Writing Literature

Review
Using Secondary Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism
Which of the following can be regarded as a piece of literature?

 Conference proceedings
 Statistical handbooks
 Government reports and reports from other organizations
 Theses/Dissertations/Project reports
 Journal articles
 Electronic databases/Websites
 Empirical studies
 Websites
 Blogs
 Magazines
 Whether presenting a report, a proposal, an
article in a professional magazine or journal, or
even a presentation at a professional conference.

 Should include a review of the published

research, often referred to as a literature review
Characteristics of a Literature
Review
 Relevant and Focused
 Order/Organization
 Updated
 Critical
 Brought to a close
 Research gap should arise
Structure
 For your argument about the literature to come through clearly, the review
must have a structure.
 It must make connections between the works you have read, and between
them and your own study.
 There is no single “correct” structure, since every review is shaped by the
nature of the field being reviewed and the particular needs of the study the
review is supporting.
 Some common organising patterns are (they may be used in combination):
 Themes or concepts
 Chronological

 Methodological

 Trend

 Other
Analysis and Synthesis

 Analysis involves systematically breaking down the

relevant literature into its constituent parts
 Synthesis is the act of making connections between
those parts identified in the analysis
 In a literature review, you will notice the synergy
between analysis and synthesis as you zoom-in to
closely analyse an individual source, then zoom-out
to consider it in relation to the broader field.
 Steps in Synthesizing
1. Read the relevant material
2. Make brief notes using key points/keywords - to compare
and contrast relevant info.
3. Identify common ideas – main idea
4. Cite (reference) all the authors you have used.
 Main idea
2-3 sources
Transitions
Opinion
Structure
Usually there is a move from general overview to specific studies within
the sections of a literature review.
 Example
The general text for the area of information retrieval is more than 10 years
old (Salton & McGill, 1983). Yet, the methods of information retrieval
mentioned are still relevant today. Van Rijsbergen (1979) describes
probabilistic retrieval, which is the model that the Bayesian network
implementation of information retrieval system is based on. Of the
implementations of such systems, Turtle's (1990) implementation appears
to be the most well-known and demonstrates superior performance
compared to Boolean and vector space methods. Ghazfan et al. (1994) have
produced a different implementation which has not been tested in an actual
information retrieval system. It is the purpose of this investigation to obtain
performance results in an actual information retrieval system.
Sample
Identity is the third element involved in the situation of the
international/NESB research student, and particularly impinges on
the effectiveness of any kind of support offered. Cadman (1997, p. 3)
uses this term to refer to the sense of self – ‘as a whole person’ – that
international postgraduate students bring to their writing of
argumentative texts, and which can affect language
performance. This sense of self is closely bound up with language; in
her study of immigrant women in Canada, Peirce (1995) argued that
language both constitutes and is constituted by social identity. For
international postgraduate students, identity, knowledge and
language are very closely connected, since what is at stake is often
the student’s identity as a knowledgeable person, a professional and a
competent speaker/writer of English.
A study by McLellan et al. (2014) showed that all three colours are
perceived by knockout mice with the human vision gene. But another
study, with 25 mice, did not confirm this finding (Smith, 2012). Only two
colours were consistently perceived by all knockout mice through the
standard dichromatic S and M cone pigments (Myers 2015). According to
Hennessy, the reason why only two colours are perceived by knockout
mice is that the human vision gene does not result in the formation of L-
cones (Hennessy, 2005). Trichromatic vision was, however, achieved by
McLellan (2015). This new study introduced a new method of genetic
modification (McLellan, 2015).
Questions:
The paragraph is about?
1. Does it present a clear topic sentence?
2. Does it present connection between one sentence and the next?
3. Does it present a storyline?
Although mice are naturally dichromatic, recent research has
shown that their brains are able to process trichromatic vision as
well (McLellan, 2015). This ability was tested by implanting
mice with the human vision gene, which results in the formation
of L-cones, in addition to native S and M cones. First attempts,
based on flawed methods, were unsuccessful (Hennessy, 2005;
Smith, 2012). However, a new method developed by George
McLellan and his lab achieved an effective genetic implantation
(McLellan et al, 2014; McLellan 2015).
Questions:
1. The paragraph is about?
2. Does it present a clear topic sentence?
3. Does it present connection between one sentence and the
next?
 Ethical Considerations

