Module -2

Literature Review and Technical Reading, New and

Existing Knowledge, Analysis and Synthesis of
Prior Art Bibliographic Databases, Web of Science,
Google and Google Scholar, Effective Search: The Way
Forward Introduction to Technical Reading
Conceptualizing Research, Critical and Creative Reading,
Taking Notes While Reading, Reading Mathematics and
Algorithms, Reading a Datasheet.
Attributions and Citations: Giving Credit Wherever
Due, Citations: Functions and Attributes, Impact of
Title and Keywords on Citations, Knowledge Flow through
Citation, Citing Datasets, Styles for Citations,
Acknowledgments and Attributions, What Should Be
Acknowledged, Acknowledgments in, Books
Dissertations, Dedication or Acknowledgments.
 Literature Review and
Technical Reading
A literature review is a survey of everything that has been
written about a particular topic, theory, or research
question. The word “literature” means “sources of
information”. The literature will inform you about the
research that has already been conducted on your chosen
subject. This is important because we do not want to repeat
research that has already been done unless there is a good
reason for doing so (i.e. there has been a new development
in this area or testing a theory with a new population, or
even just to see if the research can be reproduced).
Literature reviews usually serve as a background for a
larger work (e.g. as part of a research proposal), or it may
stand on its own. Much more than a simple list of sources,
an effective literature review analyzes and synthesizes
information about key themes or issues.
 Aim of literature review
The aim of literature review is to highlight
what has been done so far in the field of
interest and how your findings relate to
earlier research. The review of literature
also indicates the following:
 (a) Approaches;
 (b) Methods;
 (c) Variables used; and
 (d) Statistical procedure.
Importance of literature
survey
Reviewing literature can be time-consuming and daunting.
However, it is always rewarding. A review of literature has a
number of functions in research methodology.
• It Provides theoretical background to your study or field of
interest.
• Helps to justify how our findings are related to the body of
knowledge in the field of research
• Establishes the link between proposals and examinations
and helps refine the research methodology
• Improve your Research Methodology
• Focus on Research Problem
• Cater to Knowledge Base for Research Area
• Contextualizing Research Findings
• Ensure Novelty in your Work
 What is the purpose of a literature review?

Literature review is a process of reading, analyzing, evaluating, and summarizing scholarly

materials about a specific topic. Its purpose is to summarize, synthesize and analyze the
arguments of others. The literature review is a critical look at the existing research that is
significant to the work that you are carrying out.
◦ Provide a context for your research;
◦ Justify the research you are proposing;
◦ Ensure that your proposed research has not been carried out by
another person (and if you find it has, then your literature review
should specify why replication is necessary);
◦ Show where your proposed research fits into the existing body of
knowledge;
◦ Enable the researcher to learn from previous theory on the subject;
◦ Illustrate how the subject has been studied previously;
◦ Highlight flaws in previous research;
◦ Outline gaps in previous research;
◦ Show how your proposed research can add to the understanding
and knowledge of the field;
◦ Help refine, refocus, or even move the topic in a new direction
 How to undertake a literature review

As part of this first step there are a few more things to be

thought about as we review the literature, as follows:
 Who are the various researchers who have studied this

topic? Who are the most prolific researchers/writers on

this topic? Has a specific researcher or teams of
researchers been identified as pioneers or leaders in this
field of study?
 How have the various researchers defined key terms

that are relevant to your topic? Have the definitions of

any of the key terms evolved over time?
 What are the different theories that have been examined

and applied to this topic? How, if at all, have the various

theories applied to this topic over time evolved?
 What methodologies have been used to study this topic?

Have the methodologies evolved over time?

