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How to Conduct a Literature Review
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How to Conduct an Effective
Literature Review
How to Conduct an Effective
Literature Review
Nader Ale Ebrahim

Department of Engineering Design and Manufacture,
Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia
Email: [email protected]
Outline
• Find literature associated with the topic.
• Search and analyze the literature.
• Evaluate the paper before reading.
• Cite literature properly.
• Make a summary table of reviewed papers.
• Avoid plagiarism.
• Write a journal article based on literature review.
©2012 Nader Ale Ebrahim

The literature review
In your literature review, you should:
– clarify your understanding of the field
– explain the rationale for your research
– place your research within a broader context
– evaluate the results of previous research
– define key concepts and ideas
– identify research in related areas that are
generalisable or transferable to your topic
– identify relevant methodological issues.
UNE. 2009. The literature review [Online]. University of New England. Available:
http://www.une.edu.au/library/eskillsplus/literature/litreview.php [Accessed 25 January 2010].

The literature review
A literature review ensures that you are at least
familiar with the body of research in your field
before starting your own investigations.
Writing a literature review also provides
practice in critical thinking. Once you have
applied critical thinking skills to the findings of
past researchers, you are in a better position
to apply these same skills to your own work.
UNE. 2009. The literature review [Online]. University of New England. Available:

Systematic Review 1/2
• A systematic literature review is a means
of identifying, evaluating and interpreting
all available research relevant to a
particular research question, or topic area,
or phenomenon of interest. Individual
studies contributing to a systematic review
are called primary studies; a systematic
review is a form a secondary study.

Systematic Review 2/2
• A systematic review is a literature review
focused on a research question that tries
to identify, appraise, select and synthesize
all high quality research evidence relevant
to that question.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systematic_review
• A Guide to Writing the Dissertation

Literature Review -
Reasons for Performing Systematic Reviews
• To summarise the existing evidence concerning a

treatment or technology e.g. to summarise the empirical
evidence of the benefits and limitations of a specific agile
method.
• To identify any gaps in current research in order to
suggest areas for further investigation.
• To provide a framework/background in order to
appropriately position new research activities.
However, systematic reviews can also be undertaken to examine the

extent to which empirical evidence supports/contradicts theoretical
hypotheses, or even to assist the generation of new hypotheses

The Systematic Review Process
Planning
the review
Systematic
review
Conducting Reporting
the review the review
Source: Adapted from Systematic Review

Planning the review
1. Identification of the need for a
review
2. Development of a review
protocol. (The most important activity during
protocol is to formulate the research question.)

Conducting the review
1. Identification of research
2. Selection of primary studies
3. Study quality assessment
4. Data extraction & monitoring
5. Data synthesis.

Reporting the review
Reporting the review

is a single stage
phase.

Checklist for reading a review paper
• What are the review’s objectives?
• What sources were searched to identify primary studies? Were there
any restrictions?
• What were the inclusion/exclusion criteria and how were they
applied?
• What criteria were used to assess the quality of primary studies and
how were they applied?
• How were the data extracted from the primary studies?
• How were the data synthesised? How were differences between
studies investigated? How were the data combined? Was it
reasonable to combine the studies? Do the conclusions flow from
the evidence?

Checklist for reading a review paper-From a
more general viewpoint
• Can you find an important question, which the review
addressed?
• Was a thorough search done of the appropriate
databases and were other potentially important sources
explored?
• Was methodological quality assessed and the trials
weighted accordingly?
• How sensitive are the results to the way that the review
has been done?
• Have numerical results been interpreted with common
sense and due regard to the broader aspects of the
problem?
Literature sources available
Source: Research methods for business students / Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis, Adrian Thornhill. —5th ed.
Working with literature
Working with
Literature
Find it! Manage it! Use it! Review it!
Knowing the Reading Choosing your research Understanding the

literature types efficiently topic lit review’s purpose
Keeping track Ensuring adequate

Using available resources Developing your question
of references coverage
Honing your Writing relevant Arguing your Writing

search skills annotations rationale purposefully
Informing your work with Working on

theory style and tone
Designing
method

Narrow the area of research
R&D and Distributed Teams
Focus of the literature Review
SMEs, Virtual R&D teams and NPD
NPD and Virtuality

Virtual Teams
Virtual R&D teams and SMEs
R&D
NPD
SMEs and Virtual Teams
SMEs
R&D and NPD
SMEs and R&D NPD and SMEs
Ale Ebrahim, N., Ahmed, S., & Taha, Z. (2009). Virtual R & D teams in small and medium enterprises: A literature
review. [Review]. Scientific Research and Essay, 4(13), 1575–1590.

