What and How to Write in research Paper

Literature Review
&
Research Paper Reading &
Writing Skills
By
Dr. Yasir Bashir

 Problem Identification
 Review of Literature
 Forming of Research Question/Hypothesis
 Forming of Research Design/Methodology
 Implementation of Methodology
 Reporting Results of Methodology
 Conclusions and Recommendations
The Research Process

Problem Identification
Three sources usually contribute to problem identification:
1. Own experience or the experience of others may be a source of
problem supply.
2. A second source could be scientific literature. You may read about
certain findings and notice that a certain field was not covered. This
could lead to a research problem.
3. Theories could be a third source. Shortcomings in theories could be
researched.

Ways to select a topic
• Personal experience
• Curiosity based on something in the
media
• The state of knowledge in a field
• Social premiums
• Personal values

5
What is LR?
🖑discusses published information in a particular
subject area, and sometimes information in a
particular subject area within a certain time period.
🖑can be just a simple summary of the sources, but it
usually has an organizational pattern and combines
both summary and synthesis.

Literature Review
 Integral part of the research process
 Triggers creative thinking, new ideas
 Helps to identify appropriate research methods and
techniques
 Provide an idea of gaps that can be addressed
 Helps to establish a theoretical framework
 Justify the need for the research
 Provide substantiation/justification/validation for
researcher’s knowledge claims

Literature Review
Use the literature to identify and flesh-out
problems related to the problem area
• Review the literature to be able to indicate
how the literature
– fits in with your selected problem area,
– helps to understand your problem area better,
– can help you to focus your problem,
– what can be used to validate claims made by
you and
– what the value of the article for your research
will be.

Literature review process
Write your proposal
Define your idea in as general term as possible by
using by general sources
Search through the secondary sources
Search through the primary sources
Organize your note

10
What should I do before writing the literature
review?
🖑Clarify
🖑 If your assignment is not very specific, seek clarification from
your supervisor/lecturer:
🖑Roughly how many sources should you include?
🖑What types of sources (books, journal articles, websites)?
🖑 Should you summarize, synthesize, or critique your sources by
discussing a common theme or issue?
🖑Should you evaluate your sources?
🖑 Should you provide subheadings and other background
information, such as definitions and/or a history?

11
review?
🖑Find models
🖑 Look for other literature reviews in your area of interest or in
the discipline and
🖑 read them to get a sense of the types of themes you might
want to look for in your own research or ways to organize
your final review.

12
review?
🖑Narrow your topic
🖑There are hundreds or even thousands of
articles and books on most areas of study. The
narrower your topic, the easier it will be to limit
the number of sources you need to read in order
to get a good survey of the material.

13
review?
🖑Consider whether your sources are current
🖑Some disciplines require that you use information
that is as current as possible. In the sciences, for
instance, treatments for medical problems are
constantly changing according to the latest
studies. Information even two years old could be
obsolete.

14
review?
🖑However, if you are writing a review in the humanities, history,
or social sciences, a survey of the history of the literature may
be what is needed, because what is important is how
perspectives have changed through the years or within a certain
time period.
🖑 Try sorting through some other current bibliographies or
literature reviews in the field to get a sense of what your
discipline expects.
🖑 You can also use this method to consider what is "hot" and what
is not.

15
review?
🖑Find a focus
🖑A literature review, like a term paper, is usually
organized around ideas, not the sources
themselves as an annotated bibliography would
be organized. This means that you will not just
simply list your sources and go into detail about
each one of them, one at a time.

16
review?
🖑Be selectively in the topic area, consider instead what themes or
issues connect the sources together.
🖑Do they present one or different solutions?
🖑Is there an aspect of the field that is missing?
🖑 How well do they present the material and do they portray it
according to an appropriate theory?
🖑Do they reveal a trend in the field?
🖑A raging debate?
🖑 Pick one of these themes to focus the organization of your
review.

Dr. Lili Ann 17
review?
🖑Some sample thesis/paper statements for
literature reviews are as follows:
🖑The current trend in treatment for congestive
heart failure combines surgery and medicine.
🖑More and more cultural studies scholars are
accepting popular media as a subject worthy of
academic consideration.

