Research and Writing

Skills for Academic and

Graduate Researchers
RESEARCH AND
WRITING SKILLS FOR
ACADEMIC AND
GRADUATE
RESEARCHERS

RMIT UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

TRISTAN BADHAM; IZA

BARTOSIEWICZ; JULIAN BLAKE; DANA
CHAHAL; RACHEL CODY; MIRANDA
FRANCIS; MEG IVORY; PAULINE KING;
SOPHIE LANGLEY; TRACEY LOVE;
KAREN MACVEAN; STEFANIE
MARKIDIS; MICHELLE MATHESON;
STUART MOFFAT; CATE O'DWYER;
MARK PARSONS; EMILY RUSSELL;
MARITA SHELLY; CARRIE THOMAS;
BARBARA YAZBECK; IAN KOLK; JANE
HALSON; IRENE CALEB; AND LOUISE
MICALLEF

RMIT Open Press

Melbourne, Australia
Research and Writing Skills for Academic and Graduate Researchers
Copyright © 2022 by RMIT University is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise
noted.

We have made all reasonable efforts to:

• clearly label material where the copyright is owned by a

third party
• ensure that the copyright owner has consented to this
material being presented in this textbook.

External links

This textbook may include links to third-party websites that contain

copyright protected material. Your access to these sites will be covered
by terms between you and the other operator/owner of the site. We
are not responsible for any of the content, including links found on
the site. Read and abide by the external websites’ terms of use.
CONTENTS

Acknowledgement of Country xxi

Accessibility xxiii

Accessibility statement xxiii

Accessibility features of the web version of xxiii

this resource

Other file formats available xxiv

Accessibility improvements xxiv

Versioning history xxvi
About this book xxx

Disclaimer xxx

Suggested citation xxxi

Suggested attribution xxxi

Copyright xxxi

Published by xxxii

Credits xxxii

Reviewers xxxii

Cover design xxxiii

Research and Writing Skills Module Hub xxxiv

Strategies and Resources for Searching

the Literature

Being clear about your purpose 5

The purpose 5

What is a literature review? 6

Planning your search 10

Identify the main or important aspects 10

Developing keywords 11
Developing a search strategy 13

Phrase searching 13

Truncation 14

Spelling variations 14

Combining with Boolean 15

The search query 19
Refining your search 23

Field searching 23

Subject headings 24

Limits 25
Selecting resources to search 27

Library subject guides 27

Using search engines 31

Google and Google Scholar 31

LibrarySearch 35

Research Repository / Theses 39

Searching Library databases 41

Databases 41

Citation databases 46
Staying current with the literature 48
Explore further 50
Conducting a Systematic Review

About systematic reviews 57

Definition 57

Features of a systematic review 58

Benefits of a systematic review 63

Developing the research question 66
Writing the protocol 69
Planning your search strategy 72

Sources to search 73

Planning your literature search 75

Planning your search terms 78

Define your research question 78

Compiling a list of search terms 79

Combining your search terms 82

Combine with Boolean operators 82

The search query 84

Analysing search results 90

Screening papers 91

Critical appraisal 92
Synthesising the data 94

Qualitative data synthesis 95

Quantitative data synthesis 97

About meta-analyses 98
Reporting the findings 102
Explore further 106

Choosing a Reference Manager

What to consider 113

EndNote 119
Zotero 123
Mendeley Reference Manager 125
Summing it all up 130
Explore further 132
Developing an Effective Research
Proposal

What is a research proposal? 137

Overview 137

Purpose and audience 138

Developing a research question 142

Identifying an effective research question 142

Strategies for developing effective research 144

questions
Structuring key sections 148
Writing your research proposal 152

Writing the ‘what’ of your proposed research 152

Writing the ‘why’ of your proposed research 153

Writing the ‘how’ of your proposed research 155

Explore further 159

Writing your Literature Review

What is a literature review? 163

The purposes of a literature review 165

The process of writing a literature review 168

Conducting a Library search for sources 168

Taking notes 169

Using an annotated bibliography to take notes 170

Structuring your literature review 175

Where to place your literature review in your 175

thesis?

The internal structure of the literature review 179

Organising ideas in the body of your literature 181
review

Using matrices to organise the literature 182

Styling your writing in a literature review 190

Developing a researcher voice 190

Explore further 198

Becoming a Research Writer

What is research writing? 203

Formulating research questions 205
What is a premise? 210

What’s so important about a premise? 212

What is a claim? 214

Definition 214

Characteristics of a good claim 216

Function of claims 217

Positioning yourself as a researcher 219
Identifying the gap 224
What is a thesis statement? 229
Explore further 235

Managing yourself and your research

Managing your workload 243

Effective ways to manage your workload 243

Organising your content 246

Organising your ideas 246

Organising your notes and resources 247

Organising your computer 248

Understanding researcher skills and 252
expectations

Identifying the skills of a researcher 252

Knowing what is expected of you 254

Negotiating supervisor relationships 257

The hero’s journey and the mentor’s role 258

Supervisor-student relationship 260

What happens when things go wrong? 261

Maintaining motivation and connection 263

Staying motivated 263

Staying connected 265

Managing stress 267
Explore further 269

Publishing a Journal Article

Planning where to publish 275

Setting objectives 275

Which type of publication should you choose? 277

Further publishing considerations 278

Relevancy, quality and discoverability 280
Selecting an open access journal 284

What is an open access journal? 284

Benefits of open access 285

Open access models 286

Mandates 288

Copyright and open access 288

Finding open access journals and open access 289

policies of publishers

Read and publish agreements 290

Unethical publishing practices 292
Submitting your article for publication 297

Before submission 298

During submission 300

Post submission 300

Navigating the peer review process 302

Types of peer review 302

The peer review process 303

Peer review outcomes 305

Responding to reviewers’ comments 306

Dealing with rejection 307

Communicating and sharing your research 309
Explore further 314

Setting up your Researcher Profile

About researcher profiles 321

What is a researcher profile? 321

Types of profiles 322

ORCID: a must have profile 324

What is ORCID? 324

Choosing your researcher profiles 329

Scopus Author ID 330

Web of Science Researcher Profile 330

Google Scholar Profile 331

Comparing profiles 332

Building your researcher profiles 335

Register for an ORCID iD 335

Check to see if you have a Scopus Author ID 336

Register for a Web of Science Researcher 337

Profile

Create a Google Scholar Profile 337

Connecting everything with ORCID 339

Connecting Scopus Author ID and ORCID 339

Connecting Web of Science Researcher Profile 340

with ORCID

Adding Google Scholar citations to ORCID 342

Managing your researcher profiles 344
Explore further 348

Are you Being Cited?

What is research impact? 355

Definition 355

Types of research impact 356

How is research impact measured? 357

How is research impact used? 358

About bibliometrics 361

What are bibliometrics? 361

Why use bibliometrics? 363

Using bibliometrics 369

Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar 372

SciVal and InCites 375

Benchmarking your research 378

Why benchmark 378

Using proprietary tools 379

About altmetrics 381

What are altmetrics? 381

Why use altmetrics? 383

Using altmetrics 387

About Altmetric Explorer 387

About PlumX 392

Tips to improve your altmetrics 394

Explore further 395
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY | XXI

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
OF COUNTRY

In Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture it is respectful

to formally womin djeka (welcome) people to Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander country or land. At RMIT we do this
with the following acknowledgement:

“We would like to

acknowledge Wurundjeri
people of the Kulin
Nations as the Traditional
Owners of the land on
which the University
‘Luwaytini’ by Mark Cleaver,
Palawa. stands. We respectfully
recognise Elders past and
present.”

At RMIT we recognise and respect the unique culture and

contribution that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
bring to our communities. We are also proud to provide study,
cultural, and personal support to our Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander students in their learning journey. We womin
XXII | ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY

djeka you to further explore and experience more about

Australian Indigenous culture by visiting our Indigenous
education centre – Ngarara Willim Centre and interacting
with our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff and
students.
 ACCESSIBILITY | XXIII

ACCESSIBILITY

Accessibility statement
RMIT University supports the creation of free, open, and
accessible educational resources. We are actively committed to
increasing the accessibility and usability of the textbooks and
support resources we produce.

Accessibility features of the

web version of this resource
The web version of this resource has been designed with
accessibility in mind and incorporates the following features:

• It has been optimised for people who use screen reading

technology.
◦ All content can be navigated using a keyboard.
◦ Links, headings, and tables are formatted to work
with screen readers.
◦ Images have text alternatives.
• Information is not conveyed by colour alone.
XXIV | ACCESSIBILITY

Other file formats available

In addition to the web version, this book is available in a
number of file formats, including:

• Print PDF: the format you should select if you plan to

make a printed, physical copy of your book. This file
meets the requirements of printers and print-on-demand
services.
• Digital PDF: useful if you want to distribute your book
as a digital file, but do not intend to print the file.
Digital PDFs are optimized for accessibility, contain
hyperlinks for easier navigation, and can be used online.
• EPUB: EPUB files can be submitted to any popular e-
book distributor and opened by most modern e-book
readers. This is the file you’d use to submit your e-book
to Kobo, Nook, iBooks, Amazon, and others.
• and various editable files: look for the ‘Download this
book’ drop-down menu on the landing page to select the
file type you want.

Accessibility improvements
While we strive to ensure that this resource is as accessible and
usable as possible, we might not always get it right. We are
always looking for ways to make our resources more accessible.
 ACCESSIBILITY | XXV

If you have problems accessing this resource, please email us to

let us know so we can fix the issue.
XXVI | VERSIONING HISTORY

VERSIONING HISTORY

This page provides a record of edits and changes made to this

text from pre-publication to its latest iteration. Whenever edits
or updates are made in the text, we provide a record and
description of those changes here.
If you have a correction or recommendation you would
like to suggest, please contact the RMIT University Library
Research Services Team.
 VERSIONING HISTORY | XXVII

Version Date Type

Pre-publication 2017-2022 Graduate Researcher KnowHow

Pre-publication 2018-2022 Research Skills for HDR Candidates

Research and writing skills for academic and gr

V1 21/09/2022
researchers

Research and writing skills for academic and gr

V2 16/12/2022
researchers

Research and writing skills for academic and gr

V3 15/02/2023
researchers

Research and writing skills for academic and gr

V4 17/05/2023
researchers

Research and writing skills for academic and gr

V5 19/05/2023
researchers
XXVIII | VERSIONING HISTORY

Research and writing skills for academic and gr

V6 19/07/2023
researchers

Research and writing skills for academic and gr

V7 14/08/2023
researchers

Research and writing skills for academic and gr

v8 7/12/2023
researchers
 VERSIONING HISTORY | XXIX

Research and writing skills for academic and gr

v9 13/06/2024
researchers
XXX | ABOUT THIS BOOK

ABOUT THIS BOOK

Disclaimer
RMIT University Library staff have compiled this resource in
good faith, exercising all due care and attention.
No representation is made about the accuracy,
completeness or suitability of the information in this
publication for any particular purpose. The publisher assumes
no responsibility for any damage or injury to persons or
property arising out of the use of any materials, instructions,
methods or ideas contained in the book. Readers should seek
appropriate advice when applying the information to their
specific needs.

Attributions
This textbook includes material adapted from third party
works under Creative Commons licences. In the case of
multiple downstream adaptations, links to original works are
included within the attribution statement where possible.
 ABOUT THIS BOOK | XXXI

Suggested citation
RMIT University Library. (2022). Research and Writing Skills
for Academic and Graduate Researchers. RMIT Open Press.

Suggested attribution
“Research and Writing Skills for Academic and Graduate
Researchers” by RMIT University Library is licensed
under CC BY-NC 4.0

Copyright
This book is provided under a Attribution-NonCommercial
4.0 International licence except where otherwise noted.
The RMIT University Logo and cover design are ‘all rights
reserved’.
We have made all reasonable efforts to:

• clearly label material where the copyright is owned by a

third party
• ensure that the copyright owner has consented to this
material being presented in this textbook.
XXXII | ABOUT THIS BOOK

External links
This textbook may include links to third-party websites that
contain copyright protected material. Your access to these sites
will be covered by terms between you and the other operator/
owner of the site. We are not responsible for any of the
content, including links found on the site. Read and abide by
the external websites’ terms of use.

Published by
RMIT University Library via RMIT Open Press.

Credits
This open textbook was adapted and created by the staff of
the RMIT University Library. The authors gratefully
acknowledge the content contributions of past RMIT staff.
This is an original work, except where otherwise noted.

Reviewers
Each module of this open textbook is reviewed by peers from
the RMIT University Library. The authors gratefully
 ABOUT THIS BOOK | XXXIII

acknowledge their feedback contributing to the development

of the work.

Cover design
By Dr. Lisa Cianci
Artwork ‘Luwaytini’ by Mark Cleaver, Palawa (underlayed)
Cover image: Human Skills by Vicons Design from Noun
Project
XXXIV | RESEARCH AND WRITING SKILLS MODULE HUB

RESEARCH AND
WRITING SKILLS
MODULE HUB

These stand-alone modules on research and writing skills can

be completed individually and should take around 30 minutes,
maybe a little longer if you do all the exercises. Work through
any module systematically, or browse to find relevant material
using the contents menu on the left hand side.
RESEARCH AND WRITING SKILLS MODULE HUB | XXXV

Literature searching and

managing references

Research writing and study skills

Publishing and metrics

XXXVI | RESEARCH AND WRITING SKILLS MODULE HUB

This set of modules is under development –

check back regularly to find additional content.

Attribution for images:

bookshelves – Photo by Alfons Morales on Unsplash
coloured pencils in circle shape – Photo by GR Stocks on Unsplash
concentric circles – Photo by Jordan McDonald on Unsplash
 STRATEGIES AND RESOURCES FOR SEARCHING THE
LITERATURE | 1

STRATEGIES AND
RESOURCES FOR
SEARCHING THE
LITERATURE
Welcome to this online module related to strategies and
resources for searching the literature. The module will explore
key resources to use when literature searching, and the features
of developing an effective search strategy.

Learning objectives

This module will introduce you to:

• strategies and search techniques that can be

used in your searches
• how to construct your search query
2 | STRATEGIES AND RESOURCES FOR SEARCHING THE
LITERATURE

• selecting key resources to use in your

searches, such as LibrarySearch, Databases,
Google Scholar
• staying current with the literature.

There are learning

activities throughout this
module to help you with
some practical searching.
This module should take
you about 30 minutes to
complete.
Work through each
section using the navigation
footer (i.e. previous/next),
or use the contents menu to
select a particular section.
Upon completion, please
Photo by Erik Mclean on Unsplash
help us improve this module
by taking a moment to
complete the feedback form provided at the end.
You may also be interested in viewing the additional
resources about Literature searching in the Explore Further
chapter at the end of this module. Provided is a webinar
 STRATEGIES AND RESOURCES FOR SEARCHING THE
LITERATURE | 3

recorded from the Library’s ‘PhD Up!’ program (now called

Research Plus) and associated library guides.
4 | STRATEGIES AND RESOURCES FOR SEARCHING THE
LITERATURE
 BEING CLEAR ABOUT YOUR PURPOSE | 5

BEING CLEAR ABOUT

YOUR PURPOSE

The purpose
When considering how and where to start your literature
search, it is first worth thinking about why you are looking for
information. What is the purpose of your search?

You may be doing a literature search:

• for a research proposal

• for a literature review as part of a thesis or
manuscript
• for an assignment in an academic course
• to update your knowledge
• for professional development
• to support a workplace activity.
6 | BEING CLEAR ABOUT YOUR PURPOSE

Determining the reason for your literature search will help you
select the types of materials needed. The Library has a wide
range of materials available including books, journals, videos,
newspapers, images, standards, case studies, theses, and more.
This module will introduce you to some of these types of
materials. To explore these further go to Library collections.

What is a literature review?

Test your knowledge

An interactive H5P element has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view it online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=732#h5p-8
 BEING CLEAR ABOUT YOUR PURPOSE | 7

There are two main purposes for undertaking a literature

review.
1) To show awareness of the present state of knowledge in a
particular field, including:

• seminal authors
• the main empirical research
• theoretical positions
• controversies
• breakthroughs as well as links to other related areas of
knowledge.

2) To provide a foundation for the author’s research. The

literature review should:

• help the researcher define a hypothesis or a research

question, and how answering the question will
contribute to the body of knowledge
• provide a rationale for investigating the problem and the
selected methodology
• provide a particular theoretical lens, support the
argument, or identify gaps.

This video provides an overview of what a literature review is.

Watch this video and answer the question below.
Literature Reviews: An Overview for Graduate
Students (9:39 mins)
8 | BEING CLEAR ABOUT YOUR PURPOSE

One or more interactive elements has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view them online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=732#oembed-1

“Literature Reviews: An Overview for Graduate Students” by libncsu is

licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

Test your knowledge

An interactive H5P element has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view it online here:
 BEING CLEAR ABOUT YOUR PURPOSE | 9

https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=732#h5p-4

Further information and resources on writing your literature

review can be found in the Learning Lab.
10 | PLANNING YOUR SEARCH

PLANNING YOUR
SEARCH

A literature search starts

with effective planning. A
literature search plan can:

• ensure your literature

searching is Photo by Ussama Azam on Unsplash
comprehensive
• prompt you to think critically
• guide your searching to focus on your topic
• document your search processes to minimise replication
• save time.

Identify the main or important

aspects
It can be helpful to write down your research question and
identify the important words that define your topic before
searching.
 PLANNING YOUR SEARCH | 11

Example

‘I am interested in the recycling of waste water

in cities.’

The important terms to include for this topic would be:

• recycling
• waste water
• cities

Developing keywords
The next step is to compile a list of synonyms or alternative
terms. This will ensure that you will have a comprehensive
search for relevant literature.
Consider variations such as:

• synonyms or alternative terms – e.g. climate change,

global warming
12 | PLANNING YOUR SEARCH

• acronyms / abbreviations – e.g. DFT, density functional

theory
• alternative Spellings – e.g. aluminium, aluminum
• plurals / alternative endings – e.g. environment,
environmental.

For our research topic, here is the start of a list of synonyms

and alternative terms.

Recycling Reuse

Waste water Sewerage

Cities Urban

Now look to developing your search strategy utilising some

different search techniques.
 DEVELOPING A SEARCH STRATEGY | 13

DEVELOPING A SEARCH
STRATEGY

There are a number of different search techniques that you

can use to develop your search strategy. This chapter explains
how to make your searching thorough and effective by using
phrase searching, truncation, spelling variations, and Boolean
operators.

Phrase searching
To specify that two or more words must appear as a phrase, use
double quotes.

Example

“global warming”
14 | DEVELOPING A SEARCH STRATEGY

Truncation
To search for alternative endings of words, use truncation or
stem searching. In most databases, the truncation operator is
an asterisk ( * ).

Example

A search for environment* will retrieve:

• environment
• environments
• environmental
• environmentalism

Spelling variations
Sometimes there are slight differences in the spelling of a word,
for example, English and American variations. To facilitate
searching on alternative spellings, some databases allow
 DEVELOPING A SEARCH STRATEGY | 15

wildcard searching. Wildcards take the place of one or more

characters in a search term. The wildcard operator is often a
question mark (?) or an asterisk (*).

Example

A search for colo?r will find:

• color
• colour

Once you have a list of keywords, synonyms, and effective

search techniques you will then need to combine these into
effective search statements.

Combining with Boolean

Boolean searching can be very helpful when searching
databases. It allows you to combine multiple terms with
connecting words, called ‘Boolean operators’. Most databases
use common Boolean operators, such as AND, OR, and
16 | DEVELOPING A SEARCH STRATEGY

NOT. Here are examples of how you can use Boolean

operators to broaden or narrow your search.

AND operator
narrows your
search
Use AND operator to find
records that contain all the terms you use. This is useful if you
want to find only those records that mention both terms.
Searching for “climate change” AND cereals will locate records
with both these terms.

OR operator
broadens your search
Use OR operator to find records that contain any of the terms
you use. This is useful if you want to allow for alternative
terms/synonyms for the same concept. Searching for “climate
change” OR “global warming” will locate records with both as
well as one of these terms.
 DEVELOPING A SEARCH STRATEGY | 17

NOT operator
narrows your search
Use NOT operator to exclude a term. This is useful if you
don’t want to find any records that contain a particular term.
Use it with care to avoid excluding relevant articles that briefly
mention the second term. Searching for “global warming”
NOT “fossil fuel” will exclude all records that mention “fossil
fuels” as well as “global warming” and “fossil fuels” together.
Watch this video to gain an understanding of how to use
Boolean operators.
Boolean Operators (3:02 mins)

One or more interactive elements has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view them online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=549#oembed-1

Boolean Operators (3:02 min) by Lexy Spry and Emily Wixson (YouTube)
18 | DEVELOPING A SEARCH STRATEGY

Test your knowledge

An interactive H5P element has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view it online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=549#h5p-7
 THE SEARCH QUERY | 19

THE SEARCH QUERY

To construct the search

query consider using some
search techniques such as
Boolean operators and
phrase searching.
In considering the topic I
am interested in the Photo by Justin Ha on Unsplash
recycling of waste water
in cities, three main aspects were identified, and a list of
possible keywords (search terms) was compiled.
The search statement may look like the following:

Example

(recycling OR reuse) AND (“waste water” OR

20 | THE SEARCH QUERY

sewerage OR “drain water”) AND (cities OR

urban)

This search query has used:

• double quote marks enclosed around keywords that

contain two words so they are searched as a phrase
• Boolean operator OR is used to combine keywords
about the same aspect
• Boolean operator AND is used to combine keywords
about different aspects.

The search features of library databases make constructing

your search query easier, especially when using advanced
search options. For example, the Boolean operators can usually
be selected from a drop-down menu. This is evident in the
example below, showing the search query where the Boolean
operators of AND are selected.
Note: nearly all databases have these features, but they
might look different. You may need to explore to find the
options you need.
 THE SEARCH QUERY | 21

(Copyright © 2022 RMIT University)

Activity

Now it’s your turn to develop your search query for

your own research topic.

1. Write down your research topic and identify

your main aspects.
2. For each aspect list some alternative search
terms (synonyms).
22 | THE SEARCH QUERY

3. Consider some different search techniques

that you may need to use.
4. Create a search query that combines your
topic keywords and synonyms using Boolean
operators AND and OR.
 REFINING YOUR SEARCH | 23

REFINING YOUR
SEARCH

After developing your

search query and executing
your search, you now need
to look at the search results
and determine whether you
have been successful in
locating the desired
literature. Maybe you need
to refine your search further.
Outlined below is
information about using the
databases fields or the
subject headings to return
Photo by Shyam on Unsplash
more accurate search results.
The limits options of the
database are also another way to refine your search results.

Field searching
It is the advanced search option in a database that provides
24 | REFINING YOUR SEARCH

searching by a particular field. If the search terms appear in

the title or subject of the reference, then it is likely to be more
relevant.

References in a database are indexed by

different fields, for example:

• Author
• Title
• Journal name
• Subject.

Subject headings
Some databases will have subject headings, or descriptors, that
are assigned to the reference when it is indexed in the database.
The subject headings are used to describe the content of the
reference. This list of subject headings is called a thesaurus.
The thesaurus may have an elaborate structure of broader,
narrower, and related terms, which will help you to search
very precisely. Check the database’s help for information about
searching by subject headings.
 REFINING YOUR SEARCH | 25

Limits
Many databases will give you the option to limit your results.
Look for the different limit options in the database when you
are getting too many results.

For example, you may be able to specify that you

want to retrieve by:

• Material format (e.g. peer-reviewed

journals)
• Publication date (e.g. last five years)
• Language (e.g. English only)
26 | REFINING YOUR SEARCH

Test your knowledge

An interactive H5P element has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view it online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=737#h5p-9
 SELECTING RESOURCES TO SEARCH | 27

SELECTING RESOURCES
TO SEARCH

Library subject guides

The Library’s subject guides are good starting points for
research. They list relevant databases and other resources
relevant for different subject areas.
Watch this video for a brief introduction to ‘What’s a
Library Subject Guide?‘
What’s a Library Subject Guide? (1:13 mins)

One or more interactive elements has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view them online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=102#oembed-1

What’s a Library Subject Guide? (1:12 mins) by RMIT University (YouTube)

28 | SELECTING RESOURCES TO SEARCH

The following image shows how to locate Subject Guides

from the Library homepage.

(Copyright © 2022 RMIT University)

Topic-specific guides
Explore topic-specific guides such as:

• Industry information
• Company information
• Standards
• EndNote: a beginner’s guide
 SELECTING RESOURCES TO SEARCH | 29

Research
guides
There is also a range of
Research guides that
include:

• Altmetrics
• Finding and obtaining
theses
• HDR students
• Research Data
Management Photo by David Clode on Unsplash
• Research Metrics
• Researcher Profiles and ORCID iDs
• Starting your literature review
• Staying current with your research
• Strategic Publishing
• Systematic Reviews.
30 | SELECTING RESOURCES TO SEARCH

Activity

1. Go to the Library homepage and find a

subject guide relevant to your research area.
2. Does that subject guide list any databases
that might be useful for your research topic?
 USING SEARCH ENGINES | 31

USING SEARCH
ENGINES

Google and Google Scholar

Many people begin their
research with Google, and
sometimes Google Scholar.
Google can be useful to get
an overview, background
information, or to define
terms. We all Google – but Photo by Mitchell Luo on Unsplash
are you doing it effectively?
Using Advanced Google or Google Scholar improves your
chance of obtaining relevant information. Researchers are
expected to use scholarly information and Google alone is
insufficient.
Google Advanced lets you choose combinations of words
– e.g. all these words, exact phrase or word etc., and narrow
results by language, region, last update, site or domain, file
type, etc.
The following table provides a comparison of the difference
in features between Google and Google Scholar.
32 | USING SEARCH ENGINES

Google vs. Google Scholar

Features Google Google Scholar

Easy to
search Yes Yes
interface
Many sources, good definitions, Indexes scholarly
background information, sources, but with
Coverage
government/company reports, uneven discipline
but uncontrolled content. content.
Scholarly material,
Varied, news, company reports,
articles, conference
Format trade and government
papers, book
publications, grey literature.
chapters, patents.
Search
results
with Yes, with Advanced Google. Limited
basic
filtering
Search
No Yes
alerts

Search
No Yes
metrics

Author
No Yes
profiles
Full-text Yes, but payment
Yes, depending on sources.
access may be required.
Export
citations
to No Yes
reference
managers
 USING SEARCH ENGINES | 33

Best Practice Tip

Sign in to Google Scholar via the Library webpage to access full
text that RMIT holds in linked databases.
See the image below for where to find Google Scholar on the
RMIT Library homepage.

