1. School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences
17/04/2017
Work for projects
The literature study
The literature survey
The literature review
April 17
Literature review
MSc Computing Information Systems

2. School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences
17/04/2017
Literature Review
Overview of relevant technologies and ideas (but don’t rewrite textbook material – just summarize!)
Identifies your project topic by placing it in a wider context.
Focussed discussion on one or more specific topics (your choice) from the wider context.
April 17
Literature review
MSc Computing Information Systems

3. School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences
17/04/2017
Why do a review?
To support your reasons for the project
Confirm that your project idea is from a recognised problem area (identification)
Show where it fits into the overall subject area (relatedness)
Make it clear it is a worthwhile problem to solve (valuation)
To improve your presentation of your project
By reading and understanding work in related areas
By listening to current debates in the Computing community, academic and professional.
April 17
Literature review
MSc Computing Information Systems

4. What will a literature review achieve?
School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences
17/04/2017
What will a literature review achieve?
A Distinction project must have a LR and show how the project has been influenced by it.
It will show evidence of awareness of current developments in technology and ideas.
It will evaluate the project implementation against current developments
It will show evidence of a professional approach in some focussed areas.
April 17
Literature review
MSc Computing Information Systems

5. School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences
17/04/2017
Development projects
Identify currently available software tools that support this type of development, not just the one you chose.
Consider the alternatives and evaluate the trade-offs. Find journal articles that discuss the most recent approaches and speculate on the future trends.
Not just How to Do It; but Why Do It This Way.
Do = design, code, build, develop
April 17
Literature review
MSc Computing Information Systems

6. School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences
17/04/2017
How to go about LR
Type your project title into the ACM database or similar
Browse the references looking for readable and relevant material. Usually practical, but theory may sometimes be close to practice.
Look out for keywords that identify specific topics and try adding these to your search string.
April 17
Literature review
MSc Computing Information Systems

7. The literature survey process
Define search
Write notes
Redefine
search
Breadth of focus
Perform search
Sift material
April 17
Literature review

8. Refining your search
To begin with you will find that around 10% of your “hits” are relevent (sometimes less)
Focus on an article that is relevent and note its list of keywords
Decide which keywords are of most interest and add them to your search terms
Repeat until your hit rate is > 50% and you like what you see
April 17
Literature review

9. Out of date reference?
If it is published more than 3-4 years ago then it may be obsolete
If it looks interesting then find out what has happened since it was published by:
Type the article title in to the search box and search
Change the sort order to publication date
April 17
Literature review

10. How to read journal articles
School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences
17/04/2017
How to read journal articles
Start with abstract – anything of interest?
If yes then go to the conclusion – did they deliver anything of specific interest to you?
If yes then find it within the journal article (use the headings – don’t read all the text!) and make some notes
Now check out the introduction for anything helpful in the way of context
Now go to the references – chase up any article that also looks useful e.g. the original idea, related ideas or applications.
April 17
Literature review
MSc Computing Information Systems

11. School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences
17/04/2017
Writing it up (1)
After you have read 5-10 articles and 5-10 books and made simple notes
Decide what are the key ideas
Then organise your material into a catalogue
Put related articles together e.g. (Jones 1998) and (Smith 2001)
describe how technology change has …
Follow a timeline (e.g. if it helps understand some current controversy) e.g. Moore’s law goes back to (Moore …) … but recent articles (Hussein 2004) have questioned whether the limit
Compare and contrast - work out whether a different approach
Agrees with the first one
Is complementary to it (looks at different issues, same topic)
whether it extends it, (looks in more depth at the same issues)
or is head to head (disagrees with an alternative view)
April 17
Literature review
MSc Computing Information Systems

12. School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences
17/04/2017
Writing it up (2)
Look for a specific focus that could take you from one idea to the next e.g. an overall aim like standardisation, or performance, or efficiency
Now you should do some further reading to fill in the gaps or to follow up a topic in greater detail
You may want to look for more recent articles, that reference the articles that you have found useful, so that you be sure you are up to date. This is called a citation search.
April 17
Literature review
MSc Computing Information Systems

13. School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences
17/04/2017
Grammar and syntax …
Simply re-state what the author said: X found, argued, believed that ….
Comment from your point of view: Y’s approach has become the standard,
is controversial, …
Stay neutral: Z reports that …, concludes that …, proposes that …
Cheerleader: X makes a convincing case …, Y’s excellent description is …, in a well-argued study Z shows that …
April 17
Literature review
MSc Computing Information Systems

14. School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences
17/04/2017
And …
Be sceptical - Is the article superficial or is it really setting out some useful ideas.
In depth – check
Assumptions (realistic?, specialised …)
Credentials – check the list of references for previous papers by the same author (and also the ACM database)
Everyone makes the best of their results – keep an open mind until you have seen a few more papers with anything similar
The conclusion is where they have to be honest – what did they really do that was different.
April 17
Literature review
MSc Computing Information Systems

15. School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences
17/04/2017
Citing References
All quoted material, from any source, must have a reference immediately following, crediting the source, and italicised.
Where you have written another person’s ideas in your own words, taken from published or unpublished literature the you must include a reference crediting the original source.
The Harvard System should be used.
April 17
Literature review
MSc Computing Information Systems

16. School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences
17/04/2017
References
… “a good project always pays attention to the aims and objectives” Dawson (2000).
The use of the internet (Campbell & Campbell, 1995) is generally agreed to be a good thing.
6.0 References
Bell, J. (1999) Doing Your Research Project (3/E), Open University Press,
Baxter et al. (1996) How to Research, Open University Press
Campbell, D & Campbell, M. (1995) The Student’s Guide to Doing Research on the Internet, Addison-Wesley
Dawson, C.W. (2000) The Essence of Computing Projects: A Student’s Guide, Prentice Hall
Gash, S. (1989) Effective Literature Searching for Students, Gower
Saunders et al. (1997) Research Methods for Business Students, Pitman
April 17
Literature review
MSc Computing Information Systems

17. School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences
17/04/2017
Conclusion
The project proposal must have a summary literature review
LR will eventually form one or more chapters in the final report
Review key areas related to your work
Does not review textbooks!
Should include a discussion about the implications for your work.
April 17
Literature review
MSc Computing Information Systems