Writing a Literature Review

Research is to see what everybody has seen and to think what nobody else had thought. Albert Szent-Gyorgyi.

Zaid Ahmed Shamsan, PhD

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Wireless Communication Center Faculty of Electrical Engineering

Overview
Report Writing
The purpose of a report Chapter/Section Overview

Writing a Literature Review

How to read efficiently:-) How to use the literature to find literature How to take notes and combine them into a review

Report Writing
The purpose of a report
To communicate your work to an audience To demonstrate your understanding of a domain and how your work fits into/contributes to/extends (as appropriate) a domain To back up your claims through appropriate evaluation To discuss the significance of the results of your evaluation
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Report Writing
Implications(1)
Report should be free from spelling mistakes and grammatical errors Ideas should be communicated clearly (simple sentences, etc.) and in an appropriate style There should be a logical structure to the way you present your argument Each chapter/section should introduce whats coming up and conclude with the significant points you want to make There should be no secrets! Early disclosure is expected.
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Report Writing
Implications(2)
You are expected to read relevant work of others and report on it (be critical!) Clearly distinguish between your own work and the work of others Reference properly and consistently

Report Writing
Implications(3)
You must back up your claims (either by citing the work of others, or by referring to the results of your own evaluation) Results should be presented in a manner appropriate for the domain (e.g., how is relevant work evaluated?)

Report Writing
Implications(4)
You must demonstrate that you understand how your work fits into the domain
both in terms of how it fits into the literature and in terms of the results you obtain

Ideally, compare your results to results of other similar work

Easiest to do if you have access to shared test/evaluation data or can replicate experiments done by others and compare performance metrics (measurements)
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Report Writing
Typical structure of a report
Abstract Tables of contents (figures, tables, etc.) Introduction Background/Literature Review Design/Implementation Evaluation & Testing Discussion of Results Conclusions and Future Work References Section!
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Report Writing
Abstract
To describe concisely the problem you tackled, the method you employed, the results you obtained, and a critical statement about the outcome

Report Writing
Table of Contents (figures, tables, etc.)

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Report Writing
Introduction
What is the problem youre trying to solve? What is your research question? Why is it an important problem? Whats your motivation for solving it? What are your objectives? What are your main/secondary contributions? What were your main/overall results? Chapter/Section overview
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Report Writing
Background/Literature Review(1)
Normally, assume that reader is someone with your experience/knowledge *before* you did the current work
However, if work incorporates more than one domain, you are likely to have to give a brief background to each domain

What prior work is relevant to yours? And why?

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Report Writing
Background/Literature Review(2)
In your report you are trying to convince reader that your approach is sensible
Youre going to demonstrate that your approach builds on the work of others, though you shouldnt refer to your current work here You should be critical of the work of others Youre also trying to show that you havent missed anything significant/important
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Report Writing
Background/Literature Review(3)
I like to structure my Lit Review on a model (system) architecture to solve the problem Im working on What significant processing steps are needed to solve the problem?
What are the different approaches to each processing step, and which systems use each approach? With what costs? success?
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Report Writing
Background/Literature Review(4)
Lit Review should be a cross-section of the literature, rather than a sequential description of systems Keep description of other systems high-level Dont underestimate the importance of the Lit Review
Shows that youve thought about the problem; been exposed to different approaches to embrace those that work, avoid those that dont; acquired a certain depth of knowledge; are able to share that knowledge critically Stick to peer-reviewed articles/books. Avoid wikipedia, magazines, newspapers!

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Report Writing
Design/Implementation(1)
Now you can talk about your approach, and reasons for it
It can follow the ideal model you presented in the Lit. Review You can, and indeed should, cross-reference to the Lit. Review Systems on which youve based your approach can be described in more detail here
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Report Writing
Design/Implementation(2)
Remember to justify every decision that you make! Remember to adequately reference technologies you use Dont go overboard with system schematics (most of these can go into an appendix), unless it is appropriate to do so Write and describe, dont just draw!
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Report Writing
Design/Implementation(3)
Especially in implementation chapter, talk about major data structures and operations on them, rather than organise it by function! How do major data structures interface?