(Copyright © 2022 RMIT University)

34 | USING SEARCH ENGINES

Activity

Search Google Scholar using some of your search

query keywords.

As you search make note of the following:

1. The different types of resources in your

results list
2. Can you follow a link to the full text of the
article or resource?
3. Look for where to refine your search by date
or relevance, and also where you can include
(or exclude) patents and citations

There are also further tools in Google Scholar to find related

material. These are located under each of the titles listed in
your search results.
Can you find the Cite, Cited by, Related articles, and Save
links?
See if you can also find where to save an alert for your search.
 USING SEARCH ENGINES | 35

Saving an alert will provide an email feed for any new papers
on your topic, as they are added to Google Scholar.

Test your knowledge

An interactive H5P element has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view it online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=149#h5p-5

LibrarySearch
LibrarySearch is RMIT University Library’s search engine and
an important place to continue your literature search.
You can use LibrarySearch to retrieve a wide variety of
materials:
36 | USING SEARCH ENGINES

• Books and E-books

• Journal and newspaper articles
• DVDs and streaming video
• Theses and more

Make sure to log in to LibrarySearch as some resources are only

available when you log in. Look for the ‘Log in for full access’
button on the Library’s homepage

(Copyright © 2022 RMIT University)

Watch this video for a brief introduction to LibrarySearch

What is LibrarySearch? (1:07 mins)

One or more interactive elements has been

 USING SEARCH ENGINES | 37

excluded from this version of the text. You

can view them online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=149#oembed-1

What is LibrarySearch? (1:07 mins) by RMIT University (YouTube)

LibrarySearch is particularly good for:

• Getting an overview of the Library’s physical and online

collections
• Finding “something” on a topic
• The refine features to narrow your search results

There are refine options in the menu on the left,

including:

• Peer-reviewed articles, full text online

• Resource type – articles, books, etc.
• Subject
• Date range
38 | USING SEARCH ENGINES

To access full text for online material e.g. e-books or journal

articles, you click on the ‘View Online’ link at the item record.
LibrarySearch does not provide even coverage of the subject
area. Specialised subject databases in business, architecture,
psychology, legal, and fashion are not covered by
LibrarySearch.
As a researcher, you will also need to search specialist library
databases. We will be looking at these databases later in this
module.

Activity

Go to LibrarySearch on the Library homepage and

search using keywords for your own research topic.

Locate a peer-reviewed article on your topic and

access the full text.
 USING SEARCH ENGINES | 39

Research Repository /
Theses
The RMIT Research Repository is an open-access
institutional repository providing free, searchable access to
research publications authored by RMIT University staff and
students.
Most theses submitted at RMIT University can be found in
the RMIT Research Repository.
Theses can be invaluable sources for in-depth and
significant research related to your field of study. The RMIT
Finding and obtaining theses research guide is a great starting
point for resources that will allow you to access Australian and
international theses.

Activity

• Search the RMIT Research Repository

• Enter your search term, for example, climate
change
40 | USING SEARCH ENGINES

• Limit your search results to ‘Dissertations &

Theses’
• The ‘Refine your results’ enables further
selection of:

◦ Resource type
◦ Research unit
◦ Author

• Identify a relevant thesis to your topic

 SEARCHING LIBRARY DATABASES | 41

SEARCHING LIBRARY
DATABASES

Databases
While Google Scholar and LibrarySearch can provide good
starting places, you will need to move beyond these to
comprehensively retrieve relevant literature.
Databases are excellent tools for researching journal articles,
as well as other scholarly content. They often have a specialised
focus – for example, by subject, resource type, or
geography. You can explore the different types of databases on
offer from the Librarythat include videos, images, theses,
standards, and more.
There are many databases available, some of which are
subject-specific. To locate databases relevant to your research
area you can consult the Library’s subject guides.
To access the list of popular databases, select the Databases
tab in the ‘Find books, articles and more’ or the Library’s
homepage.
42 | SEARCHING LIBRARY DATABASES

Copyright © 2022 RMIT University

Watch this video for a brief introduction to Library databases.

What’s a library database? (1:56 mins)

One or more interactive elements has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view them online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=108#oembed-1

What’s a library database? (1:56 mins) by RMIT University (YouTube)

 SEARCHING LIBRARY DATABASES | 43

Test your knowledge

An interactive H5P element has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view it online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=108#h5p-6

Searching databases
The search results in databases can be sorted and filtered in a
variety of ways – for example, by the level of content (scholarly,
peer-reviewed).
A large database that covers a range of subject areas
including business, science, health, and social sciences is
ProQuest.
44 | SEARCHING LIBRARY DATABASES

Finding the full article

Databases will often give you direct access to the full text
online, but if you cannot see a link to the online article, try the
‘Find it’ button link. This will open a new browser window
that will search all databases to which RMIT University
Library has access.

If not held at RMIT

If you cannot find the article online it may be available in print,
or you can request the article via the Library’s Document
Delivery Service.

Watch this video to learn how to do an advanced search in

the ProQuest database.
ProQuest Advanced Search (2:14 mins)

One or more interactive elements has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view them online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=108#oembed-2

ProQuest Advanced Search (2:14 mins) by ProQuest (YouTube)

 SEARCHING LIBRARY DATABASES | 45

Activity

The activity uses the ProQuest database. You may

wish to practice searching one of the databases you
selected earlier, from your subject guide.

1. Go to the Library homepage and select the

Databases link.
2. Select ProQuest Central from the ‘Popular
databases’ list.
3. Note the Basic and Advanced Search options.
Select Advanced Search.
4. Search the database using your search query
keywords and try to use a simple Boolean
search e.g. (waste water OR effluent) AND
(recycling AND cities).
5. Next to the search box from the drop-down
menu select ‘Anywhere except full text’. Also,
select options to limit to peer-reviewed
articles and publication date of ‘Last 3 years’.
46 | SEARCHING LIBRARY DATABASES

6. Note options for Source/Document type.

7. Select search.

Citation databases
Scopus and Web of Science are two large citation databases
that can be important starting points for subject areas,
particularly in the sciences.
These databases also display citation data that enables you
to track the development of a research idea forward through
time.
Further information on searching these is below.

Watch this video to learn how to do a basic search in the

Scopus database.
Scopus Tutorial: How to Conduct a Basic Search (2:57
mins)

One or more interactive elements has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view them online here:
 SEARCHING LIBRARY DATABASES | 47

https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=108#oembed-3

Scopus Tutorial: How to Conduct a Basics Search (2:57 mins) by Scopus

(YouTube)

Watch this video to learn how to do a search in the Web of

Science database.
Web of Science: Search Tips (5:38 mins)

One or more interactive elements has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view them online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=108#oembed-4

Web of Science: Search Tips (5:38 mins) by Web of Science (YouTube)

48 | STAYING CURRENT WITH THE LITERATURE

STAYING CURRENT
WITH THE LITERATURE

Another useful feature of different databases includes the

ability to set up ‘search alerts’, which allows you to receive
alerts of new articles that meet your search criteria. This is an
excellent way to keep up-to-date with your research.
It is also possible to set up alerts for:

• The latest tables of contents for specific relevant

journals.
• Citation alerts whenever a particular article is cited by
someone.
• Upcoming conferences and calls for papers.
• Websites, social media, and Google.

See the library guide to Staying current with your research for
more details and examples.
 STAYING CURRENT WITH THE LITERATURE | 49

Conferences
Conferences are an
important part of staying
current with intellectual and
academic developments and
discussions. There are
diverse websites that will Rice University Stock Photography by
alert you of upcoming Ed Schipul (CC-BY-3.0)
conferences. Papers are
sometimes available via conference websites or accessible via
databases.
The Alerts Library Guide lists a number of conference
directories.
50 | EXPLORE FURTHER

EXPLORE FURTHER

Congratulations on
completing this module. We
have explored the purpose of
a literature review, some of
the key resources for
searching the literature, and
some aspects of developing a Photo by Joseph Chan on Unsplash
search strategy.
The module also included information on staying current
with new literature published in the area and searching for
theses and conferences.

Further assistance
For more assistance in researching your literature review
contact the Library by submitting a research request form.
Additional information and resources are available in the
guides:

• Literature reviews
• Alerts: staying current with the literature
• Theses
 EXPLORE FURTHER | 51

Information and resources on writing your literature review

can be found in the Learning Lab.

Learn more
You may also be interested in viewing the following webinar
Strategies and resources for searching the literature (64 mins.)
recorded from the Library’s PhD Up! program (now called
Research Plus). The webinar content complements this online
module.

Feedback
Your comments and suggestions on how we can improve this
module will be appreciated. Please complete our feedback
form.

What’s next?
You have completed this module on Strategies and Resources
for Searching the Literature. You can return to the Research
and Writing Hub to choose another module to complete.
52 | EXPLORE FURTHER
 CONDUCTING A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW | 53

CONDUCTING A
SYSTEMATIC
REVIEW
Welcome to this online
module on how to conduct
a systematic review. The
module provides an
overview of the key
components and the process
Photo by Florian Schmetz on you need to follow when
Unsplash conducting a systematic
review. Briefly covered are
developing the research question and the protocol, aspects of
searching, performing the analysis, and reporting findings.
54 | CONDUCTING A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

Learning objectives

The module will help you:

• understand what a systematic review is

• know the difference between a systematic
review and a literature review
• know the various steps involved in conducting
a systematic review
• develop your research question and protocol
• learn about resources and strategies when
searching the literature
• to understand the selection and evaluation
processes of the included studies.

The course materials include information, videos, and learning

activities that explore key features of conducting a systematic
review.
This module should take you about 30 minutes to
complete.
Work through each section using the navigation footer
 CONDUCTING A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW | 55

(i.e. previous/next), or use the contents menu to select a

particular section.
Upon completion, please help us improve this module by
taking a moment to complete the feedback form provided at
the end.
You may also be interested in viewing the additional
resources about Systematic Reviews in the Explore Further
chapter at the end of this module. Provided is a webinar
recorded from the Library’s ‘PhD Up!’ program (now called
Research Plus), a short video introducing systematic reviews,
and the associated library guide.
Please note that the examples used in this module are related
to the discipline of health sciences, but the principles of this
research methodology may be applied to other areas.
56 | CONDUCTING A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW
 ABOUT SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS | 57

ABOUT SYSTEMATIC
REVIEWS

A systematic review is
a secondary research
method that identifies and
evaluates evidence from
existing data in primary
research studies.
Commonly, systematic
reviews are used in
healthcare research to assess Photo by José Ignacio González
the evidence on whether a Pansiera on Unsplash
medical intervention is
effective in treating a certain condition.

Definition

As defined by the Cochrane Collaboration a

systematic review is:
58 | ABOUT SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS

“A review of a clearly formulated question that

uses systematic and explicit methods to identify,
select, and critically appraise relevant research,
and to collect and analyse data from the studies
that are included in the review. Statistical
methods (meta-analysis) may or may not be
used to analyse and summarise the results of the
included studies.”

Features of a systematic
review
A systematic review has these key features:

1. It addresses a research question that is clearly defined

and specific.
2. It follows a rigorous methodology by adopting a
clearly pre-defined protocol.
3. It is an exhaustive search of the literature that is carried
out in accordance with the protocol.
4. All evidence is considered and only excluded if it does
not meet the eligibility criteria.
 ABOUT SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS | 59

5. The included studies are critically analysed, especially

for the risk of bias.
6. It ideally involves more than one person.

For HDR candidates

A PhD or a Masters by Research thesis will include a

chapter devoted to a review of the literature. This
type of review is known as a traditional or narrative
review, or simply a literature review.

The following table outlines the different features of a

systematic review and a traditional literature review.
60 | ABOUT SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS

Systematic review vs. Literature

review
 ABOUT SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS | 61

Features Systematic review Literature review

Gain a broad
Tightly specified objectives
understanding and
Aim to answer a specific research
description of a
question
field

Scope Narrow focus Big picture

Nothing defined,
Transparent process with
Planning the allows for
documented audit trail
review creativity and
defined in a protocol
exploration

Rigorous and Searching is

comprehensive search for probing, moving
Searches ALL studies, explicit search from study to
strategy across numerous study,
sources following-up leads
Selection is
Predetermined criteria for
Study variable as
including and excluding
selection determined by the
studies uniformly applied
reviewer
Checklists to assess the Based on the
Appraisal
quality of studies reviewer’s opinion

Tabular format with short

Synthesis Discursive
summary answers

Must be presented for Not necessarily

Methodology
transparency provided

Based on all available Based on a sample

Inferences
evidence of the evidence
Months to years (average 18
Timeline Weeks to months
months)
Authors Three or more One or more
62 | ABOUT SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS

Features Systematic review Literature review

Connects practising Provides a

clinicians to high-quality summary of
Value
evidence; Informs literature on a
evidence-based practice topic

Watch the following short video to learn about the difference

between a systematic review and a meta-analysis.
Systematic review vs Meta-analysis (5 mins)

One or more interactive elements has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view them online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=1720#oembed-1

Systematic review vs Meta-analysis (5 mins) by Research Masterminds (YouTube)

Some brief information about other types of reviews, such

as scoping reviews, rapid reviews, and meta-analyses is
available from the library guide: Systematic Reviews.
 ABOUT SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS | 63

Benefits of a systematic
review
A systematic review has
several advantages,
including:

• Being considered the

highest level in the
hierarchy
of literature evidence. “File:Evidence-based Medicine
(EBM).png” by Tingjoh is licensed
• Provides a definitive under CC BY-SA 4.0
answer to a question,
commonly about therapy, prevention, and causes of
disease or harm.
• The methods used to find and select studies reduce bias
and are more likely to produce reliable and accurate
conclusions.
• Summarises findings from multiple studies, reducing
bias when drawing conclusions and making the findings
more reliable.
• Findings might be applied to everyday practice or to
inform policy.
• Identifies knowledge gaps that call for more research.
64 | ABOUT SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS

Benefits for HDR candidates

Conducting a systematic review provides several

benefits:

• it fulfills the request made by your supervisor

to conduct the systematic review
• it contributes to your thesis
• the paper can be published
• it contributes to your research knowledge of
the topic.
 ABOUT SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS | 65

Test your knowledge

An interactive H5P element has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view it online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=1720#h5p-14
66 | DEVELOPING THE RESEARCH QUESTION

DEVELOPING THE
RESEARCH QUESTION

A systematic review is an
in-depth attempt to answer
a specific, focused question
in a methodical way.
A clearly defined research
question should accurately
and succinctly sum up the Photo by Tingey Injury Law Firm on
review’s line of inquiry. Unsplash

In developing
the research question ensure that it is not just a topic, but a
properly formulated question that is answerable.
Consider whether your question will focus on diagnosis,
intervention, prognosis, or etiology? Is there a study design
(e.g. Randomised Controlled Trials) that would provide the
best answer?
A good question will combine several concepts. Identifying
the relevant concepts is crucial to the successful development
and execution of your systematic review. Your research
question should provide you with a checklist of the main
concepts to be included in your search strategy.
If appropriate, use a framework to help you develop your
 DEVELOPING THE RESEARCH QUESTION | 67

research question. A framework will assist in identifying the

important concepts in your question.
One technique often used to help formulate a clinical
research question is the PICO model.

P = Population / Patient / Problem

I = Intervention / Indicator
C = Comparison / Control
O = Outcome

There are other frameworks such as SPICE, SPIDER, and

ECLIPSE. More information on these frameworks is available
from the library guide: Systematic Reviews.

Activity

If you were undertaking a systematic review and

researching the effectiveness of acupuncture for
68 | DEVELOPING THE RESEARCH QUESTION

treating allergic rhinitis what would your research

question be?

An interactive H5P element has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view it online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=1733#h5p-17

Think about one of your research questions. How

might you adjust the question by applying the use
of the PICO framework?

Best Practice Tip

Prior to commencing the systematic review, first, determine if
a similar review has been recently done.
You could do this by searching relevant databases or
the PROSPERO register of systematic reviews.
 WRITING THE PROTOCOL | 69

WRITING THE
PROTOCOL

A protocol should be
prepared before a review is
started and used as a guide to
carry out the review.
The aim of the protocol is
to minimise bias by having Photo by Laura Chouette on Unsplash
pre-defined eligibility
criteria of what will, and will not, be included in the review.

The research protocol is a planning document

that will:

• describe the rationale for the review

• set out the review objectives
• detail the sources and search strategy
used to locate studies
• detail how studies will be selected based
on the defined eligibility criteria for the
70 | WRITING THE PROTOCOL

inclusion/exclusion of studies
• detail how the studies will be critically
analysed
• provide the basis of how the findings will
be reported.

The protocol is developed in conjunction with determining

search terms.
A protocol promotes research integrity, accountability, and
transparency of the completed review.

Best Practice
Tip
It is recommended that you
use a standard such as
the 27 item PRISMA
checklist to develop your
protocol. This document
will then serve well as a
guide to what should
Photo by Han Chenxu on Unsplash
 WRITING THE PROTOCOL | 71

be included when the findings of the systematic review are

reported.
What is PRISMA?
PRISMA is the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic
reviews and Meta-Analyses. PRISMA is an evidence-based
minimum set of items for reporting in systematic reviews and
meta-analyses.

Test your knowledge

An interactive H5P element has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view it online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=1736#h5p-15
72 | PLANNING YOUR SEARCH STRATEGY

PLANNING YOUR
SEARCH STRATEGY

Planning your search is critical to the success of the systematic

review with the following iterative steps included:

1. Where to search, locating the appropriate sources to

search, which will work, which won’t.
2. How best to effectively search, to develop the search
terms and how they will be combined.
3. Testing that your search strategy will yield the
anticipated results to answer the research question.
 PLANNING YOUR SEARCH STRATEGY | 73

Sources to search
The search for literature
for a systematic review
should be rigorous and
comprehensive to find ALL
information available on a
particular topic. It is
therefore important to Photo by Jan Antonin Kolar on
widely and thoroughly Unsplash
search published and
unpublished research.
There are several types of sources that you can search,
including; databases, grey literature, trials, and reference lists.
You can also try hand-searching.

For HDR Candidates

As an HDR candidate, you will most likely only use

databases for your systematic review, although
74 | PLANNING YOUR SEARCH STRATEGY

confirm with your supervisor their expectations on

which sources to search.

Databases – It is important to search across a range of

databases as no one database covers all the related literature.
It is not acceptable to search just one database. The decision
regarding which databases to search depends on the topic of
the review. The database searches need to be comprehensive
and reproducible.
Grey Literature – This is not controlled by commercial
publishers but rather is produced by organisations,
governments, and industry. Grey literature is less likely to
exhibit publication bias and so can provide balance.
Trials – Many clinical trials are unpublished, so when
appropriate it is important to include unpublished and
ongoing studies to minimise bias.
Hand searching – Not all trial reports are included in
bibliographic databases, and trials may not be easily identified
in database search results when accessing the titles and
abstracts. Hand searching is a manual page-by-page
examination of relevant journals and conference proceedings
in order to identify published trials.
Reference lists – It can be fruitful to search the reference
lists of relevant systematic reviews and meta-analyses, as well as
 PLANNING YOUR SEARCH STRATEGY | 75

other key identified studies. Using this search method would

be done in the preliminary stages to help determine that search
results did contain these papers.

Planning your literature

search
The planning phase of developing, testing, and revising your
search queries is crucial to the success of the systematic review.
Do you have a set of relevant papers already that you
want to include in your systematic review?
It is useful to build a
‘sample set’ of relevant
references before you
develop your search
strategy. The ‘sample set’
may include:
Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash
• key papers
recommended by your supervisor
• references used in similar systematic reviews

The ‘sample set’ of references will enable you to:

• help identify relevant search terms

• test that your search strategy will retrieve these references
76 | PLANNING YOUR SEARCH STRATEGY

(and subsequently other relevant references on your

research topic)

Developing, testing, and revising

your search strategy
The search strategy needs to include a detailed list of search
terms for each concept to ensure all relevant studies are
captured for the review. Search terms will be made up of
keywords or phrases, as well as database subject headings. Each
database uses a different criterion to classify articles, so the
subject headings will differ between them.
When using multiple databases, you are likely to encounter
a large volume of resources. When planning your searches, you
should continually adjust search terms and/or selection
criteria in order to make sure you have a comprehensive body
of references.
It is recommended that you test your search terms to
determine if all the subject headings and words/phrases will
return useful results. Test your search strategy in a key
database. Does it retrieve any papers from your ‘sample set’
that are contained in that database? Are the results of the
search relevant to your topic? What proportion are irrelevant?
Identify any terms that are retrieving large numbers of
irrelevant papers.
 PLANNING YOUR SEARCH STRATEGY | 77

Documenting your search

It is essential that you thoroughly document your search
process in enough detail to ensure that it can be reported
correctly in the review. An Excel spreadsheet is one tool that
you could consider using to document your searching.

For each database search, you should record:

• the date the search was run

• the name of the database
• the name of the database provider (e.g.
ProQuest or EBSCO)
• your search strategy – include the
keywords you used and how these were
combined in the search
• any filters or limitations used, such as
years, language, etc.
• the number of studies identified
78 | PLANNING YOUR SEARCH TERMS

PLANNING YOUR
SEARCH TERMS

Define your research

question
If you were researching the effectiveness of acupuncture for
treating allergic rhinitis, you might begin with a research
question that looks like the following.

Example research question

How effective is acupuncture in treating allergic

rhinitis?

This question could be improved by utilising the PICO

framework to look like this:
 PLANNING YOUR SEARCH TERMS | 79

Improved example research

question

In patients with allergic rhinitis is acupuncture

compared with pharmacological treatment more
effective in decreasing pain symptoms?

P (problem) = In patients with allergic

rhinitis

I (intervention) = is acupuncture

C (comparator) = compared with

pharmacological treatment

O (outcome) = more effective in

decreasing pain symptoms?

Compiling a list of search

terms
Let’s look at two of the concepts from the research question:
80 | PLANNING YOUR SEARCH TERMS

1. allergic rhinitis
2. acupuncture

When you start compiling a list of possible search terms you

need to think of your own keywords, as well as the thesaurus
(i.e. subject) terms used by each of the databases you will be
searching.
The following table shows some keywords and thesaurus
terms for allergic rhinitis and acupuncture. The thesaurus
terms are MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) as used by the
PubMed database. Thesaurus terms for other databases would
be added to the list.
 PLANNING YOUR SEARCH TERMS | 81

Database search terms

Allergic
Concepts Acupuncture
rhinitis
plum blossom
ear acupuncture
ear acupressure
auricular therapy
moxa
allergic rhinitis
laser acupuncture
hayfever
seven star needle
hay fever
electro-acupuncture
pollinosis
electro acupuncture
Keywords rose cold
TENS
rose fever
transcutaneous nerve
perennial
stimulation
hayfever
transcutaneous electrical
seasonal hayfever
nerve stimulation
electro-stimulation
electro stimulation
pharmacopuncture
point injection
acupuncture
meridians
electroacupuncture
rhinitis, allergic
moxibustion
rhinitis, allergic,
auriculotherapy
MeSH seasonal
acupressure
(Medical Subject rhinitis, allergic,
acupuncture, ear
Headings) perennial
acupuncture therapy
respiratory
acupuncture analgesia
hypersensitivity
acupuncture points
transcutaneous electric
nerve stimulation
82 | COMBINING YOUR SEARCH TERMS

COMBINING YOUR
SEARCH TERMS

Combine with Boolean

operators
To combine the different search terms the boolean operators
of OR and AND need to be used.
OR operator broadens your search
Use the boolean operator OR to combine
keywords related to a single concept.
This broadens your search, increasing
the number of results. This means that
each search term listed for allergic rhinitis would be combined
with an OR, and similarly for acupuncture.

AND operator narrows your

search
Use the boolean operator AND to
combine keywords related to different
concepts. This narrows your search,
decreasing the number of results. The search results for allergic
 COMBINING YOUR SEARCH TERMS | 83

rhinitis would be combined with an AND with the search

results for acupuncture.

NOT operator narrows your

search
Use the boolean operator NOT
operator to exclude a term. This is useful
if you don’t want to find any records
that contain a particular term. Use it with care to avoid
excluding relevant articles that briefly mention the second
term. Searching for allergic rhinitis NOT children will exclude
all records that mention children as well as allergic rhinitis and
children together.

Test your knowledge

An interactive H5P element has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
84 | COMBINING YOUR SEARCH TERMS

can view it online here:

https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=2195#h5p-19

The search query

The search features of library databases make constructing
your search query easier, especially when using advanced
search options. For example, the Boolean operators can usually
be selected from a drop-down menu. Some databases allow
you to enter the search terms on separate lines of an Advanced
or Basic search form. Concepts can be entered on separate lines
that are then combined using the OR and AND operators.