The interactions between teaming, cross-cultural and virtual communication skills to create new engineering
interactions.
Figure from: http://memeburn.com/2012/06/do-links-from-social-media-sites-really-hold-any-seo-value/

Structure & planning your
writing - MindMaps
MindMaps are a visual map to link and organise key concepts of your
research. They also show links and relationships between ideas.
Sometimes it is a good idea to number key ideas in the order that
you are going to place them in your literature review.
Example

Example of a MindMap

Source: Creswell, J. W. (2012). Educational research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research (4th ed. ed.). Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.
Source: Creswell, J. W. (2012). Educational research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research (4th ed. ed.). Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.
Source: Ross' PhD Literature Review Mind Map

Source: http://www.wordsinspace.net/course_material/MatternLiteratureReviewTips.pdf
Review biases
• Read outdated version of a paper/book
• Reading but not writing
• Read unlinked papers (detect as much of the relevant literature as
possible)
• Read before planning (defining a review protocol that specifies the

research question being addressed)
• Start reading with few resources

• Language bias
• Publication bias
• Read everything
• Not keeping bibliographical information
Identifying a Research Problem
Researchers begin a study by identifying a
research problem that they need to address.
They write about this “problem” in the opening
passages of their study and, in effect, give you
as a reader the rationale for why the study is
important and why you need to read their study.
Reference: Creswell, J. W. (2012). Educational research:

©2012Planning,
Nader Ale Conducting,
Ebrahim and Evaluating Quantitative and
Qualitative Research (4th ed. ed.). Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.
Reviewing the Literature
With so much information available, searching and locating good
literature on your topic can be challenging. Five steps will provide a
sense of how researchers proceed in reviewing the literature are:
1. Identify key terms to use in your search for literature.
2. Locate literature about a topic by consulting several types of
materials and databases, including those available at an
academic library and on the Internet.
3. Critically evaluate and select the literature for your review.
4. Organize the literature you have selected by abstracting or
taking notes on the literature and developing a visual diagram
of it.
5. Write a literature review that reports summaries of the literature
for inclusion in your research report.
Reference: Creswell, J. W. (2012). Educational research:

©2012Planning,
Nader Ale Conducting,
Ebrahim and Evaluating Quantitative and
Qualitative Research (4th ed. ed.). Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.
Selecting keywords

The literature review process
Source: © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis, Adrian Thornhill and Martin Jenkins 2003
Research methods for business students / Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis, Adrian Thornhill. —5th ed.
Improving Readership of Your Articles
Appearing at the top of the list of search results, and having a
useful description of your work, greatly improve the likelihood
that a reader will find and download your document.
• Abstracts should include keywords that potential readers are

likely to use in searches. It is especially valuable to modify and
reuse words that appear in the document's title and full text to
improve the article's rank when readers search for those words.
• The first sentence of the abstract is all that is likely to be

displayed in the search page results, so make your first sentence
one that will encourage readers to click the link.

Using keywords is a vital part of abstract writing,
because of the practice of retrieving information
electronically: keywords act as the search term. Use
keywords that are specific, and that reflect what is
essential about the paper. Put yourself in the position of
someone researching in your field: what would you look
for? Consider also whether you can use any of the
current "buzzwords".
Source: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/authors/guides/write/abstracts.htm?part=1#2

Keywords
Selecting keywords lead to get more

citation.
Web of Science

KeyWords Plus
Hi there! This issue, we are going to explain how KeyWords Plus
broadens your search. KeyWords Plus is the result of our Thomson
Reuters editorial expertise in Science.
What our editors do is to review the titles of all references and

highlight additional relevant but overlooked keywords that were not
listed by the author or publisher. With KeyWords Plus, you can now
uncover more papers that may not have appeared in your search
due to changes in scientific keywords over time.
Thanks and keep your feedback and questions coming!
Smiles,
Lim Khee Hiang
Ph.D., Principal Consultant

Where to Find Research Literature
• ISI Web of Knowledge

• Research tools Mind Map (Refer to “search
for proper article” section)

Finding review articles
• To demonstrate finding review articles in
a Google Scholar search, enter the
search:
• "health insurance""review article" and click
on the Search button.