 WriteLiterature by paraphrasing the content from original

source.
 Acknowledge the source by citing it in your literature
review.
 Use IEEE format for citation and references.
 Asshown by Brown [4], [5]; as mentioned earlier [2],
[4]–[7], [9]; as presented by Wood et al. [7]
 Forfurther details read
https://pitt.libguides.com/citationhelp/ieee
 Documenting Sources
 However, whenever you are using material that has been published in
a book, periodical, or on another organization’s Website, you should
cite your sources.

 With the exception of common knowledge, you should cite sources for
all borrowed information used in your final document, including
quotations, paraphrases, and summaries.

Common knowledge is information generally available from basic

sources in the field. In the case of Tanya’s research project, common
knowledge is a definition of hybrid electric vehicles. When you are
uncertain whether a piece of borrowed information is common
knowledge, go ahead and cite the source.
 Why Document Sources?
1. Courtesy: You owe readers the courtesy of citing sources where they can
seek additional information on the subject. Sources should be given for
quotations, paraphrases, and summaries.

2. Ethics: You have an ethical obligation to show your reader where your
ideas stop and those of another person begin; otherwise, you are parading
the ideas of others as your own.

3. Law: You have a legal obligation to acknowledge information borrowed

from a copyrighted source. In fact, you should seek written permission for
the use of borrowed information that is copyrighted when you plan to
publish your document or when you are using your document to bring in
profit to your firm (as in a proposal or report). If you need more specific
information about copyright laws or about the legalities of documentation,
see a research librarian.
 Documentation Styles
 Documentation refers to the mechanical system you use to cite sources
from which you borrow information.

 There are many style manuals for documenting research that can vary
in different organizations and fields
 Style manuals guide the writer through the editorial rules governing
everything from use of headers and pagination and graphic and text
layout to managing data display and, of course, the rules for
documenting sources.

 We will focus briefly on rules of IEEE style manual for citing works.
 A. Citing References
 References in Text: References need not be cited in the text.
 When they are, they appear on the line, in square brackets, inside the
punctuation.

 Grammatically, they may be treated as if they were footnote numbers,

e.g.,
 as shown by Brown [4], [5]; as mentioned earlier [2], [4]–[7], [9]; Smith
[4] and Brown and Jones [5]; Wood et al. [7]
NOTE: Use et al. when three or more names are given.
 or as nouns: as demonstrated in [3]; according to [4] and [6]–[9]
 B. Reference List
 Books
Basic Format:
 [1] J. K. Author, “Title of chapter in the book,” in Title of His Published Book, xth ed. City
of Publisher, Country if not USA: Abbrev. of Publisher, year, ch. x, sec. x, pp. xxx–xxx.
Example:
 [2] L. Stein, “Random patterns,” in Computers and You, J. S. Brake, Ed. New York: Wiley,
1994, pp. 55-70.
 Journal Articles
Basic Format:
 [1] J. K. Au thor. (year, month). Title. Journal [Type of medium]. volume(issue), paging if
given. Available: site/path/file
Example:
 [2] R. J. Vidmar. (1992, Aug.) On the use of atm ospheric plasmas as electromagnetic
reflectors. IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci. [Online]. 21(3), pp. 876–880. Available:
http://www.halcyon.com/pub/journals/21ps03-vidmar
 Task
 Select 2-3 articles or secondary sources related to your
topic
 Write a paragraph (upto 150 - 200 words)
 Follow this structure:
 Main idea
 2-3 sources
 Transitions
 Opinion
 Cite references according to IEEE