What technologies did you use and why? If youve used code developed by someone else, reference it! Do give screen shots (remember to no. figures, tables, etc., and to refer to them in the text)
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Report Writing
Evaluation(1)
What claims are you making, and how are you going to prove them? How are these types of system normally evaluated? (Give a small lit review, if there are several acceptable approaches, and remember to provide references) Are you able to follow normal evaluation, or do you have to do things differently (because of cost/time/etc)?
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Report Writing
Evaluation(2)
Describe your evaluation set-up or simulation environment
Equipment, participants (how many? What skills? How did you get them to participate? etc.), duration, location, etc.

Describe your experiments/simulation and or experimental details, and the results you obtained (be objective! Dont discuss the implications yet) Use tables, graphs, charts, etc. to describe results, but dont present the same results in different ways

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Report Writing
Evaluation(3)
Describe the results, as well as presenting them Draw attention to anomalous results If required and/or appropriate, you should also have a section on testing discuss with your supervisor
This should include a test plan and the test results

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Report Writing
Discussion of Results
Objectively explain the significance of your results
Both independently and in comparison to similar systems

Explain why you obtained the results you obtained

Including any anomalous results

If you dont get the results you expected/hoped for, dont be afraid to explain why this may have happened
"Ideas do not have to be correct in order to be good; it's only necessary that, if they do fail, they do so in an interesting way" - Robert Rosen
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Report Writing
Conclusion
More than just a summary! Draw conclusions from your work (was it a worthwhile approach? What would you do differently? Etc.) In Introduction, you asked your research question and you stated your objectives. But here, Answer the question and state whether you met your objectives Future work
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Writing a Literature Review

How to read efficiently :-) How to use the literature to find literature How to take notes and combine them into a review

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Writing a Literature Review

How to Read Efficiently(1)
Read abstract If paper is relevant, read introduction and conclusion If still relevant, read literature review and approach/overview If relevant, read evaluation and results Only if absolutely necessary, read detailed design/implementation
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Writing a Literature Review

How to Read Efficiently(2)
Chicken and Egg
If you know the problem youre trying to solve, your reading can be focussed If youre looking for a problem to solve, your reading strategy must change (initially)

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Writing a Literature Review

How to use the literature to find literature
If a paper is relevant, it should have a relevant literature review Read it, and track down and read the papers it refers to Use system like Cite Seer to find other papers that refer to:
The paper youre reading Significant papers that the paper youre reading refers to!
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Writing a Literature Review

How to take notes
If the paper is relevant, write down its bibliographic reference (entry should be complete) and give it an id Jot down notes of anything (statements/opinions) that is relevant/interesting (in the sections youre reading) Remember to put direct quotations (sentences/ phrases/unusual terminology) into quotes!
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Writing a Literature Review

Based on your research, build a model of the (reasonably high-level) processing steps needed Organise your notes around the model
You should end up with a series of statements related to each processing step about each paper you read Remember to use the ref id with each statement!

You can now make statements about groups of papers

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Writing a Literature Review

Referencing your sources
Every time you make a claim, you need to provide a reference
At the point in your report at which you make the claim And full referencing details of the source in the references list

Avoid Plagiarism.

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Types of Literature Review(1)

self-study reviews
demonstrate familiarity and learn from others increases the readers confidence

context reviews
creates links to a developing body of knowledge establishes the significance and relevance of a research project

615-610 JCarroll

Types of Literature Review(2)

historical reviews
shows the development of an idea or theory over time only used on the most important ideas

theoretical reviews
presents and evaluates different theories may integrate and extend theories

615-610 JCarroll

Types of Literature Review(3)

integrative reviews
presents the current state of knowledge provides a service to other researchers

methodological reviews
evaluation of the methodological strength of past studies a meta-analysis critically examines the findings of a large number of research projects

615-610 JCarroll

Language Style Guide 1

Consider writing in the first person singular (e.g., I)
You can use an active, rather than passive, voice It shows you identify with what you have done, so it may be easier for the reader to engage with your writing It is less dry

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Language Style Guide 2

Tense
Use the present tense throughout, except when referring to material in earlier chapters, when you can use the past tense.

