences of the literature review itself. Both approaches are acceptable, provided that you incorporate the following elements:
Example 1: an effective introduction for an academic literature review paper.
To begin, let’s delve into the introduction of an academic literature review paper. We will examine the paper “How does culture influence innovation? A systematic literature review”, which was published in 2018 in the journal Management Decision.
The second example represents a typical academic paper, encompassing not only a literature review section but also empirical data, a case study, and other elements. We will closely examine the introduction to the literature review section in the paper “The environmentalism of the subalterns: a case study of environmental activism in Eastern Kurdistan/Rojhelat”, which was published in 2021 in the journal Local Environment.
Thus, the author successfully introduces the literature review, from which point onward it dives into the main concept (‘subalternity’) of the research, and reviews the literature on socio-economic justice and environmental degradation.
Numerous universities offer online repositories where you can access theses and dissertations from previous years, serving as valuable sources of reference. Many of these repositories, however, may require you to log in through your university account. Nevertheless, a few open-access repositories are accessible to anyone, such as the one by the University of Manchester . It’s important to note though that copyright restrictions apply to these resources, just as they would with published papers.
Phd thesis literature review chapter introduction, phd thesis literature review introduction.
The last example is the doctoral thesis Metacognitive strategies and beliefs: Child correlates and early experiences Chan, K. Y. M. (Author). 31 Dec 2020 . The author clearly conducted a systematic literature review, commencing the review section with a discussion of the methodology and approach employed in locating and analyzing the selected records.
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When seeking information for a literature review or for any purpose, it helps to understand information-seeking as a process that you can follow. 5 Each of the six (6) steps has its own section in this web page with more detail. Do (and re-do) the following six steps:
1. Define your topic. The first step is defining your task -- choosing a topic and noting the questions you have about the topic. This will provide a focus that guides your strategy in step II and will provide potential words to use in searches in step III.
2. Develop a strategy. Strategy involves figuring out where the information might be and identifying the best tools for finding those types of sources. The strategy section identifies specific types of research databases to use for specific purposes.
3. Locate the information . In this step, you implement the strategy developed in II in order to actually locate specific articles, books, technical reports, etc.
4. Use and Evaluate the information. Having located relevant and useful material, in step IV you read and analyze the items to determine whether they have value for your project and credibility as sources.
5. Synthesize. In step V, you will make sense of what you've learned and demonstrate your knowledge. You will thoroughly understand, organize and integrate the information --become knowledgeable-- so that you are able to use your own words to support and explain your research project and its relationship to existing research by others.
6. Evaluate your work. At every step along the way, you should evaluate your work. However, this final step is a last check to make sure your work is complete and of high quality.
Continue below to begin working through the process.
5. Eisenberg, M. B., & Berkowitz, R. E. (1990). Information Problem-Solving: the Big Six Skills Approach to Library & Information Skills Instruction . Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing.
I. Define your topic
A. Many students have difficulty selecting a topic. You want to find a topic you find interesting and will enjoy learning more about.
B. Students often select a topic that is too broad. You may have a broad topic in mind initially and will need to narrow it.
1. To help narrow a broad topic :
a. Brainstorm.
1). Try this technique for brainstorming to narrow your focus.
a) Step 1. Write down your broad topic.
b) Step 2. Write down a "specific kind" or "specific aspect" of the topic you identified in step 1.
c) Step 3. Write down an aspect --such as an attribute or behavior-- of the "specific kind" you identified in step 2.
d) Step 4. Continue to add levels of specificity as needed to get to a focus that is manageable. However, you may want to begin researching the literature before narrowing further to give yourself the opportunity to explore what others are doing and how that might impact the direction that you take for your own research.
2) Three examples of using the narrowing technique. These examples start with very, very broad topics, so the topic at step 3 or 4 in these examples would be used for a preliminary search in the literature in order to identify a more specific focus. Greater specificity than level 3 or 4 will ultimately be necessary for developing a specific research question. And we may discover in our preliminary research that we need to alter the direction that we originally were taking.
a) Example 1.
