Research step-by-step
Dr. Amar Nath
Librarian
Govt. College of Commerce
Business Administration
sharmago4amar@yahoo.co.in
What is classified as research?
Research is defined as: the creation of new
knowledge and/or the use of existing knowledge
in a new and creative way so as to generate new
concepts, methodologies and understandings.
This could include synthesis and analysis of
previous research to the extent that it leads to
new and creative outcomes.
Types of research
There are four types of research activity as defined :
Pure basic research: is experimental and theoretical work undertaken to
acquire new knowledge without looking for long term benefits other than
the advancement of knowledge.
Strategic basic research: is experimental and theoretical work
undertaken to acquire new knowledge directed into specified broad areas
in the expectation of useful discoveries. It provides the broad base of
knowledge necessary for the solution of recognized practical problems.
Applied research: is original work undertaken primarily to acquire new
knowledge with a specific application in view. It is undertaken either to
determine possible uses for the findings of basic research or to determine
new ways of achieving some specific and predetermined objectives.
Experimental development: is systematic work, using existing
knowledge gained from research or practical experience for the purpose
of creating new or improved products/processes.
WHAT IS A LITERATURE
REVIEW
A literature review is a critical evaluation of literature published on a
particular topic. Literature reviews are different to other types of
writing you may have done at University in M.A.,M.Phil and
PhD.level.
There are many reasons why we conduct a literature review. Few are as
follows:
• To ensure thorough understanding of the topic
• To identify potential areas for research
• To identify similar work done within the area
• Identifying knowledge gaps that demand further investigation
• To compare previous findings
• To evaluate existing findings and suggest further studies.
• To demonstrate that you can access previous work in an area
• To identify information and ideas that may be relevant to your project
• To identify methods that could be relevant to your project
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LITERATURE REVIEWS VERSUS
ESSAYS
While literature reviews and essays
require many of the same skills – for
instance, critical thinking skills, academic
writing skills and referencing skills – they
have different purposes. Whereas essays
require you to support your own
arguments, literature reviews require you
to critique the arguments of others.
LITERATURE REVIEWS VERSUS
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHIES
While literature reviews and annotated bibliographies both
require you to summarize sources, literature reviews
involve much more than this. Annotated bibliographies
are primarily descriptive, whereas literature reviews are
primarily analytical.
Literature reviews and annotated bibliographies are also
structured differently. Annotated bibliographies are
presented in an alphabetical list format, and each
reference is treated separately. In contrast, literature
reviews
synthesize the ideas contained in each
reference, and are structured around a central concept
divided by subheadings.
WHAT ARE THE PURPOSES OF A
LITERATURE REVIEW?
Literature reviews serve many purposes.
 It provide useful background information to your
topic, which enables readers to better understand
your topic.
 Demonstrate your knowledge of the subject area.
Make clear your perspectives on the topic Justify
your choice of research design.
 For instance, your choice of qualitative over
quantitative approaches, or your method of data
analysis.
Explain how your work will fill in a gap in the
scholarly literature.
WHAT ARE THE KEY FEATURES OF A
LITERATURE REVIEW?
Literature reviews require you to critically evaluate the literature.
To ‘critically evaluate’ a source is to scrutinize it to determine its strengths and weaknesses. The
following REVIEW criteria will assist you in critically evaluating sources:
R is for Relevance
Does the reference completely cover your topic, or only one aspect of it? Have you read widely
to determine how relevant it is in relation to other sources?
E is for Expertise of author
What is the educational background of the author? What are their qualifications? Are they
writing in their area of expertise? Are they regularly cited by other authors in the field?
V is for Viewpoint of author/organisation
Does the author have any personal or professional affiliations that may bias their work? Has the
research been sponsored by an organisation with a vested interest in the topic? What is the
purpose of the source – to inform, persuade or entertain?
I is for Intended audience
Is the reference aimed at the general public or a scholarly audience? Is it intended for
professionals in the field or a community of researchers? Is it intended for a large or small
readership?
E is for Evidence
Are opinions supported by scholarly evidence? Is a particular referencing style used properly
and consistently?
Has the reference been subjected to peer review?
W is for When published
Was the reference published recently? Have significant developments been made in the subject
area since the reference was published?
