1. Literature Review and Research Presentation compiled by D. Hui

2. Outline Part I. Elements of an Effective Literature Review by D
Outline Part I. Elements of an Effective Literature Review by D. Grant Allen, Pulp & Paper, University of Toronto Part II. 5 steps to Conduct a Literature Review by Dr. Marcelo Castro Part III. Source of literature by Bob Brown , University of Ulster / Newry and Mourne HSST Part IV. How to Give an Effective Presentation by Sue McCormick

3. Part I. Elements of an Effective Literature Review
D. Grant Allen
Some of the slides are modified by D. Hui

4. Literature Reviews
Why?
What?
When?
How? &
How Not?

5. “Researchers almost never conduct a study in an
intellectual vacuum: their studies are undertaken
within the context of an already existing knowledge base. Researchers generally undertake a literature review to familiarise themselves with that knowledge base”.
(Polit and Hungler, 2000)

6. Why Conduct a Literature Review?
Avoid “reinventing the wheel”
Learn from others in/outside your area
Know the ‘leading edge’
Help define your objectives & hypotheses
Source for research idea, research approach
Justify significance (science, engineering...)
Is your work asking/answering the best questions?
Put your work in context within the field
Link in discussion section of thesis
Agreement/disagreement..lead to conclusions

7. What’s In a Literature Review?
Critical review of the “State of the Art” relevant to your objectives
Synthesis of relevant literature
Organized in appropriate topics
Not a sequence of abstracts!

8. Literature Review Steps
First step, on day 1 of thesis (paper)
Define your objectives (broadly) to know what you are looking for
Collect literature of relevance
Cast a ‘wide net’…go outside the obvious
Look to supervisor, theses, computer search, library, main journals in your field
Find good keywords from articles
Read title, abstract, paper, reread

9. Literature Review Steps
Take notes on articles, make a table
Table has columns with paper, main topics of interest to you (e.g. methods, conditions, organism etc.), main findings, comments
Update and review regularly!!
Review main journals monthly
Broaden as thesis direction evolves

10. Writing the Review Start with notes/table
Brainstorm main thoughts/points
Organize points (not papers)
Logical groupings and order
Points help form the ‘Topic Sentences’ for each paragraph in the review
Write, Review, Edit, Review….
Show to others
Review with supervisor

11. Topic Sentences State the controlling idea of a paragraph
Rest of paragraph supports and develops topic sentence with related details
Can come anywhere but is normally the first sentence
Attention to topic sentences is a simple tool that can improve writing
Remember one topic per paragraph!!

12. Plagiarism
“To appropriate of pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own”1
Growing problem with internet
An academic offence
Citing the reference at the end of a copied (or mostly copied) phrase/paragraph is still plagiarism
Use your own words
1The New Penguin English Dictionary, Penguin, 1986

13. References
Cite the original reference, not the reference that cited the original reference
Go to the source article so you know what it said
Be current and go back in time!!!
The 90’s..80’s…70’s…….20’s…

14. Concluding Remarks Get started on the review and never stop
Cast a wide net
Revise objectives….let them evolve so you will make a significant contribution
Be critical and synthesize
Remember topic sentences
Spending time on review is essential
Basis for high quality questions (objectives/hypotheses) & answers
Saves lab time in the long run

15. Part II. Creswell’s 5 steps to Conduct a Literature Review
Step 1: Identify Key Terms or “Descriptors”
Extract key words from your title (remember, you may decide to change the title later)
Use some of the words other authors reported in the literature
Creswell, J.W. (2005) Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research

16. Creswell’s 5 steps to Conduct a Literature Review (cont’d)
Step 2: Locate Literature
Use academic libraries, do not limit your search to an electronic search of articles
Use primary and secondary sources. A “primary source” is research reported by the researcher that conducted the study. A “secondary source” is research that summarizes or reports findings that come from primary sources
Creswell, J.W. (2005) Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research

17. Step 2: Locate Literature (cont’d)
It is “best to report mostly primary sources” (p. 82)
Search different types of literature: summaries, encyclopedias, dictionaries and glossaries of terms, handbooks, statistical indexes, reviews and syntheses, books, journals, indexed publications, electronic sources, abstract series, and databases
Creswell, J.W. (2005) Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research

18. Creswell’s 5 steps to Conduct a Literature Review (cont’d)
Step 3: Critically Evaluate and Select Literature
Rely on journal articles published in national journals
Prioritize your search: first look for refereed journal articles, then, non- refereed articles, then books, then conference papers, dissertations and theses and then papers posted to websites
Creswell, J.W. (2005) Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research

19. Creswell’s 5 steps to Conduct a Literature Review (cont’d)
Step 4: Organize the Literature
Create a “file” or “abstract” system to keep track of what you read. Each article you read should be summarized in one page containing
Title (type the title so that you can later copy-paste this into the References section of your paper)
Source: journal article, book, glossary, etc.
Creswell, J.W. (2005) Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research

20. Step 4: Organize the Literature (cont’d)
Research problem: one or two lines will suffice
Research Questions or Hypotheses
Data collection procedure (a description of sample characteristics can be very handy as well)
Results or findings of the study
Sort these abstracts into groups of related topics or areas which can then become the different sections of your review
Creswell, J.W. (2005) Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research

21. Creswell’s 5 steps to Conduct a Literature Review (cont’d)
Step 5: Write a Literature Review
Types of Reviews:
Thematic Review: a theme is identified and studies found under this theme are described. Major ideas and findings are reported rather than details.
Creswell, J.W. (2005) Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research

