FINAL PROJECT (CE3216) Structure for a Literature Review Dr. DEEPAK T. J. SCHOOL OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

The Purpose of the Literature Review There is no point in carrying out tests or research without having some idea of what you expect the results to be Knowing roughly what you expect allows you to “look in the right places” and “look for the right things”

The Purpose of the Literature Review Consequently, your literature review should give you: Firstly, a general background to your research area Then, more specific detail about your actual research project

The Process to be followed There is a standard process that can be followed to put together a literature review as follows: a)Set the Research Hypothesis b)This will raise a number of questions about the subject being studied c)The aim is then to find answers to these in published literature

The Process to be followed There is a standard process that can be followed to put together a literature review as follows: d)By asking relevant questions and finding the correct references, you should be able to get a better understanding of what you expect to happen in your tests or analyses so that you can “predict” what results you are going to find

The Process to be followed There is a standard process that can be followed to put together a literature review as follows: e)When you have all your references, you need to decide what you are going to use in your review – not all the references you have found will be equally important and you need to concentrate on the important ones f)Once you have decided what references you are going to use, you need to structure the order in which you are going to use them

The Process to be followed There is a standard process that can be followed to put together a literature review as follows: g)The final review should be structured so that: i.It answers the most important background questions to your research work ii.It starts off by answering general questions about the subject and then moves on to answer more and more specific questions

EXAMPLE 1 Carrying out a literature review for a project on “sustainability and recycling” The hypothesis being researched is that it is a good idea to carry out more recycling

Questions that the literature review may need to answer would include: a)What is sustainability? b)When was the term first defined? c)Has its meaning changed and what does it mean now? d)What is recycling? e)Is there any difference between recycling and sustainability and/or how are they related? f)Who actually recycles?

Questions that the literature review may need to answer would include: g)What targets are set for recycling and who sets them? h)Does recycling actually save money and how does it do this? i)Can the need for recycling be measured just in financial terms? Has anyone tried to measure it in different ways? j)Can you find examples of good practice in recycling? Bad practice?

Questions that the literature review may need to answer would include: k)What targets currently exist for recycling in the UK? Are these set by the UK or the EU? l)Are there any plans to update and/or change current targets?

You need to answer all of these questions by referring to: a)What other researchers have done and what they have published b)Any other relevant technical documents (for example, in this case you would probably need to look at EU directives)

What you should NOT do is: Say what YOU think the answers are without producing any evidence (i.e. references) to support what you are saying......

What you SHOULD do is: Comment on what is written in the references you collect, but only when your comments will be useful and objective..... For example, if you find one reference which says that the UK recycles 20,000 tonnes of lead every year and another reference which says it recycles 5,000 tonnes, you need to point out the difference and try to explain why this has occurred

The Structure of the Review Once you have collected your references, you need to structure the way you are going to present them in your review. This can generally be done by thinking about which questions your references answer and trying to set the structure so that these are answered in a sensible order.

The Structure of the Review Section 1: What are Sustainability and Recycling? In this section you would explain how the references you have found define these two terms. You would need to explain what they mean and whether their meanings are different for different people.

The Structure of the Review Section 2: Does Recycling Save Money? Here you would explain what the references you have found say about this. You would also probably need to say whether there are other ways in which recycling might be a good idea – have people shown that it benefits the environment? It would NOT be relevant to say that you think recycling is good either: because “it must be” or “it seems like a good idea” – you MUST use the evidence that you find in your references.

The Structure of the Review Section 3: Some Good and Bad Examples of Recycling In this section you would describe the examples of recycling that you have found in your literature review, saying which ones are thought to be good and which ones are thought to be bad. You would probably be able to include some of your own opinions here, but where you do this you must provide a logical argument to support what you are saying.

The Structure of the Review Section 4: Targets for Recycling In this section you would say what the current targets are for recycling (e.g. Local Authority Targets, UK wide targets and EU targets). You may also discuss what targets have applied in previous years and whether or not these have been met.

The Structure of the Review The idea of the literature review is that this then leads in to your current research. Consequently, the structure given above would be particularly suitable of your research was looking at how targets are set for recycling by considering whether target setting has worked in the past and how this has been done.

TUTORIAL 1 Carrying out a literature review for a project on “the use of plasticisers in concrete”

Questions that the literature review may need to answer would include: a)When was concrete first used? (And how has concrete changed since then?) b)What physical properties are important in concrete design (e.g. strength, workability) and why are these important? c)How are these physical properties affected by water/cement ratio? Cement content? Aggregate? Age of concrete? d)How do plasticizers affect all of the above? e)When were plasticizers first used and why?

Questions that the literature review may need to answer would include: f)What different plasticizers are used and what are the differences? (e.g. are they all similar types of materials, do they all work in the same way?) g)Where have plasticizers been used effectively? Are there any cases where they have caused problems and have these problems been solved? h)How is the use of plasticizers incorporated into design?

Questions that the literature review may need to answer would include: i)What design standards are relevant? j)Would there be problems in introducing a different type of plasticizer? Who would control whether it was acceptable? k)Are there any health and safety aspects in using plasticizers? Any contamination issues? l)Are there any long term concrete strength issues?

Questions that the literature review may need to answer would include: m)Even if a plasticizer works in plain concrete, will this necessarily also be the case in reinforced concrete?

TUTORIAL 2 Carrying out a literature review for a project on “the performance of concrete columns in combined axial and bending.”

Questions that the literature review may need to answer would include: a)What is the definition of a column? b)What loads are columns likely to have to carry? c)What are the effects of combined bending and axial loading? d)Is the engineers’ bending equation relevant? (And how is it derived?) e)What is the effect of buckling? f)What is the slenderness ratio and how does it affect behaviour?

Questions that the literature review may need to answer would include: g)Will the column behave as a slender or a short column? What is the influence of the slenderness ratio? h)What are the effects of eccentricity of loading? How important is this likely to be for a real structure? Can the effects of eccentricity be designed out? i)How are columns designed? Design standards? j)Do actual columns perform in accordance with the theoretical model?

Questions that the literature review may need to answer would include: k)Case studies of actual performance? l)What practical construction methods are used and/or relevant? Do these have any effect on in-service performance? m)Have any potential improvements been suggested in column design/construction?