Best Practice Tip

If there are many synonyms and subject headings for a single
concept, you may find it helpful to break this concept into a
couple of separate searches that you can then combine using
 COMBINING YOUR SEARCH TERMS | 85

OR, as in the example below. The first concept is allergic

rhinitis and the second concept is acupuncture.
86 | COMBINING YOUR SEARCH TERMS

Search query
 COMBINING YOUR SEARCH TERMS | 87

Search
Terms combined Notes
line

“Allergic rhinitis” OR hayfever OR “hay

fever” OR pollinosis OR “rose fever” OR Concept 1
1
“perennial hayfever” OR “seasonal keyterms
hayfever”

“Rhinitis, Alllergic”[Mesh] OR “Rhinitis,

Concept 1
Allergic, Seasonal”[Mesh] OR “Rhinitis,
2 MeSH
Allergic, Perennial”[Mesh] OR
headings
“Respiratory Hypersensitivity”[Mesh]

All
3 1 OR 2
Concept 1

“plum blossom” OR “ear acupuncture”

OR “ear acupressure” OR auricular
therapy OR moxa OR “laser acupuncture”
OR “seven star needle” OR
“electro-acupuncture” OR “electro Concept 2
4
acupuncture” OR TENS OR keyterms
“transcutaneous electrical nerve
stimulation” OR “transcutaneous nerve
stimulation” OR “electrostimulation” OR
pharmoacupuncture OR “point injection”
“Acupuncture”[Mesh] OR
“Meridians”[Mesh] OR”
Electroacupuncture”[Mesh] OR
“Moxibustion”[Mesh] OR
“Auriculotherapy”[Mesh] OR Concept 2
5 “Acupressure”[Mesh] OR “Acupuncture, MeSH
Ear”[Mesh] OR “Acupuncture headings
Therapy”[Mesh] OR “Acupuncture,
Analgesia”[Mesh] OR “Acupuncture
Points”[Mesh] OR ‘Transcutaneous
Electric Nerve Stimulation”[Mesh]

All
6 4 OR 5
Concept 2
88 | COMBINING YOUR SEARCH TERMS

Search
Terms combined Notes
line

Combined
7 3 AND 6
concepts

Our search query using the PubMed database and the listed
keywords and MeSH terms for allergic rhinitis, and similarly
for acupuncture, would look like the following.

Example search query

“Allergic rhinitis” OR hayfever OR “hay fever” OR

pollinosis OR “rose fever” OR “perennial hayfever”
OR “seasonal hayfever” OR “Rhinitis,
Alllergic”[Mesh] OR “Rhinitis, Allergic,
Seasonal”[Mesh] OR “Rhinitis, Allergic,
Perennial”[Mesh] OR “Respiratory
Hypersensitivity”[Mesh] AND “plum blossom” OR
“ear acupuncture” OR “ear acupressure” OR auricular
therapy OR moxa OR “laser acupuncture” OR “seven
star needle” OR “electro-acupuncture” OR “electro
acupuncture” OR TENS OR “transcutaneous
 COMBINING YOUR SEARCH TERMS | 89

electrical nerve stimulation” OR “transcutaneous

nerve stimulation” OR “electrostimulation” OR
pharmoacupuncture OR “point injection” OR
“Acupuncture”[Mesh] OR “Meridians”[Mesh] OR”
Electroacupuncture”[Mesh] OR “Moxibustion”[Mesh]
OR “Auriculotherapy”[Mesh] OR
“Acupressure”[Mesh] OR “Acupuncture, Ear”[Mesh]
OR “Acupuncture Therapy”[Mesh] OR “Acupuncture,
Analgesia”[Mesh] OR “Acupuncture Points”[Mesh]
OR ‘Transcutaneous Electric Nerve
Stimulation”[Mesh]
90 | ANALYSING SEARCH RESULTS

ANALYSING SEARCH
RESULTS

Once the search results are obtained the analysis phase of the
systematic review commences where each paper must be
judged on validity and quality. The decisions on which papers
to include and exclude are based on the eligibility criteria
specified in the protocol.

Best Practice Tip

It is recommended that you use the PRISMA flow diagram to
record the number of search results from each database and
the changes to those numbers as the screening process is
conducted. This diagram should be included in the reported
findings of the systematic review.
What is PRISMA?
PRISMA is the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic
reviews and Meta-Analyses. PRISMA is an evidence-based
minimum set of items for reporting in systematic reviews and
meta-analyses.
 ANALYSING SEARCH RESULTS | 91

Screening papers
The screening process of
a systematic review will
usually involve more than
one reviewer, with the
reviewers assessing each
paper against the eligibility
criteria for inclusion or
exclusion from the review as
defined in the protocol.
Each reviewer will need to
provide a rationale for how
the papers match the
eligibility criteria or have
Photo by Nong V on Unsplash
some value to the systematic
review. This is done
separately by each reviewer to ensure minimal bias. The results
are then compared.
The screening is done incrementally in two phases. An
agreement must be reached by all reviewers, at each phase, on
which papers are to be included and excluded.
Phase 1 – Titles and abstracts of each paper are assessed
against the eligibility criteria.
Phase 2 – The process is repeated where the full text of
each of the remaining papers are assessed against the eligibility
criteria.
92 | ANALYSING SEARCH RESULTS

The remaining papers are those that will contribute to

the systematic review.

Critical appraisal
The critical appraisal process examines the validity and
applicability of the studies. It is important to critically evaluate
the literature to:

• assess the benefits and strengths of the research against

flaws and weaknesses
• decide whether studies have been undertaken in a way
that makes their findings reliable
• make sense of the results
• know what these results mean in the context of the
clinical decision being made
• assess the usefulness of the evidence for clinical
decisions.

There are several checklists available to assist in the process of

determining the quality of the studies. A checklist should be
chosen to assess sources of bias that are likely to affect results in
relation to the research question.
Take a look at the following sites for examples of critical
appraisal tools that can be used to assess the quality, validity,
and bias of papers.
 ANALYSING SEARCH RESULTS | 93

• CASP (Critical Appraisal Skills Programme) Checklists

• Joanna Briggs Critical Appraisal Tools
• Risk of bias assessment tools from the University of
Bristol
94 | SYNTHESISING THE DATA

SYNTHESISING THE
DATA

Synthesis is a stage in the

systematic review process
where extracted data, that is
the findings of individual
studies, are combined and
evaluated.
The general purpose of
extracting and synthesising
data is to show the outcomes
and effects of various
studies, and to identify
issues with methodology
and quality. This means that
Photo by Pawel Czerwinski on
your synthesis might reveal Unsplash
several elements, including:

• overall level of evidence

• the degree of consistency in the findings
• what the positive effects of a drug or treatment are, and
what these effects are based on
• how many studies found a relationship or association
 SYNTHESISING THE DATA | 95

between two components, e.g. the impact of disability-

assistance animals on the psychological health of
workplaces

There are two commonly accepted methods of synthesis in

systematic reviews:

1. Qualitative data synthesis

2. Quantitative data synthesis (i.e. meta-analysis)

The way the data is extracted from your studies, then

synthesised and presented, depends on the type of data being
handled.

Qualitative data synthesis

In a qualitative systematic review, data can be presented in a
number of different ways. A typical procedure in the health
sciences is thematic analysis.
Thematic synthesis has three stages:

1. the coding of text ‘line-by-line’

2. the development of ‘descriptive themes’
3. and the generation of ‘analytical themes’

If you have qualitative information, some of the more

common tools used to summarise data include:
96 | SYNTHESISING THE DATA

• textual descriptions, i.e. written words

• thematic or content analysis

Example qualitative systematic

review

A good example of how to conduct a thematic

analysis in a systematic review is the following
journal article on cancer patients. In it, the
authors go through the process of:

1. identifying and coding information about the

selected studies’ methodologies and findings
on patient care
2. organising these codes into subheadings and
descriptive categories
3. developing these categories into analytical
themes

What Facilitates “Patient Empowerment” in Cancer

Patients During Follow-Up: A Qualitative Systematic
Review of the Literature
 SYNTHESISING THE DATA | 97

Quantitative data synthesis

In a quantitative systematic review, data is presented
statistically. Typically, this is referred to as a meta-analysis.
The usual method is to combine and evaluate data from
multiple studies. This is normally done in order to draw
conclusions about outcomes, effects, shortcomings of studies
and/or applicability of findings.
Remember, the data you synthesise should relate to your
research question and protocol (plan). In the case of
quantitative analysis, the data extracted and synthesised will
relate to whatever method was used to generate the research
question (e.g. PICO method), and whatever quality appraisals
were undertaken in the analysis stage.
If you have quantitative information, some of the more
common tools used to summarise data include:

• grouping of similar data, i.e. presenting the results in

tables
• charts, e.g. pie-charts
• graphical displays, i.e. forest plots

Example of a quantitative
98 | SYNTHESISING THE DATA

systematic review

A quantitative systematic review is a combination of

qualitative and quantitative, usually referred to as a
meta-analysis.

Effectiveness of Acupuncturing at the

Sphenopalatine Ganglion Acupoint Alone for
Treatment of Allergic Rhinitis: A Systematic Review
and Meta-Analysis

About meta-analyses
A systematic review may
sometimes include a meta-
analysis, although it is not a
requirement of a systematic
review. Whereas, a meta-
analysis also includes a
systematic review. Photo by Luca Bravo on Unsplash
A meta-analysis is a
 SYNTHESISING THE DATA | 99

statistical analysis that combines data from previous studies to

calculate an overall result.
One way of accurately representing all the data is in the
form of a forest plot. A forest plot is a way of combining the
results of multiple studies in order to show point estimates
arising from different studies of the same condition or
treatment.
It is comprised of a graphical representation and often also
a table. The graphical display shows the mean value for each
study and often with a confidence interval (the horizontal
bars). Each mean is plotted relative to the vertical line of no
difference.
The following is an example of the graphical representation
of a forest plot.

“File:The effect of zinc acetate lozenges on the duration of

the common cold.svg” by Harri Hemilä is licensed under CC
BY 3.0
100 | SYNTHESISING THE DATA

Watch the following short video where a social health

example is used to explain how to construct a forest plot
graphic.
Forest Plots: Understanding a Meta-Analysis in 5
Minutes or Less (5:38 mins)

One or more interactive elements has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view them online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=1746#oembed-1

Forest Plots – Understanding a Meta-Analysis in 5 Minutes or Less (5:38 min)

by The NCCMT (YouTube)
 SYNTHESISING THE DATA | 101

Test your knowledge

An interactive H5P element has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view it online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=1746#h5p-16
102 | REPORTING THE FINDINGS

REPORTING THE
FINDINGS

While the writing process

for a systematic review is
generally like writing any
other kind of review, there
are several aspects to note.
In writing the systematic
review you should provide Photo by Jay Castor on Unsplash
an answer to the research
question.
Careful documentation of the methodology is
important as it should outline the search process and the
selection process. A reader should understand why sources
were chosen, how they were assessed, and how conclusions
were reached.
The structure of the systematic review will differ from the
traditional (or narrative) literature review as it should reflect
the stages outlined in the protocol. Refer to the 27 item
PRISMA checklist to see what should be addressed in the
protocol.
The value of a systematic review is the critical reflection
and interpretation of the findings.
 REPORTING THE FINDINGS | 103

Reporting the findings of the systematic review will differ

slightly if it is to be presented as part of a thesis, or as a
manuscript for publication.

Examples

The following examples are available from the RMIT

Research Repository.

Dissertation / Thesis

• Ear-acupressure for allergic rhinitis

Articles

• Ear-acupressure for allergic rhinitis: A

systematic review
• Acupressure for respiratory allergic diseases:
A systematic review of randomised controlled
trials
104 | REPORTING THE FINDINGS

Activity

To see how a systematic review is written check out

examples of published papers and/or completed
theses.

1. Find a systematic review by searching a

database and examine how the review has
been written. For example,
search the PubMed database on your topic
and filter results by ‘article type’
selecting ‘systematic reviews.’
2. Find a systematic review paper by searching
with the words ‘systematic review’ in
the RMIT Research Repository. Consider
adding an additional topic word.
3. HDR candidates may like to ask their
supervisor if they can recommend a
completed thesis that includes a systematic
review.

The following image shows how to search the Research

 REPORTING THE FINDINGS | 105

Repository for a thesis with a systematic review if an author’s

name is unknown. In the search box include a topic along
with the words ‘systematic review’ and select ‘Dissertations &
Theses’ from the drop-down menu.

(Copyright
© 2022
RMIT
University
)
106 | EXPLORE FURTHER

EXPLORE FURTHER

Congratulations on
completing this module. We
have explored the benefits of
conducting a systematic
review and looked at the
differences between a
traditional literature review Photo by Erwan Hesry on Unsplash
and a systematic review.
Various aspects of a systematic review were briefly
examined, including; the research question and PICO;
developing a protocol and PRISMA; resources and strategies
for searching the literature; eligibility criteria for screening
results; critical appraisal tools to assess the quality of studies;
synthesizing data; and writing the review.

Further assistance
Individual assistance – For more assistance in conducting a
systematic review contact the library by submitting a Request
Research Assistance form.
Library guide – Additional information is available from
the online library guide Systematic Reviews.
 EXPLORE FURTHER | 107

Cochrane handbook – The Cochrane Handbook for

Systematic Reviews of Interventions details systematic reviews
more thoroughly, including meta-analysis. It is the official
guide and describes in detail the process of preparing and
maintaining Cochrane systematic reviews on the effects of
healthcare interventions. The Handbook includes guidance on
the standard methods applicable to every review (planning a
review, searching and selecting studies, data collection, risk of
bias assessment, statistical analysis, GRADE and interpreting
results), as well as more specialised topics (non-randomized
studies, adverse effects, complex interventions, equity,
economics, patient-reported outcomes, individual patient
data, prospective meta-analysis, and qualitative research).

Learn more
A short video Introducing systematic reviews (14 mins) is
available (Microsoft Stream, login required).
You may also be interested in viewing the following webinar
Systematic Reviews (60 mins) recorded from the Library’s
PhD Up! program (now called Research Plus). The webinar
content complements this online module.

Feedback
Your comments and suggestions on how we can improve this
108 | EXPLORE FURTHER

module will be appreciated. Please complete our feedback

form.

What’s next?
You have completed this module on Conducting a Systematic
Review. You can return to the Research and Writing Hub to
choose another module to complete.
 CHOOSING A REFERENCE MANAGER | 109

CHOOSING A
REFERENCE
MANAGER
Welcome to this online
module choosing a reference
manager. As a researcher,
you will need to use a
reference manager to
organise your references in
your work. The module will Photo by Thought Catalog on
explore the features of three Unsplash
popular reference managers
– Endnote, Zotero and Mendeley – and help you decide which
one is best for your research practices.
110 | CHOOSING A REFERENCE MANAGER

Learning Objectives

• Understand why you might want to use a

reference manager during the course of your
research.
• Learn some of the common features of all
reference managers.
• Understand the features that differentiate
three common reference managers: EndNote,
Zotero, and Mendeley.
• Gain insight into how other researchers at
RMIT have used these tools.

This module should take you about 30 minutes to complete.

Work through each section using the navigation footer (i.e.
previous/next), or use the contents menu to select a particular
section. There are learning activities throughout.
Upon completion, please help us improve this module by
taking a moment to complete the feedback form provided at
the end.
 CHOOSING A REFERENCE MANAGER | 111

You may also be interested in viewing the additional

resources about reference managers at the end of this module.
112 | CHOOSING A REFERENCE MANAGER
 WHAT TO CONSIDER | 113

WHAT TO CONSIDER

Endnote, Zotero and

Mendeley have common
features as well as
differences. Before you
decide what reference
manager to use, think about
what features will be
important to you.
If you try one and decide
you do not like it, it is good Photo by Max van den Oetelaar on
Unsplash
to know that you can
transfer your references to another reference manager – you
might want to try more than one before you decide.

Questions to ask
Use these questions to decide what is most important for you
and your research. The Overview of Features, further
down, provides more detail.
114 | WHAT TO CONSIDER

An interactive H5P element has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view it online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=3593#h5p-47
 WHAT TO CONSIDER | 115

Overview of features
116 | WHAT TO CONSIDER

Features Endnote Zotero Mendeley

Desktop free Free Mendeley

for RMIT Institutional
staff and Edition for
Cost Free
students. RMIT staff and
Endnote students. Free
Online free. limited version.
100GB personal
Unlimited for
300MB free. / 100GB shared
RMIT users.
Additional as an RMIT
2GB for
Storage storage can user. 2GB
EndNote
be personal /
Online (free
purchased. 100MB shared
version).
for free version.

Available on
Windows Yes Yes Yes
and Mac OS

Web based Limited Yes Yes

Sync library Yes, via

across Endnote
Yes Yes
multiple Online
devices account.

Import
references
Yes Yes Yes
from
databases
Extract
citations Yes Yes Yes
from PDFs
 WHAT TO CONSIDER | 117

Features Endnote Zotero Mendeley

Yes, and can

Import save a
citations Endnote webpage
Yes
from web Online only. snapshot as
pages an HTML
file.
Add tags to
Yes Yes Yes
references
Create
private Yes Yes Yes
groups

Create public
No Yes No
groups

Yes, enable in
Sync file Yes, via settings.
Yes, enable
attachments Endnote Optional to sync
in settings.
across devices Online. selected folders
only.
Yes.
Annotate
Yes. Annotations Yes. Annotations
and
Annotations synced synced across
highlight
not synced. across devices.
PDFs
devices.

Full text Yes, not

searching Yes enabled by Yes
across PDFs default.

Transfer
library
Yes Yes Yes
between
applications
118 | WHAT TO CONSIDER

Features Endnote Zotero Mendeley

RMIT
Harvard style Yes Yes Yes
available

Library
Yes Limited Limited
support

Community Yes, Endnote

Yes, Zotero
support Community No
Forums.
network Forums.
Mobile apps
for iOS and iPad only Yes Yes
Android

MS Word, MS Word,
Word OpenOffice, OpenOffice, MS Word,
processor LibreOffice, LibreOffice, LibreOffice,
compatibility Google Docs, Google LaTeX
Apple Pages Docs
Attach figures
or charts to
Cannot
Working references
attach Cannot attach
with figures and insert
figures or figures or charts.
and charts using word
charts.
processor
integration.
 ENDNOTE | 119

ENDNOTE

EndNote is the most commonly used reference manager at

RMIT University. RMIT University pays for an institutional
licence for all staff and students, and one of the main benefits
of using EndNote is the support available from the Library.

Features of EndNote
In addition to the main features common to all reference
managers, EndNote:

• provides unlimited storage for full-text documents and

associated files
• works with a wide range of word processing applications
including MS Word (Windows and Mac), OpenOffice
and Apple Pages. EndNote also works reasonably well
with Google Docs
• has a ‘Find full text’ function as well as the ability to
attach full-text documents
• has good tools for editing existing referencing styles or
creating new ones
• allows for the transfer of a Mendeley or Zotero library
via a RIS, XML or BibTeX file using the import
120 | ENDNOTE

functionality.

EndNote also provides an online version called EndNote

Online. EndNote Online has limited functionality, for
example, you can’t edit styles or use term lists for journal
abbreviations. However, you can use EndNote Online to sync
between devices and share groups, or your Library with others.
Storage capacity for EndNote Online is dependent on your
account type.

Pros and cons of EndNote

Positives Negatives

Library supported Poor online option

Many referencing styles Lose access when leaving RMIT

How to use EndNote 21 in seven minutes: Windows

(7:52 mins)

One or more interactive elements has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view them online here:
 ENDNOTE | 121

https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=3498#oembed-1

How to use EndNote 21 in seven minutes: Windows (7:52 mins) by

EndNote (YouTube)

How to use EndNote 21 in seven minutes: macOS

(7:52 mins)

One or more interactive elements has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view them online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=3498#oembed-2

How to use EndNote 21 in seven minutes: macOS (7:52 mins) by EndNote

(YouTube)

Resources
There are a number of resources for EndNote available. These
include:
122 | ENDNOTE

RMIT University Library guide – EndNote: a beginner’s

guide
RMIT University Library website – EndNote reference
manager
Instructional guides from Research Plus webinars –
EndNote for your thesis
 ZOTERO | 123

ZOTERO

As an open source software, Zotero is widely used and has

extensive support and documentation available online.

Features of Zotero
Zotero has:

• 300mb of free storage (additional storage can be

purchased)
• full integration of web and desktop versions
• excellent citation capture from webpages, including a
preserved snapshot of the webpage as an HTML file
• many library sharing and collaboration options with
various permissions levels, from fully public libraries
(anyone with the link can edit your shared library) to
closed groups (invited people only can view the shared
library).
124 | ZOTERO

Pros and cons of Zotero

Positives Negatives

Limited free cloud

Fully integrated web version
storage

Excellent citation capture and Dependent on third

collaboration options party servers

Zotero is used by many researchers at RMIT University.

Here’s a short video of Dr Stephen Rowley speaking about
aspects of Zotero that he finds useful.

Dr Stephen Rowley talks about Zotero (6:11 mins)

One or more interactive elements has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view them online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=3500#oembed-1

Dr Stephen Rowley talks about Zotero (6:11 mins) by RMIT University

Library is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0
 MENDELEY REFERENCE MANAGER | 125

MENDELEY REFERENCE
MANAGER

Mendeley Reference
Manager, often called
Mendeley for short, is a
freely available reference
manager.1
Mendeley Reference
Manager includes a desktop
version which can be
installed on Windows, iOS
“Mendeley Logo Vertical” by Team
and Linux. For each version
Mendeley is licensed under CC BY 2.0,
via Wikimedia Commons there are online guides and a
support hub available. It is
also available as a web-based application, with synchronization
done automatically when online, so your library is accessible
even when away from your own devices.

1. In 2022, Mendeley Reference Manager for Desktop replaced a prior version

known as Mendeley Desktop. In this module, the current Mendeley Reference
Manager is the focus. More information can be found in our Reference Manager
Library Guide.
 126 | MENDELEY REFERENCE MANAGER

A citation application for Microsoft Word, called Mendeley

Cite, can be used in tandem with Mendeley. It allows you to
add references from your Mendeley library without leaving the
document.2

The new Mendeley Reference Manager (2:24 mins)

One or more interactive elements has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view them online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=3584#oembed-1

The New Mendeley Reference Manager (2:24 mins) by Mendeley (YouTube)

Features of Mendeley Reference

Manager
• Easily search your library and organise references into
collections.

2. Mendeley Cite replaces the prior application known as Mendeley Desktop

Citation Plugin. More information on Citation Plugin can be found on the
Mendeley support site.
 MENDELEY REFERENCE MANAGER | 127

• Use Mendeley Cite with Microsoft Word for seamless

integration of your library with your written work.
• Import references directly from the web using the
Mendeley Web Importer plugin for Chrome and Firefox.
• Add, read, organise and annotate PDFs on both the web
and desktop applications.
• Access 2GB of free storage (upgrades are available for a
fee).
• On a free account, create up to five private groups with
25 members each for collaboration, PDF sharing, and
shared annotations.
• Transfer your library to another reference manager via an
RIS, XML or BibTeX file, using the desktop version.
• Install the software on Windows, iOS and Linux
platforms.
• Use the web version available on Chrome, Firefox,
Microsoft Edge, and Safari.
• RMIT staff and students can access the Mendeley
Institutional Edition (MIE) which has increased storage
and collaboration capacity. More information is available
in our Reference Manager Library guide and on the
Library Reference management tools website.

However, Mendeley Reference Manager has limited

functionality with some word processing applications such as
Google Docs and Apple Pages. You cannot search for new
resources from within the application. And while its group
128 | MENDELEY REFERENCE MANAGER

functionality allows for sharing of PDF documents, you

cannot create open groups or libraries accessible to anyone.

Pros and cons of Mendeley

Reference Manager

Positives Negatives
Free for all, with extra storage for Lose extra storage when you
RMIT staff and students leave RMIT
Citation integration with MS Poor integration with Google
Word with Mendeley Cite Docs and Apple Pages
Annotate and share PDFs within
No public groups
private groups

Mendeley is used by many researchers at RMIT University.

Here’s a short video of Professor James Harland speaking
about aspects of Mendeley that he finds useful.
James Harland on Mendeley (2:16 mins)

One or more interactive elements has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view them online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=3584#oembed-2
 MENDELEY REFERENCE MANAGER | 129

Dr James Harland Mendeley (2:16 mins) by RMIT University Library is

licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0
130 | SUMMING IT ALL UP

SUMMING IT ALL UP

You have seen the differences between three major reference

managers. No particular reference manager is ideal for
everyone, so making a right choice depends on what you need.
Here is a quick quiz to help you decide which is best for you.
There are nine multiple choice questions, based on the content
you have read so far. The quiz will give you immediate results,
and will continue automatically as you answer.

Activity

An interactive H5P element has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view it online here:
 SUMMING IT ALL UP | 131

https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=5128#h5p-65
132 | EXPLORE FURTHER

EXPLORE FURTHER

Congratulations on
completing this module!
We have explored three
different reference managers
and identified the
similarities and differences
between them. We’ve also Photo by Austin Park on Unsplash
heard how academics use
these tools.
We hope the information has helped you decide which
reference manager you’d like to use.

Further assistance
See our Reference Managers Library guide and Reference
management tools website for more information.
For individual assistance, contact the Library by submitting
a Request Research Assistance form.
 EXPLORE FURTHER | 133

Learn more
This video will give you a brief overview of the features of
Endnote, Zotero, and Mendeley. Choosing a Reference
Manager – EndNote, Zotero, Mendeley (17 mins). Please
note: you will need to log into your RMIT account to view
this video.

Feedback
Your comments and suggestions on how we can improve this
module will be appreciated. Please complete our feedback
form.

