Muhammad Mubin Memon

M.Phil(Finance) Bilkent, Ankara, Turkey (2017)

MS(Management Sci.), SZABIST, Karachi (2014)
FPFA (Reg # 5516), PIPFA, Pakistan (2012)
Certified Islamic Finance Professional, CIE, Karachi (2010)
M.Com (Accounting & Finance) KU, Karachi (2008)
What Research Is!
What Happened with Reading
A Literature Review is…
A paper that summarizes and discusses what has been
previously published on a topic.
It explores the past research and it’s strengths and
weaknesses.
It also should…
 Include major discoveries on this topic.
 Find out if there are disagreements in the field.
 …or if everyone is in consensus.
 Has the area been explored fully? Are their gaps in the
research?
 Who the “major players” or authors are on this topic.
What it is not…
A book review. Whether you like the articles or books is
not important!
Why do we do this?
You may be saying “What exactly is the point of all this?
Doesn’t my professor already know this stuff?”
Answer
We do literature reviews because we are scholars. Each
paper you turn in contributes to the information we
know about this topic. Turning in something that
doesn’t cite other sources or the important research
and findings in the field makes your research weak.
Example
If you were a lawyer arguing a case, you wouldn’t expect
the jury to believe what you said without using
evidence or citing case law.
Example
Your professors and peers have no reason to believe you
unless you look at what has been done before and
analyze it. This makes your research strong!
 Purpose of a Literature Review
(Cont..)
 The literature review is a critical look at the existing
research that is significant to the work that you are
carrying out.
 To provide background information
 To establish importance
 To demonstrate familiarity
 To “carve out a space” for further research
Characteristics of Effective Literature
Reviews
 Outlining important research trends
 Assessing the strengths and weaknesses of existing
research
 Identifying potential gaps in knowledge
 Establishing a need for current and/or future research
projects
Ok, so how do I find this
literature!?
First, pick your topic (broad enough for there to be
material on it, but narrow enough for relevant
articles).
Next…
Look for your literature. For most fields, you want to
look at scholarly articles (which can be found in the
databases), but books are also a good source.
Go to the article databases (or books) and make sure
you are looking for “scholarly” or “peer reviewed”
articles. ( Ex: An article in Time or Newsweek is not the
research we are looking for, but in academic journals).
Do a search on your topic…
Search for your topic and find relevant articles.
Do a search on your topic…
Search for your topic and find relevant articles.
Do a search on your topic…
Search for your topic and find relevant articles.
Do a search on your topic…
Search for your topic and find relevant articles.
Analyze the research
Look at:
 The author’s new research
 Their lit reviews
 What articles/authors they mention
 Who they cited in their bibliography
This will give you clues to the important events in the
field and who the major authors and scholars are!
More Analysis!
 What does the community of scholars have to say?
 What are the findings?
 What is missing from the research? What hasn’t been
explored?
Time to write!
It is now time to write. Remember you are
synthesizing/summarizing the research…whether or
not you like it is not the point!
Literature Review - Sheet
What Am I Going to Write?
 To help you approach your draft in a manageable
fashion, this section addresses the following topics:
 Exigency
 Thesis Statement
 Organization
 Introduction and conclusion
 Citations
Exigency
 Immediate requirement related to your topic
 Direct focus on concepts, variables, and immediate
ideas
 Can be taken from the title
 Can be taken from the model (quantitative research)
 Can be taken focal idea of entire research and its
related concepts
Problem / Thesis Statements
 The thesis statement offers an argument about the
literature. It may do any of or a combination of the
following:
 Offer an argument and critical assessment of the
literature (i.e. topic + claim).
 Provide an overview of current scholarly conversations.
 Point out gaps or weaknesses in the literature.
 Relate the literature to the larger aim of the study.
 Examples: Thesis Statements
1. In spite of these difficulties we believe that preservice
elementary art teachers and classroom teachers need some
knowledge of stage theories of children’s development…[then
goes on to review theories of development]
2. Research on the meaning and experience of home has
proliferated over the past two decades, particularly within the
disciplines of sociology, anthropology, psychology, human
geography, history, architecture and philosophy. . . . Many
researchers now understand home as a multidimensional
concept and acknowledge the presence of and need for
multidisciplinary research in the field. However, with the
exception of two exemplary articles by Després (1991) and
Somerville (1997) few have translated this awareness into
genuinely, interdisciplinary studies of the meaning of home.
 Examples: Thesis Statements
3. Polyvalency refers to the simultaneous binding of multiple
ligands on one entity to multiple receptors on another.
Polyvalent interactions are ubiquitous in nature, with examples
including the attachment of viruses to target cells, bacteria to
cells, cells to other cells, and the binding of antibodies to
pathogens. . . . In this article, I review recent developments in
polyvalency and discuss the numerous opportunities for
chemical engineers to make contributions to this exciting field,
whose applications include drug discovery, tissue engineering,
and nanofabrication.
4. In this article, we review and critique scholarship on place-based
education in order to consider the ingredients of a critical place-
based pedagogy for the arts and humanities. . . We begin by
reviewing ecohumanism's call for a more locally responsive
education in light of the marginalization of place and
community…
Organization
 Five common approaches to organizing the body of
your paper include:
 Topical
 Distant to close
 Debate
 Chronological
 Seminal Study
Topical: Characteristics
 Most common approach
 Breaks the field into a number of subfields, subject
areas, or approaches
 Discusses each subsection individually, sometimes
with critiques of each
 Most useful for organizing a large body of literature
that does not have one or two studies that stand out as
most important or a clear chronological development
Topical: Typical Language

 Three important areas of this field have received

attention: A, B, C.
 A has been approached from two perspectives F and G.
 The most important developments in terms of B have
been…
 C has also been an important area of study in this field.
Distant to Close: Characteristics
 A type of topical organization, with studies grouped by
their relevance to current research.

