Introduction to Research

ASSIGNMENT THREE
WRITING THE LITERATURE REVIEW

Step 1 - Introduction

Step 2 - How to do a literature review

Step 3 - The process of your review

Step 4 - Your write up.

At this point read:

The Whole Art of Deduction- Chapter 10 and
Chapter 1. Introduction of the Cochrane Handbook (Note: The first parts of each chapter are in a single large file. So stop reading chapter 1 when you get to "2. FORMAT OF A COCHRANE REVIEW"). AND sections 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3 of Chapter 4. Formulating the Problem. Also, check out chapter 5 for useful suggestions when searching for articles.

Your first task is to find the articles. A literature review is a detective process of finding one article, then using clues to seek out other, older and newer, articles. Start off with a good research question, then begin your search.

There are three steps one uses to develop the set of articles that form a literature review, and they build off of each other. The first is to use indexes and computer searches (MEDLINE) to locate articles that relate to your topic (key articles). This is the Articles Found First box in the diagram on the right. The second step is to use the articles referenced in the key articles to find earlier articles on your topic )This is the Use Reference List circle in the diagram). And, the third step is to use the Cited Reference Search option in the Science Citation Index (print version or the Web of Science (on-line computer version) to locate more recent articles that were based on the first articles you found.

The Web of Science is an on-line database, that includes the Science Citation Index, Social Science Citation Index, and Arts & Humanities Citation Index, and is based on the concept that there is a subject relationship between a current article and the articles cited in the bibliography of that article. The Web of Science is a web based resource available from computers on campus (See link in part one). The SCI/SSCI/A&HCI are also print indexes and are available in the Reference Section of the library. With the print version you need to search year-by-year, so start with the current year and work backwards until you find what you need.

The on-line Web of Science consists of two search options.

Cited Reference Search - alphabetical listing by author of all references (cited items) found in footnotes and bibliographies of books and journals indexed. Use Cited Ref Search to search for articles that cite an author or article that you specify. You will use this option for the part of your assignment where you are seeking articles newer than your key article.

General Search - contains complete bibliographic descriptions of all articles published that year arranged by author. Use General Search to search for articles by subject term, author name, journal title, or author affiliation. These authors are also in the Citation Index. You can use this option, instead of MEDLINE, to find articles older than your key article.

The Cited Reference Search is used to find all the articles that have cited the work of another author. For example, if I write a paper and quote Plato in it, then my name will appear in the General Search, and Plato's will appear in the Cited Reference Search. If I search for Plato in the Cite Reference Search in will find under Plato's name every article that cited him, including mine.

Further information can be found at this link: THE CONCEPT OF CITATION INDEXING

You can use any resources available to locate your articles. Start off with finding one good article, then use the references in that article to find more articles. Use the references in those articles to find even more articles. Look in other search indexes for your topic and the authors you have found. Use the Web of Science to find articles that cited your earlier articles. Use every tool at hand to locate the basis of a history of your topic.