Literature Surveys Source : : Keshav P. Dahal (Bradford University) : Prof Jiang, Prof McClachey

Research literature survey Many operations involved Finding literature Reading literature Discussing ideas Having brilliant ideas and discovering which ones are worth bothering with

The hierarchy of information. Primary sources Secondary sources Experiments Interviews Questionnaires Conversations Publications Lectures

Why survey the literature? Discover the state-of-the-art Identify gaps in the body of knowledge Identify relevant work Find useful expertise Keep abreast of developments

The world of literature. Textbooks. Learned Journals. Conference proceedings. World wide web. Trade papers. Newspapers.

Types of academic publication Original paper Review of a research topic Bibliography Thesis Dissertation Technical Report

The project context What related work is being undertaken? What is the motivation for the work? How does it help me? Why am I studying this aspect of the problem?

The area of investigation. Literature surveys are a critical appraisal  What techniques are in use?  What are the findings of other people?  What are the views of other people?  How do they compare with my views? Literature surveys are a critical appraisal rather than a simple list of papers.

A literature survey demonstrates : an awareness of an adequate body of knowledge the ability to apply that knowledge to the project

Where to find Journals and conferences in your field Ask the faculty members at your university Where have you found papers? Become a member of any associations that interest you Go to the websites of the conferences in which you are interested Register for the mailing lists in your area of research. Most of conferences announcements are mailed to the mailing lists.

Conference for networking • Standard paper presentation conference sessions – informative but passive • Attend professional development workshops and social events • Meet other PhD students and high profile faculty • Explore opportunities for : – greater insight into the field – collaborators for co-authorship – critical reviewing of your research – Becoming member

Guidance for finding materials • Have a particular conference in mind – Look through the proceedings for the past two years • Authors’ web site for technical report and not-quite-yetpublished papers • Papers cited by the papers from recent proceedings – do not assume their comments are an accurate reflection of the cited paper • Use citeseer to find more recent papers that cite the proceedings' – find the more recent papers that cite those papers • Search for relevant papers written by the program committee in past instances

Guidance for finding materials • google, yahoo type search engines are too general may not be enough – Paper before 1997 may not be posted in web – Cannot be found if different terminology than the authors • Review request by colleagues – but not enough, may not be in public domain • Search the digital libraries of acm.org, IEEE computer.org, and any other professional societies relevant to your field – Membership of some organisation is free for students • Library may have online search capabilities

Online search CMU Library http://library.cmu.ac.th/

Guidance for literature review • Do not cite from a cite - go to the source • Read the whole papers that you cite • Do not be shy about contacting authors • Citing papers more than 3-4 years old • journal citation is usually preferable • Use specialised citation formats • Use standard terminology • Do not over cite your own previous work • Do not assume anything about concepts and work done in others’ paper

Reading papers • Be selective in what you read – find appropriate conferences – quiz your supervisor or academic staff member – scan before reading, read abstract and conclusions first – if it still looks interesting, read and read again – summarise the ideas in journal/work notes – its normal to be overwhelmed

Assignment Search KMS papers Select 4 papers that related to your domain research Evaluate paper Present 1-2 , submit before 12.00 am

Evaluating Papers What related work is being undertaken? What is the motivation for the work? What techniques are in use? What are the findings of the papers? How does it help me? Why am I studying this aspect of the problem?