EASA-450 Scientific Communications
Martha
Davis - Chapter 4,
Searching
& Reviewing Scientific Literature
Issues
it
is impossible
to read all material, even in one subject area
you need to be selective, complete, and efficient
at certain times, a literature review is essential - e.g. starting a new research area, writing a thesis or journal article.
failure
to do a literature search can be costly - may even defeat years of work!
Tips
decide what is to be scope of your subject - usually the bigger the project the wider the search
start with a generalized electronic search (e.g. Georef) in your subject area; search all references back to the earliest available
note the people who seem to have published several papers in your subject area, pay attention to their most recent publications and make a list of them; see if these authors have published anything more recent and if so add to the list
do a citation index for the articles to see which have been referenced a lot - take notes!
compile a preliminary reference list from the reference you have found - make sure it is complete and accurate (correct authorship, journal, year, volume, pages etc.)
make a list of the earliest papers you can find in the subject; of course this may be limited by the extent of your database
As you Proceed
go to the library to start reading the articles on your list; make sure you know how the library has organized the material you want.
sometimes
complete electronic versions will be available, if so copy these to a
directory on your hard disk
for most papers it may be sufficient to read the abstract and at least the discussion and conclusions; if the paper seems relevant to your objective, make a hard copy of it for the future
some people find it useful to make an index card for each reference - the details on the front, and your summary of the paper on the back; keep these in alphabetical order by author and add to them as your proceed (an electronic version is also possible)
note the references listed in the most relevant and recent publications - use this to extend your reference list, especially if a reference seems to be important to the publication you are reading (this is a snowball search)
Don't Forget
review also the most recent scientific meetings in your discipline (Geological Society of America, American Geophysical Union); get some recent abstracts and find out the latest information
make sure you have reference to the first publications in your subject area - you should know the seminal works, even though you may not have physical access to them
do a hand search for any references that may have escaped your first attempt - these will normally come to light in the snowball search
The Literature Review
literature reviews are generally required for theses, grant proposals, review papers and journal articles
you may not need a formal literature review as part of your document; the references may simply be inserted at the appropriate places as you go along
if you do need a formal literature review, it should generally go in an introduction; this should not be written first as is will undoubtedly change as your research and writing progresses
when reviewing literature, be aware that plagiarism is one of the seven deadly sins of science - if you use the written words of other authors, make sure you quote them directly, i.e. Mansfield et al. (1998) reported " ...", or give the reference, i.e. Mansfield et al. (1998) first discussed this method ...
when doing a literature review, use a logical outline to define the different topics treated; this could be chronological - the only place in a report where chronology is important!
if you are doing a review article, it may be simply a long literature review; in this case be very creative in your use of language in starting sentences and making transitions