文献综述文献综述 Literature Review. Literature “If I have seen further, it is only by standing on the shoulders of the giant.” --- Isaac Newton Research is like.

文献综述文献综述Literature Review

Literature• “If I have seen further, it is only by standing on the

shoulders of the giant.” --- Isaac Newton

• Research is like building a skyscraper.– You have to establish yourself on something existing.

• Reading the literature:– Understand the state of the art in the field.– Identify new or unsolved questions.– Make your work stand out.

• There is no point of reinventing the wheel!

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Annotated Bibliography• Bibliography

– A list of sources one has used for researching a topic.– Books, Journals, Reports …

• An annotation is a summary or evaluation.

• Annotated Bibliography– An alphabetical list of resources– A concise summary of each source– Some assessment of its value or relevance

• This is where your research should start.

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Select the Sources• The major issue is that there are far too many sources.

• Be comprehensive with well-defined boundaries.

• Ask yourself the following questions:– What problem am I investigating?

– What questions am I trying to address?

– What kind of materials am I looking for?

– Have I found the essential studies on my topic?

• Check out well written review papers and well cited papers!

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Summarize the Source• Briefly restates the main argument of a source:– Research question/hypothesis, methods and main conclusions– Not a description or a list of its contents.

• McIvor, S. D. (1995). Aboriginal women's rights as "existing rights." Canadian Woman Studies2/3, 34-38.

– This article discusses recent constitutional legislation as it affects the human rights of aboriginal women in Canada: the Constitution Act (1982), its amendment in 1983, and amendments to the Indian Act (1985). It also discusses the implications for aboriginal women of the Supreme Court of Canada's interpretation of the Constitution Act in R. v. Sparrow (1991).

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Summarize the SourceThis article seeks to define the extent of the civil and political rights returned to aboriginal women in the Constitution Act (1982), in its amendment in 1983, and in amendments to the Indian Act (1985). This legislation reverses prior laws that denied Indian status to aboriginal women who married non-aboriginal men. On the basis of the Supreme Court of Canada‘s interpretation of the Constitution Act in R. v. Sparrow (1991), McIvor argues that the Act recognizes fundamental human rights and existing aboriginal rights, granting to aboriginal women full participation in the aboriginal right to self-government.

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Reading Strategies• Indentify the author’s thesis.

– Both the introduction and the conclusion can help.

• Look for repetition of key terms or ideas.– Follow them through the text.

• Notice the methods and theoretical basis.

• Pay attention to the opening sentences of each paragraph.

• Look for paragraphs that summarize the argument.

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Assess the Source• Not all sources are equally important.

• Keep the context of your research in mind.– How do you plan to use the source?– Is it a key or supplementary source for your research?

• Does it provide relevant theoretical or empirical evidences?– You may want to organize sources into different categories.

• How do the source’s conclusions bear your own investigation?– Does it support your hypothesis?– Does it show an exception?

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Useful Verbs

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account for analyze argue assess assert

assume claim clarify compare conclude

criticize defend definedemonstrate describe

depict determine distinguish evaluate emphasize

examine exemplify exhibit explain frame

identify illustrate imply indicate investigate

judge justify propose question recognize

reflect refer to report review suggest

A Review of Literature• An integrated argument from multiple sources.– A conceptually organized synthesis of the results of your search.

• The purpose of a review is to:– Analyze critically a segment of a published body of knowledge

through summary, classification, and comparison.

• It may be a self-contained unit.– A review paper.

• Or a preface to and rationale for engaging in research. – A review is a required part of grant and research proposals and often

a chapter in theses and dissertations.

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Writing the Introduction• Define or identify the general topic, issue, or area of concern,

thus providing an appropriate context for reviewing the literature (background).

• Point out overall trends in what has been published about the topic; or conflicts in theory, methodology, evidence, and conclusions; or gaps in research and scholarship; or a single problem or new perspective of immediate interest.

• Establish the writer's reason (point of view) for reviewing the literature; explain the organization of the review (structure); state why certain literature is not included (scope).

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Writing the Body• Group research studies according to common denominators

such as qualitative versus quantitative approaches, conclusions of authors, chronology, etc.

• Summarize individual studies in little or much detail according to its comparative importance in the literature: length denotes significance.

• Provide the reader with strong "umbrella" sentences at beginnings of paragraphs, "signposts" throughout, and brief summary sentences at intermediate points in the review.

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Examples

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Recent studies suggest that … (Mullins, 1994).

Leonard et al. (1999) argue that …

Mullins (1994) found that there is …

Hackman and Oldham (1975) claim that …

According to Beck (1997) …

Eunson (1987) defines motivation as ...

While Jones (1985) argues … Smith (1990) claims …

The early studies by Mullins (1994) focused on …

Good Writing• Integrates the research of various authors.

– Shows similarities and differences of ideas.– Shows wide reading.

• Presents in-depth analysis and critical evaluation.

• Past Tense– Used to refer to a particular experiments and specific results.

• Present Tense– Used to refer to general information and continuing situations.

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Writing the Conclusion• Summarize major contributions of significant studies and articles to

the body of knowledge under review, maintaining the focus established in the introduction.

• Evaluate the current "state of the art" for the body of knowledge reviewed, pointing out major methodological flaws or gaps in research, inconsistencies in theory and findings, and areas or issues pertinent to future study.

• Conclude by providing some insight into the relationship between the central topic of the literature review and a larger area of study such as a discipline, a scientific endeavor, or a profession.

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Reference Styles• IEEE (Books)– [1] B. Klaus and P. Horn, Robot Vision. Cambridge, MA: MIT

Press, 1986.

– [2] L. Stein, “Random patterns,” in Computers and You, J. S. Brake, Ed. New York: Wiley, 1994, pp. 55-70.

• Harvard System (Books)– Jones, P.J. (1980), Introduction to Algorithms, London: Methuen.

– Hamza, K.A. (1988), "Vision Systems", in Jones, P.J., Smith, R. & Watson, E.P. (eds), Artificial Intelligence Reconsidered (2nd edition), New York: Wiley, pp. 12-34.

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Reference Management• You may come across hundreds of papers:

– 50~100 for Master Theses or 150~300 for PhD Theses

• It will take enormous amount of time to:– Locate the paper(s) containing the specific idea.– Format the references in the required format.– Insert them into your paper.– Exchange references with other people.

• Luckily, EndNote is there!– A personal bibliographic software – It is not free but …

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EndNote

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Cite While You Write