 A good literature survey is typically a two-
step process as enumerated below:
(i) Identify the major topics or subtopics or concepts
relevant to the subject under consideration.
(ii) Place the citation of the relevant source
(article/patent/website/data, etc.) in the correct
category of the concept/topic/subtopic (with the help
of a , for example).
A comprehensive literature survey should
methodically analyze and synthesize quality
archived work, provide a firm foundation to a topic of
interest and the choice of suitable research
methodologies, and demonstrate that the proposed
work would make a novel contribution to the overall
field of research.
 LITERATURE SEARCH ENGINE
 The first step towards a good literature review is
an effective and comprehensive literature
search.
 An effective literature search will-

 Reduce the time spent looking for information;

 Maximize the quality and appropriateness of
results;
 Help clarify the scope of research topic;
 Help find a niche in the literature;
 Assist in identifying the experts and the
important and influential published works in the
field;
 Identify publishing options – relevant journals,
publishers, conferences, etc.
 What is involved in writing a literature review?

◦ Research – to discover what has been written

about the topic;
◦ Critical Appraisal – to evaluate the literature,
determine the relationship between the sources
and ascertain what has been done already and
what still needs to be done;
◦ Writing – to explain what you have found
Generally speaking, it is helpful to think of the
literature review as a funnel. One starts with a
broad examination of the research related to the
issue, working down to look at more specific
aspects of the issue, which leads to the gap or
the specific issue that your research will address.
 How to Write a Literature Review
Writing a literature review requires expertise but also
organization. We cannot teach you about your topic of
research, but we can provide a few steps to guide you
through conducting a literature review:
1. Choose your topic or research question
2. Set the scope
3. Decide which databases you will use for your searches
4. Search, search, and search(Sources of literature like
journals, conferences, dissertations internet etc.,)
5. Review all the literature, appraising carefully it’s content
It also includes
• Search the Existing Literature in your Research Area of
Interest ( ACM, IEEE, Elsevier).
• Review the Literature Obtained
• Develop a Theoretical Framework
• Writing up the Literature Review
Concluding the Knowledge
A good literature survey is typically a two-
step process as enumerated below:
(i) Identify the major topics or subtopics or
concepts relevant to the subject under
consideration.
(ii) Place the citation of the relevant source
(article/patent/website/data, etc.) in the
correct category of the
concept/topic/subtopic (with the help of a ,
for example).
 New and Existing
Knowledge
New knowledge in research can only be interpreted within the
context of what is already known, and cannot exist without
the foundation of existing knowledge. In this chapter, we
are going to look at how that foundation of knowledge
needs to be constructed so that our new knowledge is
supported by it. The new knowledge can have vastly
different interpretations depending on what the
researcher’s background, and one’s perception of that new
knowledge can change from indifference to excitement (or
vice versa), depending on what else one knows.
The significance can normally be argued from the point of
view that there is indeed an existing problem and that it is
known by looking at what already exists in the field. The
existing knowledge is needed to make the case that there
is a problem and that it is important.
 Where does
this existing knowledge come from?
Normally, one finds this knowledge by
reading and surveying the literature in the
field that was established long ago and also
about the more recent knowledge which is
in fact always changing.
With this foundation in place, the new
knowledge that one will make will be much
more difficult to challenge than without that
strong foundation in place which is ensured
with lots of references to the literature.
 Analysis and Synthesis of
Prior Art Bibliographic Databases
Prior art is the term given to information
(patents, periodical articles, newspaper
articles, brochures, actual goods) that has
been publicly disclosed prior to the filing date
of the patent. It is this entire body of work that
forms the backdrop of the analysis of novelty
and non-obviousness of an invention.
Prior art constitutes those references or
documents which may be used to determine
novelty and/or non-obviousness of
claimed subject matter in a patent application.
 What is prior art search
Prior art may comprise information that is disclosed to the
public in written form, oral form, or by use. Sources of
disclosure in written form may include published patents or
patent applications or scientific and technical books and
journals.
Why is it called as prior art search?
Information known publicly before the effective filing date of
a U.S. patent application is called prior art. Prior art may be
published on paper or electronic format. Websites, social
media, and various other forms of online publications are
frequently cited as valid sources of prior art.
Prior art is any evidence that your invention is already known.
Prior art does not need to exist physically or be
commercially available. It is enough that someone,
somewhere, sometime previously has described or shown
or made something that contains a use of technology that is
very similar to your invention.
 Objectives of prior art
search
The purpose of a prior art search is to unearth
all of this pre-disclosed information for the
purpose of demonstrating patentability. A
patent application will be compared to the
prior art to determine whether it actually
describes a new invention, and whether or not
a patent should be granted.
Prior art has to be a reference of some sort, such
as a printed publication or patent. It can also
be some kind of knowledge or event, such as
public use or sale, or simply public knowledge.
 Levels of prior art
The four levels of art criticism are:
description,
analysis,
interpretation,
and evaluation.
Description merely describes objective
qualities of a work of art. Analysis attempts
to answer what techniques have been used
by the artist to achieve their results.
Interpretation makes claims about what a
work of art means.
Analysis and Synthesis of Prior Art
Relying on referred articles published in scholarly journals or
granted patents can save the researcher a lot of time. Here
are a few criteria that could help the researcher in the
evaluation of the information under study:
 • Authority: What are the author’s credentials and
affiliation? Who publishes the information?
 • Accuracy: Based on what one already knows about the