How do I select material?
Use three major criteria for selection, and ask yourself some questions:
•relevance
• has the material contributed to the development of you main concepts?
• does it clarify your position (either by supporting or contrasting with it)?
• does it provide key interpretations or models you can apply to your design?
• is the material bound to a particular context or culture?
authority
• is the author qualified to report on the subject?
• has it been published by a reputable source or can you justify why it is an important
source?
• has the material been critically evaluated or assessed by other authors or colleagues;
for
example, peer reviewed or professionally edited.
currency
• is the material still influential in the field?
• are you keeping up to date with new research?
©2012
Source: Writing the Literature Review / Using the Nader Ale Ebrahim
Literature
Critically Analyzing Information Sources
1- Initial Appraisal:
Author
Date of Publication
Edition or Revision
Publisher
Title of Journal (Distinguishing Scholarly
Journals from other Periodicals)
2- Content Analysis:
Intended Audience
Objective Reasoning
Coverage
Writing Style
Evaluative Reviews

h-index (Jorge E. Hirsch)
• A scientist has index h if h of [his/her]
Np papers have at least h citations each,
and the other (Np − h) papers have at most
h citations each.
H-index from a plot of decreasing citations for numbered papers

Source: Making Research Count: Analyzing Canadian Academic Publishing Cultures

Paper/journal quality
• Journal Index, Impact Factor
• Another guide to paper/journal quality is the
general reputation of the association, society, or
organization publishing the journal.
• Leading professional associations such as
American Psychological Association (APA) or
the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers (IEEE) publish a range of journals
that are highly regarded.

The Institute for Scientific
Information (ISI)
The Institute for Scientific Information (ISI)
• The Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) was founded by Eugene

Garfield in 1960. It was acquired by Thomson Scientific & Healthcare in
1992, became known as Thomson ISI and now is part of the Healthcare &
Science business of the multi-billion dollar Thomson Reuters Corporation.
• ISI offered bibliographic database services. Its speciality: citation indexing

and analysis, a field pioneered by Garfield. It maintains citation databases
covering thousands of academic journals, including a continuation of its long
time print-based indexing service the Science Citation Index (SCI), as well
as the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), and the Arts and Humanities
Citation Index (AHCI). All of these are available via ISI's Web of Knowledge
database service.

Citation tracking
• Citation indexes allows you to search the

academic literature in ways that illuminate the
progress of academic debate in your field. With a
citation index, you can easily identify the most
influential articles, and the leading academic
authorities. You can track backwards (using lists of
cited articles) and forwards (using lists of articles
which cite a particular article). As a result, you can
determine the position of academic debate at any
time in the past

Cited Reference Searching
Traditional search Cited reference search

2004 2003
paper paper
1987 1993
paper paper
1996 1996
1982 paper 1982 paper
paper 1957 paper 1957
paper paper
Literature Citation Information – Driving Discovery of
―CLOSE Art‖
2002 2004
2007
Times
Cited
2003
2001 Cited
References 2005
2000 Related
1998
Records
1993 2004
2000
 Citing 
…navigating 1998
• Backward in time via Cited References 1994
• Forward in time via Times Cited
• and through Related Records
Time
27

Paper/journal quality
• Another guide to paper/journal quality is
the general reputation of the association,
society, or organization publishing the
journal.
• Leading professional associations such as
American Psychological Association (APA)
or the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers (IEEE) publish a range of
journals that are highly regarded.

For More Info.
How to do an Effective
Literature Search?
Application Training Module Series I
by Customer Education Team
[email protected]
Stop Searching, Start Discovering

Writing Literature Review
Writing your literature review
Writing your literature review takes time. You may need to
complete several drafts before your final copy. It is
important to have a good introduction that clearly tells
the reader what the literature will be about.
An introduction must tell the reader the following:

– what you are going to cover in the review
– the scope of your research
– how the review ties in with your own research topic.
Source: https://www.dlsweb.rmit.edu.au/lsu/content/2_AssessmentTasks/assess_tuts/lit_review_LL/writing.html

Introduction
This is a good example of an introduction because it has a
topic sentence which indicates what will be covered and
also tells the reader the specific focus of the literature
review in the concluding sentence.