18
review?
🖑Introduction: Gives a quick idea of the topic of the
literature review, such as the central theme or
organizational pattern.
🖑 Body: Contains your discussion of sources and is
organized either chronologically, thematically, or
methodologically (see below for more information on
each).
🖑Conclusions/Recommendations: Discuss what you have
drawn from reviewing literature so far. Where might the
discussion proceed?

19
review?
🖑 The introduction should provide the reader with the scale and
structure of your review. It serves as a kind of map.
🖑 The body of the review depends on how you have organised your key
points. Literature reviews at postgraduate level should be evaluative
and not merely descriptive. For example possible reasons for
similarities or differences between studies are considered rather than
a mere identification of them.
🖑 The conclusion of the review needs to sum up the main findings of
your research into the literature. The findings can be related to the
aims of the study you are proposing to do. The reader is thus provided
with a coherent background to the current study.

20
review?
🖑 Organizing the body
🖑 Once you have the basic categories in place, then you must consider
how you will present the sources themselves within the body of your
paper. Create an organizational method to focus this section even
further.
🖑 To help you come up with an overall organizational framework for your
review, consider the six typical ways of organizing the sources into a
review:
🖑Chronological
🖑By publication
🖑By trend
🖑Thematic (Related)
🖑Methodological
🖑Questions for Further Research

21
review?
🖑 Similar to primary research, development of the literature
review requires four stages:
🖑Problem formulation—which topic or field is being examined
and what are its component issues?
🖑Literature search—finding materials relevant to the subject
being explored
🖑Data evaluation—determining which literature makes a
significant contribution to the understanding of the topic
🖑Analysis and interpretation—discussing the findings and
conclusions of pertinent literature

23
What should you write?
 🖑The accepted facts in the area
 🖑The popular opinion
 🖑The main variables
 🖑The relationship between concepts and variables
 🖑Shortcomings in the existing findings
 🖑Limitations in the methods used in the existing findings
 🖑The relevance of your research
 🖑Suggestions for further research in the area.

25
🖑 Literature reviews should comprise the following elements:
🖑 An overview of the subject, issue or theory under consideration, along
with the objectives of the literature review
🖑 Division of works under review into categories (e.g. those in support
of a particular position, those against, and those offering alternative
theses entirely)
🖑 Explanation of how each work is similar to and how it varies from the
others
🖑 Conclusions as to which pieces are best considered in their argument,
are most convincing of their opinions, and make the greatest
contribution to the understanding and development of their area of
research

26
Consideration of things.
🖑 In assessing each piece, consideration should be given to:
🖑 Provenance—What are the author's credentials? Are the author's
arguments supported by evidence (e.g. primary historical material,
case studies, narratives, statistics, recent scientific findings)?
🖑 Objectivity—Is the author's perspective even-handed or prejudicial? Is
contrary data considered or is certain pertinent information ignored to
prove the author's point?
🖑 Persuasiveness—Which of the author's theses are most/least
convincing?
🖑 Value—Are the author's arguments and conclusions convincing? Does
the work ultimately contribute in any significant way to an
understanding of the subject?

27
Language, citation, facts
🖑Language focus
🖑 Create a balance between direct quotation (citation) and
paraphrasing. Avoid too much direct quoting. The verb tense
chosen depends on your emphasis:
🖑When you are citing a specific author's findings, use the past
tense: (found, demonstrated);
🖑 When you are writing about an accepted fact, use the present
tense: (demonstrates, finds); and
🖑When you are citing several authors or making a general
statement, use the present perfect tense: (have shown, have
found, little research has been done).

28
🖑 Final checklist
🖑 Have I fulfilled the purpose of the literature review?
🖑 Is it written at a level appropriate to its audience?
🖑 Are its facts correct?
🖑 Is all the information included relevant?
🖑 Are the layout and presentation easy on the eye?
🖑 Is the language clear, concise and academic?
🖑 Does the abstract summarise the entire review?
🖑 Does the introduction adequately introduce the topic?
🖑 Is the body organized logically?
🖑 Does the conclusion interpret, analyse and evaluate?
🖑 Are the recommendations reasonable?
🖑 Does the table of contents correspond with the actual contents?
🖑 Have I acknowledged all sources of information through correct referencing?
🖑 Have I checked spelling, grammar and punctuation?
🖑 Have I carefully proof-read the final draft?