What’s next?
You have completed this module on Choosing a Reference
Manager. You can return to the Research and Writing Hub to
choose another module.
134 | EXPLORE FURTHER
 DEVELOPING AN EFFECTIVE RESEARCH PROPOSAL | 135

DEVELOPING AN
EFFECTIVE
RESEARCH
PROPOSAL
Welcome to this RMIT
University Library online
module which provides you
with key information,
strategies and resources for
developing an effective
research proposal.
The module is aimed at
graduate researchers (PhD
or Masters by Research) Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on Unsplash
who are seeking to
understand why and how to write their research proposal.
The course materials include information, videos and
learning activities which explore key features of developing
effective research proposals.
We hope you find this module useful and stimulating.
136 | DEVELOPING AN EFFECTIVE RESEARCH PROPOSAL

Learning objectives

On successful completion of the module, you will be

able to:

1. determine the purpose and importance of the

research proposal
2. create effective research questions
3. identify they key components which structure
a research proposal, and
4. familiarise yourself with writing the “what”,
“why” and “how” sections of your proposal.

This module should take you about 30 minutes to complete.

Work through each chapter using the navigation footer
(i.e. previous/next) or use the contents page to select a
particular section.
Please help us improve this module by taking a moment to
complete the feedback form provided at the end.
 WHAT IS A RESEARCH PROPOSAL? | 137

WHAT IS A RESEARCH
PROPOSAL?

Overview
A research proposal is a type of text which maps out a
proposed central research problem or question and a
suggested approach to its investigation.
In many universities, including RMIT, the research
proposal is a formal requirement. It is central to achieving
your first milestone: your Confirmation of Candidature. The
research proposal is useful for both you and the University: it
gives you the opportunity to get valuable feedback about your
intended research aims, objectives and design. It also confirms
that your proposed research is worth doing, which puts you
on track for a successful candidature supported by your School
and the University.
Although there may be specific School or disciplinary
requirements that you need to be aware of, all research
proposals address the following central themes:
138 | WHAT IS A RESEARCH PROPOSAL?

• what you propose to research

• why the topic needs to be researched
• how you plan to research it.

Purpose and audience

Before venturing into writing a research purposal, it is
important to think about the purpose and audience of this
type of text. Spend a moment or two to reflect on what these
might be.

Reflection

What do you think is the purpose of your research

proposal and who is your audience?
 WHAT IS A RESEARCH PROPOSAL? | 139

Purpose
The purpose of your research proposal is:
1. To allow experienced researchers (your supervisors and
their peers) to assess whether

• the research question or problem is viable (that is,

answers or solutions are possible)
• the research is worth doing in terms of its contribution to
the field of study and benefits to stakeholders
• the scope is appropriate to the degree (Masters or PhD)
• you’ve understood the relevant key literature and
identified the gap for your research
• you’ve chosen an appropriate methodological approach.

2. To help you clarify and focus on what you want to do, why
you want to do it, and how you’ll do it. The research proposal
helps you position yourself as a researcher in your field. It will
also allow you to:

• systematically think through your proposed research,

argue for its significance and identify the scope
• show a critical understanding of the scholarly field
140 | WHAT IS A RESEARCH PROPOSAL?

around your proposed research

• show the gap in the literature that your research will
address
• justify your proposed research design
• identify all tasks that need to be done through a realistic
timetable
• anticipate potential problems
• hone organisational skills that you will need for your
research
• become familiar with relevant search engines and
databases
• develop skills in research writing.

Audience
The main audience for
your research proposal is
your reviewers. Universities
usually assign a panel of
reviewers to which you need
to submit your research
proposal. Often this is
within the first year of study
for PhD candidates, and
Photo by Ahmed Galal on Unsplash
within the first six months
for Masters by Research
candidates.
 WHAT IS A RESEARCH PROPOSAL? | 141

Your reviewers may have a strong disciplinary

understanding of the area of your proposed research, but
depending on your specialisation, they may not. It is therefore
important to create a clear context, rationale and framework
for your proposed research. Limit jargon and specialist
terminology so that non-specialists can comprehend it. You
need to convince the reviewers that your proposed research
is worth doing and that you will be able to effectively
‘interrogate’ your research questions or address the research
problems through your chosen research design.
Your review panel will expect you to demonstrate:

• a clearly defined and feasible research

project
• a clearly explained rationale for your
research
• evidence that your research will make an
original contribution through a critical
review of the literature
• written skills appropriate to graduate
research study.
142 | DEVELOPING A RESEARCH QUESTION

DEVELOPING A
RESEARCH QUESTION

Your research questions are perhaps the most important part

of your study. They guide your choice of methodology and
underpin each chapter in your thesis or dissertation. It’s worth
investing time to develop robust questions that will guide your
research.

Identifying an effective
research question
While the criteria for an effective research question vary
considerably, generally, a research question should be:

• focused – its scope should be adequately

narrow to allow you to carry out your
research within the available timeframe
and using available resources.
 DEVELOPING A RESEARCH QUESTION | 143

• analytical (as opposed to descriptive)

– your research question needs to display
enough complexity so that the answers to
it cannot be easily obtained. For example,
it cannot be answered through a simple
internet search or fact check. An effective
research question would require answers
which are subject to interpretation,
analysis and synthesis.
• effectively expressed – the research
question needs to use clear, specific and
concise language so that it is accessbile to
the reader.
144 | DEVELOPING A RESEARCH QUESTION

Activity

An interactive H5P element has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view it online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=233#h5p-3

Strategies for developing

effective research questions
To develop effective research questions, you may like to try one
of the following two key strategies:
 DEVELOPING A RESEARCH QUESTION | 145

I) Convert your topic

into one or more research
questions by:

1. breaking down your

topic into its different
features
2. choosing a feature that
interests you to narrow
down your topic scope
3. brainstorming and
reading literature
around this feature to
Photo by Tingey Injury Law Firm on
focus it further
Unsplash
4. convert this focused
feature into question form.

II) Formulate a problem statement and then convert it into

question form. Use the following template as a guide to
writing your problem statement:

1. I am examining …
2. Because …
3. It matters because…

The following presentation shows how to use the above

discussed strategies for developing robust research questions.
146 | DEVELOPING A RESEARCH QUESTION

Work through each section of the webinar. Feel free to pause

the video at suitable points and complete the included
activities.
Presentation on developing research questions (12:54
min)

One or more interactive elements has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view them online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=233#oembed-1

Developing your research questions (12:54 min) by RMIT University

(YouTube)

Further resources
For more information on research questions, consult the
following resources:

• How Research Questions Can Make or Break Your

Project (8:36 min) by Professor James
Arvanitakis (YouTube)
• Research Questions Hypothesis and Variables:
Connecting the Dots (7:55 min) by Associate Professor
 DEVELOPING A RESEARCH QUESTION | 147

Ron Wallace (YouTube)

148 | STRUCTURING KEY SECTIONS

STRUCTURING KEY
SECTIONS

All research proposals need to cover the following three main

areas:

• what you propose to research

• why the topic needs to be researched
• how you plan to research it.

How these three areas translate into a structure or into sections

in a research proposal varies significantly.
There isn’t usually a single set structure for all research
proposals, so you’ll need to check your School guidelines.
There is also substantial disparity in the length required, with
some Schools asking for 2 – 5 pages, some 8 – 10 pages, and
others considerably longer.
The specific sections required in research proposals can also
vary between Schools.
 STRUCTURING KEY SECTIONS | 149

Test your knowledge

An interactive H5P element has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view it online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=880#h5p-1

To help you work out how you went with the above activity,
the table below lists sections that are always included and
those that are often included in a research proposal.
Always included Often included

• Title • Abstract
• Background to the study • Table of Contents
• Literature review • Introduction
• Research questions, problems and/or hypotheses • Definitions
• Rationale for the research • Statement of the problem
• Scope of the research • Research aims and/or objectives
• Research methodology • Epistemological stance and/or theoretical framework
• Milestones or timeline • Particular needs (e.g. resources)
• Research significance/contributions • Expected preliminary outcomes
• Reference list • Ethics approval/evidence of application
 STRUCTURING KEY SECTIONS | 151

For some general RMIT discipline-based guidelines, consult

RMIT’s discipline based guidelines to writing research
proposals (DOCX, 1 page).
152 | WRITING YOUR RESEARCH PROPOSAL

WRITING YOUR
RESEARCH PROPOSAL

Writing the ‘what’ of your

proposed research
The purpose of this
part of your research
proposal is to generally
describe what your
research is about.
The ‘what’ part
establishes how your Photo by Kaitlyn Baker on Unsplash

research is situated
within your discipline or field. It provides fundamental
information, such as:

• the context for the research, which can be:

◦ the key ideas, theories and concepts
◦ the major issues and debates
◦ the key players and seminal texts or key artists, and
◦ the questions that have been asked around this
topic.
 WRITING YOUR RESEARCH PROPOSAL | 153

• your research questions, problems or hypotheses

• the scope of the proposed research (i.e. what you will
and what you won’t do).

The ‘what’ part of your research proposal may also include:

• the aims and/or objectives of your research

• an introduction to the theoretical framework within
which your research sits
• a statement of the problem grounded in the context or
theoretical framework and a resulting argument for your
research to be conducted
• the timeliness of your proposed research (i.e. why should
it be done right now?)
• definitions if needed.

Writing the ‘why’ of your

proposed research
A key requirement of your research proposal is to justify that
your research is worth doing. Your review panel will be looking
for a succinct and convincing argument about what sets your
proposed research apart from others, and why not doing this
research leaves an important problem unaddressed.
Ways of justifying your research include showing that your
154 | WRITING YOUR RESEARCH PROPOSAL

project will make a significant and substantial contribution in

terms of:

1. how it fits within an existing body of scholarship/

literature/practice
2. how it builds on and adds to this body of knowledge
3. what the value of your research is and for whom (e.g. a
particular community, industry, etc.).

Reflection

Think about how you might go about justifying your

research.

• What key literature is your proposed research

situated within?
• How will your research build on this?
• Who will benefit from your research and
how?

Critical engagement with the literature is crucial in order to

 WRITING YOUR RESEARCH PROPOSAL | 155

justify your research. You must demonstrate that you

understand:

• the main concepts and themes, underlying principles,

and established theories related to your research
• areas of controversy and contention
• the key scholars and seminal research related to your
topic.

In some disciplines, discussion of the above points is located

in the ‘what’ rather than the ‘why’ section of your research
proposal. In fact, you will almost certainly cover some of these
points when you’re describing and contextualising your
research. Often this is done in a general way in the ‘what’
section and in a more critical, in-depth way in the ‘why’
section. A rule of thumb is to ask yourself whether this
information is contextualising or justifying your research.

Writing the ‘how’ of your

proposed research
This part of your research proposal involves describing how
you plan to find answers to your research questions or resolve
the research problems. In other words, it entails describing the
design of your research.
A difficulty you may have in this section is in providing the
156 | WRITING YOUR RESEARCH PROPOSAL

right amount of information – not too little nor too much.

You need to give as much information as is needed to argue to
the review panel that the research is do-able and to justify the
components of your research design.

Reflection

Which of these questions will you need to answer in

your research design (i.e. the ‘how’ section of your
research proposal)?

• What is your chosen research design and

rationale?
• What theories, concepts or models inform
your research design?
• What are the step-by-step methods or
process used?
• What constitutes your creative practice?
• How will you engage with your creative
practice (e.g. reflection, testing, theorising)?
 WRITING YOUR RESEARCH PROPOSAL | 157

• What type of data will be collected?

• What are your sources of data?
• Where and how will the data be collected?
• How will the data be analysed?
• What are the strengths and limitations of
your methodology?
• What resources are required (equipment,
other)?
• How reliable and valid are your methods?
• What ethical issues relate to your research
methods, and how will you address these?
• Can you complete your research within the
official timeframe (demonstrated on a Gantt
chart)?

Learn More
To learn more about writing a research proposal, watch this
webinar from the Library.
RMIT webinar on writing a research proposal (23:59)

One or more interactive elements has been

158 | WRITING YOUR RESEARCH PROPOSAL

excluded from this version of the text. You

can view them online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=239#oembed-1

Writing a research proposal (23:59 min) by RMIT University LIbrary

(YouTube).

Further resources
The Manchester Academic Phrase Bank provides a list of
‘starter phrases’ which can be very helpful for writing different
sections of your research proposal. The Bank’s Introducing
Work and Referring to Sources sections may be particularly
useful for the ‘what’ and ‘why’ parts of the proposal while
Describing Sources would be useful for the ‘how’ part.

For some RMIT discipline-based guidelines for research

proposals illustrating the ‘what’, ‘why’, and ‘how sections,
consult: Discipline- based guidelines (DOCX, 1 page).
 EXPLORE FURTHER | 159

EXPLORE FURTHER

Congratulations on
completing this module. We
have explored the nature,
purpose, and key
component structures of
research proposals. We have
also discussed some Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash
strategies for writing
effective research questions as well as the ‘what’, ‘why’ and
‘how’ sections of a proposal.

Further assistance
For more assistance in planning or writing your
research proposal, consult the following resources:

• How Research Questions Can Make or Break Your

Project (8:36 min) by Professor James Arvanitakis
(YouTube)
• Research Questions Hypothesis and Variables:
Connecting the Dots (7:55 min) by Associate Professor
Ron Wallace (YouTube)
160 | EXPLORE FURTHER

• The Manchester Academic Phrase Bank

You can also contact the Library by submitting a

research request form.

Feedback
Your comments and suggestions on how we can improve this
module will be appreciated. Please complete our feedback
form.

What’s next?
You have completed this module on the Research Proposal.
To choose another module to complete, you can return to the
Research and Writing Hub.
 WRITING YOUR LITERATURE REVIEW | 161

WRITING YOUR
LITERATURE
REVIEW
Welcome to this RMIT
University Library online
module which provides you
with key information,
strategies and resources for
writing a literature review.
The module is aimed at Photo by Susan Q. Yin on Unsplash
graduate researchers (PhD
or Masters by Research) who are seeking to understand the
purpose of a literature review and how to write one.
The course materials include information, videos and
learning activities which explore key features of writing a
literature review.
We hope you find this module useful and stimulating.
162 | WRITING YOUR LITERATURE REVIEW

Learning objectives

On successful completion of the module, you will be

able to:

1. Understand the purpose of a literature review.

2. Understand how to organise your ideas as
you review literature.
3. Understand how to write your literature
review, including how to structure and style
your literature review.

This module should take you about 30 minutes to complete.

Work through each chapter using the navigation footer
(i.e. previous/next) or use the contents page to select a
particular section.
Please help us improve this module by taking a moment to
complete the feedback form provided at the end.
 WHAT IS A LITERATURE REVIEW? | 163

WHAT IS A LITERATURE
REVIEW?

A literature review is a
critical analysis of the
literature related to your
research topic. It evaluates
and critiques the literature
to establish a theoretical
framework for your research
topic and/or identify a gap
in the existing research that
your research will address.
A literature review is not
a summary of the literature.
You need to engage deeply
Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash
and critically with the
literature. Your literature
review should show your understanding of the literature
related to your research topic and lead to presenting a rationale
for your research.
164 | WHAT IS A LITERATURE REVIEW?

A literature review focuses on:

• the context of the topic

• key concepts, ideas, theories and
methodologies
• key researchers, texts and seminal works
• major issues and debates
• identifying conflicting evidence
• the main questions that have been asked
around the topic
• the organisation of knowledge on the
topic
• definitions, particularly those that are
contested
• showing how your research will advance
scholarly knowledge (generally referred to
as identifying the ‘gap’).

This module will guide you through the functions of a

literature review; the typical process of conducting a literature
review (including searching for literature and taking notes);
structuring your literature review within your thesis and
organising its internal ideas; and styling the language of your
literature review.
 WHAT IS A LITERATURE REVIEW? | 165

The purposes of a literature

review
A literature review serves two main purposes:

1) To show awareness of the present state of

knowledge in a particular field, including:

• seminal authors
• the main empirical research
• theoretical positions
• controversies
• breakthroughs as well as links to other
related areas of knowledge.

2) To provide a foundation for the author’s

research. To do that, the literature review needs
to:

• help the researcher define a hypothesis or

a research question, and how answering
the question will contribute to the body of
knowledge;
• provide a rationale for investigating the
problem and the selected methodology;
166 | WHAT IS A LITERATURE REVIEW?

• provide a particular theoretical lens,

support the argument, or identify gaps.

Activity

Before you engage further with this module, try the

quiz below to see how much you already know
about literature reviews.

An interactive H5P element has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view it online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=2237#h5p-21
WHAT IS A LITERATURE REVIEW? | 167
168 | THE PROCESS OF WRITING A LITERATURE REVIEW

THE PROCESS OF
WRITING A LITERATURE
REVIEW

Writing a literature review is

a complex and non-linear
process. It usually involves
reiterations of all or any of
the following steps:

1. Conducting a Library Photo by Darwin Vegher on Unsplash

search for sources
2. Taking notes while critically reading and analysing the
literature
3. Structuring the literature review
4. Styling the language of the literature review.

Conducting a Library search

for sources
One of the first and important steps in carrying out a literature
 THE PROCESS OF WRITING A LITERATURE REVIEW | 169

review is to conduct an effective Library search which will help

you identify the most relevant sources for your research topic.
If you need some assistance with searching the literature
strategically, you might want to work through the Strategies
and Resources for Searching the Literature module in this
collection. Amongst other things, this module will help you to
effectively:

• form key words or descriptors for your topic

• create a search query
• find different and relevant types of resources
• use more advanced searching techniques.

Taking notes
Taking effective notes is another key part of the process of
writing up your literature review.

There is a variety of ways that one can use to take notes. These
include:

• highlighting and writing notes in margins

• drawing a diagram or a mind map
• using the Cornell note-taking system.

In this module, we will focus on using an annotated

bibliography as a note-taking technique.
170 | THE PROCESS OF WRITING A LITERATURE REVIEW

Using an annotated
bibliography to take notes
An annotated bibliography can be a useful way of taking notes
as you read the literature and think about what you are
reading. It allows you to collect both a summary of the key
points from different readings as well as a critical assessment of
the literature. It also allows you to provide comments about
how a text relates both to your own research and to other
literature.

An annotated bibliography has two main

sections:

1. A reference (bibliographic information or

citation) in your chosen citation style.
2. An annotation (description and comments
on the source). The annotation usually
provides:

◦ a summary of the key points or

arguments the source makes
◦ a reflection on how the source
contributes to your field of
 THE PROCESS OF WRITING A LITERATURE REVIEW | 171

knowledge and how it might be

useful in your own research
◦ a critical analysis or evaluation of
the ideas presented.

What to include in a summary?

When writing an annotated bibliography, start with a
summary or description for each source. As you read, take
notes in your own words of the aim of the research, the
methodologies that have been used, the main arguments and
overall findings, and the scope and limitations of the study.
This will form the basis of your summary which will be in
the form of a coherent 50–100-word paragraph or just two or
three sentences.

How to reflect on the relevance

of a source to your own
research?
Writing a reflection for your annotated bibliography includes
writing a few sentences explaining in what ways the source is
172 | THE PROCESS OF WRITING A LITERATURE REVIEW

useful for, or relates to, the overall theme of your research. This
section of the annotation will be particularly helpful when
you come to building an argument for your research in your
literature review.

Ask yourself:

• What does this source contribute to the

ideas I am developing in my research or to
the argument/s I am making?

It is worth mentioning that while your reflection states your

personal ideas and evaluations, it should still be objective and
unemotional.

What to include in a critical

analysis?
In providing a critical analysis, you need to focus on the value
of the material and sources you have read.
 THE PROCESS OF WRITING A LITERATURE REVIEW | 173

Ask yourself:

• What are the strengths and limitations of

the source in terms of aim, methodology,
and findings?
• Are the findings sound, logical and well
researched?
• Is the source original, important and of a
high standard?
• How does this source add to the research
in the field?
• Where is its place — and relationship — in
the wider field of research and scholarly
discussions?
174 | THE PROCESS OF WRITING A LITERATURE REVIEW

Activity

An interactive H5P element has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view it online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=4830#h5p-58
 STRUCTURING YOUR LITERATURE REVIEW | 175

STRUCTURING YOUR
LITERATURE REVIEW

In this section, you will

learn about structuring your
literature review. You will
find information on where
to include the literature
review in the overall
structure of your thesis as Photo by Fausto García-Menéndez on
well as how to structure Unsplash
your ideas and arguments
within the literature review itself.

Where to place your

literature review in your
thesis?
While you are likely to refer to the literature throughout the
thesis (e.g. when providing a rationale for the study, justifying
your methodology, or linking your discussion back to the
176 | STRUCTURING YOUR LITERATURE REVIEW

literature), remember that the literature review performs a

specific function, which we saw in the section on the purposes
of the literature review, and therefore usually appears as a
unified and substantial section or chapter.
Accordingly, where you locate your literature review within
your thesis depends on the structure of your thesis. Your thesis
might follow one of the following three typical structures:

• Traditional
• Traditional complex
• Thematic based

Traditional thesis structure

A traditional thesis reports on a single
study.
Usually, in a traditional thesis, the
literature review is a standalone
chapter:

• Introduction
• Literature review
• Methods
• Results and analysis
• Discussion and conclusions
 STRUCTURING YOUR LITERATURE REVIEW | 177

Traditional complex thesis

structure
A traditional complex thesis
reports on more than one
study. Within this structure,
there is usually an overall
literature review, and then a
smaller literature review
associated with each study.

• Introduction
• Main literature
review
• General methods
• Study one
introduction
◦ Study one
literature
review
◦ Methods
◦ Results and
analysis
◦ Discussion and
conclusions
• Study two introduction
◦ Study two literature review
178 | STRUCTURING YOUR LITERATURE REVIEW

◦ Methods
◦ Results and analysis
◦ Discussion and conclusions
• General discussion and conclusion

Thematic based thesis structure

A thematic based thesis has
its content organised
according to themes. Within
this structure, there is
usually a literature review
for each themed chapter.

• Introduction
• Theme 1 – includes a
literature review
related to the theme
• Theme 2 – includes a
literature review related to the theme
• Theme 3 – includes a literature review related to the
theme
• Discussion and conclusion

To summarise, depending on the overall structure you choose

for your thesis, the section you call your literature review may
form:
 STRUCTURING YOUR LITERATURE REVIEW | 179

• a discrete chapter (e.g. traditional thesis)

• different sections distributed among other thematically-
based chapters (e.g. topic-based thesis)
• a combination of the above (e.g. traditional complex
thesis)

Reflection

What overall structure do you think your thesis will

take?

Where will your literature review appear as a result

of this overall structure?

The internal structure of the

literature review
An effective literature review usually observes the following
structure:

• Introduction
180 | STRUCTURING YOUR LITERATURE REVIEW

◦ Introduce the problem and the context

◦ Summarise key trends, themes, areas of controversy
and the gap(s) in the literature
◦ Outline the organisation of the body and indicate
the scope of the literature review.
• Body
◦ Highlight the development of major concepts/
themese and influential studies.
◦ Focus on areas of agreement, modification of
design, tensions and inadequacies as you gradually
narrow the focus to studies closest to your own
◦ Identify the GAP where your research fits. (Note
that identifying a gap is critical in a literature
review as it justifies or provides an argument for the
need for your research).
◦ Sum up the major themes that you have reviewed
and link to your research
• Conclusion
◦ Summarise major contributions
◦ Point out gaps or issues to be investigated
◦ Relate the literature review to your research
question or problem
 ORGANISING IDEAS IN THE BODY OF YOUR LITERATURE
REVIEW | 181

ORGANISING IDEAS IN
THE BODY OF YOUR
LITERATURE REVIEW

As discussed in the
previous section, the body
of your literature review
needs to provide an account
of the major themes,
arguments and debates
found in the literature and
to articulate how these relate
to each other and to your
own research.
Since this usually involves
reading through and taking
notes on a large amount of
Photo by Hannah Olinger on
sources, you will need a Unsplash
strategy that can help you
organise the different ideas you have drawn from the literature.
One such important organisational strategy is the use of
matrices.
182 | ORGANISING IDEAS IN THE BODY OF YOUR LITERATURE
REVIEW

Using matrices to organise

the literature
Matrices are particularly useful for capturing key information
from the texts that you have read and thefore providing an
overview of this information.
They can help with identifying patterns such as:

• which texts deal with which key identified

themes
• a text’s main points and how these fit
under key identified themes
• a text’s main points and how they can be
used / incorporated in your writing
• a text’s main points and whether they
support or refute a particular argument.

Below are examples of matrices which capture information

in the literature according to each of the above four
organisational patterns.
 ORGANISING IDEAS IN THE BODY OF YOUR LITERATURE
REVIEW | 183

Identifying texts dealing with key

identified themes

Topic: Prenatal influences on the child

Concepts Harmful
Maternal age
> substances Domestic Prenatal
and physical
and violence healthcare
characteristics
Texts diseases

McDonald
Yes Yes
(2011)

Smith
Yes Yes
(2009)

Langley
Yes
(2011)

Seddon
Yes
(2012)

Anderson
Yes Yes
(2010)

Etc.
184 | ORGANISING IDEAS IN THE BODY OF YOUR LITERATURE
REVIEW

Identifying a text’s main points in

relation to key identified themes
 ORGANISING IDEAS IN THE BODY OF YOUR LITERATURE
REVIEW | 185

Topic: Prenatal influences on the child

Concepts Harmful
> substances Environmental Prenatal
Etc.
and dangers health care
Texts diseases

Tobacco =
retarded
foetal
McDonald
growth &
(2011)
increased
infant
mortality

Impact
Smith involves
(2009) interaction of
many factors

Tobacco:
Generally
agrees
with
Challenges in
Jones but
Langley identifying
disputes
(2011) exposure to
causal
toxins
influence
– too
many
variables

Alcohol:
Effects of
Seddon
foetal
(2012)
alcohol
syndrome
186 | ORGANISING IDEAS IN THE BODY OF YOUR LITERATURE
REVIEW

Topic: Prenatal influences on the child

Concepts Harmful
> substances Environmental Prenatal
Etc.
and dangers health care
Texts diseases

Frequency of
Useful table of prenatal
Anderson toxicants and examinations
(2010) associated – benefits
foetal impact and
problems

Etc.
 ORGANISING IDEAS IN THE BODY OF YOUR LITERATURE
REVIEW | 187

Identifying a text’s main points in

relation to their incorporation in
your writing

Topic: Issues in measurement of teaching quality

Comments / use in
Texts Main points
my writing

Learning
performance =
But what does
index measuring
Keogh (2011) ‘quality’ of teaching
result of learning
mean?
and quality of
teaching

Contrast 2nd
Identifies several criterion with
Brown (2009) criteria of quality of Keogh’s ideas;
teaching differences are
contentious

Morgan (2011) Etc. Etc.