Step 1. information security
Step 2. protocols
Step 3. handshake protocol
Brainstorming has brought us to focus on the handshake protocol.
b) Example 2.
Step 1. information security
Step 2. single sign-on authentication
Step 3. analyzing
Step 4. methods
Brainstorming has brought us to focus on methods for analyzing the security of single sign-on authentication
c) Example 3. The diagram below is an example using the broad topic of "software" to show two potential ways to begin to narrow the topic.
C. Once you have completed the brainstorming process and your topic is more focused, you can do preliminary research to help you identify a specific research question .
1) Examine overview sources such as subject-specific encyclopedias and textbooks that are likely to break down your specific topic into sub-topics and to highlight core issues that could serve as possible research questions. [See section II. below on developing a strategy to learn how to find these encyclopedias]
2). Search the broad topic in a research database that includes scholarly journals and professional magazines (to find technical and scholarly articles) and scan recent article titles for ideas. [See section II. below on developing a strategy to learn how to find trade and scholarly journal articles]
D. Once you have identified a research question or questions, ask yourself what you need to know to answer the questions. For example,
1. What new knowledge do I need to gain?
2. What has already been answered by prior research of other scholars?
E. Use the answers to the questions in C. to identify what words to use to describe the topic when you are doing searches.
1. Identify key words
a. For example , if you are investigating "security audits in banking", key terms to combine in your searches would be: security, audits, banking.
2. Create a list of alternative ways of referring to a key word or phrase
a.For example , "information assurance" may be referred to in various ways such as: "information assurance," "information security," and "computer security."
b. Use these alternatives when doing searches.
3. As you are searching, pay attention to how others are writing about the topic and add new words or phrases to your searches if appropriate.
II. Develop a strategy for finding the information.
A. Start by considering what types of source might contain the information you need . Do you need a dictionary for definitions? a directory for an address? the history of a concept or technique that might be in a book or specialized encyclopedia? today's tech news in an online tech magazine or newspaper? current research in a journal article? background information that might be in a specialized encyclopedia? data or statistics from a specific organization or website? Note that you will typically have online access to these source types.
B. This section provides a description of some of the common types of information needed for research.
1. For technical and business analysis , look for articles in technical and trade magazines . These articles are written by information technology professionals to help other IT professionals do their jobs better. Content might include news on new developments in hardware or software, techniques, tools, and practical advice. Technical journals are also likely to have product ads relevant to information technology workers and to have job ads. Examples iof technical magazines include Network Computing and IEEE Spectrum .
2. To read original research studies , look for articles in scholarly journals and conference proceedings . They will provide articles written by information technology professionals who are reporting original research; that is, research that has been done by the authors and is being reported for the first time. The audience for original research articles is other information technology scholars and professionals. Examples of scholarly journals include Journal of Applied Security Research , Journal of Management Information Systems , IEEE Transactions on Computers , and ACM Transactions on Information and System Security .
3. For original research being reported to funding agencies , look for technical reports on agency websites. Technical reports are researcher reports to funding agencies about progress on or completion of research funded by the agency.
4. For in-depth, comprehensive information on a topic , look for book-length volumes . All chapters in the book might be written by the same author(s) or might be a collection of separate papers written by different authors.
5. To learn about an unfamiliar topic , use textbooks , specialized encyclopedias and handbooks to get get overviews of topics, history/background, and key issues explained.
6. For instructions for hardware, software, networking, etc., look for manuals that provide step-by-step instructions.
7. For technical details about inventions (devices, instruments, machines), look for patent documents .
C. NOTE - In order to search for and find original research studies, it will help if you understand how information is produced, packaged and communicated within your profession. This is explained in the tab "Research Communication: Graphic."
III. Locate the information
A. Use search tools designed to find the sources you want. Types of sources were described in section II. above.
Always feel free to Ask a librarian for assistance when you have questions about where and how locate the information you need.
B. Evaluate the search results (no matter where you find the information)
1. Evaluate the items you find using at least these 5 criteria:
a. accuracy -- is the information reliable and error free?
1) Is there an editor or someone who verifies/checks the information?