29
How to review?
🖑The whole process of reviewing includes:
a. Searching for Literature
b. Sorting and prioritizing the retrieved literature
c. Analytical reading of papers
d. Evaluative reading of papers
e. Comparison across studies
f. Organising the content
g. Writing the review

30
How to review?
Compare Studies
🖑Comparison across studies
🖑 The aim is to extract key points by comparing and contrasting
ACROSS studies, instead of reading one paper after another.
🖑Key points for a review may concern areas of similarities and/or
differences in:
🖑Research aim(s) or hypotheses
🖑Research design and sampling
🖑Instruments and procedures used
🖑How data were analyzed
🖑Results or findings
🖑Interpretations

31
How to review?
Difference & Similarities
🖑Find similarities and differences between studies at
different levels, e.g.:
- Philosophy
- Epistemology
- Morality
- Methodology
- Methods
- Types of data
- Data analysis
- Interpretation

32
How to review?
Feature & Concepts
🖑Set out your thinking on paper through maps
and trees.
Featuremap Classifies and categorises your thought in tabular form
Conceptmap
Links between concepts and processes, or shows the relationship
between ideas and practice
Tree
construction
Shows how topic branches out into subthemes and related
questions or represents stages in the development of a topic.

33
How to review?
🖑Tips on writing
Sentences
Express one idea in a sentence. Ensure that all your sentences have
a subject, verb and object.
Paragraphs
Group sentences that express and develop one aspect of your topic.
Use a new paragraph for another aspect or another topic.
Consistent Grammar
Use sentences and paragraphs with appropriate use of commas,
colours and semi-colours. Incorrect use of punctuation can affect
the meaning.
Transition Words
Use words that link paragraphs and which show contrast and
development to your argument e.g. ‘hence’, ‘therefore’, ‘but’,
‘thus’, ‘as a result’, ‘in contrast’.

34
Example
Hacker is a person outside the system who is never excluded by
its rules (Turkle 2012)
According to Meyer (2011), hackers are computer ….

35
Example
• BAD EXAMPLE!!!
Meaning of courseware
Definition: programs and data used in Computer-Based Training.
According to dictionary found on http://www.webopedia.com, a courseware
is defined as below.

Example
Video
Pre-processing Classification
Motion
Genre
Object
Event
Shot
Colour Feature
Extraction
Edge Feature
Extraction
Object
Camera
Length
Duration
Colour
Histogram
Edge
Detection
Edge
Clustering
Pan
Zoom
Translation
Rule-based
classifiers
Recognition
result
FIGURE 2.3 Schematic diagram for
video classification
Source: L.N. Abdullah et al. 2005.
36

37
Example
Research Technique Features
Used
Domain Disadvantage /
Advantage
Future Direction
Lin et al. 2007 A priori algorithm
Association rule
mining
Pre-filtering
architecture
Audiovisual Weather
Sports
Commercial
Reduce the amount of
misclassification errors.
Able to identify a high
percentage of positive
instances in each concept
Due to the different
properties of the data
sets representing the
semantic concepts
such as weather,
commercial, and
sports, they proposed
to use different
strategies to merge the
rules.
Davis & Tyagi
2006
Probabilistic reliable-
inference framework
Hidden Markov
Model (HMM) output
likelihoods and action
priors
Motion Walking, running,
standing, bending-
forward, crouching-
down, and sitting
The system only makes
classifications when it
believes the input is
‘good enough’ for
discrimination between
the possible actions
Maximum likelihood
(ML) and maximum
a posteriori (MAP)

After Comprehensive Literature Review the next step is…..
Summarize your WRITING
For paper, Proposal, Presentation, discussion
"I know that I know nothing"
To know, is to know that you know nothing.
That is the meaning of true knowledge.