22. Step 5: Write a Literature Review (cont’d)
Study-by-study Review: a detailed summary of each study under a broad theme is provided. Link summaries (or abstracts) using transitional sentences. Must be organized and flow coherently under various subheadings. Avoid string quotations (i.e., lengthy chunks of text directly quoted from a source)
Creswell, J.W. (2005) Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research

23. Part III. Sources of literature
Own Books or Journals
Library Books
Library Journals
e.g.
- Jour. Of Adv.. Nursing, Advances in Nursing Science, Applied Nursing Research, Clinical Nursing Research, IMAGE: Journal of Nursing Scholarship
- Nursing Times Research, Quality in Health Care
- Nurse Researcher, Nurse Education Today
- Nursing Standard
Abstracts from other disciplines
Search sources
e.g. MEDLINE and CINAHL, CancerLit, PsychInfo

24. Identifying potential sources of research with key terms and search opportunities
Your starting point – Library
ata.htm (databases)

25. On-line literature search key sites
ches.html (Online Literature Search Workshop)
Web of science
Google scholar

26. Part IV.
What is an Effective Presentation and How to Give an Effective Presentation
Sue McCormick

27. Why Do You Give a Presentation
Present your work
Communicate your ideas
Inform your audience

28. What is an Effective Presentation
Effectively present your work
audience understands the work
Effectively communicate your ideas
audience understands your interpretations
Effectively inform your audience
audience remembers

29. How to Give an Effective Presentation

30. Steps to an Effective Presentation
Analyzing the basics
Preparing the presentation
Giving the presentation

31. Analyzing The Basics Audience background Purpose of your presentation
Time

32. Analyzing The Basics Audience background Terminology and Concepts
Introduction
Content and focus of presentation
Purpose of your presentation
Time

33. Analyzing The Basics Audience background Purpose of your presentation
What do you want to tell your audience
Why are you giving this presentation
Time

34. Analyzing The Basics Audience background Purpose of your presentation
Time
Range of presentation
Depth of presentation
Do not go over!

35. Steps to an Effective Presentation
Analyzing the basics
Preparing the presentation
Giving the presentation

36. Preparing Your Presentation
Outline presentation
Prepare visual aides
Write talk
Practice presentation

37. Preparing Your Presentation
Outline presentation
Introduction
Methods
Results
Conclusions
Future Work
Prepare visual aides
Write talk
Practice presentation

38. Outline Presentation Introduction Present background information that:
Briefs the audience
Peaks their curiosity
Explains concepts and terminology
Method
Results
Conclusions
Future Work

39. Outline Presentation Introduction Methods How you did the experiments
Outline of procedure
Diagrams of special equipment
Results
Conclusions
Future work

40. Experimental design 250 ppm 370 ppm 5 m 370 ppm 500 ppm
Subambient CO2 tunnel
Elevated CO2 tunnel

41. Outline Presentation Introduction Methods Results Analyzed Data
What does it mean
Conclusions
Future work

42. Outline Presentation Introduction Methods Results Conclusions
Bottom line for each experiment
Future work

43. Outline Presentation Introduction Method Results Conclusions
Future Work
How you will continue your research

44. Preparing Your Presentation
Outline presentation
Prepare visual aides
Write talk
Practice presentation

45. (Guidelines for Making Slides)
Prepare Visual Aides
(Guidelines for Making Slides)
Color scheme
Visible when projected ?
Fonts
2 is the limit
style – Arial, Times New Roman
size – 36, 32
Be consistent

46. (Guidelines for Making Slides)
Prepare Visual Aides
(Guidelines for Making Slides)
(Cont.)
Title on every slide
Topic of slide
Brief statements
No more than 7 lines of text
Use bullets
Presentation of data
Numbers vs graphs

47. Preparing Your Presentation
Outline presentation
Prepare visual aides
Write talk
Practice presentation

48. Write Talk As you write your talk:
Adjust outline and slides as necessary
Will the audience understand the presentation?
Am I saying what I think I am?

49. Preparing Your Presentation
Outline presentation
Prepare visual aides
Write talk
Practice presentation

50. Practice Presentation
Practice, Practice, Practice, Practice out loud
Don’t need to memorize your talk
Modify text and slides as necessary
Point to slide
Turn laser on and off
Do not wave the laser around
Look at audience

51. Preparing Your Presentation
Outline presentation
Prepare visual aides
Write talk
Practice presentation

52. Steps to an Effective Presentation
Analyzing the basics
Preparing the presentation
Giving the presentation

53. Giving the Presentation
Breath deeply
Be energetic
Talk to your audience

54. Summary
Thank you
Good luck on your presentation

55. Class Exercise
Now you’re ready to formulate your own research question(s)
Sample questions:
What make tropic forests a hotspot for diversity?
How does global warming influence coral reefs?
for more topics

56. Research Questions
From Topic to Research Question A good research topic asks a clear, concise question. Asking a research question helps you keep a tight focus on your topic.
Tweaking Your Research Question
A good research topic is broad enough to allow you to find plenty of material, but narrow enough to fit within the size and time constraints of your paper.
If your topic is either too broad or too narrow, consider adding or eliminating the following elements:
Time Period, century, decade, future, Population Type, age, gender, nationality, species, Geographic Location country, state, region, Point of View economic, social, cultural, biological

57. Assignment. Components
Title Page
Nature of the Problem
Background and Significance of the Problem
Literature Review
Research Questions
References (list three papers)