topic or from reading other sources, does the information

seem credible? Does the author cite other sources in a
reference list or bibliography, to support the information
presented?
 • Scope: Is the source at an appropriate comprehension or

research level?
There are other criteria to consider as well, such as currency,
objectivity, and purpose. It is important to ensure that the
search question is neither too narrow nor too broad.
Analysis and Synthesis of Prior
Art
After collecting the sources, usually articles, intended
to be used in the literature review, the researcher is
ready to break down each article and identify the
useful content in it, and then synthesize the
collection of articles.
A researcher should analyze the relevant information
ascertained by undertaking the following steps:
(i) Understanding the hypothesis,
(ii) Understanding the models and the experimental
conditions used,
(iii) Making connections,
(iv) Comparing and contrasting the various
information, and
(v) Finding out the strong points and the loopholes.
 Bibliographic Databases
 “Bibliographic databases” refer to “abstracting and indexing
services” useful for collecting citation-related information
and possibly abstracts of research articles from scholarly
literature and making them available through search.
A bibliographic database is a database of
bibliographic records. This is an organized online collection
of references to published written works like journal and
newspaper articles, conference proceedings, reports,
government and legal publications, patents and books. In
contrast to library catalogue entries, a majority of the
records in bibliographic databases describe articles and
conference papers rather than complete monographs, and
they generally contain very rich subject descriptions in the
form of keywords, subject classification terms, or abstracts.
 Function of Bibliographic
Databases
Bibliographic databases are a type of
resource that consists of compilations
of textual abstracts associated with
primary scientific journal publications.
Such databases provide citations to
the original publications along with
the abstract and are generally
searchable by author, date, title, and
keyword text.
Why do we need Bibliographic
Databases
You should use bibliographic
databases to search for literature:
when you cannot find evidence that
answers your clinical or research
question in sources of high level
evidence, such as clinical guidelines,
synopses of evidence or systematic
reviews (see the Evidence-Based
resources page of this guide)
 Web of Science
Web of Science (formerly known as ISI or
Thomson Reuters) includes multiple
databases, as well as specialized tools. It is
a good search tool for scholarly materials
requiring institutional license and allows
the researcher to search in a particular
topic of interest, which can be made by
selection in fields that are available in
drop down menu such as title, topic,
author, address, etc. The tool also allows
sorting by number of citations (highest to
lowest), publication date.
 History & Introduction
The Web of Science (WoS; previously known as Web of
Knowledge) is a paid-access platform that provides
(typically via the internet) access to multiple databases
that provide reference and citation data from
academic journals, conference proceedings, and other
documents in various academic disciplines. Until 1997,
it was originally produced by the
Institute for Scientific Information.[2] It is currently
owned by Clarivate.
A citation index is built on the fact that citations in
science serve as linkages between similar research
items, and lead to matching or related scientific
literature, such as journal articles,
conference proceedings, abstracts, etc.
 Search answer