188 | ORGANISING IDEAS IN THE BODY OF YOUR LITERATURE
REVIEW

Identifying a text’s main points in

relation to supporting or refuting
an argument

Topic: Does meditation improve the immune system?

Texts Support Refute

Single case report

O’Dwyer & Jones Healing was more
(2010) rapid when subjects
meditated

Two-group design
McKenzie (2011) No difference
observed

Two-group design
Meditation group
Peters et al. (2009) significantly
reduced infection
rates

Etc.
 ORGANISING IDEAS IN THE BODY OF YOUR LITERATURE
REVIEW | 189

Reflection

Consider the different matricies presented above.

Which of these ways of organising your ideas might
be useful for you at the moment? (Keep in mind that
different approaches might be more useful for you
at different stages of reviewing the literature.)

If you would like to further explore the use of

matrices as an organisational tool, take a few
minutes to choose one of the above matrix types
and begin organising the themes, ideas or
arguments from the literature you are reading
according to it.
190 | STYLING YOUR WRITING IN A LITERATURE REVIEW

STYLING YOUR
WRITING IN A
LITERATURE REVIEW

In this section, you will

learn about styling the
language of your literature
review in order to develop a
researcher voice which
expresses authority and a
critical stance.
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Developing a researcher
voice
When you write your literature review, you are synthesising
and expressing your understanding of existing research,
including how much you accept, question or reject the claims
your sources make. The writing therefore needs to show the
position you are taking towards the sources you are citing in
your literature review.
 STYLING YOUR WRITING IN A LITERATURE REVIEW | 191

Writing with authority

Writing with authority is important in all academic writing
because you are trying to persuade your reader to accept your
argument/s. In a literature review, you are wanting to show
confidence in your stance on the existing research as well as in
the argument you are developing regarding the gap you have
identified in the literature and the need for your research to fill
this gap.
In short, your writing needs to:

• Be very clear about the message you want

to convey
• Convince others that you are ‘right’ or that
your reasoning is sound and that your
ideas ‘make sense’
• Predict how your audience will receive
your message or which parts of your
claims may be contested.
192 | STYLING YOUR WRITING IN A LITERATURE REVIEW

Activity

An interactive H5P element has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view it online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=4834#h5p-59

To convey authority, your writing will need to make claims

about the literature you are reviewing and the key arguments
and ideas related to your area of your research. A claim is
different to a regular sentence. A claim in academic writing will
provoke, analyse or interpret rather than merely describe or
present facts. Claims can (and should be) supported or refuted
by logic and/or evidence, data and argument. Claims will often
appear in topic sentences, thesis statements, and introductory
and concluding sentences.
 STYLING YOUR WRITING IN A LITERATURE REVIEW | 193

Activity

An interactive H5P element has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view it online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=4834#h5p-62

Expressing a critical stance

A literature review is CRITICAL in stance, not purely
descriptive. Your choice of words will:

• Reveal to the reader your attitude towards

the research you are citing
• Indicate whether or not you consider their
194 | STYLING YOUR WRITING IN A LITERATURE REVIEW

claims to be substantiated
• Position your work in relation to the
literature
• Develop an ‘authoritative’ or a ‘researcher’
voice.

Reporting Verbs

One way of signalling your critical stance on a source is

through the use of attributive or reporting verbs. Reporting
verbs refer to, or report on, a particular piece or body of
literature. Their effective use helps in not only signalling the
relevance of the sources to your writing but also strengthening
your argument and indicating your stance towards a piece or
body of literature.
The table below lists some common attributive/reporting
verbs and indicates the stance they usually convey. This can
be a neutral stance, a distancing or disagreeing stance, or a
stance that implies agreement with the ideas or findings from a
source.
 STYLING YOUR WRITING IN A LITERATURE REVIEW | 195

Verbs that typically express a neutral, distancing or

agreement critical stance

Neutral Distancing Agreement

Suggest Allege Argue

Indicate Declare Establishe

Describe Speculate Affirm

Observe Contend Confirm

Comment Claim Show*

Maintain Assert Convince

Report Postulate Demonstrate

Show* Emphasise

*Note that the verb ‘show’ can indicate either a neutral or agreement stance,
depending on the context in which it is used in a sentence.
196 | STYLING YOUR WRITING IN A LITERATURE REVIEW

Activity

An interactive H5P element has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view it online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=4834#h5p-61

Using tense in reporting verbs

Indicating your critical stance can be achieved through not

only your choice of reporting verb (as suggested above) but
also the tense you use on that verb. This is because the tense
used in reporting verbs signals more than simply when
something happened: It can show if you think the ideas of the
reported research are current or still relevant to today.
Here are some general patterns of tense use in reporting
verbs. However, remember, reporting verb tense is complex
and can vary, so check the literature in your field for guidance.
 STYLING YOUR WRITING IN A LITERATURE REVIEW | 197

Also remember that the patterns of tense use described here

apply only to reporting verbs and not to all verbs that may be
found in your literature review.

Examples

An interactive H5P element has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view it online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=4834#h5p-25
198 | EXPLORE FURTHER

EXPLORE FURTHER

Congratulations on
completing this module. We
have explored the nature and
functions of a literature
review; the process of
conducting it, including
taking notes using
annotated bibliographies; Photo by Austin Park on Unsplash
different options for placing
your literature review within your thesis; how to structure
your literature review, including using matrices to organise
ideas within its body; and how to style your literature review
through language expressing authority in argument and a
critical stance on the literature.

Further assistance
Individual assistance – For more assistance with writing
your literature review contact the Library by submitting a
Request Research Assistance form.
Literature reviews is a complementary Libguide to this
online module.
 EXPLORE FURTHER | 199

The module Strategies and Resources for Searching the

Literature explores key resources to use when literature
searching and the features of developing an effective search
strategy.
Further information and resources on writing your
literature review can be found in the Learning Lab. You may
also be interested in exploring some more learning activities
related to writing with authority in the Learning Lab.

Learn more
You may also be interested in viewing the following two
webinars recorded from the Library’s PhD Up program (now
called Research Plus).

1. Literature reviews: Structure(60 mins)

This workshop discusses the nature and purposes of
literature reviews and will help you develop the necessary
strategies for structuring this important section of your
research. It includes hands-on activities, excerpts of
sample literature reviews, and strategies for ensuring
effective literature review structures.
2. Literature reviews: Style (60 mins)
This workshop will introduce you to key writing style
features of literature reviews and will help you develop
the necessary strategies for forging your academic
identity through your writing style. It includes hands-on
200 | EXPLORE FURTHER

activities, excerpts of sample literature reviews, and

strategies for establishing your own critical voice.

Feedback
Your comments and suggestions on how we can improve this
module will be appreciated. Please complete our feedback
form.

What’s next?
You have completed this module on Writing the Literature
Review? You can return to the Research and Writing Hub to
choose another module to complete.
 BECOMING A RESEARCH WRITER | 201

BECOMING A
RESEARCH WRITER
Welcome to this RMIT
University Library module
which provides you with
guidance and strategies to
help you in your journey
towards becoming a
research writer.
Photo by Danist Soh on Unsplash
The module is aimed at
graduate researchers (PhD
or Masters by Research) who are writing a thesis or
dissertation and who may be interested in writing for
publication or for a general audience.
We hope you find this module useful and stimulating!
Enjoy!
202 | BECOMING A RESEARCH WRITER

Learning objectives

On successful completion of the module, you will be

able to:

• Formulate a research question

• Understand the importance of premises and
claims
• Understand how arguments and evidence
work together
• Position yourself in your research
• Identify an effective thesis statement

This module should take you about 30 minutes to complete.

Work through each chapter using the navigation footer
(i.e. previous/next) or use the contents page to select a
particular section.
Please help us improve this module by taking a moment to
complete the feedback form provided at the end.
 WHAT IS RESEARCH WRITING? | 203

WHAT IS RESEARCH
WRITING?

The prominent socio-linguist and educator, Ken Hyland (as

cited in Epting, 2018) stated that in academia, “we are what
we write” (p. 561). As new researchers preparing to join the
research community we learn that writing both communicates
particular content and embodies the “routines of [our] social
communities” (Hyland as cited in Epting, 2018, p. 561). This
means that writing for research is an act of ‘becoming’ a
researcher and a crucial step in take an esteemed place in a
research community.

It is important that as
an aspiring research
writer, you too engage in
the norms and
conventions that define
research in your field.
Cartoon by Studio tdes on
thedailyenglishshow This includes but is not
limited to writing and
publishing and involves any other form of
communicating and disseminating your work.
204 | WHAT IS RESEARCH WRITING?

As Kamler & Thomson (2006) state in a well-known

book titled, Helping Doctorial Students Write:
Pedagogies for Supervision:

“We see research writing as an

institutionally-constrained social practice.
It is about meaning making and learning
to produce knowledge in particular
disciplines and discourse communities”
(p. 5) .

In joining your own research community and

establishing yourself as a researcher within that field,
you too will be following the cultural norms and
behaviours that are well-established in that field.
 FORMULATING RESEARCH QUESTIONS | 205

FORMULATING
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
206 | FORMULATING RESEARCH QUESTIONS
 FORMULATING RESEARCH QUESTIONS | 207

The role of
researchers in any field
of study, is to produce
new knowledge either in
areas where there is a
lack of knowledge or by
bringing a new
interpretation to bear on
established
understandings in a
particular field. In order
to do this, a researcher
(or a team of
Photo by Tingey Injury Law Firm on
researchers) will pose a Unsplash
research question.
Beginning with a research question is important
because it focuses your work and helps keep a
researcher on track. A research question is just that;
a question that exists in relation to a gap in what we
know or understand of a particular topic. Research
questions can have different forms, but the function is
the same.
208 | FORMULATING RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Examples

Consider these common research question forms:

• Does vitamin D enhance immune system

function? (does X impact on Y?)

• Why do so few women seek a career in the

construction industry? What are the main
barriers to career advancement? (reason plus
explanation)

• Can nanotechnology replace traditional

methods of prototyping in industry? (can X
influence Y to benefit z)

• How can AI improve interventions during

disaster management efforts especially during
a bushfire? (can A enhance B, especially C)

Before formulating a research question to guide your work,

you should understand how premises and claims shape the
 FORMULATING RESEARCH QUESTIONS | 209

questions we ask. This is because good research questions are

informed by sound premises and claims.
Here is Professor James Arvanitakis speaking about the
importance of formulating an effective research question.
How research questions can make or break your
research project (8:36 mins)

One or more interactive elements has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view them online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=2499#oembed-1

How research questions can make or break your research project (8:36 mins)
by Graduate Research School Western Sydney University (YouTube)
210 | WHAT IS A PREMISE?

WHAT IS A PREMISE?

In the previous section we

saw that research has to be
based in researchable
questions, and that these
can take many forms. In this
chapter, we consider how
research questions and the Photo by David Clode on Unsplash
arguments or ‘theses’ they
give rise to are based in premises.
In academic research it is useful to think of a premise as a
‘position’ or belief that leads to a particular conclusion.
 WHAT IS A PREMISE? | 211

Example

“Marriage and the nuclear family is the

backbone of a civilised society.”

This idea may be popular or even fashionable in

society at any given time, and it is a premise that
many people ascribe to (as evidenced by the number
of marriages and families). However, the belief that
it is the best way or only way to organise society
has been challenged time and again (most recently
in the movement for equal marriage rights). It is also
a premise, which when scrutinised (i.e. through the
lense of divorce rates increasing across the latter half
of the 20th century) often leads observers to a very
different conclusion.

There are many examples of ‘premises’ such as the one given

in the statement above, which when tested or analysed closely,
may or may not stand up to their underlying beliefs.
212 | WHAT IS A PREMISE?

What’s so important about a

premise?
According to the San Jose State University Writing Center,
“the most important part of any premise is that your audience
will accept it as true. If your audience rejects even one of your
premises, they will likely also reject your conclusion, and your
entire argument will fall apart.”

For instance, if your audience accepts climate

change and the premise that the world is
experiencing the effects of man-made climactic
change, the following statement will be easier to
accept:

Since the beginning of the industrial

revolution, the earth has experienced a
warming of 1 degree every 20 years.

However, if your audience does not accept the

premise (perhaps they are executives from the
fossil fuel sector) you will need to work harder to
get your conclusions accepted.

Premises are fundamental to understanding how arguments

 WHAT IS A PREMISE? | 213

work, because arguments and the ‘claims’ they give rise to are
always predicated in one or more premises. The next section
considers what makes a good claim.

Check your understanding

An interactive H5P element has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view it online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=2501#h5p-64
214 | WHAT IS A CLAIM?

WHAT IS A CLAIM?

Definition
A claim is a statement that
presents an idea or series of
ideas as arguments.
Arguments therefore consist
of claims, or another way to
put it is, to say that claims
are the building blocks of a
good argument.
In research writing,
claims will be the backbone
that form a thesis or a Photo by Santiago Lacarta on
hypothesis (here the term Unsplash
‘hypothesis’ refers to the
argument that is evidenced within the scope of the work).
 WHAT IS A CLAIM? | 215

According to Heady (2013) “Claims are the points

you want to prove, interpretations you want to
offer, and assertions you want to make” (p. 74).
Importantly, in academia claims are statements
that can be supported by evidence.

Example

‘Traditional classroom teaching is boring’

For example, claiming that traditional classroom

teaching is boring is not a good claim because it
lacks definition (what does ‘traditional classroom
teaching’ actually mean? and how do we measure
‘boring’)? It may also be a ‘sweeping statement’
(meaning it’s far too general in scope). However,
claiming that “traditional teaching methods, like
216 | WHAT IS A CLAIM?

didactic instruction, do not provide sufficient

interaction with students and lead to poor learning
outcomes” is a good argumentative claim, because it
can be investigated and measured.

Characteristics of a good
claim
In order to make effective claims it is important to understand
the difference between statements and sentences. While a
statement is also a sentence (in that it is a grammatical unit
with subject, verb, object clause), not all sentences are
statements (in other words, not all sentences consist of a stance
or a position).
 WHAT IS A CLAIM? | 217

Examples

The following provides examples of the difference

between sentences and statements. The statements
present a stance or position about the topic under
discussion. This is important to understand as all
claims must consist of a stance towards the topic.

sentences statements

Bulldogs are a common

breed of dog. They Bulldogs are a dangerous breed
originated in the British and should be regulated.
isles.

Fat is one of three Fat has been misrepresented as a

macronutrients. The leading cause of heart disease.
others being carbohydrate New research challenges this
and protein. finding.

Function of claims
The function of claims in academic writing is to
provoke, analyse, or interpret rather than merely
218 | WHAT IS A CLAIM?

describe or present facts. They can do this by

affirming, acknowledging, confirming, or refuting the
proposition being made. In this way, claims do the job
of building an overall argument or thesis in a piece of
work (i.e. each claim progresses the key argument).
It is for this reason that claims will appear in topic
sentences, thesis statements, introductory and
concluding sentences/paragraphs.

Check your understanding

An interactive H5P element has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view it online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=2537#h5p-57
 POSITIONING YOURSELF AS A RESEARCHER | 219

POSITIONING
YOURSELF AS A
RESEARCHER
220 | POSITIONING YOURSELF AS A RESEARCHER
 POSITIONING YOURSELF AS A RESEARCHER | 221

An important skill that all

researchers develop is the
ability to present research as
an ongoing discussion
amongst a group of scholars.
When researching you will
need to read widely and it
may seem to you that your
peers are often discussing
the same thing. Sometimes
the authors of these sources
Photo by Ethan on Unsplash
will explicitly know each
others’ work and reference one another in their own texts. This
is common in research writing, where explicit conversations
between different scholars are expected and valued.
222 | POSITIONING YOURSELF AS A RESEARCHER

Example

Note the way these researchers position

themselves in relation to the work of others in
their field

Critical literacy is not synonymous with critical

thinking, although critical thinking is clearly part of
critical literacy [a]. Critical thinking can be described
as independent thinking that uses information as
the starting point (Klooster, 2001) [b]. It often
begins with questions, builds on reasoned
arguments and can involve social thinking. While
this view of critical thinking is participatory and
metacognitive, it remains personal inquiry and
does not necessarily require the reader to
question the purposes of the text [c]. To be critically
literate, one must move beyond individual response
and personal discovery to interrogate the
curriculum and the everyday world (Cardiero-
Kaplan, 2002) [d]. Harste (2001) asserts that
readers must question, redesign, and create
 POSITIONING YOURSELF AS A RESEARCHER | 223

alternate worlds [e]. They should disrupt the

commonplace, interrogate multiple viewpoints,
focus on sociopolitical issues, and take action to
promote social justice (Lewison, Seely Flint, Van
Sluys, 2002) [f].

“Student Views of Learning: Perspectives from Three

Countries” by Beach, S. A., Ward, A., & Mirseitova, S., Language

and Literacy, 9(1), 2007, https://doi.org/10.20360/G2ZW2W is

licensed under CC BY 3.0

In the passage above about ‘critical literacy’ the writers signal

their approach to the topic by contrasting two very similar
concepts. Statement [a] tells us what the concept isn’t (note
the use of the phrase not synonymous with) and go on to
provide a nuanced definition with the use of although.
Statement [c] signals the limitations of our understanding of
‘critical thinking’ (note the use of it remains and does not
necessarily) and prepares the reader for the writers’ position
presented in the statements [d], [e], and [f]. (Also note, the use
of other writers to give weight to these writers’ position).
The next chapter provides another example of the way a
researcher positions themselves within their field by
identifying the gap in the field.
224 | IDENTIFYING THE GAP

IDENTIFYING THE GAP

 IDENTIFYING THE GAP | 225

Research involves highlighting the questions that

remain unanswered in your area of research. This
is often referred to as ‘identifying the gap’ in the
literature and tells the reader what areas need further
investigation in your research area. Identifying ‘the
gap’ in your research is fundamental to finding your
position in an ongoing conversation by deciding how
much you accept, question, or reject the claims that
your sources make.
When you start to write about that research, you
need to figure out how to signal that position, as you
quote, summarize, or paraphrase from your sources.

Example

Read the following text and note the way the

researcher identifies the gap in the research as a
way of positioning themselves in the research field.
226 | IDENTIFYING THE GAP

Antarctica 1922, State Library Victoria Digital Image Pool

This research project sets out to discover if an

experience of Antarctica, specifically mine, could be
interpreted through the creation of souvenirs and
jewellery. Although Antarctica is considered to be a
very remote place it has a long and significant
history of science and exploration and most recently
has become the destination for tourism [a].
However, unlike most tourist destinations Antarctica
has not been memorialised through jewellery and
souvenirs in the way of historic tourist locations in
the world [b]. Throughout Antarctica’s history
explorers have painted images and more recently
 IDENTIFYING THE GAP | 227

documented it through photography [c]. Whalers

and fishermen have made their own representations
of this isolated and uninhabited continent, however,
none of these matches the proliferation of souvenirs
that have been produced to provide memories and
reminders of Europe for example during the times of
the Grand Tour or the commonly available souvenirs
of popular resorts, sites and locations today [d].

Excerpt from Kirsten Haydon’s dissertation Antarctic landscapes

in the souvenir and jewellery (used with permission)

Check your understanding

An interactive H5P element has been

228 | IDENTIFYING THE GAP

excluded from this version of the text. You

can view it online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=2506#h5p-45
 WHAT IS A THESIS STATEMENT? | 229

WHAT IS A THESIS
STATEMENT?
230 | WHAT IS A THESIS STATEMENT?
 WHAT IS A THESIS STATEMENT? | 231

A thesis statement is
an essential component
of ALL academic and
research writing.
A thesis statement:

• occurs early in a Photo by Will van Wingerden on

piece of written Unsplash

work (introduction)
• tells the reader what the purpose and scope of
the work will be
• provides more than a mere description of the topic
• puts a ‘wager’ (i.e. a bet) on the topic by telling
us what the significance of the research will be
• defines what will be investigated and what they think
will be found (note, it’s OK if the hypothesis is
disproven once the data is in)

Descriptive thesis statements

Beware thesis statements that are too descriptive because they
“do not investigate anything, critique anything, or analyze
anything […] they also do not invite support and argument
from outside of the central text” (UW Expository Writing
Program, 2007, p. 2). The problem with thesis statements that
are merely descriptive is that they lack a ‘stance’ or an
232 | WHAT IS A THESIS STATEMENT?

argument. They are therefore difficult to support with

evidence and to build an argument for.

Examples

The examples below would not make good thesis

statements because they are too descriptive.

a) Shakespeare was a famous playwright

during the Elizabethan era. He wrote
numerous plays and poems.

b) Almost one in two marriages in Australia

end in divorce. That means the divorce rate is
almost 50%.

c) Covid-19 was a virus that caused an

epidemic in the early 2020’s.
 WHAT IS A THESIS STATEMENT? | 233

Check your understanding

Where is the thesis statement in the passage

below?

My intention was to investigate and portray

Antarctica through my own and others’ personal
experiences, through historical examples of jewellery
and souvenirs and through experimentation in the
studio-based manufacture of new jewellery and
souvenirs[e]. The objects produced through this
research would reference the valued jewellery and
souvenirs now displayed in museums as historical
artefacts which were once personal mementos[f]. I
was particularly interested in the potential of these
objects to represent personal narratives and
experiences of the past [g]. In this research project I
have explored some of the ways in which I can make
objects, specifically jewellery and souvenirs that
draw on this rich heritage to present Antarctica in an
innovative way [h].
234 | WHAT IS A THESIS STATEMENT?

Excerpt from Kirsten Haydon’s dissertation Antarctic landscapes

in the souvenir and jewellery (used with permission)

An interactive H5P element has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view it online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=2508#h5p-44
 EXPLORE FURTHER | 235

EXPLORE FURTHER
236 | EXPLORE FURTHER
 CONCLUSION | 237

Congratulations on
completing this module.
We looked at the way
research writers use
premises and claims to
build arguments in
academic writing. We
also covered the Photo by Austin Park on Unsplash
importance of
positioning your own work by identifying the gap in the
field and we looked at the significance of thesis
statements and why they are essential in research.

Further assistance
Individual assistance – For more assistance with your
writing, make a time to see an Academic Skills Adviser in the
Library by submitting a Request Research Assistance form.
The module Developing an Effective Research Proposal
explores formulating research questions in more depth.
This 50 minute recording of a Research Plus session on
Literature Reviews covers how to position yourself in the
literature.
Further information and resources on developing academic
writing can be found in the Learning Lab. You may also be
interested in exploring some more learning activities related to
writing with authority in the Learning Lab.
238 | CONCLUSION

Learn more
For more on how to write an argument in research
writing, consult the following resources:

• Thesis Whisperer How to Create Authoritative Voice in

your Writing.
• Virginia Wesleyan University How to Create a Strong
Thesis Statement
• Washington University Claims, Claims, Claims

Bibliography
 CONCLUSION | 239

Epting, L. K. (2018). Pedagogy of Academic Narrative:

Insights from They Say/I Say: The Moves that Matter in
Academic Writing by Graff and Birkenstein
(2014). Perspectives on Behavior Science, 41(2), 561–568.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s40614-018-0175-4
Haydon, K. (2008). Antarctic Landscapes in the souvenir
and jewellery [Doctoral dissertation, RMIT University].
RMIT Research Repository.
https://researchrepository.rmit.edu.au/esploro/
outputs/doctoral/Antarctic-landscapes-in-the-
souvenir-and/9921861485801341).
Heady, E. (2013). Introduction to Graduate Writing (2nd
edn.). Liberty University. https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/
blc_fac_pubs/1

Kamler, B and Thomson, P. (2006). Helping Doctoral Students

Write. Pedagogies for supervision. Routledge.

Feedback
Your comments and suggestions on how we can improve this
module will be appreciated. Please complete our feedback
form.
240 | CONCLUSION

What’s next?
You have completed this module on the Research Proposal.
To choose another module to complete, you can return to the
Research and Writing Hub.
 MANAGING YOURSELF AND YOUR RESEARCH | 241

MANAGING
YOURSELF AND
YOUR RESEARCH
Welcome to this RMIT
University Library online
module which provides you
with helpful information,
strategies and resources for
managing yourself and your
research.
The module is aimed at Photo by Nick Morrison on Unsplash
graduate researchers (PhD
or Masters by Research) who are seeking to develop
fundamental skills in time management, goal setting, research
planning, cultivating supervisory relationships and
maintaining a healthy work-life balance.
The course materials include information and learning
activities which explore these key aspects of a productive and
enriching research journey.
We hope you find this module useful and stimulating.
242 | MANAGING YOURSELF AND YOUR RESEARCH

Learning Objectives

On successful completion of the module, you will be

able to:

1. Apply effective strategies to manage

workload throughout your PhD journey;
2. Implement strategies to organise your ideas
and resources;
3. Gain insights into the required skills and
expectations of research students;
4. Understand how to foster effective
relationships with your supervisors;
5. Implement strategies to sustain motivation
and cultivate a sense of well-being.

