This document provides an overview of conducting a literature review for research in architectural engineering. It discusses that a literature review surveys various sources to produce more lasting and widely useful knowledge, and should be done throughout the research process, not just at the beginning. The document outlines that a literature review summarizes existing information on a specific topic and places it in the broader context of relevant literature. It also compares a literature review to an annotated bibliography, and discusses the uses of a literature review in identifying a research question, focusing the topic, understanding ideas and the current conceptual landscape. Finally, it provides guidance on finding resources, developing an organizing and retrieval system, and taking effective notes.

1. Faculty of Engineering and Technology
Department of Architectural Engineering
ARC 323 : Human Studies in
Architecture
Fall 2018
Dr. Yasser Mahgoub
Research 3 - Literature Review

2. Introduction
Knowledge we already possess  New information
• Literature Review (LR):
– A survey of various sources to produce knowledge that
is more lasting and has more widespread usefulness.
– A very important part of the research process
– Not only at the beginning of the process but throughout
it.

3. Current
Knowledge
Research
New
Knowledge
Research
New
Knowledge
Design
Research New
Knowledge

4. Introduction
Information from research:
• Address a specific topic Summarized in several sentences
• Find its place in larger domain of relevant literature
(community of people)
• Should be able to stand on its own

6. Research Cyclical Process
• A research must be informed about existing literature.
• The outcome will expand that body of literature.

7. LR as an Exploratory System
– A body of information
existing in a wide
variety of stored
formats
– Has conceptual
relevance for a
particular topic of
inquiry.
– Activities to use that
body of information to
define and address a
topic of inquiry.

8. LR as an Exploratory System
• Important issues:
– Key sources
– Key theories
– Major issues and databases
– Epistemological* and ontological** grounds
– Main questions and problems

9. LR as an Exploratory System
* Epistemological - is the
branch of
philosophy concerned with
the nature and scope
of knowledge.
** Ontological - is the
philosophical study of the
nature of being, existence,
or reality.

11. Annotated Bibliography vs LR
• Annotated Bibliography:
– Listing of references
obtained from searching a
field’s literature
– Respond to each reference
cited with a descriptive
paragraph:
• Goals
• Theoretical stance,
• Relevance for the
investigation.

12. 3.1.2. Annotated Bibliography vs LR
• Annotated Bibliography:
– Listing of references obtained from searching a field’s
literature
– Respond to each reference cited with a descriptive
paragraph: Goals, Theoretical stance, Relevance for
the investigation.

13. 3.1.2. Annotated Bibliography vs LR
• Annotated Bibliography:
– Listing of references obtained from searching a field’s
literature
– Respond to each reference cited with a descriptive
paragraph: Goals, Theoretical stance, Relevance for
the investigation.

14. Annotated Bibliography vs LR
From Annotated Bibliography TO Literature Review
– Introductory statement
– Summary of the lines of existing research (grouped)
– Observations on the state of literature: Expand –
Covered – Arguments - …

15. Uses of LR
• To identify the research question:
– Emerge from analyzing, criticizing and suggesting
improvements to an existing work.
– Comparison of literature.
– Existing Theory
– Testing Theory
– Expansion of concept or Theory
• Mining the Literature to develop
a research question

16. Uses of LR
• Research Creativity:
– Derive new implications from existing position
– Critique past stances from an awareness of present
positions
– Project future conditions based upon learned
premises.

17. Uses of LR
• To Focus the topic of inquiry:
– Topic should not be:
• Too general
• Too broad
• Too restrictive
• To Understand the Makeup of the Research Question
– Back-and-forth between Literature and Research
– Restate the topic several times

18. Uses of LR
• To Understand an Idea’s Generic Roots
– Historical lineage
– Family tree
– Network
– Grow the tree

19. Uses of LR
• To Understand the Current Conceptual Landscape
– Contemporary context
– Current points of view
• Competing
• Opposing
• Nuanced (slight degree of difference)
– Intellectual agenda (buzz-words)
• Sustainability
• Deconstruction
• Transdisciplinary

20. General Topics
• Facts and Opinion
– Fact: Agreement – Quantifiable and certifiable
– Opinion: Inference or hypothesis (newspapers,
letters, material objects, historical studies, …)

23. General Topics
• Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Sources

24. Specific Tactics
1. Knowing where the resources are
2. Having an organizing and retrieving system
3. Motivation and imagination

25. Where to go: Resources
• Internet
• Library
• Archives
• Organizations
• Agencies
• Media

26. Where to go: Resources
• Internet
– Search Engines
– Specialized Search Engines
• Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Colombia University
– http://library.columbia.edu/indiv/avery/avery_index.html
• Arts and Humanities Search
– http://www.thomsonscientific.com/cgi-
bin/jrnlst/jloptions.cgi?PC=H

27. Where to go: Resources
• Internet
– Full Text Services
• eJournals
• eBooks
– ProQuest
http://www.proquest.co.uk/en-UK/
– ScienceDirect
http://www.sciencedirect.com/
– NetLibrary
http://www.netlibrary.net/

28. Where to go: Resources
• Internet
– Library Databases
– Specific Websites

29. What to do: Organization and Retrieval
• Locating   Borrowing
• Digest the gathered information
• Frame the research report
• Note taking
• Catalog
• Creative imagination

30. What to do: Organization and Retrieval
• Note taking
– Systematic way
– Index cards
– Notebook
– Laptop
– Record all of the bibliographic
Information of the source
– Order
– To be retrieved
– Note taking  Note organizing
– Creativity and Imagination

31. 3.4.2. What to do: Organization and
Retrieval
iPad App Review: Index Card iPad for Writers: Apps

33. End