Web of Science is described as a

unifying research tool that enables
the user to acquire, analyze, and
disseminate database information in
a timely manner. This is accomplished
because of the creation of a common
vocabulary, called ontology, for
varied search terms and varied data.
Moreover, search terms generate
related information across categories.
 Criterions for WoS
1. Impact,
2. Influence,
3.Timeliness,
4. Peer review
5.Geographic
representation.
 Coverage of WoS
Expanding the coverage of Web of Science, in November
2009 Thomson Reuters introduced Century of Social
Sciences. This service contains files which trace social
science research back to the beginning of the 20th century,
and Web of Science now has indexing coverage from the
year 1900 to the present. As of 24 February 2017, the
multidisciplinary coverage of the Web of Science
encompasses 12,000 high impact journals and 160,000
conference proceedings.
The selection is made on the basis of impact evaluations and
comprise academic journals, spanning multiple
academic disciplines. The coverage includes: the sciences,
social sciences, the arts, and humanities, and goes across
disciplines. However, Web of Science does not index all
journals.
Google and Google Scholar
Google is a great place to start one’s search when
one is starting out on a topic. It can
be helpful in finding freely available information,
such as reports from governments,
organizations, companies, and so on. However,
there are limitations:
(i) It’s a “black box” of information. It searches
everything on the Internet, with no quality
control—one does not know where results are
coming from.
(ii) There are limited search functionality and
refinement options.
 What about Google
Scholar?
Google Scholar limits one’s search to scholarly
literature. However, there are limitations:
1. Some of the results are not actually scholarly. An article may
look scholarly at first glance, but is not a good source upon
further inspection.
2. It is not comprehensive. Some publishers do not make their
content available to Google Scholar.
3. There is limited search functionality and refinement options.
One gets more relevant and focused results, because they
have better quality control and search functionality. One should
choose a database based on subject area, date coverage,
and publication type. Interfaces vary between
databases, but the search techniques remain essentially the
same.
Effective Search: The Way
Forward
A scholarly publication is one wherein the
published outcome is authored by
researchers in a specific field of skill. Such
work cites all source contents used and is
generally peer reviewed for accuracy and
validity before publication. Essentially, the
audience for such works is fellow experts
and students in the field. The content is
typically more complex and advanced than
those found in general magazines.
 Effective Search
Searching is an iterative process:
• Experiment with different keywords and operators;
• Evaluate and assess results, use filters;
• Modify the search as needed; and
• When relevant articles are found, look at their
citations and references.
After the search is complete, the researcher needs to
engage in critical and thorough reading, making
observation of the salient points in those sources, and
summarize the findings. A detailed comparison and
contrast of the findings is also required to be done.
This entire process may be needed to be done
multiple times.
 Technical Reading
Reading technical materials requires a different skill
set than reading for pleasure. In this set of
activities, there will be an emphasis on strategies
that can assist with reading technical materials. You
will need to keep a notebook for these activities,
and have the following materials: highlighter, pencil,
pen and eraser.
In today’s world there is so much information
available that it can be overwhelming. Learning how
to handle the quantities of information, and how to
process this, is an extremely important skill.
Organizing, summarizing, skimming, and capturing
the main idea are just a few skills needed to process
information efficiently.
Technical reading process
Like any skill, practice improves the ability level, and makes
the process easier. We will practice some of the skill areas in
the following steps for reading a technical paper:
1. Quickly scan the paper or article for headings or headlines.
2. Use the headings to help you create a mind map.
3. Skim the paper, and highlight the key sentence or idea in
each paragraph.
4. Add the key ideas to the mind map.
5. Read the article and add any items that stand out that have
not been noted.
6. Review your mind map.
7. Underline and define any unknown terms.
8. Summarize your understanding in writing or verbally.
Conceptualizing Research
Conceptualization is defining and specifying the key
concepts in research to avoid misinterpretation. It
also establishes the first step in the measurement
process by breaking down complex concepts into
more straightforward and common language.
Coming up with a good research objective,
conceptualizing the research that meets all of these
requirements is a tough thing to do. It means that one
must already be aware of what is in the literature.
That is, by the time one actually has a good research
objective, one is probably already an expert at the
edge of knowledge else it is difficult to say with
confidence that one has a good research objective.
Conceptualizing Research
 So, when working at the Ph.D. level, one
needs to be prepared to become that
expert, one needs to be continually reading
the literature so as to bring together the
three parts:
(i) Significant problem,
(ii) The knowledge that will address it,
(iii) A possible way to make that new
knowledge.
 Critical and Creative
Reading
Reading a research paper is a critical process. The reader
should not be under the assumption that reported results or
arguments are correct. Rather, being suspicious and asking
appropriate questions is in fact a good thing.
 Have the authors attempted to solve the right problem?