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Language Style Guide 3

Figures, Diagrams, etc.
Use the past tense to describe what you did. However, you can use present and future tense when appropriate. Limit mixing tense in the same paragraph.

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Language Style Guide 4

Figures, Diagrams, Tables, etc.
Start numbering from e.g., Figure 1, Table 1, Diagram 1, etc., and increase number throughout report
Can also restart numbering in each chapter e.g., Figure 5.1 is the first figure in chapter 5.

Always give figure, diagram, etc., a caption Always place the figure, etc., before the first reference to it in the text Always refer to the figure, etc., in the text

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Language Style Guide 5

Always follow your supervisors advice!

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LR Comparison?
A good literature review..
.. is a synthesis of available research .. is a critical evaluation .. has appropriate breadth and depth .. has clarity and conciseness .. uses rigorous and consistent methods

A poor literature review is

..an annotated bibliography .. confined to description .. narrow and shallow .. confusing and longwinded .. constructed in an arbitrary way

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Giving a Presentation 1
The point of the presentation is to explain, in your allotted time:
what problem you were attempting to solve; what other approaches have been taken to solve similar problems; how you designed and implemented your solution; your evaluation results (how good is your system at solving the problem); and your conclusions.
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Giving a Presentation 2
Do not assume your examiners know anything about the problem domain, or if you are making assumptions then say so. Include screen shots of your system working in the presentation, and use screen shots early in your talk so that your audience gets a feel for what you're talking about
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Giving a Presentation 3
Use a large font size - 30 points minimum is a good size. You can refer to hand-held cards or notes to remind you what you want to cover, but please don't just read off the notes.

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Giving a Presentation 4
Don't dump large amounts of text onto slides. Try to look at your audience when explaining the content of slides, and try to avoid giving your back to your audience.

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Giving a Presentation 5
If you feel nervous, don't worry about it - it's natural. Just take a deep breath. Once you get into your stride you'll be fine.

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Giving a Presentation 6
Use diagrams and screen shots, not just text. BE ON TIME - if you're late, you will lose minutes from your presentation. If you miss your slot, you'll get a 0. DO NOT OVERRUN YOUR TIME - when you are asked to stop, please stop, otherwise you will lose additional marks.
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Giving a Presentation 7
Also do not finish too early - try to pace your talk to fill up the time available. Speak at a normal speed - it's not a race! Start with an introduction to the problem domain, and then give a quick overview of the structure of your talk.

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Giving a Presentation 8
Practice, practice, practice, but please remember Einstein's Theory of Relativity - time works differently under pressure (even on the same planet) :-) Have a working clock/stopwatch with you so that you can keep an eye on time - expand on points if you're going to fast, and skip things if you're going too slowly.
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Giving a Presentation 9
When you are asked questions, take time to
let the examiner finish the question, and listen to the question.

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Giving a Presentation 11
If you are not sure that you understand what you've been asked, then say so (politely). It's also ok to begin to answer a question by saying "I think I've been asked xyz" and give the examiner a chance to address any misunderstandings.

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Giving a Presentation 12
If you don't know the answer to a question, don't try to bluff examiners are pretty good at spotting stuff like that :-) It is ok to take a while to think about the answer to a question or to seek clarification. Examiners are there to try to get you to expose what you know about your topic.
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More Links
Comrie, A. C., Scientific Report Writing. UW-Madison Writing Center, 2006, Scientific Reports Report Tips Dolphin, W. D., Writing Lab Reports and Scientific Papers JISC, A Quick Guide to Referencing
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Thank You

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