Effective literature studies approaches,

analysis, plagiarism, and research ethics.

 Review of the literature is one of the most important
steps in the research process.
 It is an account of what is already known about a
particular phenomenon.
 The main purpose of literature review is to convey to
the readers about the work already done & the
knowledge & ideas that have been already
established on a particular topic of research.
 Literature review is a laborious task, but it is
essential if the research process is to be successful.
 It is an integral part of the research process and makes a
valuable contribution to almost every operational step.
 One of the essential preliminary tasks when you undertake
a research study is to go through the existing literature in
order to acquaint yourself with the available body of
knowledge in your area of interest.
 Since an important responsibility in research is to compare
your findings with those of others, it is here that the
literature review plays an extremely important role.
 A literature review uses as its database reports of
primary or original.
 The primary reports used in the literature may be
verbal, but in the vast
 majority of cases, report are written documents.
 The types of scholarship may be empirical, theoretical,
critical/analytic, or methodological in nature.
 Second a literature review seeks to describe,
summarize, evaluate, clarify &/or integrate the content
of primary reports.
 Define and limit the problem
- Develop familiarity with the topic
- Limit research to a subtopic within the larger body of
knowledge
 Place study in historical perspective
- Analysis of the way in which the study relates to existing
knowledge
 Avoid unintentional and unnecessary replication
 Awareness of prior studies so as to avoid unneeded replication
 Replication is reasonable if it is needed to verify prior results,
investigate results that failed to be significant, or relate the
problem to a specific site.
 Select promising methods and measures
- Knowledge of and insight into specific research designs for
investigating a problem
- Awareness of specific instruments, sampling procedures, and
data analyses
 Relate findings to previous knowledge and suggest future
research needs
- Relating prior research to what is known places current study
in perspective
- This knowledge allows researcher to focus problem on what is
not known
 Develop research hypotheses
- Suggestions for specific research hypotheses
 At the beginning of the research project
proposal

 Constantly update during research

 When writing discussion and conclusion

chapters
 To search effectively for the literature in your
field of enquiry, it is imperative that you have
at least some idea of the broad subject area
and of the problem you wish to investigate, in
order to set parameters for your search.
 Books  CDs/DVDs
 Journals  Electronic databases
 Conference papers  Government reports
 Theses and  Magazines
dissertations  Newspapers
 Bibliographies  Grey literature
 Maps  Interviews and other
 Internet unpublished research
 Indexes/Abstracts
 Audio-visual material
 The main advantage is that the material published in books
is usually important and of good quality, and the findings
are ‘integrated with other research to form a coherent
body of knowledge’.
 The main disadvantage is that the material is not
completely up to date, as it can take a few years between
the completion of a work and its publication in the form of
a book.
 Library catalogues
 Book Review Index
 Subject catalogue or keywords
When you have selected 10–15 books that you think are
appropriate for your topic, examine the bibliography of
each one.
 Journals provide you with the most up-to-date information, even
though there is often a gap of two to three years between the
completion of a research project and its publication in a journal.
 There are several sources designed to make your search for
journals easier and these can save you enormous time.
They are:
 indices of journals (e.g. Humanities Index);
 abstracts of articles (e.g. ERIC);
 citation indices (e.g. Social Sciences Citation Index).
 Locate the hard copies of the journals that
are appropriate to your study;
 Look at citation or abstract indices to identify
and/or read the abstracts of such articles;
 Search electronic databases.
 A conference paper is often both a written document
and an oral presentation. You may be asked to submit a
copy of your paper to a commentator before you
present at the conference.
 Thus, your paper should follow the conventions for
academic papers and oral presentations.
Conference title

Title

Authors
doi number
 Varying definitions of key terms
 Methodology used
 Enough evidence for claims?
 Findings consistent with those of similar studies
 what does it mean?
 Philosophies underpinning?
 Historical development of the concept in
day-to-day life?
 The extent of use in Applications?
 Strategies developed to achieve it
 Indicators of success or failure.
 Seeking responses.
 Difficulties in implementing?
 How does each reading relate to your topic and
purpose?
 Define your argument/thesis.
 Identify major trends or patterns emerging from the
readings.
 Reassemble your notes based on the results of
readings, using organizational aids such as post-its,
flags, etc.
 Information prominent citation Example:

For viscoelastic fluids, the behaviour of the time-

dependent stresses in the transient shear flows is also
very important (Boger et al., 1974).

