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The Literature Review in 3 Key Steps
The “What”, “Why” and “How” of The Academic Literature Review
Adapted from Boston University Alumni Medical Library
3 Steps to a Literature Review
• A review and quick summary of how to conduct a literature search for your EA Project
3 Key Steps: 1. Start your engines
Think of it like doing a Google search for buying a car
What do you want to do? Buy a car, find a particular car, find out how to negotiate prices, etc.?
Key word searches are trial and error and need to be refined/narrowed
1. Go to your library’s digital search page and choose ACM, IEEE, & ERIC as your search engines– Then start your searches– Expect to get LOTS of
results, and then refine and narrow down to get what you really want
– Use the “find more articles like this one” feature if available
3 Key Steps: 2. Skim & Select
19 hits from the IEEE search on “interest in computing” + “high school” + “robots”
Skim all abstracts Select articles of interest to
your project Read those articles Take notes of important stuff:
findings, methods, other prominent studies cited
Devise a system for note taking and managing your references
• TIP: Take note of studies that keep coming up in introductions- you want to read these
• Visit your library’s website for reference management software- freeware exists (Zotero), and many campuses offer licensed software like (Endnote)
3 Key Steps: 3. Sum it up
What does it all mean?• What categories are there?• What is similar to your
study?• What is different?• What is known collectively
from this literature? Perhaps: that robotics
education is successful, or not, or it depends upon certain factors, or something else?
• Why is your study relevant?– The ‘So What?’ question
• Perhaps your study: adds evidence to support
robotics education in high schools
has never been done before replicates other studies but
with a different population ETC…..
UNC Charlotte’s Library Resource Page
AND NOW THE BACKGROUND…….
WHAT IS A LITERATURE REVIEW?
What is it?A literature review
• surveys scholarly articles, books and other sources (e.g. dissertations, conference proceedings) relevant to a particularissue, area of research, or theory.
• provides a short description and critical evaluation of work critical to the topic.
• offers an overview of significant literature published on a topic.
(Lyons, 2005)
WHY CONDUCT A LITERATURE REVIEW?
Why? A literature review can be conducted for a variety of reasons:
1. For a review paper
2. For the introduction (and discussion) of a research paper, masters thesis or dissertation
3. To embark on a new area of research
4. For a research proposal
(Burge, 2005)
5. And last, but not least, for contextual information for your EA Project!
Why?
Conducting a literature review will help you:
• Determine if proposed research is actually needed. Even if similar research published, researchers might suggest a need for similar studies or
replication.
• Narrow down a problem. It can be overwhelming getting into the literature of a field of study. A literature review can help
you understand where you need to focus your efforts.
• Generate hypotheses or questions for further studies.
(Mauch & Birch, 2003)
And for your EA Project:
Conducting a literature review will give you:• Background knowledge of the field of inquiry:– Facts– Eminent scholars– The most important ideas, theories, questions and
hypotheses• Knowledge of field-specific methodologies and
their usefulness in particular settings
(Mauch & Birch, 2003)
HOW TO CONDUCT A LITERATURE REVIEW
How?Outline of review process:
1. Formulate a problem – which topic or field is being examined and what are its component issues;
2. Search the literature for materials relevant to the subject being explored. Searching the literature involves reading and refining the problem;
3. Evaluate the data – determine which literature makes a significant contribution to the understanding of the topic;
4. Analyze and interpret – discuss the findings and conclusions of pertinent literature• Use the literature to contextualize the problem/issue under study
5. Format and create bibliography
(Lyons, 2005)
How?
1. Formulate a problem/issue:• Create an overview of relevant literature regarding
Computing Education Interventions
2. Search the literature:• Use library resources/databases including IEEE, ACM
and ERIC• Don’t restrict your search to peer-reviewed journal
articles. Include academic books too.• Refine the problem/issue based on your initial review• Networked computing to facilitate learning among
elementary school students
How? 3. Evaluate the data. Determine which literature contributes
to the understanding of the problem/issue.4. Analyze and interpret. Read the article, book chapter, etc.,
and summarize findings and relevance• Focus particularly on problem statement, method, results
5. Format and create bibliography• Use a citation management program such as Endnote to
organize and manage citations and create bibliographyo Organize and store referenceso Make in-text citations based on required style (e.g., APA)o Create a list of references based on required style
• Most colleges and universities provide student access/download of citation management programs
Example Searches
• IEEE: “interest in computing”
• Refined by adding “ high school”
• Declare bingo and begin skimming the articles, or further refine at your discretion– Consider using outreach
type, e.g. ‘robots,’ ‘gamemaker,’ ‘Alice,’ or ‘CS unplugged’
• 38,000 hits
• 135 hits
• TIP: read an article that ‘jumps out’ at you, and use it’s key words to refine further
• TIP: use variations of words: ‘robots,’ ‘robotics,’ etc.
References
• Burge, C., 7.16 Experimental Molecular Biology: Biotechnology II, Spring 2005. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology: MIT OpenCouseWare), Retrieved 12/15/2008, from http://ocw.mit.edu. License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA
• Lyons, K. (2005). UCSC library - how to write a literature review. Retrieved 1/22/2009, 2009, from http://library.ucsc.edu/ref/howto/literaturereview.html .
• Mauch, J. E., & Birch, J. W. (1993). Guide to the successful thesis and dissertation : A handbook for students and faculty (3rd , rev. and expand ed.). New York: Marcel Dekker.
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