Writing a literature review

By Dr Alveen Singh
PRESE4R
BICT Hons
Semester 1 2023
 Content

• Introduction and the goal of a literature review

• Conducting the literature review
• Evaluating the literature review
• POV for good literature review

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 1. Introduction and goals of a literature
review
Literature
books and writings published on a particular subject
Review
a formal assessment of something with the intention of instituting change if
necessary

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Library.unsw.edu.au
A literature review is a summary or an overview of
information within the field of interest

Inc.com 4
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The literature review has to provide a snapshot of the state of the art

Recent and relevant sources

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Synergy, 2020
The researcher relies on a good quality literature review to convince
readers of the importance of the study

a lawyer presenting a well-organized set of factual evidence in

court in support of a plea

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Britannica online
Hong Kong Lawyer
 The conclusion of the literature review is a
new understanding
or
new knowledge
(even if this is about the “gap”)

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Quote Fancy
ALKaleejToday
Purpose of the literature review
The Governance Coach

Demonstrate that the researcher is aware of existing work

Place the intended study in context of what has already been published
Provide an overview of previous work in the area (challenges,
shortcomings, achievements of others)
Identify the major, persistent challenges that is troubling the research
community in that area
Point out the gap/s that the research wants to address (contribute new
knowledge)
(Oates, 2006)
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The literature review has to match the type of study

For example, for an exploratory study whereby the researcher is trying to discover

Determining Business Intelligence integration success factors for

Software Development SMEs: A Case study of two Durban based SMEs,
the literature review must provide strong motivation for the need for this study but,

additional objectives for the literature review can be:

 Identify theories, designs, architectures, models et Al., that the research will further
explore
 Suggest a conceptual/theoretical framework which the research will develop further

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In contrast,
If the research is Design Research in the area of Deep Learning and is titled
Improving 2D image recognition of leaves using convolutional
neural network

Then,
Additional objectives for the literature review might be:
• Identify and describe existing ML algorithms
• Evaluate the performance or effectiveness of existing algorithms
• Show where improvement/s can be made (gap)

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 2. Conducting the literature review

• There are different types

• The literature review consists of different sub-sections
• There are different structures for a literature review
• There are basic steps in conducting a literature review

New York Times 2019

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 Monash University
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The sub-sections
Introduction
1. State the purpose of the literature review.
“The purpose of this literature review is to…”

2. State the justification of the literature review.

Why is this literature review being conducted?

3. Briefly describe the technique used to conduct the literature review.

 PRISMA, Meta-analysis
 What is the criteria for selecting publications?
 Search keys
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4. Body of the literature review
The analysis and synthesis of publications is presented.
See example dissertations to gain understanding of structure

5. Conclusion
Literature review is concluded with a critique of existing research and
recommendations that points to the need for research, conceptual framework and/or
comparison of existing approaches.
Lapan and Quartaroli (2009)

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Different structures
Chronological
Analysis of how and why developments occurred over time.
◦ e.g. the development of agile software practices.

Thematic
e-Reading worksheets
Themes that show up over and over again are organized around the topic.
◦ e.g. given a topic on cloud computing security, the researcher might find the major themes are
privacy, data security and encryption.

Methodological
This review focuses on the methodologies, techniques, models and frameworks within a
certain area as well as their shortcomings and performance.
◦ E.g. comparison of deep learning and ensemble deep learning models
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Theoretical
There are usually dominant theories. Make a case for the relevance of a specific theoretical
approach, or combination.
◦ e.g. TAM3; PMBOK; NIST;

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Sing Heng, 2020
 Basic steps for conducting a literature review

1. Break the topic into key concepts (thematic analysis)

2. Search for and evaluate publications in these concept areas

Allbusiness.com

3. Critically evaluate the publications to determine its relevance to some concept in the study

4. Utilize a citations management tool to manage publications

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 Worldvice Editing

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 Maintain a literature map to manage the thematic/concept analysis

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Researchgate.com
 NJIT, 2021

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 3. Techniques
• Narrative literature review
• Structured/systemic/systematic literature review
• Bibliometric analysis
• Meta-analysis

• PRISMA technique

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 Narrative Literature Review
• overview of the current body of knowledge
• exposes open problems
• Literature knowledge gaps

• This type of review does not provide:

