 Outline
Part I. Elements of an Effective Literature Review by D. Grant Allen, Pulp & Paper, University of
Toronto
Part II. 5 steps to Conduct a Literature Review by Dr. Marcelo Castro
Part III. Source of literature by Bob Brown , University of Ulster / Newry and
Mourne HSST
Part IV. How to Give an Effective Presentation by Sue McCormick

D. Grant Allen
Some of the slides are modified by D. Hui

Why?
What?
When?
How? &
How Not?

“Researchers almost never conduct a study in an intellectual vacuum: their studies are undertaken within the context of an already existing knowledge base. Researchers generally undertake a literature review to familiarise themselves with that knowledge base”.
(Polit and Hungler, 2000)

• Avoid “reinventing the wheel”
– Learn from others in/outside your area
– Know the ‘leading edge’
• Help define your objectives & hypotheses
– Source for research idea, research approach
– Justify significance (science, engineering...)
• Is your work asking/answering the best questions?
• Put your work in context within the field
– Link in discussion section of thesis
• Agreement/disagreement..lead to conclusions

•
review of the “State of the Art” relevant to your objectives
•
of relevant literature
– Organized in appropriate topics
– Not a sequence of abstracts!

• First step, on day 1 of thesis (paper)
• Define your objectives (broadly) to know what you are looking for
• Collect literature of relevance
– Cast a ‘wide net’…go outside the obvious
– Look to supervisor, theses, computer search, library, main journals in your field
– Find good keywords from articles
•
title, abstract, paper,

• Take notes on articles, make a table
– Table has columns with paper, main topics of interest to you (e.g. methods, conditions, organism etc.), main findings, comments
•
– Review main journals monthly
– Broaden as thesis direction evolves

• Start with notes/table
• Brainstorm main thoughts/points
• Organize points (not papers)
– Logical groupings and order
• Points help form the ‘Topic Sentences’ for each paragraph in the review
• Write, Review, Edit, Review….
– Show to others
– Review with supervisor

• State the controlling idea of a paragraph
– Rest of paragraph supports and develops topic sentence with related details
• Can come anywhere but is normally the first sentence
• Attention to topic sentences is a simple tool that can improve writing
• Remember one topic per paragraph!!

• “To appropriate of pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own” 1
• Growing problem with internet
• An academic offence
• Citing the reference at the end of a copied
(or mostly copied) phrase/paragraph is still plagiarism
• Use your own words
1 The New Penguin English Dictionary, Penguin, 1986

• Cite the original reference, not the reference that cited the original reference
• Go to the source article so you know what it said
• Be current and go back in time!!!
– The 90’s..80’s…70’s…….20’s…

• Get started on the review and never stop
• Cast a wide net
• Revise objectives….let them evolve so you will make a significant contribution
• Be critical and synthesize
• Remember topic sentences
• Spending time on review is essential
– Basis for high quality questions
(objectives/hypotheses) & answers
– Saves lab time in the long run

• Step 1: Identify Key Terms or
“Descriptors”
• Extract key words from your title
(remember, you may decide to change the title later)
• Use some of the words other authors reported in the literature
Creswell, J.W. (2005) Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative
Research

• Step 2: Locate Literature
• Use academic libraries, do not limit your search to an electronic search of articles
• Use primary and secondary sources. A
“primary source” is research reported by the researcher that conducted the study. A
“secondary source” is research that summarizes or reports findings that come from primary sources
Creswell, J.W. (2005) Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative
Research

• It is “best to report mostly primary sources” (p. 82)
• Search different types of literature: summaries, encyclopedias, dictionaries and glossaries of terms, handbooks, statistical indexes, reviews and syntheses, books, journals, indexed publications, electronic sources, abstract series, and databases
Creswell, J.W. (2005) Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative
Research

• Step 3: Critically Evaluate and Select
Literature
• Rely on journal articles published in national journals
• Prioritize your search: first look for refereed journal articles, then, nonrefereed articles, then books, then conference papers, dissertations and theses and then papers posted to websites
Creswell, J.W. (2005) Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative
Research

• Step 4: Organize the Literature
• Create a “file” or “abstract” system to keep track of what you read. Each article you read should be summarized in one page containing
Title (type the title so that you can later copy-paste this into the References section of your paper)
Source: journal article, book, glossary, etc.
Creswell, J.W. (2005) Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative
Research

Research problem: one or two lines will suffice
Research Questions or Hypotheses
Data collection procedure (a description of sample characteristics can be very handy as well)
Results or findings of the study
• Sort these abstracts into groups of related topics or areas which can then become the different sections of your review
Creswell, J.W. (2005) Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative
Research

• Step 5: Write a Literature Review
• Types of Reviews:
Thematic Review: a theme is identified and studies found under this theme are described. Major ideas and findings are reported rather than details.
Creswell, J.W. (2005) Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative
Research

Study-by-study Review: a detailed summary of each study under a broad theme is provided. Link summaries (or abstracts) using transitional sentences. Must be organized and flow coherently under various subheadings. Avoid string quotations
(i.e., lengthy chunks of text directly quoted from a source)
Creswell, J.W. (2005) Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative
Research