2) Is there adequate documentation: bibliography, footnotes, credits?
3) Are the conclusions justified by the information presented?
b. authority -- is the source of the information reputable?
1) How did you find the source of information: an index to edited/peer-reviewed material, in a bibliography from a published article, etc.?
2) What type of source is it: sensationalistic, popular, scholarly?
c. objectivity -- does the information show bias?
1) What is the purpose of the information: to inform, persuade, explain, sway opinion, advertise?
2) Does the source show political or cultural biases?
d. currency -- is the information current? does it cover the time period you need?
e. coverage -- does it provide the evidence or information you need?
2. Is the search producing the material you need? -- the right content? the right quality? right time period? right geographical location? etc. If not, are you using
a. the right sources?
b. the right tools to get to the sources?
c. are you using the right words to describe the topic?
3. Have you discovered additional terms that should be searched? If so, search those terms.
4. Have you discovered additional questions you need to answer? If so, return to section A above to begin to answer new questions.
IV. Use the information.
A. Read, hear or view the source
1. Evaluate: Does the material answer your question(s)? -- right content? If not, return to B.
2. Evaluate: Is the material appropriate? -- right quality? If not, return to B.
B. Extract the information from the source : copy/download information, take notes, record citation, keep track of items using a citation manager.
1. Note taking (these steps will help you when you begin to write your thesis and/or document your project.):
a. Write the keywords you use in your searches to avoid duplicating previous searches if you return to search a research database again. Keeping track of keywords used will also save you time if your search is interrupted or you need return and do the search again for some other reason. It will help you remember which search terms worked successfully in which databases
b. Write the citations or record the information needed to cite each article/document you plan to read and use, or make sure that any saved a copy of the article includes all the information needed to cite it. Some article pdf files may not include all of the information needed to cite, and it's a waste of your valuable time to have to go back to search and find the items again in order to be able to cite them. Using citation management software such as EndNote will help keep track of citations and help create bibliographies for your research papers.
c. Write a summary of each article you read and/or why you want to use it.
V. Synthesize.
A. Organize and integrate information from multiple sources
B. Present the information (create report, speech, etc. that communicates)
C. Cite material using the style required by your professor or by the venue (conference, publication, etc.). For help with citation styles, see Guide to Citing Sources . A link to the citing guide is also available in the "Get Help" section on the left side of the Library home page
VI. Evaluate the paper, speech, or whatever you are using to communicate your research.
A. Is it effective?
B. Does it meet the requirements?
C. Ask another student or colleague to provide constructive criticism of your paper/project.
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I = identify: search for studies that match your criteria, e = evaluate: exclude or include studies, c = collect: extract and synthesize key data, e = explain: give context and rate the strength of the studies, s = summarize: write and publish your final report.
Congratulations!
You've decided to conduct a Systematic Review! Please see the associated steps below. You can follow the P-I-E-C-E-S = Plan, Identify, Evaluate, Collect, Explain, Summarize system or any number of systematic review processes available (Foster & Jewell, 2017) .
P = Plan: decide on your search methods
By now you should have identified gaps in the field and have a specific question you are seeking to answer. This will likely have taken several iterations and is the most important part of the Systematic Review process.
Once you've finalized a research question, you should be able to locate existing systematic reviews on or similar to your topic. existing systematic reviews will be your clues to mine for keywords, sample searches in various databases, and will help your team finalize your review question and develop your inclusion and exclusion criteria. , decide on a protocol and reporting standard, your protocol is essentially a project plan and data management strategy for an objective, reproducible, sound methodology for peer review. the reporting standard or guidelines are not a protocols, but rather a set of standards to guide the development of your systematic review. often they include checklists. it is not required, but highly recommended to follow a reporting standard. .
Protocol registry: Reviewing existing systematic reviews and registering your protocol will increase transparency, minimize bias, and reduce the redundancy of groups working on the same topics ( PLoS Medicine Editors, 2011 ). Protocols can serve as internal or external documents. Protocols can be made public prior to the review. Some registries allow for keeping a protocol private for a set period of time.
Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (UGA Login) (Health Sciences)
A collection of regularly updated, systematic reviews of the effects of health care. New reviews are added with each issue of The Cochrane Library Reviews mainly of randomized controlled trials. All reviews have protocols.
PROSPERO (General)
This is an international register of systematic reviews and is public.
Campbell Corporation (Education & Social Sciences)
Topics covered include Ageing; Business and Management; Climate Solutions; Crime and Justice; Disability; Education; International Development; Knowledge Translation and Implementation; Methods; Nutrition and Food Security; Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity; Social Welfare; and Training.
Systematic Review for Animals and Food (Vet Med & Animal Science)
Reporting Standards:
Campbell MECCIR Standards (Education & Social Sciences)
Cochrane Guides & Handbooks (Health & Medical Sciences)
Institute of Medicine of the National Academies: Finding What Works in Healthcare: Standards for Systematic Reviews (healthcare)
Because the purpose of a SR is to find all studies related to your research question, you will need to search multiple databases. You should be able to name the databases you are already familiar with using. Your librarian will be able to recommend additional databases, including some of the following:
Depending on your topic, you may want to search clinical trials and grey literature. See this guide for more on grey literature.
Go here for help with writing your search strategy
Each database you use will have different methods of searching and resulting search strings, including syntax. ideally you will create one master keyword list and translate it for each database. below are tools to assist with translating search strings. .
Includes syntax for Cochrane Library, EBSCO, ProQuest, Ovid, and POPLINE.
The IEBH SR-Accelerator is a suite of tools to assist in speeding up portions of the Systematic Review process, including the Polyglot tool which translates searches across databases.
University of Michigan Search 101 - SR Database Cheat Sheet
Because systematic review literature searches may produce thousands of citations and abstracts, the research team will be screening and systematically reviewing large amounts of results. During screening , you will remove duplicates and remove studies that are not relevant to your topic based on a review of titles and abstracts. Of what remains, the full-text screening of the studies will then need to be conducted to confirm that they fit within your inclusion/exclusion criteria.
The results of the literature review and screening processes are best managed by various tools and software. You can also use a simple form or table to log the relevant information from each study. Consider whether you will be coding your data during the extraction process in your decision on which tool or software to use. Your librarian can consult on which of these is best suited to your research needs.
Data extraction processes differ between qualitative and quantitative evidence syntheses. In both cases, you must provide the reader with a clear overview of the studies you have included, their similarities and differences, and the findings. Extraction should be done in accordance to pre-established guidelines, such as PRISMA.
Some systematic reviews contain meta-analysis of the quantitative findings of the results. Consider including a statistician on your team to complete the analysis of all individual study results. Meta-analysis will tell you how much or what the actual results is across the studies and explains results in a measure of variance, typically called a forest plot.
Systematic review price models have changed over the years. Previously, you had to depend on departmental access to software that would cost several hundred dollars. Now that the software is cloud-based, tiered payment systems are now available. Sometimes there is a free tier level, but costs go up for functionality, number or users, or both. Depending on the organization's model, payments may be monthly, annual or per project/review.
Software list
Tool created by Brown University to assist with screening for systematic reviews.
Review Manager (RevMan) is the software used for preparing and maintaining Cochrane Reviews.
Systematic review tool intended to assist with the screening and extraction process. (Requires subscription)
DistillerSR is an online application designed specifically for the screening and data extraction phases of a systematic review (Requires subscription) Student and Faculty tiers have monthly pricing with a three month minimum. Number of projects is limited by pricing.
It includes features such as text mining, data clustering, classification and term extraction
Rayyan is a free web-based application that can be used to screen titles, abstracts, and full text. Allows for multiple simultaneous users.
"System for the Unified Management, Assessment and Review of Information, the Joanna Briggs Institutes premier software for the systematic review of literature."
PRISMA guidelines suggest including critical appraisal of the included studies to assess the risk of bias and to include the assessment in your final manuscripts. There are several appraisal tools available depending on your discipline and area of research.
Simple overview of risk of bias assessment, including examples of how to assess and present your conclusions.