 Are there simpler solutions that have not been considered?

 What are the limitations (both stated and ignored) of the

solution and are there any missing links?

 Are the assumptions that were made reasonable?

 Is there a logical flow to the paper or is there a flaw in the

reasoning?
 These need to be ascertained apart from the relevance and

the importance of the work, by careful reading.

 Creative reading
 Critical reading is relatively easy. It is relatively easier
to critically read to find the mistakes than to read it so
as to find the good ideas in the paper. Anyone who has
been a regular reviewer of journal articles would agree
to such a statement. Reading creatively is harder, and
requires a positive approach in search. In creative
reading, the idea is to actively look for other
applications, interesting generalizations, or extended
work which the authors might have missed? Are there
plausible modifications that may throw up important
practical challenges? One might be able to decipher
properly if one would like to start researching an
extended part of this work, and what should be the
immediate next aspect to focus upon.
 Taking Notes While
Reading
 A researcher reads to write and writes well
only if the reading skills are good. The bridge
between reading and actually writing a paper
is the act of taking notes during and shortly
after the process of reading. There is a well-
known saying that the faintest writing is
better than the best memory, and it applies
to researchers who need to read and build on
that knowledge to write building on the notes
taken. Many researchers take notes on the
margins of their copies of papers or even
digitally on an article aggregator tool.
 Taking Notes While
Reading
 On completing a thorough reading, a good
technical reading should end with a
summary of the paper in a few sentences
describing the contributions. But to
elucidate the technical merit, the paper
needs to be looked at from comparative
perspective with respect to existing works
in that specific area.
 Obviously, the type of contribution a paper