THE REVIEW CRITERIA
R is for Relevance
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How relevant is the resource to your topic or question?
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Does the resource provide a broad overview, or does it relate to just one aspect of your
topic/question?
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Have you read a variety of sources to determine whether this one is useful?
E is for Expertise of Author
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What is the educational background of the author?
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Is this topic in the author’s area of expertise?
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Are they regularly cited by the other authors in the field?
V is for Viewpoint of Author/Organization
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Is the author or organisation associated with a particular view or position?
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What is the purpose of the resource? (is it intended to inform? To persuade? To entertain?)
I is for Intended Audience
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Who is the intended audience for the resource?
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Is the resource at the appropriate level for your needs – is it too basic or too technical?
E is for Evidence

Has the author cited appropriate evidence to back up their theories/conclusions?
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Is there a bibliography or reference section? (this may contain further useful resources)
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Has the resource been through the peer review process?
W is for When Published

When was the resource published?

Is the information still current, or have there been further developments in the topic area?
FOCUS ON KEY PUBLICATIONS
Contrary to what many people assume, literature
reviews do not require you to include everything that
has been written on your topic. Not only is this
impractical, it is not useful to people reading your
literature review!
Your focus should be on publications that have
made a big impact on the field. If a reference has
been cited numerous times by other reputable
authors, it is fair to assume that it is a key
publication. It is also important to include recent
publications to show that you are up to date with
ideas and developments in the field.
LOOK AT THE ‘BIG PICTURE’
Although literature reviews often involve analysing small
details of a reference, it is important to always keep
your eye on the big picture. Make sure you provide a
comprehensive overview of the topic for your readers –
point out who the leading theorists are, what the key
publications have been, and any gaps in the research
(areas that have been neglected by researchers).
Writing a literature review is like assembling a puzzle –
you need to figure out how each piece fits together as
well as whether there are any missing pieces. It is only
by completing the puzzle that the overall topic becomes
clear.
INCLUDE A RANGE OF SOURCES
To demonstrate you’ve read widely you should
include a range of sources. Any type of
reference can be included in a literature review
provided it is relevant to your topic and of a high
quality. Depending on your topic, you may
include books, journal articles, websites,
conference proceedings, government reports,
and even media reports.
SAY SOMETHING NEW!
When writing a literature review it is important to say something
new about your topic. Either examine a topic that has never
been written about before (this is quite rare) or look at an old
topic in a new way. No one will be interested in your
literature review if it simply rehashes old knowledge.
STATE YOUR CONTRIBUTION TO THE LITERATURE
It is not enough to critically evaluate the literature – you must
make clear how your interpretation of the literature extends
and enriches our understanding of the topic. This step is the
one most often neglected by researchers!
HOW CAN I FIND AN EXAMPLE
OF A LITERATURE REVIEW?
The
best way to find an example of a
literature review is to search a database
in your subject area.
a keyword search for ‘review’ in the
document title, or limit your search by
document type.
Do
WHAT IS A SCHOLARLY RESOURCE?
Scholarly means written by qualified academic
experts and supported by research and references.
You can test whether a resource is scholarly by
applying the REVIEW criteria:
R
E
V
I
E
W
– Relevance
– Expertise of Author
– Viewpoint of Author/Organization
– Intended Audience
– Evidence
– When Published
What will happen if you apply the REVIEW
test to this textbook?
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Singer, S. Fred.
Unstoppable global warming: every 1,500 years.
Lanham, Md. : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2007.
Relevance: Excellent. There is lots of useful information in the book.
Expertise: Very good. The author works at two well-known
universities and the publisher is respected.
Viewpoint: Challenging. Disputes prevailing scientific views of
climate change.
Intended audience: Good. University students and researchers.
Evidence: Excellent. The author cites in-depth scientific evidence.
When published: Good. Published recently.
Would you use this textbook as a scholarly resource?
The REVIEW criteria clearly demonstrate that this is a scholarly
work.