• details of the databases
• search keys
• inclusion and exclusion criteria
• methodology used to conduct the review
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 Systematic Literature Review
• Utilizes a methodology to identify, select and critically evaluate publications
relevant to the research topic.
• Considered original work due to a rigorous methodological approach
• Results in new knowledge
• It must be replicable
• Inclusion and exclusion criteria are stated
• database information and search keys are stated

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 Meta Analysis
• Results are obtained from the analysis of other publications’ results
• performed after systemic review
• Utilizes statistical analysis e.g. report the simple relationships between two variables (bivariate
relationships, zero-order correlations, single-degree-of-freedom contrasts), rather than relationships
that have been adjusted for the effect of additional variables (e.g., partial or multivariate effects)
• Software packages to assist with meta-analysis include Stata, R and metaphor. MS Excel has
templates for basic meta-analysis

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 PRISMA
• PRISMA technique assists researchers with improved scientific rigour of systematic reviews.

• PRISMA stands for Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses.

• See: http://www.prisma-statement.org/ and https://guides.lib.unc.edu/prisma for

descriptions.

• The PRISMA statement includes a checklist and process flow (See:

https://guides.lib.unc.edu/prisma).

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Basic stages of PRISMA workflow are:
1. Identify publications for review
2. Screen the publications
3. Determine eligibility for inclusion
4. Finalize the list of publications to include in the systematic review

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Steps for conducting PRISMA
1. Formulate a research question
2. Define inclusion and exclusion criteria
3. Search for publications using reputable scientific databases e.g. Scopus
4. Screen title and abstract for initial selection of publication
5. Full-text screening to remove publications not related to the topic
6. Extract relevant data from each included publication
7. Present results

Automation tools for PRISMA include CADIMA, Covidence, DistillerSR, Endnote, Endnote using
Bramer's method, EROS, HAWC, Microsoft Excel, Excel using VonVille's method, Microsoft Word,
Rayyan, RevMan, SyRF, SysRev.com and SWIFT Active Screener.
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 4. Evaluating the literature review
Validity

does the content match the purpose of the literature review?

Reliability
can this literature review be replicated?
(i.e. can this same technique followed by another researcher?)

Author bias
is the writing neutral and does it provide an analysis of good and bad?

Level of diversity
is there acknowledgment of the different approaches used in studies with similar aims?
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 4. POV for good literature review

Appreciate that the literature review is one of the most

challenging aspects of the proposal

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Tersago, 2014
Synthesis of literature
Is key to a good literature review

NOT writing a article for a

Tripsavvy.com
magazine or a blog

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Marthastewart.com
 Critical review
analysing and synthesising

Analysing
”examine (something) methodically and in detail,
typically in order to explain and interpret it”

DR4Ward.com

Synthesis
“the combination of components or elements to form a connected whole”
(Oxford Languages)
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Author centric
Vilakazi (2019) found that UX design teams are challenged by the influence of senior managers
while Naidoo (2019) points out that these teams lack technical knowledge. Gaza (2020)
highlighted both influence of senior managers and lack of technical knowledge. Martin (2018)
contents a lack of ownership by a UX team.

Concept centric
Key challenges faced by UX design teams appear to be influence by senior management
(Vilakazi, 2019 and Gaza, 2020), lack of technical knowledge (Naidoo, 2019 and Gaza, 2020)
and lack of ownership (Martin, 2018).

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the researcher’s (your) view does not count
unless supported by citations

oBrien, 2014

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Ensure high quality scientific writing
• No spelling and grammar mistakes
• DUT Writing Centre

Use software to manage your research

• Endnote, Turnitin
• PG subject librarian

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Literature must be relevant to the topic
• Don’t include all literature in the field simply to fatten the chapter
• Use 4 years as a benchmark
• Use accredited publications only
• DHET, Scopus, Web of Science

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Baekdal/Plus
 In theory, theory and practice are the same.
In practice, they are not
(Albert Einstein)

Writing a good literature review is a skill that is developed throughout the study
and beyond

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 References
• Lapan, S. D. and and Quartaroli, M. T. 2009. Research Essentials: An
Introduction to Designs and Practitioners. Jossey-Bass.
• Oates, B. J. 2006. Researching Information Systems and Computing. Sage.

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• Read the lecture notes
• The urls and references have been carefully chosen and provide good
explanations of key concepts
• Attempt the tutorials
• Please feel free to consult with me for clarity on any aspect of this section –
alveens@dut.ac.za

07/17/2024 39