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

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

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

4. 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

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

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

7. 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?

8. 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.

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

10. 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.

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. Online search
CMU Library

15. 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

16. 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

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

18. 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?