 Starts by describing studies with general similarities to

current research and ends with studies most relevant
to the specific topic.

 Most useful for studies of methods or models.

Distant to Close: Typical Language
 Method/Model M (slightly similar to current research)
addresses …
 Drawing upon method/model N (more similar to
current research) can help . . .
 This study applies the procedure used in
method/model O (most similar to current research) to
...
Debate: Characteristics
 Another type of topical approach, with a chronological
component.

 Emphasizes various strands of research in which

proponents of various models openly criticize one
another.

 Most useful when clear opposing positions are present

in the literature.
Debate: Typical Language
 There have been two (three, four, etc.) distinct
approaches this problem.

 The first model posits…

 The second model argues that the first model is wrong

for three reasons. Instead, the second model claims…
Chronological: Characteristics
 Lists studies in terms of chronological development
 Useful when the field displays clear development over
a period of time
 Linear progression
 Paradigm shift
Chronological: Typical Language
 This subject was first studied by X, who
argued/found…

 In (date), Y modified/extended/contradicted X’s work

by…

 Today, research by Z represents the current state of the

field.
Seminal Study: Characteristics
 Begins with detailed description of extremely
important study.
 Later work is organized using another pattern.
 Most useful when one study is clearly most important
or central in laying the groundwork for future
research.
Seminal Study: Typical Language
 The most important research on this topic was the
study by X in (date).

 Following X’s study, research fell into two camps

(extended X’s work, etc.)
Identify which theme???
 Thesis Sample – Growth Example
 Dividend Paper
Introductions
 Indicate scope of the literature review.
 Provide some background to the topic.
 Demonstrate the importance or need for research.
 Make a claim.
 Offer an overview/map of the ensuing discussion.
Example: Introduction
 There is currently much controversy over how nonhuman
primates understand the behavior of other animate beings. On
the one hand, they might simply attend to and recall the specific
actions of others in particular contexts, and therefore, when that
context recurs, be able to predict their behavior (Tomasello &
Call, 1994, 1997). On the other hand, they might be able to
understand something of the goals or intentions of others and
thus be able to predict others’ behaviors in a host of novel
circumstances. Several lines of evidence (e.g., involving
processes of social learning; Tomasello, 1997) and a number of
anecdotal observations (e.g., Savage-Rumbaugh, 1984) have been
adduced on both sides of the question, but few studies directly
address the question: Do nonhuman primates understand the
intentions of others?
Conclusions
 Summarize the main findings of your review.
 Provide closure.
 Explain “so what?”
 Implications for future research.
 OR
 Connections to the current study.
Example: Conclusion

 In summary, although there is some suggestive evidence that

chimpanzees may understand others’ intentions, there are also
negative findings (e.g., Povinelli et al., 1998) and a host of
alternative explanations. As a consequence, currently it is not
clear whether chimpanzees (or other nonhuman primates)
distinguish between intentional and accidental actions
performed by others. In contrast, there are several studies
indicating that children as young as 14 months of age have some
understanding of others’ intentions, but the lack of comparative
studies makes it difficult to know how children compare to apes.
This study is the first to directly compare children, chimpanzees,
and orangutans with the use of a nonverbal task in which the
subjects were to discriminate between the experimenter’s
intentional and accidental actions. 51
APA Reference Manual
 Most Universities use publication manual of APA (6th
edition) for referencing.
 Please see separate slides for that
 Literature Review IQ
My professor assigned me a literature review on a topic
of my choice. I think I’m going to talk about Anne of
Green Gables. I loved that book. Don’t you think that is
a good idea?

Yes, I am anxious to hear your opinion..

But,
No that is not quite what a literature review is
 Answer:
The world will have to wait for your opinion on Anne of
Green Gables. A literature review should be looking at
the scholarly research (peer-reviewed articles and
important books) and summarizing the positions. It is
not your opinion about it.
 Question 2
A literature review should include:

1. The major discoveries in my topic.

2. The gaps in the research.
3. The major authors and scholars opinion’s.
4. All of the above.
 Answer:
All of these things are very important for a literature
review! It needs to address all of these points!

Click on ! You are almost done!

 Question 3
You have a literature review assigned and you are
looking for the important research. You find two
results that are relevant to your topic. One is from
Psychology Today and the other from The Journal of
Marriage and Family. Which one should you use?

Psychology Today…
The Journal of Marriage and Family…
Both…
 Answer:
While Psychology Today is a great magazine, it does not
count as a scholarly journal, and should not be
included in a literature review. The Journal of Marriage
and Family is peer-reviewed journal, and so it is a very
appropriate place to look for articles for a literature
review.

Try again!
We’re done! For Literature Review
Hopefully this gives you a better idea of what a literature
review is all about!

For more information:

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