Paragraphs
A paragraph is a group of connected sentences that develop a single
point, argument or idea. Paragraphs need to link to other
paragraphs so that the themes, arguments or ideas developed are
part of a coherent whole rather than separate bits.
A paragraph should include:
– a main statement / idea that you are putting forward, ie topic
sentence
– evidence from research to support / argue your idea, showing
where the writers agree and / or disagree
– student analysis of the research literature where appropriate
– summing up and linking to the next idea (paragraph).
In the literature review, you will need to show evidence of integrating
your readings into each paragraph and analysis of the readings
where necessary.
Source: https://www.dlsweb.rmit.edu.au/lsu/content/2_AssessmentTasks/assess_tuts/lit_review_LL/writing.html

Integrating arguments in paragraphs
Integration of multiple sources
To develop an integrated argument from multiple sources, you need to
link your arguments together. The model below is a guide.

Integrating arguments in paragraphs
Integration of student analysis
It is important to integrate your analysis and interpretation of the literature in your
literature review. Read the following paragraph and see how the arguments have
been integrated into the paragraph along with student analysis. Analysis is not just
student opinion, it needs to be supported by the literature.

Source: https://www.dlsweb.rmit.edu.au/lsu/content/2_AssessmentTasks/assess_tuts/lit_review_LL/integration.html
Verbs for referencing
To incorporate quotations / references into a literature
review, you can use a variety of verbs. These verbs are
often used with prepositions, eg that, by, on. It is poor
writing to use the same ones all the time, eg says that,
states that. Verbs also allow the writer to indicate the
degree to which they support the author of the research,
eg claims that versus argues that. The following verbs
(and prepositions) can be used to introduce references
into your literature review. Please note that they can be
used in different tenses.

Guidelines translations:
Arabic
Bangla
Bosnian
Chinese
Croatian
Czech
Estonian
French
Hungarian
Before submission, follow EASE Italian
Japanese
Guidelines for Authors and Translators,
Korean
freely available in many Persian
languages at www.ease.org.uk/publicatio Polish
Portuguese-Brazilian
ns/author-guidelines. Adherence should
Romanian
increase the chances of acceptance of Russian
submitted manuscripts. Spanish
Turkish

Keeping up-to-date
Keeping up-to-date
What is an alert service?
• Many journal databases and book publishers offer free alert
services. These are an effective means of keeping track of the
latest research.
• Alert services come in different forms. The most common
include:
– a search alert. This is a saved search which alerts you when a
book or article that matches your search terms is published.
– a TOC (Table of Contents) alert. Such an alert notifies you when
a new issue of a journal is published, and provides you with the
issue's table of contents.
– a citation alert. This advises you when a new article cites a
particular work.
– Most alert services are email-based. An increasing number are
now offered as an RSS feed. If you are just beginning, you might
like to try email alerts first. These are generally easier to create.

Keeping up-to-date
Alert services are an effective

means of keeping track of the
latest research.

Keeping up-to-date
Create a Google Alert
• Enter the topic you wish to monitor.
• Search terms:
• Type:
• How often:
• Email length:
• Your email:

Keeping up-to-date

Thank you!
Nader Ale Ebrahim

Department of Engineering Design and Manufacture,
Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia
Email: [email protected]