is actually making can be determined better

by having read other papers in the area.
 Reading Mathematics and
Algorithms
 Mathematics is often the foundation of new
advances, for evolution and development of
engineering research and practice. An
engineering researcher generally cannot avoid
mathematical derivations or proofs as part of
research work. In fact, these are the heart of any
technical paper. Therefore, one should avoid
skimming them. By meticulous reading of the
proofs or algorithms, after having identified the
relevance of the paper, one can develop sound
understanding about the problem that the
authors have attempted to solve.
 Reading a Datasheet
Datasheets are instruction manuals for
electronic components, which (hopefully)
details what a component does and how one
may use it. Datasheets enable a researcher
(or a working professional) to design a circuit
or debug any given circuit with that
component. The first page of the datasheet
usually summarizes a part’s function and
features, basic specifications, and usually
provides a functional block diagram with the
internal functions of the part.
 Attributions and Citations:
Giving Credit Wherever Due
Citations (references) credit others for their work, while
allowing the readers to trace the source publication if
needed. Any portion of someone else’s work or ideas
in papers, patents, or presentations must be used in
any new document only by clearly citing the source.
This applies to all forms of written sources in the
form of texts, images, sounds, etc. and failure to do
may be considered plagiarism which will be
described in detail in subsequent chapters of this
book. One should avoid distress and embarrassment
by learning exactly what to cite. Depending on the
exact type of material, the researcher may need to
give due credit to the creator of the original source.
 Citations
A researcher needs to cite each source twice:
(i) in-text citation, in the text of the article exactly
where the source is quoted or paraphrased,
(ii) a second time in the references, typically at
the end of the chapter or a book or at the end of
a research article
Ex. Latex, a document preparation system often
used by engineering researchers to
automatically format documents that comply
with standard formatting needs, is very effective
to track and update citations.
 Functions
There are three main functions of citation:
1. Verification function: Authors have a scope for finding
intentional or unintentional distortion of research or
misleading statements.
2. Acknowledgment function: Researchers primarily
receive credit for their work through citations. Citations
play crucial role in promotion of individual researchers
and their continued employment. Many reputed
organizations and institutes provide research funding
based on the reputations of the researchers.
3. Documentation function: Citations are also used to
document scientific concepts and historical progress of
any particular technology over the years
Citations that does not benefit
the reader
1. Spurious citations: In certain cases, when citation is
not required or an appropriate one is not found, if the
author nevertheless goes ahead with including one
anyways, it would be considered as a spurious
citation.
2. Biased citations: Neglect of citations to prior work
whose conclusions or data contradict the current work
is also biased.
3. Self-citations: There is nothing wrong in citing one’s
prior work if the citation is really relevant.
4. Coercive citations: One side effect is that it creates an
incentive for editors to indulge in coercion to add
citations to the editor’s journal.
Impact of Title and Keywords on Citations
 The citation rate of any research paper depends
on various factors including significance and
availability of the journal, publication types,
research area, and importance of the published
research work. Other factors like length of the
title, type of the title, and selected keywords also
impact the citation count.
 Title is the most important attribute of any
research paper. It is the main indication of the
research area or subject and is used by
researcher as a source of information during
literature survey. Title plays important role in
marketing and makes research papers traceable.
A good title is informative, represents a paper
effectively to readers, and gains their attention.
 Different aspects of title
(i) Types of the title,
(ii) Length of the title,
(iii) Presence of specific markers
In general, titles containing a question mark,
colon, and reference to a specific geographical
region are associated with lower citation rates,
also result-describing titles usually get citations
than method-describing titles. Additionally,
review articles and original articles usually
receive more citations than short
communication articles. At least two keywords
in the title can increase the chance of finding
and reading the article as well as get more
 Knowledge Flow through
Citation
Knowledge flows through verbal communications,
books, documents, video, audio, and images, which
plays a powerful role in research community in
promoting the
formulation of new knowledge. In engineering
research, knowledge flow is primarily in the form of
books, thesis, articles, patents, and reports. Citing a
source is important for transmission of knowledge
from previous work to an innovation.
Knowledge flow happens between co-authors during
research collaboration, among other researchers
through their paper citation network, and also
between institutions, departments, research fields
or topics, and elements of research.
If paper A is cited by paper B, then knowledge flows
through citation networks across institutions.
 Citing Datasets
The nature of engineering research has
evolved rapidly and now relies heavily on
data to justify claims and provide
experimental evidences and so data citations
must fetch proper credit to the creator of the
dataset as citations of other objects like
research articles. Data citations should have
provisions to give credit and legal attribution
to all contributors, enable identification and
access, while recognizing that a specific style
may not apply to all data
 Ascertaining Datasets
Ascertaining the ownership of data
can be a complicated issue
especially with large datasets, and
issues of funding can also make it a
difficult matter. A researcher should
obtain necessary permission for
using data from a particular source.
Citations related to datasets should
include enough information so that a
reader could find the same dataset
again in the future, even if the link
 Styles for Citations
Citation styles differ primarily in the order,
and syntax of information about references,
depending on difference in priorities
attributed to concision, readability, dates,
authors, and publications. Some of the most
common styles for citation (as well as other
aspects of technical writing) used by
engineers are as follows:
(a) Reference list: This part is to be placed in
the bibliography or references at the end of
the article or report.
 Examples for citations
 Template for books:
Author Surname, Author Initial. (Year Published). Title. Publisher, City,
Pages Used.
Example:
Wearstler, K., and Bogart, J. (2004). Modern glamour. Regan Books, NY.
Template for websites:
Author Credentials / Company Name (Year Published). ‘Title’.
http://Website URL (Oct. 10, 2013).