This module should take you about 30 minutes to complete.

Work through each chapter using the navigation footer
(i.e. previous/next) or use the contents page to select a
particular section.
Please help us improve this module by taking a moment to
complete the feedback form provided at the end.
 MANAGING YOUR WORKLOAD | 243

MANAGING YOUR
WORKLOAD

One of the best things

about undertaking a
research degree is the
intellectual independence of
your work. However, this
independence also means
that you need to become Photo by Nathan Riley on Unsplash
your own manager. It
requires self-discipline and effective strategies to ensure
consistent progress in your research pursuit.
Staying in control of your research and writing throughout
the whole research journey can be challenging. Fortunately,
there are various strategies to help you successfully manage
your workload and enhance productivity.

Effective ways to manage

your workload
244 | MANAGING YOUR WORKLOAD

An interactive H5P element has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view it online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=5669#h5p-76

Keep in mind that productivity may vary from day to day.

On days when you do not seem to accomplish anything, don’t
stress out. Take a rest or opt for some mundane tasks, such as
formatting your reference list or tidying up your computer’s
file system. While these tasks may not appear “intellectual”,
they still contribute meaningfully to your overall goal. And
don’t forget to record these achievements in your
Accomplishment list.
 MANAGING YOUR WORKLOAD | 245

Check your understanding

An interactive H5P element has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view it online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=5669#h5p-78
246 | ORGANISING YOUR CONTENT

ORGANISING YOUR
CONTENT

A research degree is a
complex project with many
facets. In addition to
managing your time and
tasks, it can also be helpful
to keep track of all your
ideas and resources. Photo by Jexo on Unsplash
Developing an effective
system early on can make the process much less daunting.

Organising your ideas

Ideas book – The best ideas may come suddenly when you are
away from your desk, waiting for a friend or commuting on
the train. So, keep an ideas book, physical or digital, with you
to jot down those thoughts.
Mind map – Mind mapping is a commonly used method
to organise ideas. Mind maps can be a valuable tool during the
brainstorming process as a first attempt to organise your ideas
 ORGANISING YOUR CONTENT | 247

and further developed into planning documents, helping you

map out the structure of your text.
Graphic illustrations – Sometimes when our ideas don’t
hold together, drawing the problem can be helpful.
Outlines – Scrivener is a word processing program that
helps you create outlines and manage documents and notes.
It is a useful tool for organising your thesis and can export to
Word for final formatting.

Organising your notes and

resources
As we think through writing, it is advisable to make notes and
summarise texts while reading. Here are some tools that can
assist you in organising your written notes and resources.
Matrices – A matrix is a useful table to capture the
literature and help you to analyse and synthesise existing
research. The Organising Ideas in the Body of your Literature
Review chapter demonstrates how the rows and columns of
a matrix can be customised to represent different relationship
patterns across the reviewed literature.
Index cards – Building an index card system is a useful way
of organising your notes, with each piece of useful information
written on an individual card. This allows for easy
rearrangement and categorisation of information, making
large amounts of notes more manageable.
248 | ORGANISING YOUR CONTENT

Online tools – Online tools like EndNote, Zotero, and

Mendeley can assist you in managing bibliographic data and
research materials. Refer to the Choosing a reference manager
module to explore the features of these three popular tools.

Organising your computer

Some strategies that might be used for computer organisation
include:
Structuring file folders effectively – Begin with a limited
number of folders for broader categories and then create more
specific folders within them. It is helpful to categorise ongoing
and completed work into different folders and clearly name
your files to indicate whether they are in progress or the final
version.
 ORGANISING YOUR CONTENT | 249

Example: Hierarchically
structured folders

(Copyright © 2024 RMIT University)

Naming your files – Choosing a logical and consistent way

to name your files is a key component of effective data
management, saving you time and effort when working with
a large number of files. This is crucial in maintaining an
organised digital workspace. Think about including relevant
details in your file names, such as the date, version number and
a brief description of the content.
250 | ORGANISING YOUR CONTENT

Activity

An interactive H5P element has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view it online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=5680#h5p-72

Backing up your files – Backing up your files regularly,

whether they are on your local drive or on a network drive,
could safeguard your work in cases of computer failure,
accidental file replacement or accidental deletion. You might
consider using several backup methods, such as an external
hard drive or cloud-based services, to enhance the security of
your data. Moreover, it’s recommended to check your backups
periodically to ensure they are working as intended.
 ORGANISING YOUR CONTENT | 251

Check your understanding

An interactive H5P element has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view it online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=5680#h5p-79
252 | UNDERSTANDING RESEARCHER SKILLS AND
EXPECTATIONS

UNDERSTANDING
RESEARCHER SKILLS
AND EXPECTATIONS

Understanding the
competencies required and
the expectations associated
with being a researcher is
crucial for the success of a
PhD. This understanding
not only guides the Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
development of necessary
skills but also assists in setting realistic and achievable goals.
Importantly, it allows for the cultivation of a researcher
identity, which is important for navigating the challenges of
the research process effectively and confidently.

Identifying the skills of a

researcher
Researchers cultivate skills across multiple areas, including
intellectual agility, professional conduct and collaboration.
 UNDERSTANDING RESEARCHER SKILLS AND
EXPECTATIONS | 253

The Vitae Researcher Development Framework identifies key

research skills across four domains: (i) knowledge and
intellectual abilities, (ii) personal effectiveness, (iii) research
governance and organisation, and (iv) engagement, influence
and impact.
As a PhD or Masters by research candidate, you will develop
your skills in these areas. Depending on your research field, the
skills you’ll need as a research student may differ. However,
there are key skills that research students generally should
develop in order to successfully complete their research degree.

Activity

In the quiz below, identify the skills that are crucial

for research students to develop by marking the
statements as either true or false.

An interactive H5P element has been

254 | UNDERSTANDING RESEARCHER SKILLS AND
EXPECTATIONS

excluded from this version of the text. You

can view it online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=5690#h5p-66

Knowing what is expected of

you
As a research student, you will engage with your discipline,
read key texts, work with your supervisors and develop
research skills in the process. Even though you’ve already
developed skills in previous study, you may find that some
need honing or that you need to develop new expertise. Please
note that each discipline requires the application of skill sets to
varying degrees of sophistication at Masters and PhD levels.
Familiarise yourself with the RMIT Higher Degree by
Research examination process, which outlines the criteria
against which your final PhD or Masters submission will be
examined.
Below you will find two activities that help you gain insight
 UNDERSTANDING RESEARCHER SKILLS AND
EXPECTATIONS | 255

into the expectations of your PhD or Masters thesis. Complete

the one that applies to you.

Activity: Examination criteria

for PhD

An interactive H5P element has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view it online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=5690#h5p-73
256 | UNDERSTANDING RESEARCHER SKILLS AND
EXPECTATIONS

Activity: Examination criteria

for Masters by Research

An interactive H5P element has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view it online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=5690#h5p-74
 NEGOTIATING SUPERVISOR RELATIONSHIPS | 257

NEGOTIATING
SUPERVISOR
RELATIONSHIPS

To support you
throughout your
candidature, you will have at
least two supervisors who
are experts in your field to
guide you through the
process of developing, Photo by Scott Graham on Unsplash
researching and writing the
research project.
As Berry and Batty write in their article, The stories of
supervision: creative writing in a critical space, the PhD journey
often follows the narrative arc of the Hero’s journey, with
obstacles and rough patches that are integral to the trajectory
of a research degree. Within this storyline, the PhD candidate
is the protagonist while the supervisor acts as a mentor.
258 | NEGOTIATING SUPERVISOR RELATIONSHIPS

The hero’s journey and the

mentor’s role
While your supervisors are important to your research, this is
your project. As you progress through your research degree,
remember that while your supervisors walk beside you, this
project is your path to forge and follow. You have the freedom,
responsibility and capability to see it to fruition.
As a student, you have your expectations of your
supervisors, and they have their expectations of you. This
could involve a variety of aspects, from the frequency of
meetings to the level of autonomy in your research. Clarifying
these expectations as early as possible in the relationship can
help prevent misunderstanding and disappointment and
ensure a smoother journey.

Examples

I expect my supervisor to give specific guidance

and actionable feedback on my work. This is
 NEGOTIATING SUPERVISOR RELATIONSHIPS | 259

reasonable because it aligns with the supervisor’s

role in guiding my research journey.

My supervisor expects me to be prepared to

discuss my progress, ask questions and complete
any task requested of me at the previous
meeting.This is reasonable because it ensures I
successfully achieve the three key milestones and
make a timely and satisfactory submission.

In order to maintain a healthy working

relationship and meet the expectations above,
I need to manage my time effectively and maintain
open communication with my supervisor.

If I were a supervisor, I would value commitment

and initiative from my research candidate.

If I were a supervisor, I would find it

challenging if my research candidate lacked
motivation or the ability to work independently.

PhD students are strongly advised to initiate discussions with

their supervisors early on about potential areas of differing
perceptions and expectations. These may include
communication methods and responsiveness to emails and
messages, the expected quality and frequency of draft
submissions, the most effective way to respond to feedback,
260 | NEGOTIATING SUPERVISOR RELATIONSHIPS

timelines and milestones, and publication expectations during

their candidature.

Supervisor-student
relationship
Your supervisory relationship is a key element of your research
journey. Like any other relationship, it can present challenges
and demands commitment from both sides. Navigating this
important relationship requires adhering to the following
principles to foster positive outcomes.
Open communication – Regularly discussing progress and
challenges fosters mutual understanding, trust and effective
collaboration towards shared academic goals.
Mutual respect – Recognising and respecting each other’s
expertise, roles and time cultivates an environment where both
the student and supervisor feel valued and motivated.
Responsibility – The student should take ownership of
their research while supervisors should remain accessible and
ready to provide guidance and support when needed.
Professionalism – Professionalism involves responsibility
and integrity in all interactions within the supervisor-student
relationship. This entails adhering to agreed-upon deadlines,
communicating courteously and addressing disagreements or
challenges with an unbiased and solution-oriented approach.
 NEGOTIATING SUPERVISOR RELATIONSHIPS | 261

Dos and Don’ts

An interactive H5P element has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view it online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=5703#h5p-80

What happens when things

go wrong?
Despite the good intentions of supervisors and students,
sometimes things go wrong. If you are experiencing difficulties
with supervisor relationships, there are some things you can
do:

1. Discuss the specific issue you need to resolve with your

supervisors. Be explicit, objective and courteous.
262 | NEGOTIATING SUPERVISOR RELATIONSHIPS

2. If the issue cannot be resolved, discuss it with your

school’s HDR Coordinator/ Manager/Director/
Associate Dean. Be explicit, objective and courteous.
3. Read the informationon the RUSU student rights
website, then make an appointment with the student
rights officer for research students. This person will be
your advocate and will give you advice to help resolve the
issues. RUSU’s Student Rights assistance is an
anonymous service.
4. If the issues are still not resolved, check out your rights
and responsibilities and follow the University
complaints process.

For further information, the RMIT School of Graduate

Research outlines the structure of the supervisory team and
provides advice on working with your supervisor.
 MAINTAINING MOTIVATION AND CONNECTION | 263

MAINTAINING
MOTIVATION AND
CONNECTION

Staying
motivated
Repeatedly hitting that
snooze button? Ignoring the
blank page? You might need
a motivation boost!
The research process is
complex and takes place over
an extended period of time,
Photo by Nik on Unsplash
so it’s unsurprising that
motivation fluctuates. At
times you’ll feel bogged down in research activities, and other
times you might question your ability.
When motivation wanes, remind yourself why you chose to
do a PhD. Reflect on your passion for your chosen research
project, the satisfaction of contributing to the field of study,
the precious connections with like-minded individuals in the
264 | MAINTAINING MOTIVATION AND CONNECTION

pursuit of knowledge, and the personal and career growth that

a PhD can provide.
Or, perhaps, list down ten things to love about your PhD,
drawing inspiration from Cassandra Wardle’s post titled
“Loving the PhD life“.
In the following activity, you will find some useful strategies
to maintain your motivation throughout your research
journey.

Activity: Sustaining motivation

An interactive H5P element has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view it online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=5717#h5p-81
 MAINTAINING MOTIVATION AND CONNECTION | 265

Staying connected
While undertaking a research degree is an opportunity to
experience the joy of independent research, doing a PhD or
Master’s by research can be an isolating experience. Research
shows that one in four doctoral candidates feel lonely and
isolated at some point through their research.
For even the most independent of introverts, it is important
to prioritise connection and community throughout your
research degree. Staying connected through your candidature
can be as simple as sending a text or calling a friend or family
member for a chat. You might even head to the local library or
café to work around other people.
Staying connected with others can enhance your wellbeing
and your overall HDR experience. There are many ways you
can connect with fellow HDRs on campus: attending events
(through the School of Graduate Research, your school or
college), setting up a reading group or social club, connecting
with a research centre or group or joining an existing RMIT
club. You can find or start a club through RMIT social clubs
and societies or one of RUSU’s social, academic, cultural and
spiritual clubs.
If you’re feeling lost, ask your supervisor or HDR
Coordinator for some guidance on groups and events in your
area.
If you are a new candidate, attending your school
266 | MAINTAINING MOTIVATION AND CONNECTION

orientation will help you meet other researchers and identify

research centres and groups through your school or college.
 MANAGING STRESS | 267

MANAGING STRESS

While undertaking your higher degree by research, it is

important to take care of your physical, mental and emotional
health.
Consistent and elevated stress can lead to physical and
emotional exhaustion. If you’re feeling burnt out, take some
time to rest and recuperate. Resting leads to productivity and
taking regular time out (yes, you can!) will help your research!
Try relaxing activities that make you feel happy, calm and
comfortable or seek support from a trusted friend.
You are encouraged to take this ten-question test as a
proactive step in understanding and managing your stress
levels effectively. By completing this brief assessment, you gain
valuable insights into your emotional well-being and may
identify areas where additional support could be beneficial.
You can book free, confidential counselling and access
wellbeing resources through RMIT Wellbeing.
Keep in mind that counselling is not only for those in
significant crisis or facing serious issues, but it can be beneficial
for anyone.
268 | MANAGING STRESS

How do you de-stress?

Make a go-to list of

things that help you
feel good. What works
for you?

The HDRs in the School

of Media and
Communication have
Photo by Fuu J on Unsplash created a list of
suggestions for taking
time away from research when you’re stressed out.

Are there any points on this poster that you might

like to try?

Regularly update your list and keep it handy.

 EXPLORE FURTHER | 269

EXPLORE FURTHER

Congratulations on
completing this module!
We have explored some
key techniques for self-
management and research
management that will help
you throughout your Photo by Eilis Garvey on Unsplash
research degree. You can
refer to this module and repeat its activities throughout your
candidature to help you manage relationships, ideas and
workloads as you progress through your research journey.

Further assistance
The RMIT University Library provides ongoing assistance to
HDR candidates at RMIT through our Library Research
Services consultation service and online resources.
Individual assistance – For more assistance with
managing your research, contact the Library by submitting a
Request Research Assistance form.
For further advice, training and support, check out the
Library support for researchers. This self-paced training offers
270 | EXPLORE FURTHER

a structured yet flexible learning experience, allowing you to

enhance your research skills at your own pace.

Learn more
You may be interested in the webinar Getting Started with
Your Research (40 mins) recorded from the Library’s ‘PhD
Up!’ program (now called Research Plus).
Further information and resources on time management
can be found in the Learning Lab.

Feedback
Your comments and suggestions on how we can improve this
module will be appreciated. Please complete our feedback
form.

What’s next?
You have completed this module on Managing Yourself and
Your Research. You can return to the Research and Writing
Hub to choose another module to complete.
 PUBLISHING A JOURNAL ARTICLE | 271

PUBLISHING A
JOURNAL ARTICLE
Welcome to this online
module related to
publishing a journal article.
Applying strategic measures
when considering
publishing, promoting and
tracking your research is an Photo by Jani Kaasinen on Unsplash
important component of
being an academic researcher and it will have a significant
impact on your standing as a researcher.

This module will introduce you to the three

Ps of preparing for a publication:

• Planning including setting objectives and

selecting a publication source
272 | PUBLISHING A JOURNAL ARTICLE

• Publishing issues such as open access,

discoverability and writing tips
• Promoting and tracking your research and
publications.

Learning Objectives

On successful completion of this module, you will be

able to:

1. Recognise the key criteria in evaluating

suitable publications to meet your publishing
objectives, including relevance, quality and
discoverability
2. Discover the benefits of and options for open
access publishing
 PUBLISHING A JOURNAL ARTICLE | 273

3. Recognise the warning signs of potential

unethical publishing practices
4. Discover effective ways to navigate the
submission and peer review process
5. Identify strategies for promoting your
research publications.

This module should take about 30 minutes to complete.

Work through each section using the navigation footer (i.e.
previous/next) or use the contents menu to select a particular
section.
Upon completion, please take a moment to complete the
feedback form to let us know how we may improve this
module in the future.
You may also be interested in viewing the webinar Strategic
Publishing recorded from the Library’s ‘PhD Up!’ program
(now called Research Plus) and the associated library guide on
Strategic publishing. These are both available in the Explore
further section at the end of this module.
274 | PUBLISHING A JOURNAL ARTICLE
 PLANNING WHERE TO PUBLISH | 275

PLANNING WHERE TO
PUBLISH

Setting
objectives
So, you are undertaking
your research and are
starting to consider where Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash
you will publish. To make
this decision it is worth spending some time thinking about
why you want to publish. For example, is it to:

• build a publishing record?

• contribute to new knowledge?
• disseminate research findings?
• increase your research profile or impact?
276 | PLANNING WHERE TO PUBLISH

Activity

Watch this video in the section below, of Dr Anne

Jamison, a lecturer and researcher from the Western
Sydney University, talking about the publishing
process.

While watching have paper and pen ready and write

down your three main reasons for deciding to
publish your research.

Getting published: a researcher’s guide (12:22 mins)

One or more interactive elements has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view them online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=1881#oembed-1
 PLANNING WHERE TO PUBLISH | 277

Getting published: a researcher’s guide (12:22 min) by Graduate Research

School Western Sydney University (YouTube)

Which type of publication

should you choose?
It is important to select a suitable type of publication for
communicating your research, so consider which is the most
appropriate forum.

Depending on your discipline, the following

types of publications may be suitable for your
research:

• Articles
in peer-
reviewed
journals are
generally well
Photo by Maarten van den
regarded in all Heuvel on Unsplash

subject areas,
and are often the most prominent
method for communicating research.
278 | PLANNING WHERE TO PUBLISH

• Booksand book chaptersare considered

favourably for researchers in most
disciplines, and feature prominently
insocial sciences, humanities, art, design,
media and communications.
• Conference papers are often the most
widely valued in computer science.
• Other media might also be appropriate
for writing about your research. For
example, an article in The Conversation or
a post on a relevant blog could provide
excellent forums for reaching a wider
audience.

Each of these publication types are appropriate for a particular

purpose. The focus of this module is publishing a journal
article.

Further publishing
considerations
Further important considerations to take into account for
your situation when publishing:
 PLANNING WHERE TO PUBLISH | 279

• Do you have co-researchers or co-authors? Are there any

issues relating to the authorship of your publication that
you need to consider or resolve? See this article on
authorship (login required) from the RMIT Researcher
Portal.
• How long does the process take from submission to
publication? Will this be important to you and your co-
authors?
• Are there any copyright implications relating to the
publication of your research output?
• Do you have any funding requirements that will impact
on where you publish? For example, are you required to
publish open access?
280 | RELEVANCY, QUALITY AND DISCOVERABILITY

RELEVANCY, QUALITY
AND DISCOVERABILITY

There are a range of

methods and tools that can
be used to identify relevant
journals within subject
areas, such as journal lists.
An indication of a
journal’s quality is whether
the journal conducts peer
reviews on submitted
journal articles. Not all
articles within a peer
reviewed journal will be
Photo by Evelyn Céspedes on
refereed, the process by Unsplash
which papers are reviewed
for their quality by recognised academics or experts in the field
before they are accepted for publication. For example,
editorials, opinion letters, etc. are not peer reviewed.
Universities require research publications to be peer reviewed.
For more information about the eligibility criteria for a journal
article to be included as a research publication at RMIT refer
to the RMIT Researcher Portal.
 RELEVANCY, QUALITY AND DISCOVERABILITY | 281

When selecting a journal, consider whether your target

audience can find your work, possibly make your article
open access.

Criteria for journal selection

An interactive H5P element has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view it online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=3911#h5p-49

Consult the Strategic publishing library guide for

more information about assessing a journal for
publication.

Watch the following video where Professor James Arvanitakis

talks about some of the key tips to set you on the right path
when it comes to publishing an academic journal article.
282 | RELEVANCY, QUALITY AND DISCOVERABILITY

7 tips for getting your first journal article published

(3:05 mins)

One or more interactive elements has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view them online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=3911#oembed-1

7 Tips for Getting Your First Journal Article Published (3:05 mins) by
Graduate Research School Western Sydney University (YouTube)

Test your knowledge

An interactive H5P element has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
 RELEVANCY, QUALITY AND DISCOVERABILITY | 283

can view it online here:

https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=3911#h5p-52
284 | SELECTING AN OPEN ACCESS JOURNAL

SELECTING AN OPEN
ACCESS JOURNAL

What is an open access

journal?
Open Access journals (or OA journals) are electronic-based
journals that make their published content available freely to
all immediately upon publication. They differ from traditional
journals (toll access journals) in that their business model is
not based on subscriptions, i.e. readers are not charged fees to
access the journal’s content. For this model to work, authors
can be charged an Article Processing Charge (APC), to move
the cost from the readers to the authors.

Refer to the Open access publishing guide as it

introduces open access, its benefits, the different
models, APCs, policies and resources, and open
access @ RMIT University.
 SELECTING AN OPEN ACCESS JOURNAL | 285

Benefits of open access

The following infographic outlines the benefits of open access
publishing, including:

• more exposure for your work

• practitioners can apply for your findings
• higher citation rates
• your research can influence policy
• the public can access your findings
• compliant with grant rules
• taxpayers get value for money
• researchers in developing countries can see your work

“File:Benefit
sofopenacc
ess cc-by
logo.pd
eng.jpg” by
Danny
Kingsley
and Sarah
Brown is
licensed
under CC
BY 4.0
286 | SELECTING AN OPEN ACCESS JOURNAL

Open access models

Gold open access

Publish in a fully open access journal. This route may involve
a charge but ensures immediate and permanent access to the
work. The publication cost, known as an APC (Article
Processing Charge), is either covered by the author/s or maybe
their institution. Some researchers, intent on ensuring open
access for their work, include anticipated APC costs in their
list of funding requirements in grant applications. A list of
fully open access journals can be found on the DOAJ website.
Image: “Gold open access logo” is in the Public Domain, CC0
 SELECTING AN OPEN ACCESS JOURNAL | 287

Hybrid open access

Publish in a ‘hybrid’ journal. These journals are subscription
journals that allow open access for individual articles on
payment of a fee (APC). This fee is payable by the author/s
or maybe their institution. Note: Some journal websites will
refer to this option as Gold Open Access as the content is
immediately available, but true Gold Open Access refers only
to a publication in a fully open access journal.
Image: “Hybrid open access logo” is in the Public Domain, CC0

Green open access

Publish in a subscription-based journal with the full-text
deposited into a trusted repository, i.e. a publicly accessible
288 | SELECTING AN OPEN ACCESS JOURNAL

database managed by a research institution (such as

RMIT’s Research Repository). This route relies on publishers
allowing an author to share an earlier version of the work,
whilst the publisher maintains ownership of the final
published version.
Image: “Green open access logo” is in the Public Domain, CC0

Mandates
The Australian Research Council (ARC) and the National
Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Open
Access policies aim to ensure that the discovery of publicly
funded research is made available to researchers and the wider
community. Refer to the Library guide for Open Access
Publishing to see details regarding the ARC and NHMRC
policies.

Copyright and open access

The copyright holder for published research works usually sits
with either the author, or the publisher, depending on the
author/publisher agreement.
The SPARC Author Addendum can be used to legally
modify a publisher’s contract so that an author can retain the
rights needed to both promote their research publications and
achieve publishing goals. Using the addendum would allow an
 SELECTING AN OPEN ACCESS JOURNAL | 289

RMIT researcher to publish an accepted manuscript version

of their publication in the RMIT Research Repository.
Presently, RMIT does not have university wide policy or
position on the negotiation of contracts with journals.
The Australian Open Access Support Group provides
advice on the copyright implications of open access and the
retention of copyright. The University’s Copyright
Service can also provide further advice.

Finding open access journals

and open access policies of
publishers
DOAJ: Directory of
Open Access Journals
The DOAJ lists 9000+
journals. It aims to cover all
open access scientific and
scholarly journals that use a
quality control system to
guarantee the content. It can
be searched or browsed by
“openaccess” by Open Edition is
title, subject, country,
licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
license or publication
charges.
SHERPA/RoMEO – Publisher copyright policies & self-
290 | SELECTING AN OPEN ACCESS JOURNAL

archiving
Search by journal title, ISSN or publisher to check publisher
policies and for a summary of permissions to archive a version
of the paper in an open access repository, including embargo
conditions.