References
1. Leary, Z. (2004) The Essential Guide to Doing Research. London: Sage Chapter Six
2. Ale Ebrahim, N., Ahmed, S., & Taha, Z. (2009). Virtual R & D teams in small and medium enterprises: A literature review.
[Review]. Scientific Research and Essay, 4(13), 1575–1590.
3. Randolph, Justus (2009). A Guide to Writing the Dissertation Literature Review. Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation,
14(13).
4. FIXSON, S. 2007. Modularity and commonality research: past developments and future opportunities. Concurrent Engineering,
15, 85.
5. UNE. 2009. The literature review [Online]. University of New England. Available:
6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systematic_review
7. MOHAMMADJAFARI, M., AHMED, S., DAWAL, S. Z. M. & ZAYANDEHROODI, H. 2011(Article in press). The Importance of
Project Management in SMEs for the Development of New Products through E-Collaboration. African Journal of Business
Management.
8. Journal Citation Reports - Science - Thomson Reuters
9. ISI Web of Knowledge
10. ALE EBRAHIM, N., ABDUL RASHID, S. H., AHMED, S. & TAHA, Z. 2011. The Effectiveness of Virtual R&D Teams in SMEs:
Experiences of Malaysian SMEs. Industrial Engineering and Management Systems, 10, 109-114.
11. EBRAHIM, N. A., AHMED, S. & TAHA, Z. 2010. SMEs; Virtual research and development (R&D) teams and new product
development: A literature review. International Journal of the Physical Sciences, 5, 916-930.
12. ALE EBRAHIM, N., AHMED, S. & TAHA, Z. 2009. Modified Stage-Gate: A Conceptual Model of Virtual Product Development
Process. African Journal of Marketing Management, 1, 211-219.
13. PÓS, P., DE PRODUÇÃO, G. P. D. E. E., SISTEMAS, E. & FERREIRA, P. G. S. 2011. THE COMPREHENSION OF
PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT INDICATORS BY VIRTUAL TEAMS. Master of Science in Industrial and Systems
Engineering.
14. https://www.dlsweb.rmit.edu.au/lsu/content/2_AssessmentTasks/assess_tuts/lit_review_LL/mindmaps.html
15. Creswell, J. W. (2012). Educational research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research (4th
ed. ed.). Boston: Pearson Education, Inc. ©2012 Nader Ale Ebrahim
References
16. ALE EBRAHIM, N. 2010. Research Tools I & II. Available: http://works.bepress.com/aleebrahim/13/
17. ALE EBRAHIM, N. 2010. Target ISI Journals-HOW TO WRITE/PUBLISH ISI PAPERS. Available:
http://works.bepress.com/aleebrahim/1/
18. ALE EBRAHIM, N. 2011. Collaboration Tools for Education ―Learn and teach online‖. Available:
http://aleebrahim.com/Presentation/Collaboration%20Tools%20for%20Education%20.pdf.
19. ALE EBRAHIM, N. 2011. How to Conduct a Literature Review. Available: http://works.bepress.com/aleebrahim/50/
20. ALE EBRAHIM, N. 2011. How to increase h-index. How to increase h-index; ―Advertise and disseminate publications‖ [Online].
Available: http://works.bepress.com/aleebrahim/53
21. ALE EBRAHIM, N. 2012. An Effective Literature Review Procedure.
22. ALE EBRAHIM, N. 2012. The Effective Use of Research Tools Box. Available: http://www.scribd.com/doc/101881937/The-
Effective-Use-of-Research-Tools-Box-By-Nader-Ale-Ebrahim [Accessed 3 August ].
23. ALE EBRAHIM, N. 2012. Research Tools Box. The Effective Use of Research Tools Box. Kuala Lumpur.

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How to Conduct a Literature Review

Article · January 2011

Nader Ale Ebrahim

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Nader Ale Ebrahim

©2012 Nader Ale Ebrahim

©2012 Nader Ale Ebrahim

©2012 Nader Ale Ebrahim

©2012 Nader Ale Ebrahim

• A Guide to Writing the Dissertation

• To summarise the existing evidence concerning a

However, systematic reviews can also be undertaken to examine the

©2012 Nader Ale Ebrahim

Source: Adapted from Systematic Review

©2012 Nader Ale Ebrahim

©2012 Nader Ale Ebrahim

Reporting the review

©2012 Nader Ale Ebrahim

©2012 Nader Ale Ebrahim

Find it! Manage it! Use it! Review it!

Knowing the Reading Choosing your research Understanding the

Keeping track Ensuring adequate

Honing your Writing relevant Arguing your Writing

Informing your work with Working on

©2012 Nader Ale Ebrahim

NPD and Virtuality

SMEs and Virtual Teams

SMEs and R&D NPD and SMEs

©2012 Nader Ale Ebrahim

©2012 Nader Ale Ebrahim

©2012 Nader Ale Ebrahim

©2012 Nader Ale Ebrahim

©2012 Nader Ale Ebrahim

• Read before planning (defining a review protocol that specifies the

• Start reading with few resources

Reference: Creswell, J. W. (2012). Educational research:

Reference: Creswell, J. W. (2012). Educational research:

©2012 Nader Ale Ebrahim

• Abstracts should include keywords that potential readers are

• The first sentence of the abstract is all that is likely to be

©2012 Nader Ale Ebrahim

©2012 Nader Ale Ebrahim

Selecting keywords lead to get more

©2012 Nader Ale Ebrahim

What our editors do is to review the titles of all references and

©2012 Nader Ale Ebrahim

• ISI Web of Knowledge

©2012 Nader Ale Ebrahim

©2012 Nader Ale Ebrahim

©2012 Nader Ale Ebrahim

H-index from a plot of decreasing citations for numbered papers

©2012 Nader Ale Ebrahim

©2012 Nader Ale Ebrahim

©2012 Nader Ale Ebrahim

• The Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) was founded by Eugene

• ISI offered bibliographic database services. Its speciality: citation indexing

©2012 Nader Ale Ebrahim

• Citation indexes allows you to search the