CASP is an organization that provides resources for healthcare professionals, but their appraisal tools can be used for varying study types across disciplines.
From the Joanna Briggs Institute: "JBI’s critical appraisal tools assist in assessing the trustworthiness, relevance and results of published papers."
Johns Hopkins Evidence-Based Practice Model (health sciences)
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Document the search; 5.1.6. Include a methods section
List of additional critical appraisal tools from Cardiff University.
Prepare your process and findings in a final manuscript. Be sure to check your PRISMA checklist or other reporting standard. You will want to include the full formatted search strategy for the appendix, as well as include documentation of your search methodology. A convenient way to illustrate this process is through a PRISMA Flow Diagram.
Attribution: Unless noted otherwise, this section of the guide was adapted from Texas A&M's "Systematic Reviews and Related Evidence Syntheses"
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The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.
The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.
Publication info, research methodology, description.
In 2023 the Chief Evaluation Office partnered with the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) to fund a study focused on exploring approaches to measure and increase equity in ETA’s discretionary grant-making programs. This study sought to explore how grant-makers – such as Federal agencies, State and local government agencies, and philanthropic organizations – define, assess, and increase equity in their grant-making process.
This study explores research and strategies related to equity in the discretionary grant-making process based on a review of publicly available literature and Federal agency Equity Action Plans as well as interviews with Federal and philanthropic grant-makers. The report describes how funders define equity in the context of awarding grants, common barriers and promising action steps to increase equity in each stage of the grant-making process (pre-award, collection of applications, funding of awards, and post-award), and measurement strategies to help funders track their progress.
This report can support a variety of grant-makers examining equity, whether at government agencies (including at Federal, State, and local levels) or foundations. Recognizing that grant-making organizations vary in size, policy area, and scope, the study team provides findings and suggestions that funders can tailor to meet their context and goals. The findings focus on domestic (U.S.-based) grant-making, though international or transnational grant-makers may also find useful insights.
Key takeaways include:
An official website of the United States government
The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.
The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.
Email citation, add to collections.
Your saved search, create a file for external citation management software, your rss feed.
Affiliations.
Cuproptosis, a copper-dependent programmed cell death process, holds promise for controlling cell death in tumor cells. Autophagy, a fundamental cellular process, has been linked to various aspects of cancer, such as proliferation, migration, and drug resistance. This research is centered on the investigation of autophagy- and cuproptosis-related long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) and the establishment of a prognostic model for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. RNA sequencing data from head and neck squamous cell carcinoma patients in The Cancer Genome Atlas database identified cuproptosis-related lncRNAs via Pearson analysis. Patients were divided into training and testing sets. A prognostic model developed in the training set using univariate-least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (Lasso) and multivariate Cox regression was tested for accuracy. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed high-risk patients had poorer outcomes. Cox regression confirmed the model's risk score as an independent prognostic indicator, with receiver operating characteristic and decision curve analyses validating its predictive accuracy. Thirteen lncRNAs associated with autophagy and cuproptosis were identified through bioinformatics analysis. Lasso regression narrowed this to 3 significant prognostic lncRNAs. Based on median risk scores, patients were classified into high-risk and low-risk groups. Kaplan-Meier survival curves revealed significant differences between these groups (P < .01). Through a set of bioinformatics analyses, we identified 13 autophagy- and cuproptosis-related lncRNAs. By Lasso regression, 3 prognostic-related lncRNAs were further selected. We also investigated these 3 lncRNAs in relation to clinicopathologic features. The principal component analysis visually showed differences between the high-risk and low-risk groups.
Copyright © 2024 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.