Read and publish

agreements
The Library has signed up to a number of transformative
agreements to support open access publishing. These Read
and Publish Agreements repurpose existing expenditure to
include both subscription fees and open access publishing
fees. When publishing in journals covered by these agreements,
you may be able to publish directly to open access with no
transactional Article Processing Charges (APCs). Submit
your publications as usual. If the Library has an agreement
in place, the publisher will alert you to an open access option
on acceptance of the eligible article. Exclusions and caps apply
to some journals. More information about Read and Publish
Agreements, including the publishers and journals.
 SELECTING AN OPEN ACCESS JOURNAL | 291

Test Your Knowledge

An interactive H5P element has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view it online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=1890#h5p-53
292 | UNETHICAL PUBLISHING PRACTICES

UNETHICAL
PUBLISHING PRACTICES

The world of publishing

has seen an increasing
number of publishers that
exist somewhere in between
the world of reputable
publishing and ‘unethical’
publishing. Photo by Nicole Mason on Unsplash
Confusion has occurred
with the emergence of ‘gold’ open access publishing, which is
a legitimate model of paying for publication. However, the
journal’s impact may be be limited because it does not have the
reach or visibility of mainstream publications, or well known
publishers.

Watch out for journals which:

• have a name that is similar to other

 UNETHICAL PUBLISHING PRACTICES | 293

established journals or academic

institutions
• publish articles on subjects not normally
associated with the discipline
• send unsolicited emails which contain
errors, are extremely complimentary or the
journal is not in the researcher’s discipline
294 | UNETHICAL PUBLISHING PRACTICES

Publication source
considerations
 UNETHICAL PUBLISHING PRACTICES | 295

Reputable publishing Signs of potential

practice problems

Publishes quality The journal promises

Content research that you would to publish all
read and use. content.

You can identify and There is no clear

Organisational
contact any organisational
affiliation
affiliated organisation. affiliation.

Has clear editorial

Editorial The editorial process
policies and peer review
processes is unclear.
processes.
Is listed in the Ulrichs
Does not undertake a
Peer Review directory as a peer
peer review process.
reviewed journal.

Publication fees are

Publication Has clear information
undisclosed or
fees about publication fees.
difficult to find.
It is unclear who is
The names and on the editorial
Editorial
affiliations of editorial board. The same
board
boards are clearly visible. editors are on
numerous journals.

Is indexed in standard
Not indexed in the
Indexing databases in the subject
standard databases.
field.

Mention of citation It makes unverified

impact factor comes claims regarding
Citation
from standard sources citation impact. The
impact
such as JCR, Scimago or sources are not the
Scopus Sources. standard ones.
296 | UNETHICAL PUBLISHING PRACTICES

Further readings
Information and readings about deceptive publishing
practices are available on the Library guide Strategic
publishing.

Test Your Knowledge

An interactive H5P element has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view it online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=1892#h5p-20
 SUBMITTING YOUR ARTICLE FOR PUBLICATION | 297

SUBMITTING YOUR
ARTICLE FOR
PUBLICATION

The previous sections

have discussed the process of
planning and choosing an
appropriate journal for your
article based on
considerations of the
relevancy, quality and
discoverability of the
journal. They have also
pointed to alternative
publication options such as
open access publishing.
Once you have
Photo by Jaredd Craig on Unsplash
determined the most
appropriate journal and you
have written a draft of your text, you need to ensure that your
article will be acceptable for submission to the journal.
298 | SUBMITTING YOUR ARTICLE FOR PUBLICATION

Before submission
Before submitting your article, make sure that it meets the
journal requirements.

• Carefully re-read the aim and scope of the

journal to ensure that it is the right fit for
your paper.
• Follow the journal’s instructions on
formatting and style including referencing.
These usually appear on the journal
webpage under such titles as “Instructions
for Authors”.

Also ensure that your publication meets your research

responsibilities.

• Your work needs to be a substantial and

original contribution to the field and
should adhere to principles of research
 SUBMITTING YOUR ARTICLE FOR PUBLICATION | 299

integrity.

• The Australian Code for the Responsible

Conduct of Research guides researchers in
responsible research practice.

Finally, make sure you proofread your article thoroughly. You

can proofread your article yourself, use a proofreading service,
or ask a friend or colleague to read your article to avoid ‘writer’s
blindness’ that can occur due to over familiarity with the text.
If you are doing your own proofreading, use a strategy that
works for you. Popular proofreading strategies include:

• Reading the paper slowly and out loud. This strategy

allows you to hear as opposed to simply skim through
what you have written.
• Reading the text backwards. This strategy enables you to
pick out errors which you may automatically fix in your
mind when reading the text as usual.
• Making a list of errors that you commonly make and
proofread for only one type of error at a time. This
strategy helps you focus on your known errors and
address them one at a time.
300 | SUBMITTING YOUR ARTICLE FOR PUBLICATION

During submission
Once the article is ready for submission, follow the journal’s
instructions on how and where to submit. Most journals have
a submission portal on their website where you are usually
asked to set up an account.
Within the portal, peer-reviewed journals commonly ask
you to submit the full manuscript in addition to a blind-review
version which removes any reference to author identity. They
may also require additional documentation such as:

• an abstract
• a conflict of interest statement
• a brief auto-biography
• a cover letter to the editor.

Make sure you check these requirements and allow ample time
for the submission process.

Post submission
Once authors have submitted their article and other required
documentation, they usually receive automatic electronic
confirmation of their submission.
Following this, a journal editor may also be in touch to
 SUBMITTING YOUR ARTICLE FOR PUBLICATION | 301

inform you about the receipt of your article and whether they
have considered it for subsequent peer review.

Further resources
If you would like to find out more about the mechanics of
writing a publishable journal article, please consult the
following resources:

• Glasman-Deal, H. (2010). Science research writing.

Imperial College Press.
• Kamler, B. & Thomson, P. (2014). Helping doctoral
students write : Pedagogies for supervision. Taylor &
Francis.
• Soule, D. P. J., Whiteley, L. & McIntosh, S. (2007).
Writing for scholarly journals. eSharp.
302 | NAVIGATING THE PEER REVIEW PROCESS

NAVIGATING THE PEER

REVIEW PROCESS

Peer review is a process

that is undertaken by
credible scholarly journals to
ensure the content
published is of a high
academic standard. Journal
editors select subject experts Photo by Mick Haupt on Unsplash
who evaluate submitted text
for research rigour and for its suitability for publication.
Another way of thinking about peer review is that it is a
process that can improve the quality of your work. It is an
opportunity for you to see your article through the eyes of
experts and peers in the field, and to critically reflect on its
content in order to strengthen it. Even Nobel Prize winning
papers will be carefully reviewed!

Types of peer review

Journals can utilise different types of peer review. The three
most common types are:
 NAVIGATING THE PEER REVIEW PROCESS | 303

1. Double-blind peer review: The identity of both

authors and reviewers is anonymous. This is the most
used and often prestigious type of peer review.
2. Single-blind peer review: The identity of reviewers is
anonymous.
3. Open peer review: The identity of authors and
reviewers is known to both parties.

The peer review process

The peer review process usually consists of the following steps:
304 | NAVIGATING THE PEER REVIEW PROCESS

Steps Detail

1. Journal editors receive submission and make a

Submission decision as to whether it goes to peer review.
If the article is deemed acceptable for peer review,
2. journal editors would then contact relevant experts.
Screening If not, journal editors would typically inform the
author(s) of their decision.
3. Usually two peer reviewers carry out the evaluation
Reviewers of the paper and are given some guidelines and a
assigned timeframe for carrying out the task.

Once the peer reviewers have assessed the paper,

they let the editors know of the outcome of their
4. review and send accompanying comments /
Reviewer feedback for the author(s). Sometimes, if the two
assessment reviewers disagree as to whether the article should be
published, the editor may seek the opinion of a third
reviewer.
5. Peer The author is notified if the publication has been
review rejected or accepted (subject to any revisions
outcome required).

The above common peer review steps are illustrated in the

following video.
ANU video on the peer review process (03:18 mins)

One or more interactive elements has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
 NAVIGATING THE PEER REVIEW PROCESS | 305

can view them online here:

https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=2968#oembed-1

Peer Review Process (03:18min) by ANU University LIbrary (YouTube).

The typical turn-around time for peer review is 14 weeks. If

you have not heard back, re-check the journal for expected
response time and allow 2 more weeks before tactfully
emailing the editor.

Do not send your paper to another journal until you have a

response. Use the waiting time to work on other tasks (e.g.
writing another paper).

Peer review outcomes

Once peer reviewers have evaluated your work, they usually
send their assessment to the journal editor. The journal editor
in turn considers the peer review evaluations and notifies you
of the final outcomes for the paper. These can be:
306 | NAVIGATING THE PEER REVIEW PROCESS

1. Yes – we’ll publish this paper and no

changes are needed. (Accept)
2. Yes – we’ll publish this paper subject to
some minor changes in line with reviewer
comments. (Accept subject to minor
changes)
3. Maybe / No – we won’t publish this in its
current form. However, if major changes
are made in line with reviewer comments,
we might. (Reject and Resubmit)
4. No – we won’t publish this under any
circumstances. (Reject)

For many high-ranking journals, the first outcome is rare while

the fourth (the” Reject” response) is extremely common.

Responding to reviewers’
comments
In most cases, if your article has been accepted for publication,
it will require making changes (major or minor) that respond
to reviewers’ comments.
 NAVIGATING THE PEER REVIEW PROCESS | 307

Here are a few recommendations when responding to these

comments:

An interactive H5P element has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view it online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=2968#h5p-54

The following table provides you with a template that you can
use in responding to reviewers’ comments.

Reviewer Comments Author Response

Reviewer
1. …
1

2. …

3. …

Reviewer
1. …
2

2. …

Dealing with rejection

Remember, rejection of publication happens to everyone.
308 | NAVIGATING THE PEER REVIEW PROCESS

Consider yourself in good company – Animal Farm, Gone

With the Wind and Harry Potter were all rejected multiple
times before they were published!
Rejection can also be a very useful learning process, even if
it hurts!
It is equally important to know that, despite publication
rejection, you still have a number of choices available. You can:

• Submit your article to another journal

• Revise and resubmit the article to the same journal
• Revise and resubmit the article to a different journal
• Appeal the decision
• Abandon the article (for now)

Further resources
For more information on the peer review process:

• Watch this RMIT Library Researcher Spotlight session

on “What’s in a Peer Review”. (Microsoft stream, login
required).
• Read this article from The Conversation which explains
the typical steps in the peer review process.
 COMMUNICATING AND SHARING YOUR RESEARCH | 309

COMMUNICATING AND
SHARING YOUR
RESEARCH

It is worthwhile
considering what methods
and communication
channels you will use to
share your research. Listed
below are some common
methods for Photo by Tony Stoddard on Unsplash
communicating research
with a range of audiences – academic, professional and general.
For academic purposes, share your research via these
methods to increase the likelihood your research will be
viewed, downloaded and cited. This will enable you to
measure the impact and engagement of your work.

Researcher profiles
Creating and maintaining researcher profiles can foster
connections with your research community, and maximises
the visibility of your research outputs and impact. All RMIT
310 | COMMUNICATING AND SHARING YOUR RESEARCH

researchers and HDR students are encouraged to have an

ORCID profile. An ORCID profile can be used to display
your research interests and activities, list your publications,
qualifications and achievements, and link to other research
and professional profiles. Some journals require researchers to
provide their ORCID identifier when submitting articles for
publication.

See the Library’s guide on Researcher Profiles

and ORCID iDs for more information on ORCID
and other profiles. Alternatively, explore the
module Setting up your researcher profile.

Blog, tweet, and post about your

research
Consider writing a blog to share your research, or create a
professional or academic Twitter or LinkedIn profile to
connect with other researchers, share ideas and post links to
your research writing and publications. Remember to include
a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) when posting about your
work – this will help you track citations, views and
downloads. For more information regarding sharing using
social media see the Library guide Social media for researchers.
 COMMUNICATING AND SHARING YOUR RESEARCH | 311

For HDR Candidates

See the Thesis Whisperer and Research Whisperer

blogs – both excellent resources for research
students and early career researchers. If you have a
Twitter profile, consider following their Twitter
accounts. If you don’t use Twitter, consider signing
up to the mailing list for either blog.

Watch this video for a brief introduction to using social media

when communicating your research.
Communicate your research (2:14 mins)

One or more interactive elements has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view them online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=1898#oembed-1
312 | COMMUNICATING AND SHARING YOUR RESEARCH

“Communicate Your Research” by Andy Tattersall, ScHARR library is

licensed under CC BY 4.0

Share your research data

Sharing your research data can be another method of
promoting your research – the increased exposure may lead
to new collaborations and new research projects with other
researchers, or extra citations for your publications.
In some cases it may be mandated that you share your
research data when submitting an article for publication. See
the Library’s guide to Research Data Management for advice
on managing and sharing your research data.

Test Your Knowledge

An interactive H5P element has been excluded

from this version of the text. You can view it online
here:
COMMUNICATING AND SHARING YOUR RESEARCH | 313

https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=1898#h5p-23
314 | EXPLORE FURTHER

EXPLORE FURTHER

Congratulations on
completing this module. We
have explored a range of
strategies and tools that can
help in the process of
selecting where to publish Photo by Kier in Sight on Unsplash
your research.

Further assistance
For more assistance in strategically planning your
publications, consult the Strategic publishing library guide.
RMIT academic staff and research students can
also contact the Library by submitting a research
request form. (RMIT University login required).
Additional information and resources are available in the
guides:

• Research evidence for grants and promotions

• Research metrics
• Open access publishing
• Researcher profiles and ORCID
 EXPLORE FURTHER | 315

• Research data management

• Social media for researchers

Learn More
You may also be interested in viewing the following webinar
Strategic Publishing (login required) (55 mins.) recorded from
the Library’s PhD Up! program (now called Research Plus).
The webinar content complements this online module.
The Researcher Capability Development has a suite of
online modules, explore the offerings on Publishing and
communicating your research.

Feedback
Your comments and suggestions on how we can improve this
module will be appreciated. Please complete our feedback
form.

What’s next?
You have completed this module on Publishing a journal
article. To choose another module to complete, you can return
to the Research and Writing Hub.
 SETTING UP YOUR RESEARCHER PROFILE | 317

SETTING UP YOUR
RESEARCHER
PROFILE
Welcome to this online
module on how to set up
your researcher profile.
Establishing a researcher
profile is very useful for
promoting and increasing
the visibility of your Photo by Ricardo Gomez Angel on
research publications and Unsplash
other activities.
The module provides an overview of commonly used
researcher profiles and how to establish and maintain them.
318 | SETTING UP YOUR RESEARCHER PROFILE

Learning objectives

On successful completion of the module, you will:

• be familiar with the most commonly used

researcher profiles
• know the benefits of researcher profiles
• be able to identify which profiles will be most
relevant to you
• know how to create and maintain a
researcher profile, as well as connect it to
other online profiles.

The course materials include information, videos, and learning

activities that explore key aspects of establishing your
researcher profile.
This module should take you about 30 minutes to
complete.
Work through each section using the navigation footer
(i.e. previous/next), or use the contents menu to select a
particular section.
Upon completion, please help us improve this module by
 SETTING UP YOUR RESEARCHER PROFILE | 319

taking a moment to complete the feedback form provided at

the end.
You may also be interested in viewing the additional
resources about setting up a researcher profile in the Explore
Further chapter at the end of this module. Provided is a
webinar recorded from the Library’s ‘PhD Up!’ program (now
called Research Plus), along with the library guide on
Researcher Profiles and ORCID iDs.
320 | SETTING UP YOUR RESEARCHER PROFILE
 ABOUT RESEARCHER PROFILES | 321

ABOUT RESEARCHER
PROFILES

What is a researcher profile?

A researcher profile is the
publicly accessible profile of
your professional academic
works and achievements. A
researcher profile enables
information about you, Image by Coffee Bean from Pixabay
your work and career to be
visible and accessible, encouraging collaboration, and
providing measures of your impact and engagement. A
researcher profile will bring together your research outputs on
a single platform, making your work easier to find.

An identifier is a unique number (e.g. 16 digit

ORCID iD), or persistent URL. Whilst a profile is
the body of information that is associated with
an identifier.
322 | ABOUT RESEARCHER PROFILES

Benefits of a researcher
profile
Each researcher profile has different strengths, together
they can:

• increase the visibility of your research

• improve your chance of being cited
• improve your citation metrics
• ensure correct attribution, reducing the number of
name variations
• connect you to new collaborators / funders
• increase your employment opportunities
• increase your standing within your field of study beyond
RMIT University
• link your work from different sites to one place.

Types of profiles
Researcher profiles are an essential component of an academic
career and there are a few types that can be created and
interlinked.
This module will explore the common researcher profiles:
 ABOUT RESEARCHER PROFILES | 323

• ORCID iD
• Scopus Author ID
• Web of Science Researcher Profile
• Google Scholar Profile
324 | ORCID: A MUST HAVE PROFILE

ORCID: A MUST HAVE

PROFILE

What is ORCID?
The ORCID iD, formed
from the acronym Open
Researcher and
Contributor IDentifier, is a
unique identifier that
distinguishes you from every
other researcher. Unlike Photo by Ramith Bhasuka on
other researcher profiles, Unsplash
ORCID is controlled by
you and can be a comprehensive reflection of your research.
Use ORCID to display your:

• affiliation and employment

• research interests and projects
• invited positions, awards and prizes
• membership of academic or professional societies
• grant funding
• research outputs such as journal articles, books and book
 ORCID: A MUST HAVE PROFILE | 325

chapters, conference papers, as well as other non-

traditional research outputs (NTROs) such as creative
works.

Example ORCID profile

Meredith Tharapos’ ORCID profile is an example of

how to add content to different fields.

When manually adding works into your ORCID

profile, you should always first enter identifiers
into the ‘identifier value field’ (this is the part
that Altmetric looks at!) and not the ‘identifier
URL field. Usually, the identifier URL field will
automatically be populated once you have
entered the identifier value field.

ORCID iDs can also be used to connect with:

326 | ORCID: A MUST HAVE PROFILE

• publishers – ORCID iDs are often requested when

submitting manuscripts and conference papers
• other online profiles such as your RMIT profile,
LinkedIn, personal website, or database profile
• research funding systems such as the ARC’s Research
Management System (RMS).

Watch this video to discover more about ORCID iDs and the
benefit of creating one for yourself.
What is ORCID? (4:17 mins)

One or more interactive elements has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view them online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=2323#oembed-1

What is ORCID? (4:17 mins) from ORCID on Vimeo.

 ORCID: A MUST HAVE PROFILE | 327

Reflection

If you already have an ORCID profile how might you

improve it?

What other information might you add to make

your profile more comprehensive?

For HDR Candidates

Find an ORCID profile for a researcher at RMIT,

maybe your supervisor’s profile.

How could they improve on their profile?

328 | ORCID: A MUST HAVE PROFILE

What other information could they add to make

their profile more comprehensive?
 CHOOSING YOUR RESEARCHER PROFILES | 329

CHOOSING YOUR
RESEARCHER PROFILES

There is a range of
researcher profiles available,
but which are best for you?

It is highly
recommended that
RMIT researchers
have an ORCID iD.
Please see the
section ORCID: a
must have profile for
more details.
Photo by Alex Azabache on Unsplash

Beyond having an ORCID profile it can be confusing to

decide which researcher profiles to use. Some considerations
you might make include:
The purpose. Think about what you want from your
profile. Are you using it to display your research outputs,
calculate citations, network and share your work with other
330 | CHOOSING YOUR RESEARCHER PROFILES

researchers, identify collaborators or funding? If so, it may be

worth maintaining a profile with Scopus or Web of Science
(check if these index your papers first). For others it may be
enough to have a Google Scholar Profile.
Which profiles are relevant? How are other researchers
in your discipline using their profiles – which are the best for
your discipline?
Consider how many profiles you can regularly
maintain. Don’t feel compelled to have all profiles! All profiles
require significant time to maintain.

Scopus Author ID
Scopus is a comprehensive bibliographic database that
provides impact metrics for documents and authors, and
enables the tracking of research over time. Your Scopus
Author ID is created automatically when your first
publication is indexed in the Scopus database. It allows you to
see a list of your publications and view citation metrics. You
can also link your Scopus Author ID to your ORCID profile.

Web of Science Researcher

Profile
Web of Science is another major citation database that
 CHOOSING YOUR RESEARCHER PROFILES | 331

provides citation metrics for research publications and

authors. A Web of Science Researcher Profile allows you to
claim and showcase your publications, and once created, the
profile will assign a unique identifier known as the
ResearcherID. The profile allows you to display and manage
your affiliation, manage your publications, track citations and
create citation reports, as well as display editing and peer
review work for journals.

Google Scholar Profile

Google Scholar is one of
the major tools used to
discover research
publications. Setting up a
Google Scholar Profile for
yourself will make your
Photo by Mitchell Luo on Unsplash
publications easy to find.
Google Scholar Citations
allows you to create a profile and attach all of your Google
Scholar publications and citations. It can also calculate your h-
index and i10-index.
You can choose to make your profile public, so that it
appears in Google Scholar results when people search for your
name.
332 | CHOOSING YOUR RESEARCHER PROFILES

Comparing profiles
This table outlines some of the main features you may wish
to consider when deciding which researcher profile you would
like to use.
 CHOOSING YOUR RESEARCHER PROFILES | 333

Researcher profiles comparison

table

Google Web of
ORCID Scopus
Scholar Science

Only those
Only those Only those
publications
publications publications
Publication list Yes discoverable
included in included in
by Google
the database the database
Scholar
Non-Traditional
Research
Yes No No No
Outputs
(NTROs)
Citation metrics No Yes Yes Yes

Altmetrics No No Some No
Citation reports No No Yes Yes
Link with other Yes Yes
Yes No
profiles (ORCID) (ORCID)
Biography,
affiliation, Affiliation Affiliation
Yes Yes
research only only
interests
Awarded grants, Some
invited Yes No awarded No
positions grants
Link with
publishers and Yes No No No
funding bodies
334 | CHOOSING YOUR RESEARCHER PROFILES

Test your knowledge

An interactive H5P element has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view it online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=2268#h5p-37
 BUILDING YOUR RESEARCHER PROFILES | 335

BUILDING YOUR
RESEARCHER PROFILES

Register for an ORCID iD

Create your ORCID iD
at the ORCID website.
Complete the required
fields: name, primary email
and password.
Choose a visibility setting
for your ORCID profile,
either public, limited or
private. The default setting
is public. You might,
however, choose to change
this to private until you have
completed all of your profile
Photo by @charlybron on Unsplash
details, such as employment
and education, and added
your citations.
Then link your ORCID with RMIT. To do this:
336 | BUILDING YOUR RESEARCHER PROFILES

1. Access Elements to link your ORCID to RMIT

2. Go to your RMIT Elements staff profile by visiting
Elements.
3. In the My Actions area in your account, there will be an
option to either Add your ORCID iD if it isn’t already
attached to your account OR to Connect your
ORCID iD if it is already visible in your account.
4. These options will prompt you to either login to your
existing ORCID account or if you don’t already have an
ORCID iD, to register and create one.
5. When prompted you will need to Authorise Access for
RMIT Elements to have access to your ORCID record.
6. You can then also manage the Automatic claiming
permissions between the two accounts via your Elements
account.

Check to see if you have a

Scopus Author ID
Go to Scopus (login required).
Do an Author Search on your name and your affiliation
e.g. RMIT University. It may also be worth searching with
previous affiliations. Did you find a record for yourself?
Make a note of your Author ID so that you can add this to
your ORCID profile.
You can also get citation alerts and request corrections of
 BUILDING YOUR RESEARCHER PROFILES | 337

your details in Scopus using this ID number. Further

information on how to make corrections to your Scopus
Author ID can be found in this blog post.

Register for a Web of Science

Researcher Profile
First, to create a Web of Science Researcher Profile you will
need to register for a Web of Science account at
webofscience.com. Use your RMIT email address to create the
account and add an additional email address in the account
settings.
After logging in to your Web of Science account, select the
‘Researcher Profile’ link on the left side navigation panel. This
will display your researcher profile information, and will allow
you to claim and add publications, link with ORCID, create
citation reports and manage your peer review activity.
Further information on how to make changes to your
researcher profile can be found at the Web of Science help
page.

Create a Google Scholar

Profile
1. Go to Google Scholar Citations and sign in with your
338 | BUILDING YOUR RESEARCHER PROFILES

private email account details. Google recommends

that you use a private email address when creating your
profile. That way, your profile can travel with you if you
leave RMIT.
2. Enter your name and your affiliation (i.e. RMIT
University). Make sure you enter your RMIT email
address in the email verification field. This will
ensure that your profile is eligible for inclusion in search
results. If you do move university you can easily update
this address.
3. On the next page, add your publications to your profile.
4. Choose to have either automatic updates applied to your
profile or to review them beforehand.
5. When satisfied with the results, make your profile
public.

For more information see the Google Scholar Citations help

page.
 CONNECTING EVERYTHING WITH ORCID | 339

CONNECTING
EVERYTHING WITH
ORCID

Connecting Scopus Author ID

and ORCID
You can connect your
Scopus Author ID to your
ORCID so that your profile
will be automatically
updated with new
publications.
Connecting Scopus Photo by Vincent Guth on Unsplash
Author ID and ORCID can
be done either in ORCID or in Scopus. You can choose either
of the following options to link Scopus Author ID and
ORCID.
340 | CONNECTING EVERYTHING WITH ORCID

Option 1: Link Scopus Author ID

from your ORCID profile
1. Login to ORCID.
2. In your ORCID record, go to the Works section, ‘Add
works’ and ‘Search & link.’
3. Select Scopus Elsevier from the list and authorise.
4. Follow steps to associate your Scopus Author ID and
works with ORCID.

Option 2: Link ORCID from your

Scopus Author ID
1. Go to Scopus Author search (login required).
2. Search by your name and RMIT University in the
Affiliation field.
3. Click on your name in the results list to open your
profile page. (Note you won’t find an an Author ID if
you don’t have works already indexed by Scopus).
4. If you do have Author ID, Click on ‘Add to ORCID’ on
the right-hand panel.
5. Follow the steps to associate your Scopus Author ID
with your ORCID profile.