Peer reviewed journal article as a
scholarly resource
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Marcel E. Visser
“Keeping up with a warming world; assessing the rate of adaptation to climate
change”
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society Series B: Biological Sciences
Volume 275, Number 1635 / March 22, 2008
Special Issue ‘Evolutionary dynamics of wild populations’ compiled and edited by
Loeske E. B. Kruuk and William G. Hill
Relevance: Deals with the effects of global warming on the evolution of animal
species
Expertise: Scholarly affiliation of the author is given. The research is original.
Viewpoint: Objective, as the article has gone through a peer review process
Intended audience: Aimed at scholarly researchers, including students and
academics
Evidence: Superb. The article was subject to peer review checking before publication
and contains extensive references. However you should still research the alternate
point of view.
When published: Recent research on the topic
Would you use this journal article as a scholarly resource?
Peer reviewed journal articles are the most scholarly material
REVIEW Test to this Wikipedia article?
Global warming Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming Accessed on 10/06/2008 (No author listed)
Relevance: Very good. It’s an article specifically about global warming, covering a range of issues in a
structured way.
Expertise: Unknown. Anybody can edit Wikipedia, so you don’t know who wrote the information.
Viewpoint: The article aims to reach a consensus for approach and neutrality, but this may not be
represented at any given moment, as the site is changing constantly.
Intended audience: Provided for the general public, but contains a large amount of scientific data.
Evidence: There is extensive referencing, Wikipedia articles often refer to more authoritative sources,
but the references need to be verified.
When published: Superb. Wikipedia is updated constantly.
Would you use this Wikipedia article as a scholarly resource?
Wikipedia articles are not scholarly, because we don’t know the qualifications of the author.
However, they can be a good source of further reading.
CONCLUSION
You can apply the REVIEW criteria to all kinds of information – blogs, podcasts etc
A digital recording of music, news or other media that can be downloaded from the internet to a portable media player.
The term originated from “P.O.D.”, meaning Portable On Demand, and “cast”, relating to the term broadcast.
WHY CAN’T I JUST USE GOOGLE?
You can find some journal articles on Google, but if you use the right
database you get more good quality research. A lot of web pages
aren’t checked for quality and they can be biased or out of date. In
addition, with a database search, you are more likely to find the full
text of the articles.
 SELECT AN APPROPRIATE DATABASE(S) FOR YOUR TOPIC
From the library’s website, go to a page called “Databases and
Electronic Resources” Here you will find databases grouped by
subject. Once you choose the appropriate subject, you will be taken
to list of databases for the subject, with the most commonly used
ones at the top.
 IDENTIFY WHERE TO FIND FULL TEXT JOURNAL ARTICLES
If the database has no link to the full text, it doesn’t mean the library
doesn’t have it. This is where you DO need the library catalogue to
tell you if the library has the journal. Just copy and paste the journal
title for your database results into the journal tab in the catalogue.
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HOW CAN I FIND MORE RESOURCES?
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Citation Chaining
Chaining is a well-established and widely used method of gathering additional sources for a topic:
Find one important scholarly work on your topic (sometimes called the “seed document”), and
follow up the references that it cites in its footnotes, bibliography or list of references. Those cited
works will cite other works in turn, which you can also seek out, and so the chain of
citations continues.
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For the method to work well, it is important to choose the “seed document” carefully. Ideally the
“seed” will be a definitive and recent work on the topic, such as a seminal book or a review article.
For undergraduate assignments, such a “seed” will often be listed in the Reading List prepared by
your lecturer for the course.
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The method has one obvious disadvantage: it can only take you backwards to older publications on
the topic. It cannot help you discover any new literature and latest research. This drawback is
overcome using Cited Reference Searching.
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Cited-Reference Searching
Citation indexes allow you to look forward in time, and find works citing a particular scholarly work
(the “seed document”) that were published after the “seed document’s” publication date.
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The underlying method is similar to that of “Citation Chaining”: if there is a scholarly work that
is prominent in your area of research, it may be useful to identify later works that cite that work.
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The most useful citation indexes for Classics are Google Scholar , and Cited Reference Searching
CITATION
When writing your essays or reports, you’ll often
refer to different sources of information to
support the arguments in your paper. Making
a reference to these sources is called citing.
Full details of all the sources cited to support
arguments within the text is given in a
reference list at the end of your work.
Cited Reference Searching
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What is cited reference searching?