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The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
Flowchart: diagram illustrating the step-by-step…
Flowchart: diagram illustrating the step-by-step process of our study, from data collection through…
Venn diagram of AC-lncRNAs: shows…
Venn diagram of AC-lncRNAs: shows the overlap between different sets of AC-lncRNAs identified…
Univariate Cox regression analysis: graphical…
Univariate Cox regression analysis: graphical representation of the univariate Cox regression analysis identifying…
Lasso regression: plots showing the…
Lasso regression: plots showing the selection of variables for the prognostic model using…
Validation of the prognostic risk…
Validation of the prognostic risk model in HNSC: (A) PCA plot demonstrating the…
Independent prognostic value of PAC-lncRNAs…
Independent prognostic value of PAC-lncRNAs signature: (A) univariate Cox regression analysis validating the…
Immune reactive heatmap: heatmap displaying…
Immune reactive heatmap: heatmap displaying the immune activity profiles across samples, illustrating variations…
lncRNAs–miRNAs–DEGs network: a network diagram…
lncRNAs–miRNAs–DEGs network: a network diagram showing the interactions between lncRNAs, miRNAs, and differentially…
Immune function differential analysis: bar…
Immune function differential analysis: bar charts and graphs depicting the differences in immune…
Immune checkpoint analysis: visualization of…
Immune checkpoint analysis: visualization of the expression levels of key immune checkpoints in…
m6A analysis: charts and graphs…
m6A analysis: charts and graphs presenting the analysis of m6A modification patterns in…
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Literature Review and Research Design by Dave Harris This book looks at literature review in the process of research design, and how to develop a research practice that will build skills in reading and writing about research literature--skills that remain valuable in both academic and professional careers. Literature review is approached as a process of engaging with the discourse of scholarly ...
Examples of literature reviews. Step 1 - Search for relevant literature. Step 2 - Evaluate and select sources. Step 3 - Identify themes, debates, and gaps. Step 4 - Outline your literature review's structure. Step 5 - Write your literature review.
A literature review is an integrated analysis-- not just a summary-- of scholarly writings and other relevant evidence related directly to your research question.That is, it represents a synthesis of the evidence that provides background information on your topic and shows a association between the evidence and your research question.
A literature review is a document or section of a document that collects key sources on a topic and discusses those sources in conversation with each other (also called synthesis ). The lit review is an important genre in many disciplines, not just literature (i.e., the study of works of literature such as novels and plays).
A literature review is a critical analysis and synthesis of existing research on a particular topic. It provides an overview of the current state of knowledge, identifies gaps, and highlights key findings in the literature. 1 The purpose of a literature review is to situate your own research within the context of existing scholarship, demonstrating your understanding of the topic and showing ...
A literature review is an account of what has been published on a topic by accredited scholars and researchers. Occasionally you will be asked to write one as a separate assignment, but more often it is part of the introduction to an essay, research report, or thesis.
What kinds of literature reviews are written? Narrative review: The purpose of this type of review is to describe the current state of the research on a specific topic/research and to offer a critical analysis of the literature reviewed. Studies are grouped by research/theoretical categories, and themes and trends, strengths and weakness, and gaps are identified.
A literature review is a survey of scholarly sources on a specific topic. It provides an overview of current knowledge, allowing you to identify relevant theories, methods, and gaps in the existing research. There are five key steps to writing a literature review: Search for relevant literature. Evaluate sources.
A literature review is a review and synthesis of existing research on a topic or research question. A literature review is meant to analyze the scholarly literature, make connections across writings and identify strengths, weaknesses, trends, and missing conversations. A literature review should address different aspects of a topic as it ...
As mentioned above, writing your literature review is a process, which I'll break down into three steps: Finding the most suitable literature. Understanding, distilling and organising the literature. Planning and writing up your literature review chapter. Importantly, you must complete steps one and two before you start writing up your chapter.
What is a literature review? Definition: A literature review is a systematic examination and synthesis of existing scholarly research on a specific topic or subject. Purpose: It serves to provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of knowledge within a particular field. Analysis: Involves critically evaluating and summarizing key findings, methodologies, and debates found in ...
The great thing about this process is that it breaks down into manageable steps something that seems enormous: writing a literature review. I think that Foss and Walter's system for writing the literature review is ideal for a dissertation, because a Ph.D. candidate has already read widely in his or her field through graduate seminars and ...
