Dr Jamal Roudaki Faculty of Commerce Lincoln University New Zealand

Literature Review 1. Why conduct a literature Review? 2. Where do I find the research literature? 3. Importance of citations. 4. How to conduct a systematic review? 5. How to arrange a suitable data base (documentation) 6. How to use literature review Dr Jamal RoudakiLiterature Review and Documentation

Why conduct a literature review Goals and objectives Familiarity with body of knowledge in the research area Establish credibility of the research project Reveal path of prior research to link with your research Integrating and summarizing prior findings Learn from other research projects (methodology, results limitations, usefulness) Dr Jamal RoudakiLiterature Review and Documentation

Why conduct a literature review Important points: Your research topic (question) is the main and Literature review only assists in defining your research problem to be: Comprehensive Researchable Not duplicating A sound literature review reveals sources of data that you was not aware of Dr Jamal RoudakiLiterature Review and Documentation

What are the benefits of Literature Review Prove that you are aware of: The research in the area increases a reader’s confidence about your professional competence, ability and background Demonstrates relevance of research project by making connections to a body of knowledge Elaborate on agree and or disagree in previous research results Built on pervious research and find future direction Identifies gaps and suggests hypotheses for further study Dr Jamal RoudakiLiterature Review and Documentation

Literature Review Few points: Do a s ystematic Review Evaluate and interpret all available research evidence relevant to your research question/s Include all relevant and valid papers and research results Sources should be reliable (scientific) Look for (be critical): Details of methods Results of studies Presentation Methodology used to extract results Review strategy and sources Study selection criteria Quality assessment criteria Data extraction procedure/data synthesis/time frame Dr Jamal RoudakiLiterature Review and Documentation

Where to Look for Literature Scholarly journals, books, dissertations, government documents, policy reports, presented papers. Use data bases (Internet – use search engines) Use the library Online catalogues of libraries Dr Jamal RoudakiLiterature Review and Documentation

Documentation When reviewing literature: Be systematic in collection of literature Record all literature Use a consistence method of collecting literature Computer packages for referencing (Reference Manager or Endnote) Data bases provide citation Keep all piece of work that you read (suitable filing system) File by subject matter/theme Even keep not relevant piece of work that you read Dr Jamal RoudakiLiterature Review and Documentation

Citation Authors’ names, year of publication, publisher, titles, chapter titles and page numbers Never push referencing to the end Prepare citation as you go Use suitable citation in accordance to university, or publisher rules (Chicago, Harvard, APA etc). Make a complete citation: Dr Jamal RoudakiLiterature Review and Documentation

How to start When start to read: Have a clear purpose or goal in mind (why and what) Why I am reading the article What to learn from the article (set goals) When finish: What I learn How it is related to my research Shortcuts Read abstract, introduction and conclusions Check research mythology and results Evaluate as you read What do you already know about the topic Familiarity with methods Method and validity of citation Interpret what you read, don’t just give summaries Structure the evidence around your main research question Dr Jamal RoudakiLiterature Review and Documentation

Literature Review Points Be aware that you are reviewing the literature not reproducing Identify good articles that really impressed (you may need to read them again and again) Brainstorming What information do you need Describe in your own words the key aspects of research topic Important: Plan the literature review Key words (could be change as you go) Search engine/s (internet databases) Documentations Dr Jamal RoudakiLiterature Review and Documentation

Too Few / Too Many Sources Too Few: Topic is narrow Consult literature to revise topic Seek advice to expand you topic Too Many: Plan to scale your research down to manageable level Categorise sources Is there anything interesting but not necessarily critical to your research Dr Jamal RoudakiLiterature Review and Documentation

Software EndNote Reference management software Once a reference is available in EndNote it can be added into these writing or proposal with a couple of mouse clicks Automatically inserting correctly formatted in-text and reference list entries Dr Jamal RoudakiLiterature Review and Documentation

Thank You Questions Discussion Dr Jamal RoudakiLiterature Review and Documentation