Example:
Blade cleaning services
(2015):http://www.bladecleaning.com/problematica (29 Oct, 2016).
 Template for journal publications:

Author Surname, Author Initial. (Year Published). ‘Title’. Publication Title,

Volume number(Issue number), Pages Used.
Example:
Johnston, L. (2014). “How an Inconvenient Truth Expanded The Climate
Change Dialogue abd Reignited An Ethical Purpose in The United
States”.
1–160.
 Examples for citations
IEEE style.
Chapter in an edited book.
[1]A.Rezi andM.Allam, “Techniques in array
processing by means of
transformations,”
in Control and Dynamic Systems, Vol. 69,
Multidimensional Systems, C. T. Leondes,
Ed. San Diego: Academic Press, 1995, pp.
133–180.
 Acknowledgments and
Attributions
Acknowledgment section is a place to provide a brief
appreciation of the contribution of someone or an
organization or funding body to the present work. If no
particular guideline is available for the intended
publication, then it can be introduced at the end of the
text or as a footnote. Acknowledgment is a common
practice to recognize persons or agencies for being
responsible in some form or other for completion of a
publishable research outcome. Acknowledgment displays a
relationship among people, agencies, institutions, and
research. In some case, certain individuals may help in the
research work but may not deserve to be included as
authors. As a sign of gratitude, such contributions should
be acknowledged. Classification of acknowledgment into
six different categories like moral, financial, editorial,
institutional or technical, and conceptual support.
 Acknowledgments and
Attributions
A researcher should always recognize the proprietary
interest of others. Whenever possible, author shall
give name of persons who may be responsible, even
if nominally, for designs, inventions, writings, or
other accomplishments. Given the importance of
work published, authorship is also important. The
reward triangle theory shows a relationship between
citations, acknowledgment, and authorship. In
engineering research, acknowledgments are meant
for participating technicians, students, funding
agency, grant number, institution, or anyone who
provide scientific inputs, shared unpublished results,
provided equipment, or participated in Discussions.
 What Should Be
Acknowledged?
Every author should know that what should/should not be
acknowledged. Author should acknowledge quotation, ideas,
facts, paraphrasing, funding organization, oral discussion or
support, laboratory, and computer work.
(i) Quotation: In technical writing such as in the field of
engineering, quotes are used very rarely. Quotations are of
two types:
(a) Direct quotations

(b) Indirect quotations

(ii) Authors should acknowledge people who give appropriate

contribution in their research work.
(iii) If the researcher received grant from a funding agency and
if those funds were used in the work reported in the
publication, then such support should always be
acknowledged by providing full details of the funding program
and grant number in the acknowledgment section.
(iv) Acknowledging that results have been presented elsewhere.
 Acknowledgments in
Books/Dissertations
These detailed acknowledgments enable the
researcher to thank all those who have
contributed in completion of the research
work. Careful thought needs to be given
concerning those whose inputs are to be
acknowledged and in what order. Generally,
one should express appreciation in a
concise manner and avoid emotive
language.
 Sample Acknowledgement in Thesis:

I wish to express my sincere appreciation to my

supervisor Prof. Gang Tao for the useful comments,
remarks and encouragement throughout this thesis
work. Furthermore, I wish to express my thanks to
Prof. Jacob Hammer for introducing me to the topic
and for the support along the way. Also, I like to
thank my peers in the Adaptive Control Lab such as
Yu Liu and Shan shan Li, who have shared their
precious time during many lively technical
discussions. I would like to thank my family
members who have supported me throughout this
journey in many different ways.
 Dedication or
Acknowledgments?
Dedication is almost never used in a journal paper, an
article in a conference proceedings, or a patent, and it is
used exclusively in larger documents like books, thesis, or
dissertations. While acknowledgments are reserved for
those who helped out with the book in some way or
another (editing, moral support, etc), a dedication is to
whomever the author would like it to be dedicated to,
whether it is the author’s mother, the best friend, the pet
dog, or Almighty God. And yes, it is possible to dedicate
something to someone while also mentioning them in the
acknowledgments. For example, one may dedicate a book
to one’s spouse, but acknowledge them for being the
moral support and putting up with when one got very
stressed.
 Questions for 2 nd
module
1. Explain the importance and purpose of literature survey.
2. Briefly explain the process of undertaking the literature
survey.
3. Write a short note on new and existing knowledge.
4. What is prior art search and what are its objectives?
5. Write a short note on
• Bibliographical database.
• Web of sciences
6. Explain the importance of Google and Google scholar
7.Explain the process of technical reading.
8. Write the differences between critical and creative reading.
9. What is the importance of citations and attributions?
10. What type of citations that does not benefit the reader?
11.Write a note on acknowledgements.