Aim of Research
 Clarifying or substantiating an existing theory
 Clarifying contradictory findings
 Correcting a faulty methodology
 Correcting the inadequate or unsuitable use
of statistical techniques
 Reconciling conflicting opinions
 Solving existing practical problems

Developing Research Question
CATEGORIES OF RESEARCH QUESTIONS
• Descriptive
• Exploratory
• Explanatory
• Problem-solving

“Our Most Important Research Questions
May Be ‘Hiding’ in Our Unchallenged Solutions”

The Importance of Good Questions
A good research question:
• Defines the investigation
• Sets boundaries
• Provides direction

Defining Your Topic
If you are finding it a challenge to generate
a research topic you can:
• Hone in on your passions
• Use your curiosity
• Look for inspiration from the creative arts
• Develop ‘right brain’ skills such as concept mapping

Minding Practicalities
Research directions are not always at the full
discretion of the researcher.
Practicalities include:
• Appropriateness of the topic
• Your ability to get supervisory support
• Funding opportunities and commitments

From Interesting Topics to
Researchable Questions
An ‘angle’ for your research can come from
insights stemming from:
• Personal experience
• Theory
• Observations
• Contemporary issues
• Engagement with the literature

Narrowing and Clarifying
• Narrowing, clarifying, and even redefining
your questions is essential to the research
process.
• Forming the right ‘questions’ should be seen
as an iterative process that is informed by
reading and doing at all stages.

Cycles of Research
Question Development

The Hypothesis Dilemma
• Hypotheses are designed to express relationships
between variables. If this is the nature of your
question, a hypothesis can add to your research.
• If your question is more descriptive or explorative,
generating a hypothesis may not be appropriate

The Hypothesis Dilemma
A hypothesis may not be appropriate if:
• You do not have an intuitive or educated guess about a
particular situation
• You do not have a set of defined variables.
• Your question centers on phenomenological description
• Your question centers on an ethnographic study of a cultural
group
• Your aim is to engage in, and research, the process of
collaborative change

Research Methodology
The central question the research wishes to
address.
 The purpose of my research.
 What is the nature of the research process be.
 What kinds of data need to be collected? (Will it be about
people, theories, models, o r frameworks, in the form of words
or numbers?)
 How the data will be collected. (What are the methods of data
collection?)
 How the data will be analyzed and interpreted. (What are the
methods of data analysis?)
 How the findings will be communicated.

Results and Discussion
• References to previous research: comparison of the
results with those reported in the literature, or use of the
literature to support a claim, hypothesis or deduction.
• Deduction: a claim for how the results can be applied more
generally (a conclusion based on reasoning from the results,
e.g. we fed fish a new feed, all the fish gained weight,
therefore the new feed causes fish to gain weight).
• Hypothesis: a more general claim or possible conclusion
arising from the results (which will be proved or disproved in
later research).

COMMON PROBLEM
• The discussion does not discuss – simply supplies more detail
about the results obtained.
• Solution: remember that the discussion should explain the
results.

ORGANIZATION
• There are two basic ways of organizing the results and
discussion:
– Presenting all the results, then giving a discussion (perhaps in
a different section)
– Presenting part of the results then giving a discussion,
presenting another part then giving a discussion, etc.

• The method of organization you use will depend on the
quantity and type of results you obtain from your
research.
• You should look for a method of presentation that
makes the information and ideas you are presenting as
clear as possible to the reader.

Research Proposal or Paper
Proposal
• Preparing for Research

Abstract
• Answer the following questions:
– What is the scope of the research that you intend
to carry out?
– What is the purpose of the research?
– What methods are you intending to use?

Methodology
• Project activities
• Key milestones
• Study plan
Use a Gantt Chart to help you with the above.
Give a detailed plan of the proposed research.

Methodology
• Key milestones
• Study plan
You can summarise this on 1 page.
Common mistake: The study plan, by which I
mean the plan of what you intend to do, is
vague.

Methodology
• Key milestones
• Study plan
You already have skills. What new skills will you
need to develop.?
Is the time to develop them shown in your
plan?

Style of English
• Use direct statements, i.e. do not leave the
reader wondering what you mean; do not
leave the reader to read between the lines.
• Researchers normally write in the passive
voice, not the active voice. This makes your
writing sound more formal and makes it
sound less like you are talking to a person.

Active/Passive Voice
• The experiment was designed by the research
officer.
OR
• The research officer designed the experiment.
Which one is the passive voice?
Ref.:www.wiset.eps.manchester.ac.uk/.../Presentation%20fr
om%20Academic...

• It was agreed that the experiment should be…
OR
• We agreed that the experiment should be...
om%20Academic...

• Something/someone had broken the water
pipe in three places.
OR
• The water pipe was broken in three
places.
om%20Academic...

• If it is too clumsy to write a certain sentence in
the passive voice then use the active voice.
om%20Academic...

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