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 What is a review of the literature?
O A literature review is an account of what has been
published on a topic by accredited scholars and
researchers.
O You will be required to write a chapter on literature
review.
O In writing the literature review, your purpose is to
convey to your reader what knowledge and ideas have
been established on the topic you have chosen, and
what their strengths and weaknesses are.
O As a piece of writing, the literature review must be
defined by a guiding concept (e.g., your research
objective, the problem or issue you are discussing, or
your argumentative thesis). It is not a descriptive list of
the material available, or a set of summaries.
 j  




O  
 G he topic should be narrow. You should only present
ideas and only report on studies that are closely related to topic.
O |

G Ideas should be presented economically. Don·t take
any more space than you need to present your ideas.
O  G he flow within and among paragraphs should be a
smooth, logical progression from one idea to the next
O u

 
 G Don·t leave the story half told.
O °


G Your paper should stress how the ideas in the
studies are related. Focus on the big picture. What commonality
do all the studies share? How are some studies different than
others? Your paper should stress how all the studies reviewed
contribute to your topic.
O |

 G Your review should focus on work being done on the
cutting edge of your topic.
 Ñ




 



 
 






 






 


O



4 the ability to scan the


 



4
literature efficiently, using manual or
computerized methods, to identify a set of
useful articles and books
O 44 the ability to apply principles

of analysis to identify unbiased and valid studies.
 j



 





O be organized around and related directly to the

thesis or research question you are developing
O synthesize results into a summary of what is and
is not known
O identify areas of controversy in the literature
O formulate questions that need further research
 Ask yourself questions like these4
O What is the 

 
 




that my literature review helps to define?
O What 
of literature review am I conducting? Am I
looking at issues of theory? methodology? policy?
quantitative research (e.g. on the effectiveness of a new
procedure)? qualitative research (e.g., studies )?
O What is the  
of my literature review? What types
of publications am I using (e.g., journals, books,
government documents, popular media)? What
discipline am I working in (e.g., environment,
geotechnical engineering, transportation, structure)?
 Ask yourself questions like these4
O How good was my 
 



?




? Has my
search been wide enough to ensure I've found all the
relevant material? Has it been narrow enough to
exclude irrelevant material? Is the number of sources
I've used appropriate for the length of my paper?
O Have I 

 the literature I use? Do I


the
follow through a set of concepts and questions,
comparing items to each other in the ways they deal
with them? Instead of just listing and summarizing
items, do I assess them, discussing strengths and
weaknesses?
O Have I cited and discussed studies 
 to my
perspective?
O Will the reader find my literature review 






?
 


?
Ask yourself questions like these about
each text book or article you include4
O Has the author formulated a problem/issue?
O Is it clearly defined? Is its significance (scope,
severity, relevance) clearly established?
O Could the problem have been approached more
effectively from another perspective?
O What is the author's research orientation (e.g.,
interpretive, critical science, combination)?
 Ask yourself questions like these about
each book or article you include4
O What is the author's theoretical framework (e.g.,
psychological, developmental, feminist)?
O What is the relationship between the theoretical and
research perspectives?
O Has the author evaluated the literature relevant to the
problem/issue? Does the author include literature
taking positions she or he does not agree with?
O In a research study, how good are the basic
components of the study design (e.g., population,
intervention, outcome)? How accurate and valid are the
measurements? Is the analysis of the data accurate and
relevant to the research question? Are the conclusions
validly based upon the data and analysis?
 Ask yourself questions like these about
each book or article you include4
O In material written for a popular readership, does the author use
appeals to emotion, oneG
oneGsided examples, or rhetoricallyG
rhetoricallyGcharged
language and tone? Is there an objective basis to the reasoning,
or is the author merely "proving" what he or she already
believes?
O How does the author structure the argument? Can you
"deconstruct" the flow of the argument to see whether or where
it breaks down logically (e.g., in establishing causeG
causeGeffect
relationships)?
O In what ways does this book or article contribute to your
understanding of the problem under study, and in what ways is it
useful for practice? What are the strengths and limitations?
O How does this book or article relate to the specific thesis or
question I am developing?
 ëo what is a literature review?
O A literature review is a piece of 
 
,

, not a
list describing or summarizing one piece of literature
after another. It's usually a bad sign to see every
paragraph beginning with the name of a researcher.
Instead, organize the literature review into sections that
present themes or identify trends, including relevant
theory. You are not trying to list all the material
published, but to synthesize and evaluate it according to
the guiding concept of your thesis or research question.
 w  