 Author prominent citation Examples:

Close (1983) developed a simplified theory using an

analogy between heat and mass transfer and the
equivalent heat transfer only case.

 Several authors have suggested that automated testing

should be more readily accepted (Balcer, 1989; Stahl,
1989; Carver & Tai, 1991).
 Argue  Examine  Refute
 Assert  Find  Reject
 Assume  Maintain  Remark
 Challenge  Note  Suggest
 Claim  Object  Support
 Contend  Observe
 Contradict  Persuade
 Describe  Propose
 Dispute  Prove
 Emphasize  Purport
 Establish  Recommend
 Present tense:
Example: Schulze (2016) concludes that hydraulic rate has a significant effect
on future performance.
 Verb tenses – Past

Examples: Haberfield (1998) showed that the velocity of many enzyme

reactions was slowed down if the end product had an increased
paramagnetic.
 Verb tenses – Present perfect

Examples:
1. Several studies have provided support for the suggestion that the amount
of phonological recoding that is carried out depends on orthographic
depth (Frost, 1994; Smart et al, 1997; Katz & Feldman, 2001, 2002).
2. Joint roughness has been characterized by a number of authors (Renger,
1990; Feker & Rengers, 1997; Wu & Ali, 2000).
3. Many studies have been conducted in this field
 So many software were available for checking
plagiarism
Metaphor-An another object
Research ethics concerns the
responsibility of researchers to be
honest and respectful to all
individuals who are affected by their
research studies or their reports of the
studies’ results.
1. the research participants or subjects;

2. the researcher;

3. the funding body.

 Collecting information - Provided any piece of research is likely
to help society directly or indirectly, it is acceptable to ask
questions if you first obtain the respondents’ informed consent.
 Seeking consent - Seeking informed consent ‘is probably the
most common method in medical and social research'.
 Providing incentives - Is it ethical to provide incentives to
respondents to share information with you? Some researchers
provide incentives to participants for their participation in a
study, feeling this to be quite proper as participants are giving
their time.
 Seeking sensitive information - Certain types of information can
be regarded as sensitive or confidential by some people and
thus an invasion of privacy.
 The possibility of causing harm to participants - not only
hazardous medical experiments but also any social research that
might involve such things as discomfort, anxiety, harassment,
invasion of privacy, or demeaning or dehumanising procedures.
 Maintaining confidentiality - Sharing information about a
respondent with others for purposes other than research is
unethical.
 Avoiding bias - Bias is a deliberate attempt either to hide what
you have found in your study or to highlight something
disproportionately to its true existence.
 Provision or deprivation of a treatment - Both the provision and
deprivation of treatment may pose an ethical dilemma for you
as a researcher.
 Using inappropriate research methodology - It is unethical to
use deliberately a method or procedure you know to be
inappropriate to prove or disprove something that you want to,
such as by selecting a highly biased sample, using an invalid
instrument, or by drawing wrong conclusions.
 Incorrect reporting -To report the findings in a way that changes or
slants them to serve your own or someone else’s interest is unethical.

 Inappropriate use of the information - The use of information in a

way that directly or indirectly affects respondents adversely is
unethical.
Most research in the social sciences is carried out using funds provided by
sponsoring organisations for a specific purpose.

 Restrictions imposed by the sponsoring organisation - They may select the

methodology, prohibit the publication of ‘what was found’ or impose
other restrictions on the research that may stand in the way of obtaining
and disseminating accurate information. Both the imposition and
acceptance of these controls and restrictions are unethical, as they
constitute interference and could amount to the sponsoring organisation
tailoring research findings to meet its vested interests.
 The misuse of information –
How is the sponsoring body going to use the information?
How is this likely to affect the study population?
 Sometimes sponsoring organisations use research as a pretext for
obtaining management’s agenda.
 It is unethical to let your research be used as a reason for justifying
management decisions when the research findings do not support
them.
 However, it is recognised that it may be extremely difficult or even
impossible for a researcher to prevent this from happening.
Identify ethical issues in the
following scenarios
a. Researchers do not fabricate data. (They do not
make false, deceptive, or fraudulent statements
concerning their publications or research findings.)

b. If they discover significant errors in their published

data, they take reasonable steps to correct such
errors in a correction, re-traction, erratum, or
other appropriate publication means.

c. They do not present portions of another’s work or

data as their own, even if the other work or data
source is cited occasionally.
Two graduate students have made some
measurements on a new material. The data points
are as shown. To prove their hypothesis the
results should lie on the curve shown. The two
students considered omitting the two data points
which were off the theoretical curve.
 Unethical as it would amount to falsification
of data