• Own Books or Journals
• Library Books
• Library Journals e.g.
- Jour. Of Adv.. Nursing, Advances in Nursing
Science, Applied Nursing Research, Clinical Nursing
Research, IMAGE: Journal of Nursing Scholarship
- Nursing Times Research, Quality in Health Care
- Nurse Researcher, Nurse Education Today
- Nursing Standard
• Abstracts from other disciplines
• Search sources e.g. MEDLINE and CINAHL, CancerLit, PsychInfo

Identifying potential sources of research with key terms and search opportunities
• Your starting point – Library http://www.tnstate.edu/interior.asp?mid=71
• http://www.tnstate.edu/library/milcat/mild ata.htm (databases )

• www.windsor.igs.net/~nhodgins/literature_sear ches.html (Online Literature Search Workshop)
• Web of science
• Google scholar

Part IV.
What is an Effective Presentation and How to Give an Effective Presentation
Sue McCormick

Why Do You Give a Presentation
• Present your work
• Communicate your ideas
• Inform your audience

What is an Effective Presentation
• Effectively present your work audience understands the work
• Effectively communicate your ideas audience understands your interpretations
• Effectively inform your audience audience remembers

How to Give an Effective Presentation

Steps to an Effective Presentation
• Analyzing the basics
• Preparing the presentation
• Giving the presentation

Analyzing The Basics
• Audience background
• Purpose of your presentation
• Time

Analyzing The Basics
• Audience background
Terminology and Concepts
Introduction
Content and focus of presentation
• Purpose of your presentation
• Time

Analyzing The Basics
• Audience background
• Purpose of your presentation
What do you want to tell your audience
Why are you giving this presentation
• Time

Analyzing The Basics
• Audience background
• Purpose of your presentation
• Time
Range of presentation
Depth of presentation
Do not go over!

Steps to an Effective Presentation

Analyzing the basics
Preparing the presentation
Giving the presentation

Preparing Your Presentation
• Outline presentation
• Prepare visual aides
• Write talk
• Practice presentation

Preparing Your Presentation
• Outline presentation
Introduction
Methods
Results
Conclusions
Future Work
• Prepare visual aides
• Write talk
• Practice presentation

Outline Presentation
Introduction
Present background information that:
 Briefs the audience


Peaks their curiosity
Explains concepts and terminology
Method
Results
Conclusions
Future Work

Outline Presentation

Introduction
Methods
 How you did the experiments
 Outline of procedure
 Diagrams of special equipment
Results
Conclusions
Future work

250 ppm 370 ppm
5 m
370 ppm
500 ppm
Subambient CO2 tunnel Elevated CO2 tunnel

Outline Presentation

Introduction

Methods
Results

Analyzed Data

What does it mean
Conclusions
Future work

Outline Presentation

Introduction

Methods

Results
Conclusions
 Bottom line for each experiment
Future work

Outline Presentation

Introduction

Method

Results

Conclusions
Future Work
 How you will continue your research

Preparing Your Presentation

Outline presentation
Prepare visual aides
Write talk
Practice presentation

Prepare Visual Aides
(Guidelines for Making Slides)
• Color scheme
Visible when projected ?
• Fonts
2 is the limit style
–
Arial, Times New Roman size
–
36, 32
• Be consistent

Prepare Visual Aides
(Guidelines for Making Slides)
(Cont.)
• Title on every slide
Topic of slide
• Brief statements
• No more than 7 lines of text
• Use bullets
• Presentation of data
Numbers vs graphs

Preparing Your Presentation

Outline presentation

Prepare visual aides
Write talk
Practice presentation

Write Talk
As you write your talk:
• Adjust outline and slides as necessary
• Will the audience understand the presentation?
• Am I saying what I think I am?

Preparing Your Presentation

Outline presentation

Prepare visual aides

Write talk
Practice presentation

Practice Presentation
• Practice, Practice, Practice, Practice out loud
• Don’t need to memorize your talk
• Modify text and slides as necessary
• Point to slide
Turn laser on and off
Do not wave the laser around
• Look at audience

Preparing Your Presentation

Outline presentation

Prepare visual aides

Write talk

Practice presentation

Steps to an Effective Presentation

Analyzing the basics

Preparing the presentation
Giving the presentation

Giving the Presentation
• Breath deeply
• Be energetic
• Talk to your audience

Summary
• Thank you
• Good luck on your presentation

• Now you’re ready to formulate your own research question(s)
• Sample questions:
– What make tropic forests a hotspot for diversity?
– How does global warming influence coral reefs?
• http://faculty.tnstate.edu/dhui/biol4120/ for more topics

•
From Topic to Research Question
A good research topic asks a clear, concise question.
Asking a research question helps you keep a tight focus on your topic.
•
Tweaking Your Research Question
A good research topic is broad enough to allow you to find plenty of material, but narrow enough to fit within the size and time constraints of your paper.
–
If your topic is either too broad or too narrow, consider adding or eliminating the following elements:
Time Period, century, decade, future, Population Type, age, gender, nationality, species, Geographic Location country, state, region, Point of View economic, social, cultural, biological

• Title Page
• Nature of the Problem
• Background and Significance of the
Problem
• Literature Review
• Research Questions
• References (list three papers)