O DECIDE ON A OPIC
O NARROW YOUR OPIC
O CREA E AN IN RODUC ION FOR YOUR LI ERA URE REVIEW
O ORGANIZE HE BODY OF YOUR PAPER
O ë


 

 

 



O  


 

O











O WRI E HE BODY OF YOUR PAPER
O _



 

  

!
O °




 

 

O At the end of each section wrap up studies in a paragraph that tells the reader how
the studies relate and address your topic.
O _

 


 






O °




 

O °

" 

 

 



O WRAP HE PAPER UP
O
.
Ú


 

.
O Ú




O 


.
Ú




 


.
 ÿ 






  

O ÿuoting4 (Author, Year)
O ÿuoting4 Author (Year)
O ÿuoting4 (Author1 and Author2, Year)
O ÿuoting4 Author1 and Author2 (Year)
O ÿuoting4 (Author1 et al., Year)
O ÿuoting4 Author1 et al. (Year)
O ÿuoting4 (Author, Year1, Year2, Year3, Year4)
O ÿuoting4 (Author1, Year1 and Author2, Year2)
O ÿuoting4 (Author1, Year1; Author2, Year2; and
Author3, Year3)
 ÿ 






  

O Ground motion was first incorporated into slope stability
analyses to study the effects from earthquakes (ëarma 1973).
his paper will not go much into the matters on pseudoG
pseudoGstatic
and permanent displacement concepts as discussed by Newmark
(1965), Chang et al. (1983), Lin and Whitman (1986), Kobayashi
et al. (1990), Yegian et al. (1991), Leshchinsky and ëan (1994),
and Kramer and ëmith (1997). Instead, it will refer to works by
ëarma (1973, 1975, 1979), ëarma and Bhave (1974),
Kjartannsson (1979), Hoek (1987), Dowding and Gilbert (1988),
Kavetski et al. (1990), Ashford and ëitar (2002), and the authors
own earlier publications (ëelamat 1999, ëelamat and Chitombo
2003), on how ground accelerations were computed into forces
that were used in the pseudoG
pseudoGstatic or permanent displacement
ideas.
 ÿ 






  

O his discussion highlights the relevance of ëarma·s
method on the emerging interest in the country in some
areas of earthquake engineering (Adnan et al., 2005).
his discussion will refer to works by ëarma (1973,
1975, 1979), ëarma and Bhave (1974), Kjartannsson
(1979), Hoek (1987), Dowding and Gilbert (1988),
Kavetski et al. (1990), Ashford and ëitar (2002), and the
authors own earlier publications (ëelamat 1999, ëelamat
and Chitombo 2003), on how ground accelerations
were computed into forces that were used in the
pseudoGGstatic or permanent displacement ideas.
pseudo
 ÿ 
#$
  


O Dowding (1996) writes ´«.too little experience
from «.earthquake engineering has spilled into
«.blasting vibrationsµ.
 ÿ 
#$
  


O he trend as indicated in Fig. 1 is currently happening.

ü

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ü

ü

ü  

ü
w

ü

ü

ü
 %

%

%
%

Fig. 1 ² Growth in Waste Recycling Activity. (After Aziz, 2004)

 
 





O Author, Year. itle of Paper/Article. Name of

Journal/Bulletin. Vol. No. pp.
O Author1, Author2, Author3, Author4, Year. itle of
Paper/Article. Name of Journal. Vol. No. pp.
O Author, Year. itle of Book. Publisher. Place. pp.
O Author, Year. itle of Paper/Article. Name of
Proceeding of Conference. Place. pp.
O Author, Year. itle of Paper/Article. Name of Report.
Name of Organization. Place. pp.
O Http4//www1.eng.usm.my/awam/servis
 
 





O Adnan A., Abas M. R., and Hendriawan. 2005.

Earthquake Induced Energy4 ëources and
Hazard Analysis For ëtructural Earthquake
Resistant Design in Peninsular Malaysia. he
Ingenieur of the Board of Engineers, Malaysia,
Vol. 26, pp. 21G
21G25
 @Ú
O Rewriting someone else·s script without quoting
the source.
O Rewriting someone else·s script as if it is your
own
O Cutting and Pasting internet materials
O Publishing someone else·s result without
permission
O Reproducing someone else·s figure or table
without quoting source (as after Author, year)
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