 Should include outliers and give probable

reasons or find out statistically acceptable
ways of trimming outliers
Students are required to prepare a research
proposal during their undergraduate program.
Nimal developed the idea for his project and
discussed with a friend. Several months later,
he found that his idea had been submitted as a
research proposal by his friend without his
knowledge.
 Unethical as failure to give credit to the
person whose idea it is (intellectual property)
amounts to plagiarism

 Should discuss and include as co-author

 Case 3

Four friends decide to work together on a

research project during the vacation. One of
them went abroad during the vacation and did
not contribute to the research. The friends
include all 4 names in a presentation made at a
scientific congress.
 Unethical as only those who contributed
intellectually should be cited as authors

 Those who contribute in other ways may be

acknowledged
 Case 4

A group of undergraduate students collected

data from a group of bank officers, with their
consent, regarding their working hours and
salary with regards to the prevalence of high
blood pressure. Subsequently the researchers
gave the same data to another group who were
in need of same data variables.
 Unethical as violating principles of consent and
confidentiality

 Data can be used for a secondary purpose which

was not first considered as long as
- informed consent for sharing has been
given
- identities anonymised
- due consideration to access restrictions
 Develop ethical guidelines for data sharing?
 To protect participants /patients /society
/resources /researcher?

 To ensure accuracy of scientific knowledge

 To protect intellectual and property rights

S.No Year Author Title Results

1. 2011 Mo-lin Chan Mechanism of The high tensile strength and Young’s modulus
et al reinforcement in a obtained at 5 wt.% were 28% and 25%
nanoclay /polymer respectively. The mechanical properties reduce
composite. by increasing nanoclay beyond 5 wt.%.

2. 2012 Seok-In Preparation and Two nanoclays Cloisite 30B and Cloisite 20A
Hong et al properties of melt- used to prepare composites with LLDPE. XRD
intercalated linear result indicated slightly intercalated
low density nanostructures were formed with both
polyethylene/clay organoclay and oxygen barrier properties
nanocomposite films improved. The tensile strength and Water Vapor
prepared by blow Permeability (WVP) were not improved in the
extrusion. nanocomposite films.
No Paper Description

A.Velayudham, .Krishnmurthy: Effect of The piont geometry of the drill had

1
point geometry and their influence on thrust been focused in this study so as to
and delmination in drilling of polymeric reduce the fiber pull out and
composites, Journal of Materials Processing delamination.
Technology 185(2007),No.1 – 3,pp.204 –
209,

2
A.Velayudham, R.Krishnmurthy, The selection of tools for machining a
T.Soundarapandian: Evaluation of drilling work piece of composite material is a
characteristics of high volume fraction fiber challenging factor for engineers. The
glass reinforced polymeric composite, drilling characteristic of GFRP was
International Journal of Machine Tools and evaluated by studying the point
Manufacture 45(2005), pp.339 – 406, geometry of the twist drill to minimize
the thrust force and consequent
defects.
 JOURNAL
S.NO AND AUTHOR NAME TITLE INFORMATION
YEAR
4 IOP Conf. Vijaya Ramnath Optimization of  An investigation on machining
Ser.: Mater. et al process parameters parameters has been performed
Sci. Eng in drilling of fibre on jute-flax hybrid composite.
hybrid composite
2017  Taguchi’s L16 orthogonal array is
using Taguchi and
grey relational used for optimizing individual
analysis tool parameter.

 The simultaneous optimization of

the process parameters is done
by grey relational analysis.

 The results of this investigation

shows that, spindle speed and
drill bit diameter have most effect
on material removal rate and
surface roughness followed by
feed rate.
 1. Few researchers have investigated cloisite 30B reinforced with
polymer matrix materials.

2. Investigation on new class materials of hybrid of Cloisite 30B and Rice

husk ash reinforced with matrix have not been investigated.

3. Influence of variation of strength with wt % addition of different

nanoclay have not been carried out.

11/18/2022 55
 To fabrication a new class material made with different weight % of
nanoclay were to be evaluated for tensile, flexural, hardness, impact
strength, finite element analysis and ANOVA.

 To study maximum load sustain capacity of different weight %s of

nanocomposites through various mechanical testing.

 To study the morphological characteristics and distribution of filler

material in the nanocomposites by SEM analysis.

 Validation and desirability of nano composites have to be analyzed

by Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA).

11/18/2022 56
Research scheme

11/18/2022 57