Typically, a literature review is a written discussion that examines publications about a particular subject area or topic. Depending on disciplines, publications, or authors a literature review may be: A summary of sources. An organized presentation of sources. A synthesis or interpretation of sources. An evaluative analysis of sources.
A literature review may consist of simply a summary of key sources, but in the social sciences, a literature review usually has an organizational pattern and combines both summary and synthesis, often within specific conceptual categories.A summary is a recap of the important information of the source, but a synthesis is a re-organization, or a reshuffling, of that information in a way that ...
A literature review is a summary of the published work in a field of study. It can be a section of a larger paper or article, or the focus of an entire paper. ... Analysis is the part of the literature review process where you justify why your research is needed, how others have not addressed it, and/or how your research advances the field ...
Literature reviews establish the foundation of academic inquires. However, in the planning field, we lack rigorous systematic reviews. In this article, through a systematic search on the methodology of literature review, we categorize a typology of literature reviews, discuss steps in conducting a systematic literature review, and provide suggestions on how to enhance rigor in 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.
A formal literature review is an evidence-based, in-depth analysis of a subject. There are many reasons for writing one and these will influence the length and style of your review, but in essence a literature review is a critical appraisal of the current collective knowledge on a subject. Rather than just being an exhaustive list of all that ...
Performing a literature review is a critical first step in research to understanding the state-of-the-art and identifying gaps and challenges in the field. A systematic literature review is a method which sets out a series of steps to methodically organize the review. In this paper, we present a guide designed for researchers and in particular ...
Screen the literature. Assess the quality of the studies. Extract the data. Analyze the results. Interpret and present the results. 1. Decide on your team. When carrying out a systematic literature review, you should employ multiple reviewers in order to minimize bias and strengthen analysis.
Literature review process - an overview. Step 3: Search and refine. Unisa has a number of databases that provide full text access to articles, that allow you to refine your search to 'peer reviewed' journals. These are scholarly journals which go through a rigorous process of quality assessment by several researchers or subject specialists ...
A literature review is a critical and comprehensive analysis of existing research, studies, articles, books, and other relevant sources on a specific topic or subject. It serves as a foundational step in the research process, helping researchers understand the current state of knowledge, identify gaps in the literature, and establish a context ...
The general literature review is a synthesis and analysis of published research on a relevant clinical issue, and is a common format for academic theses at the bachelor's and master's levels in nursing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, public health and other related fields. ... The same process is followed for each of the studied ...
The introduction to a literature review serves as your reader's guide through your academic work and thought process. Explore the significance of literature review introductions in review papers, academic papers, essays, theses, and dissertations. We delve into the purpose and necessity of these introductions, explore the essential components of literature review introductions, and provide ...
When seeking information for a literature review or for any purpose, it helps to understand information-seeking as a process that you can follow. 5 Each of the six (6) steps has its own section in this web page with more detail. Do (and re-do) the following six steps: 1. Define your topic.
An overview of many types of reviews: systematic review, meta-analysis, scoping review, literature review, rapid review, etc. with definitions and background literature. From the University of Toronto. ... This research guide provides an overview of the evidence synthesis process, guidance documents for conducting evidence synthesis projects ...
The results of the literature review and screening processes are best managed by various tools and software. You can also use a simple form or table to log the relevant information from each study. Consider whether you will be coding your data during the extraction process in your decision on which tool or software to use.
Review the literature to search for studies. Screen titles and abstracts to identify potentially relevant studies. Review full-text and apply inclusion and exclusion criteria. Assess quality of eligible studies. Depending on the type of review, extract data from individual studies. Analyze data and synthesize if appropriate. Report findings.
In 2023 the Chief Evaluation Office partnered with the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) to fund a study focused on exploring approaches to measure and increase equity in ETA's discretionary grant-making programs. This study sought to explore how grant-makers - such as Federal agencies, State and local government agencies, and philanthropic organizations - define, assess, and ...
Cuproptosis, a copper-dependent programmed cell death process, holds promise for controlling cell death in tumor cells. Autophagy, a fundamental cellular process, has been linked to various aspects of cancer, such as proliferation, migration, and drug resistance. This research is centered on the inv …