Literature Survey, Literature Comprehension,

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Literature Survey, Literature Comprehension,
Literature Review
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Literature Comprehension
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Literature Comprehension

• The literature comprehension is the process of
  reading and understanding the research found in
  the survey process.

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Literature Comprehension

• Youve found 50 papers, now what are you going to
  do with them ?

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Literature Comprehension

• Youve found 50 papers, now what are you going to
  do with them ?
• The first thing to do is to divide them into
  piles based on sub-topics within your research,
  so some papers might be about the overall themes
  and others might be about specific issues.

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Literature Comprehension

• Now start to read them, I suggest ten sittings,
  reading five papers in each sitting.

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Literature Comprehension

• You will be freaked out after reading the first
  five papers, you will be deluged with new
  terminology, models and approaches.
• The important thing is to hang in there, dont
  get overwhelmed by it all, just read them, and
  make a note of all new terms, models and
  approaches

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Literature Comprehension

• in your notebook

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Literature Comprehension

• Dont get overwhelmed by it all, the more papers
  you read, the less new terms you will be
  encountering, the more of an expert you will
  become.
• You are also adding to your keyword search list.

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Literature Comprehension

• The first ten papers are the worst, once you are
  over that hurdle, you will find the rest much
  easier.
• Also in your notebook write down any nice phrases
  used in the papers, any interesting approaches to
  the experiments and any nice display of results.

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Literature Comprehension

• Also dont be afraid to ask for help from your
  supervisor or other people.
• The process of reading and trying to understand
  complex research can sometimes be a discouraging
  one, but a systematic approach to tackling this
  is best.

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Literature Comprehension

• Part of the process might be that you have to do
  a simple replica of an experiment described in
  the research to fully understand it.
• Thats alright, because with all the simulation
  and prototyping software now available, thats
  not as hard as it used to be.

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Literature Comprehension

• Active Reading
• It is very important to read new research in an
  active manner, you shouldnt just skim read the
  material, but understand what you are reading, as
  you are reading it.
• It may be necessary to re-read a sentence, one
  phrase at a time, or one word at a time until the
  meaning is evident.
• It may be the case that you will have to consult
  some reference source to confirm the meaning of
  terminology, this being the case, it is only
  logical to keep reference material close to hand
  (textbooks, the internet, dictionaries, etc.)

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Literature Comprehension

• To help you in this process, Ive created a
  checksheet with some friends that have questions
  you should consider after reading a paper
• http//www.comp.dit.ie/dgordon/CheckSheets/Science
  ArticleCheckSheet.doc

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Literature Comprehension

• THE QUESTIONS ARE
• What type of article is it?
• What is the main issue/problem being discussed?
• Skim read what could your dissertation gain by
  including this article?
• What is the articles contribution to knowledge?
• How can this information be integrated into your
  review?
• Compare and contrast to similar articles for or
  against/ or an extension of the literature?
• Are there recommendations for further research?
• Where is the article placed in your field? Famous
  author?
• Is the article well written, interesting and easy
  to read?
• Is there a clear research question can it be
  tested?
• What methods are used to carry out research
• Is the design appropriate for testing the stated
  hypothesis?
• What are the limitations of the design/research
  methods?
• Are there aspects of the design that could be
  applied to your work?
• Are the results well displayed and clear?
• Are the results in keeping with the design?
• Are the implications of the study clear?
• Have the results been appropriately discussed?

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Literature Review
Research Question

Experiment
Results
Also for each paper consider the relationship
between the Research Question, the Experiment,
and the Results.
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Literature Comprehension

• A typical research paper (from a conference or
  journal) consists of the following parts
• Title,
• Abstract,
• Introduction,
• Methodology,
• Results and
• Bibliography.

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Literature Comprehension

• Literature Map
• You are going to have to put some structure on
  the literature, one suggestion is to create a
  literature map.
• Write the title of your research on top, and the
  main topics relevant to your research underneath,
  now associate the papers you are reading with
  each of the topics.

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Literature Map
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Literature Map