Cited reference searching enables you to find articles
that have cited a particular author, article or book. Cited
reference searching is useful to:
find out how research has been applied or developed.
identify important articles in a field.
locate current research based on earlier research.
track your own research.
How can I do a cited reference search?
You can use databases such as Web of Science, Scopus and Google
Scholar to backwards and forwards chain from a starting article. First, find
your starting article in one of the databases listed.
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Use one of the following databases:
Web of Science
Web of Science is one of the most comprehensive citation databases. Web of Science is
comprised of three databases: Science Citation Index, Social Sciences Citation Index and Art &
Humanities Citation Index.
Click on Cited Ref Search to find articles that cite a particular author or paper.
Use the Citation Report feature to compile citation statistics for search results, including the
number of times an article has been cited per year and average number of citations per year.
Scopus
Scopus is a multidisciplinary database covering sciences and social sciences. Follow the cited by
links in the search results. Results can be sorted by the number of times cited.
Use the citation tracker feature to find out the number of times an article or author has been cited
over a period of time.
Select an author search to search for papers by a particular author
Using Scopus to trace the developments in a subject area since a particular article was published
Online tutorial on cited reference searching in Scopus
Google Scholar
Google Scholar search results have a "cited by" link in the search results that can be used to find
articles which have referenced a particular paper.
Citations and Referencing
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Which style should I use?
There are many different referencing styles, including APA and Harvard.
Your lecturer will recommend the style you should use, or use the select
box below for further information about referencing for your course.
Referencing Style by Subject
Plagiarism
Using correct referencing will ensure that you avoid plagiarism
Citation Builder
Use NoodleBib Express to create a quick reference in APA, MLA or
Chicago/Turabian formats.
WHY IS REFERENCING SO
IMPORTANT?
 To
acknowledge the author or creator for
their work.
 To avoid plagiarism.
 To enable others to locate the sources you
have cited in your work.
 To give credibility to your work.
Reference
Extract from an essay on Students and mobile phones:
According to Sharma(2007)
...................................................................................................................
..................................................................................................
............ or use grammar correctly. (Koolfone 2005).
“…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………..” (Nokia, 2008, p. 12).
Reference List:
Sharma ,S. (2007). Students with Flip phones. Technophobic Review,
33(5), 23-34.
Nokia, M. (2008). Text-O-Rama. Sydney: Dream Phones. Koolfone, J.
F. (2005). Stay connected.
Retrieved December 15, 2007, from www.TechnologyReview.com
DIFFERENT INFORMATION SOURCES REQUIRE
DIFFERENT REFERENCE
FORMATTING
REFERENCING A BOOK
In the APA style a book reference should follow this pattern:
Author. (Year). Title. Place of publication: Publisher.
For example:
Thomas, A. (2007). Sociology of health and health care. Oxford: Blackwell.
REFERENCING A BOOK CHAPTER
In the APA style a book chapter reference should follow this pattern:
Chapter author. (year). Chapter title. In Editors of the book (Eds.), Book Title. (pp. page numbers).
Place of publication: Publisher.
For example:
Taylor, S. (2007). Sociology, social research and health. In S.Taylor & D. Field (Eds.), Sociology of health and
health care. (pp. 3-24). Oxford: Blackwell.
REFERENCING A JOURNAL ARTICLE
In the APA style a journal article reference should follow this pattern:
Author. (Year), Article title. Journal title, Volume(issue), page number.
For example:
Sweeting, A. & Vickers, E. (2007), Language and the history of colonial education - the case of Hong Kong.
Modern Asian Studies, 41(1), 40.
REFERENCING A WEB DOCUMENT
In the APA style a web document reference should follow this pattern:
Author. (Year of copyright or last update). Title. Date of retrieval, from web address.
For example:
Department of the Environment and Water Resources. (2007). Water resources: water for the environment.
Retrieved November 21, from http://www.environment.gov.au/water/environmental/wetlands/about.html.
FOR ANY QUERY AND HELP CONTACT
Thank You
I am
Dr. Amar Nath Sharma
Librarian
On behalf of GCCBA Library
Dr. Amar Nath Sharma (Librarian)
Email: sharmago4amar@gmail.com
http://gccbalibrary.wordpress.com/
http://gccbachd.org/library/