Connecting Web of Science

 CONNECTING EVERYTHING WITH ORCID | 341

Researcher Profile with

ORCID
You might have associated your Web of Science Researcher
Profile with ORCID when you set it up. If not, you can do
this at any point.
Note: that before you can do this your ORCID profile needs
to be set to ‘public’.

Connect Researcher Profile with

ORCID
1. Log in to your Web of Science account.
2. Go to ‘Profile Settings’ (located top right of screen under
your name drop-down).
3. Select the ‘ORCID Syncing’ tab.
4. Select the ‘Connect your ORCID ID’ button to link
both profiles.
5. Next, sign in to ORCID.
6. Confirm your sign in details and select the ‘Authorize
access’ button.
7. This process will revert to the Web of Science profile
settings menu and display your linked ORCID iD – you
can toggle syncing and permission settings between
profiles.
8. Publications imported from ORCID will now display
342 | CONNECTING EVERYTHING WITH ORCID

on the main Researcher Profile page and on the ‘My

publication records’ page (access via the ‘+ Add
publications’ button).

Enable syncing between Web of

Science and ORCID
• In the Web of Science Researcher Profile menu, select
‘Edit’ next to your name.
• Select the ‘ORCID Syncing’ tab and choose the options
to:
◦ ‘Update ORCID with changes I make in my Web
of Science Researcher Profile’ and
◦ ‘Update my Web of Science Researcher Profile with
changes I make in ORCID’.

Note: If you have undertaken peer reviews, you may want

to select ‘Update ORCID with my peer reviews’.

Adding Google Scholar

citations to ORCID
To add your articles from Google Scholar Citations into
your ORCID profile you will need to create a BibTeX
file in Google Scholar and import this into your ORCID
record.
 CONNECTING EVERYTHING WITH ORCID | 343

Follow these steps:

1. Go to your Google Scholar Citations profile page.
2. Select works to be exported.
3. Click export, select BibTeX and save the file.
4. Go to ORCID, login and go to your record.
5. Click Add Works and select Import BibTeX and select
the file you saved in Google Scholar.
344 | MANAGING YOUR RESEARCHER PROFILES

MANAGING YOUR
RESEARCHER PROFILES

Managing your researcher

profiles will enable you to
effectively track engagement
with your research outputs,
and enable you to
benchmark your
performance against other
Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash
researchers.
Once you have decided
which profiles are suitable, and created and added information
to those profiles, there are a few considerations to keep in
mind.

Time commitment
Maintain your profiles regularly to ensure they are
accurate, current and complete.
 MANAGING YOUR RESEARCHER PROFILES | 345

Risk management
Privacy – only share information you are happy for others to
see.
Copyright and publishing agreements – check that you
only share information that you can legally disclose to others.
Security – review the user agreement of each profile tool
so that you know who accesses your data, how it is stored and
what you can control.

Measuring impact
Citation metrics provided by the following researcher profiles
are one way of measuring impact:

• Scopus Author ID
• Web of Science Researcher Profile
• Google Scholar Profile

These citation tools are limited as no single tool can provide

a comprehensive measurement of research publication impact.
They only gather metrics on the publications that they index.
Citation counts should be used with other qualitative
measures. Altmetrics (alternative metrics) provide insights
into what is being said about research in non-scholarly forums
(e.g. social media). Read more on the Altmetrics library guide.
346 | MANAGING YOUR RESEARCHER PROFILES

Other key profile tools

The module has addressed the most common researcher
profiles: ORCID, Scopus Author ID, Web of Science
Researcher Profile and Google Scholar Profile.
You might consider other profiles tools:

• University profiles: RMIT staff profiles

• Social media: Twitter, LinkedIn, blogs
• Communities: Academia.edu, ResearchGate
• Dissemination: RMIT Research Repository, The
Conversation, your email signature

There is much to consider when using social media. Engaging

with social media enables you to promote and track your
research to a wider audience. The Social Media for Researchers
library guide introduces platforms and provides tips to
maximise social media usage. Relevant university policies and
guidelines, as well as copyright information are included.
 MANAGING YOUR RESEARCHER PROFILES | 347

Which researcher profiles will

you use?

There are many considerations when deciding which

researcher profiles will benefit you. Before creating
any researcher profiles, consider:

• What is the purpose of the researcher profile

and does it suit you?
• Which profiles are the most relevant for your
research discipline?
• How many profiles can you regularly
maintain?
348 | EXPLORE FURTHER

EXPLORE FURTHER

Congratulations on
completing this module. We
have explored some
common tools used to create
author profiles and
identifiers. These allow you
to bring together and link
your research outputs.
The module included
setting up an ORCID iD,
which acts as a universal
identifier, and linking
ORCID to other identifiers
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
such as Scopus Author ID,
Web of Science Researcher
Profile, and your Google Scholar Profile.

Further assistance
Individual assistance – For more assistance in setting up
your researcher profiles contact the Library by submitting a
Request Research Assistance form.
 EXPLORE FURTHER | 349

Library guide – Additional information is available from

the online library guide Researcher Profiles and ORCID.

Learn more
You may also be interested in viewing the webinar recording
Bringing your researcher profiles together with ORCID (46
mins).
The Researcher Capability Development has a suite of
online modules, explore the offerings on Impact.

Feedback
Your comments and suggestions on how we can improve this
module will be appreciated. Please complete our feedback
form.

What’s next?
You have completed this module on Setting Up a Researcher
Profile. You can return to the Research and Writing Hub to
choose another module to complete.
350 | EXPLORE FURTHER
 ARE YOU BEING CITED? | 351

ARE YOU BEING

CITED?
Welcome to this online
module Are you being cited?
The number of times your
work has been cited by other
academics and writers is one
indication of your research
impact. However, there are
other qualitative measures
of the value and impact of
your research. This module
will introduce you to the
traditional and non- Photo by Ralph (Ravi) Kayden on
Unsplash
traditional ways of
measuring research impact.
352 | ARE YOU BEING CITED?

Learning objectives

Completing this module will help you:

• understand the concept of academic research

impact
• become familiar with traditional and non-
traditional measures of impact (i.e. academic
and societal)
• understand how academic research impact
can be measured
• identify and use databases to track
bibliometrics and altmetrics to measure
research impact.

The course materials include information, videos, and learning

activities that explore the tools that you can use to find
quantitative and qualitative measures of your research impact.
This module should take you about 30 minutes to
complete.
Work through each section using the navigation footer
 ARE YOU BEING CITED? | 353

(i.e. previous/next), or use the contents menu to select a

particular section.
Upon completion, please help us improve this module by
taking a moment to complete the feedback form provided.
You may also be interested in viewing the additional
resources about Are you being cited? in the Explore Further
chapter at the end of this module. Provided is a webinar
recorded from the Library’s ‘PhD Up!’ program (now called
Research Plus) along with the associated library guides on
Research metrics and Altmetrics.
354 | ARE YOU BEING CITED?
 WHAT IS RESEARCH IMPACT? | 355

WHAT IS RESEARCH
IMPACT?

Definition
Research impact can be
defined as the contribution
the research makes to a
particular academic field, as
well as the benefits of the
research on individuals,
organisations, and society as
a whole (i.e., non-academic
impact).
In today’s world, it’s
becoming increasingly Photo by Deniz Altindas on Unsplash
important to measure and
describe the real world significance and reach of research.
356 | WHAT IS RESEARCH IMPACT?

The Australian Research Council provides a

definition of research impact as follows:

“Research impact is the contribution that

research makes to the economy, society,
environment or culture, beyond the contribution
to academic research.”

Types of research impact

In categorising the types of research impact consider who
benefitsand how.
The University College Dublin outlined in their Research
Impact Toolkit that impact may be categorised as academic
impact (the contribution the research makes to academia), as
well as societal and economic impact (the contribution the
research makes to society and the economy, and the benefit to
individuals, organisations and nations).

An interactive H5P element has been

 WHAT IS RESEARCH IMPACT? | 357

excluded from this version of the text. You

can view it online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=2723#h5p-40

The text from the defining impact image from “What is impact” is used with
permission from University College Dublin. The text from this menu is under
copyright from the University College Dublin and is not to be reproduced
without permission.

How is research impact

measured?
Research metrics are numerical measures used to assess the
quality and the impact of research. There are two main types
of metrics:

1. Bibliometrics – Traditionally, research impact has been

measured using bibliometrics. Bibliometrics are
quantitative measures providing a statistical analysis of
outputs and include citation counts, h-index, and
journal impact factor. They support the traditional
written output.
2. Altmetrics – are qualitative measures that track
358 | WHAT IS RESEARCH IMPACT?

mentions of academic research outputs – including non-

traditional research outputs such as reports, creative
works and The Conversation articles – in a range of
resources such as social media, patents, policy papers,
and news stories. Altmetrics can offer a more
comprehensive view of research impact beyond
traditional bibliometrics.

How is research impact used?

Research impact can be used in several ways, including:

1. Institutions use research impact measures, including

bibliometrics, to show their research contribution.
2. Funding bodies may use impact measures when assessing
grant applications.
3. Individuals can be assessed by their research impact in
situations such as recruitment, promotion and grant
applications.

Watch the following video to find out more about the broader
context of research impact and why it’s important.
Research impact – University of Leicester (2:08 mins)
 WHAT IS RESEARCH IMPACT? | 359

One or more interactive elements has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view them online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=2723#oembed-1

Research impact (2:08 min) by the University of Leicester (YouTube)

Reflection

Take a moment and consider how your research has

impacted in academia and in non-academic circles.

• What has been the contribution in a field of

study?
• How has the new knowledge been adopted
and adapted to inform further research and
understanding?
360 | WHAT IS RESEARCH IMPACT?

• What has been the societal impact of the

research?
• Has it informed policy and practices?
• What contribution has the research had on
the economy and technological
advancements?
• How has it impacted individuals,
organisations and all nations?
 ABOUT BIBLIOMETRICS | 361

ABOUT BIBLIOMETRICS

What are bibliometrics?

Bibliometrics measure
academic impact by
focusing on scholarly
citation analysis within the
scholarly literature.
Bibliometrics are
quantitative research
impact assessment tools that Photo by sylvie charron on Unsplash
use citation data to indicate
the likely contribution a paper or author is making to the
advancement of knowledge in a particular area.
In contrast, altmetrics aim to provide qualitative analysis
of research by analyzing the attention papers and other works
are receiving in the broader, non-scholarly world, thereby
indicating the contribution of the research to public policy,
real world problems and other societal issues. Explore the
‘About Altmetrics’ section of this module to learn more.
362 | ABOUT BIBLIOMETRICS

Citation data can be located using scholarly

databases such as Scopus or Web of
Science, and research analysis tools such as
SciVal and InCites. These databases and
tools allow you to track and analyse
citations by:

• Identifying who is citing your work.

• Listing the number of times your
publication has been cited in later
publications.
• Placing the citation count in context
within a field – e.g., using measures such
as Field Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI).
• Providing other measures of your impact
such as the author h-index.

Watch this video to gain an overview of bibliometrics.

Bibliometrics in under 2 minutes (1:36 mins)

One or more interactive elements has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
 ABOUT BIBLIOMETRICS | 363

can view them online here:

https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=2798#oembed-1

Bibliometrics in under 2 minutes (1:36 min) by Leeds University Library

(YouTube)

Why use bibliometrics?

An interactive H5P element has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view it online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=2798#h5p-48
364 | ABOUT BIBLIOMETRICS

Bibliometrics advantages and

limitations
 ABOUT BIBLIOMETRICS | 365

Advantages

Compared to altmetrics which can be difficult

Simple and
to collect and analyse, bibliometrics have been
straightforward
standardised to be quick and easy to produce.

Results can be reproduced using the

Transparency
standardised methods.

Field-normalised metrics such as the

Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) used by
Scopus and SciVal, or the Category Normalised
Comparison Citation Impact (CNCI) used by Web of
Science and InCites, can be used to measure the
impact of a journal article within the research
discipline.
As a quantitative analysis tool, bibliometrics are
broadly accepted as a relatively objective measure
of academic impact since they demonstrate that
Reliability other researchers have read and made use of your
work. Additionally, the peer-reviewed scholarly
environment in which they occur provides a
degree of regulation.
Well established with data going back many
Time span years – for example, the Web of Science
databases indexes scholarly literature from 1900.
Bibliometrics application extends from analysis
of large data sets for institutional purposes to
Scalable
micro-level analysis of a single researcher’s
output.
Bibiometrics work in concert. Combining an
article’s metrics with metric data on the author,
Interconnected
and the journal, can give an indication of the
likely quality of the article.
Limitations
366 | ABOUT BIBLIOMETRICS

There are timeliness issues around

demonstrating scholarly influence since citations
take a while to accumulate. Other researchers
Time lag
may read the paper promptly, but it takes time
for them to make use of the research, write a
paper, and get the paper published.
Bibliometrics inevitably involve a bias towards
older papers. Older papers tend to be more
highly cited than more recent papers because
they have had more time to collect citations.
Bias Because of this, there is also an inherent bias
towards more established researchers.
Field-normalised metrics (FWCI and CNCI)
factor in the publication date when formulating
the metric.
Bibliometrics can fail to reflect high quality
work published in very specialised journals.
Specialisation Research that is of relevance to only one country
will also not be accurately measured by the basic
metrics.
 ABOUT BIBLIOMETRICS | 367

Referencing patterns vary across disciplines with

some fields having a higher rate of publication
and citation.

Disciplines in STEM are comprised of research

groups rather than individual researchers, and
the members of the group naturally reference
the work of their colleagues in the group. Basic
research will also have a higher rate of citation as
Referencing
it is referenced both within the field and by
patterns
relevant applied research fields (e.g. both
biochemistry and medicine).

Other fields, such as the humanities, social

sciences, art and design, have different
publishing patterns and may not attract many
citations. The problem is exacerbated in very
specialised fields with few researchers.

The H index, which requires high productivity

Algorithm in addition to impact, may not reflect the impact
limitations of seminal work by a key author who has
relatively few outputs.
Research outputs such as books, book chapters,
Publication reports and creative works are not covered well
format by scholarly/citation databases which have a
strong focus on journal articles.
Bibliometrics measure the impact of researchers
and outputs on further research, but it is not
easy to quantify the nature of that impact.

A possible problem may include a paper

Purpose
receiving many citations for negative reasons,
although this would be rare. More commonly,
papers citing review articles and methods papers
which are unlikely to be central to the exact
topic under discussion.
368 | ABOUT BIBLIOMETRICS

Test your knowledge

An interactive H5P element has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view it online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=2798#h5p-50
 USING BIBLIOMETRICS | 369

USING BIBLIOMETRICS

Scholarly databases such

as Scopus, Web of Science
and Google Scholar, as well
as research analytics tools
such as SciVal and InCites
can be usedto track
bibliometrics to measure Photo by Ashley Batz on Unsplash
academic impact.
No single source covers the entirety of your research
outputs, so it’s advisable to use more than one when doing
citation analysis.
The databases listed below can all be accessed through the
RMIT University Library website. They are also linked on the
Research Metrics library guide.
370 | USING BIBLIOMETRICS

Bibliometrics: which database to

use?
 USING BIBLIOMETRICS | 371

Metric
Description Database
name

The citation count is an article-level

metric that measures the number of
times a publication (usually a journal
article or conference paper) has been
cited in later publications.
Scopus
There are a number of issues to Web of
Citation
consider with regard to citation counts. Science
count
A high count isn’t always an indicator Google
of quality. Some publications are cited Scholar
because they are examples of poor
research, are controversial or are
rejoinders to more prominent works.
Citations may also result from an
author citing their own work.

The h-index is an author-level metric

designed to measure the impact and
productivity of a researcher. The Scopus
h-index is calculated by the number of Web of
h-index papers from an individual’s publication Science
list to have at least the same number of Google
citations. If a researcher has an h-index Scholar
of 5 then they have at least 5
publications with 5 or more citations.

Citation databases allow you to

aggregate your output data into a
citation report to demonstrate your
impact within the academic literature. Scopus
Citation
Statistics provided include: number of Web of
report
items published in each year; number of Science
citations in each year; average citations
per item; citation count per item; and,
author h-index.
372 | USING BIBLIOMETRICS

Metric
Description Database
name

FWCI is a metric available in Scopus

and SciVal. The FWCI is a
field-normalised metric that can be
applied to an individual publication or
Field
group of publications and aims to
Weighted
compare the citations received by a
Citation SciVal
publication or group of publications
Impact
with the average number of citations
(FWCI)
received by all other similar publications
from the same research field. Also, the
FWCI is available for article level
metrics in Scopus.
CNCI is a metric available in InCites,
which analyses publication and citation
Category
data from the Web of Science database.
Normalised
The CNCI is similar to the
Citation InCites
field-weighted citation impact, and
Impact
benchmarks the impact of an article or
(CNCI)
group of articles in a particular subject
area.

Scopus, Web of Science and

Google Scholar
Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar are citation
databases that enable measurement of your h-index and
citation counts.
 USING BIBLIOMETRICS | 373

Scopus
Scopus is a comprehensive scientific, medical, technical and
social science database produced by Elsevier. Access the Scopus
database (login required) to find your h-index, citation counts,
and some altmetrics.

• video: Search for an author and view their profile

tutorial
• video: How to assess an author’s impact tutorial
• guide: Scopus quick reference guide

Web of Science
The Web of Science database is a selective citation index of
scholarly publishing covering the most prestigious, high
impact research publications in the world. Access the Web
of Science database (login required) to find your h-index and
citation count.

• video: Create citation reports in Web of Science

• guide: Web of Science training resources

Google Scholar
Google Scholar comprehensively indexes publications on the
374 | USING BIBLIOMETRICS

web including non-peer-review conferences and other

publications. Google Scholar enables researchers to create a
profile for themselves once they have publications appearing in
the database. This profile allows for an author’s publications
to be linked to their profile and displays the author’s h-index
and citation counts. Access Google Scholar (login required) to
search for a paper’s citation count or to find an author’s h-
index.

• video: Show your research impact with a Google Scholar

profile
• guide: Google Scholar profiles

Activity

Google Scholar Activity

Access Google Scholar and search for one of your

own papers or perhaps a colleague’s or supervisor’s.

Note the citation count. You can see an example of

what you are looking for below.
 USING BIBLIOMETRICS | 375

Image: Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of

Google LLC, used with permission.

Web of Science Activity

Now search for the same paper in Web of Science

(login required). Compare the Web of Science
citation count to that in Google Scholar. Does Web
of Science have the same or similar citation count? If
different, why might that be?

SciVal and InCites

For a deeper analysis and benchmarking of measures of impact
SciVal and InCites are recommended.
376 | USING BIBLIOMETRICS

SciVal
SciVal is a research analytics tool that can be used to analyse
publication and citation data from Scopus.
Access SciVal (login required) to discover your Field-
Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) and more.

• video: SciVal Metrics Guidebook Webinar (55:40 mins)

• guide: Introduction to SciVal
• guide: Research Metrics Guidebook

InCites
InCites is a citation-based evaluation tool that draws its data
from the Web of Science database. InCites can provide an
analysis of a researcher’s work and benchmark output in a
field. Access InCites (login required) to discover your CNCI
and more.

• video: InCites Essentials (73 mins)

• guide: InCites Benchmarking and Analytics
• guide: InCites Benchmarking & Analytics: Learn the
Basics
 USING BIBLIOMETRICS | 377

More information about benchmarking your

research is provided in the next chapter.

Research evidence for grants and promotion

is a library ‘how to’ guide on information
and tools for describing and capturing
evidence of research outputs.

Finally, explore potential issues around relying purely on

bibliometrics by watching the following video.
‘I am very troubled by the importance of impact
factors’ Brian Kobilka, Nobel Laureate (1:50 min)

One or more interactive elements has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view them online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=3835#oembed-1

“I am very troubled by the importance of impact factors” Brian Kobilka,

Nobel Laureate (1:50 min) by NobelPrizeII (YouTube)
378 | BENCHMARKING YOUR RESEARCH

BENCHMARKING YOUR
RESEARCH

Why benchmark
Benchmarking your
research performance
against other comparable
individuals, institutions,
and research centers, can be
another method of
demonstrating the impact
and engagement of your
research. This approach can
be useful when applying for
grant funding or career
advancement. Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
The Library guide
Research evidence for grants and promotion is a ‘how to’ guide
on information and tools for describing and capturing
evidence of research outputs.
 BENCHMARKING YOUR RESEARCH | 379

Using proprietary tools

The two main bibliometric tools that can be used for
benchmarking are SciVal and InCites. SciVal’s data is sourced
from Elsevier’s Scopus database, whilst InCite’s data is sourced
from Clarivate’s Web of Science database.

SciVal
Access SciVal (login required). Note: that an Elsevier account is
required to access this resource.
Watch the following video to learn more about using SciVal
to benchmark your research performance.
Benchmarking in SciVal (1:53 mins)

One or more interactive elements has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view them online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=2879#oembed-1

Benchmarking in SciVal (1:53 mins.) by Ana Ranitovic (YouTube)

380 | BENCHMARKING YOUR RESEARCH

InCites
Access InCites (login required). Note: create an account using
your RMIT email.
Watch the following video to learn more about using Incites
to benchmark your research performance.
InCites Benchmarking & Analytics: Quick Tour (4:53
mins)

One or more interactive elements has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view them online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=2879#oembed-2

InCites Benchmarking & Analytics: Quick Tour (4:53 mins) by Web of

Science Training (YouTube)
 ABOUT ALTMETRICS | 381

ABOUT ALTMETRICS

What are altmetrics?

Altmetrics, or alternative
metrics, are qualitative
measures that provide
insights into what is being
said about research in non-
academic environments.
Altmetrics aim to
demonstratehow research is
being used to create public
policy and solve real-world
problems.
Altmetrics demonstrate
the kind of attention
Photo by sanjoy saha on Unsplash
research has received in
sources such as social media,
online news sources, blogs, policy papers, patentsand other
non-academic sources. Altmetrics can be used to demonstrate
your broader impact as a researcher and to provide evidence of
social impact and engagement.
382 | ABOUT ALTMETRICS

Outputs that have a persistent identifier, such as a DOI,

ISBN, etc., can be tracked by altmetrics.
Altmetrics provides you with real time information on the
attention being given to your research outputs.
On the other hand, bibliometrics are traditional
quantitative measures of citations that take time to accrue and
measure the reach of the work. Explore the ‘About
Bibliometrics’ section of this module to learn about
Bibliometrics.

Altmetrics may include information about:

• the number of article or data citations,

views or downloads in an institutional /
preprint repository
• who has shared your work on social media
(e.g., Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook) and the
potential reach of their audience
• mentions in online news sources
• citations in patents
• mentions in blog posts from individuals
and organisations
• citations in policy documents.

Watch the following video to learn more about altmetrics.

 ABOUT ALTMETRICS | 383

What are altmetrics? (4 mins)

One or more interactive elements has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view them online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=2802#oembed-1

What are ‘altmetrics’? (4:00 min) by Altmetric.com (YouTube)

Why use altmetrics?

An interactive H5P element has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view it online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=2802#h5p-34
384 | ABOUT ALTMETRICS

Altmetrics advantages and

limitations
 ABOUT ALTMETRICS | 385

Advantages

Altmetric scores can begin to accrue immediately

as you publicise your research. This is particularly
Speed
useful for those whose bibliometrics citations
may not have accumulated.

Altmetrics provides data on many types of

outputs, not just scholarly articles, including
Range
datasets, software or code, conference
presentations, book chapters and reports.
Altmetrics provides detail on who is engaging
with research outputs and what they are saying
Detail and where they are saying it. Altmetrics use many
indicators, not just citations, to give a full picture
of research impact.

Altmetrics can surface non-academic discussion

of your work and track the public conversation as
Non-academic
it happens. People may mention the research but
not actually cite it.

Altmetrics encourages sharing of research

outputs with the academic and broader
Sharing
community as researchers are keen to promote
conversation about their research.

Limitations
Altmetrics is unregulated and may be
Unregulated
manipulated or gamed easily.

Public conversation measured by altmetrics is not

Reliability
necessarily indicative of research quality.

Altmetrics can be difficult to collect, for example

Difficulty bloggers or tweeters may not use unique
identifiers for articles.

Altmetrics may lack broad acceptance by

Acceptance
academic communities or funding bodies.
386 | ABOUT ALTMETRICS

Use of online tools may differ by discipline,

Context geographic region, and over time, making
altmetrics difficult to interpret.

Test your knowledge

An interactive H5P element has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view it online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=2802#h5p-35
 USING ALTMETRICS | 387

USING ALTMETRICS

Altmetric Explorerand
PlumX are aggregator tools
that can be used to navigate
altmetrics.
In addition, altmetrics are
available from journal
websites and open access Photo by v2osk on Unsplash
resources such as
repositories. Note: the RMIT Research Repository draws data
from Altmetric.com.

About Altmetric Explorer

Altmetric Explorer tracks where published research is
mentioned online by following lists of sources, including social
media, news sources, government and non-government
reports, blogs, Wikipedia, policy documents etc., and text-
mines them for links to research.
The research outputs that Altmetric Explorer tracks include
not just scholarly publications, but also datasets, code and
non-traditional research outputs (NTROs) including news
388 | USING ALTMETRICS

media, policy documents, posters, creative practice outputs,

websites and more.

To be tracked by Altmetric Explorer you need

four things:

1. a research output
2. that has a unique identifier
3. and is mentioned in a
source Altmetric tracks
4. including a hyperlink back to the original
research output

The Altmetric
doughnut
The multi-coloured
Altmetric doughnut
represents the volume and
source of online attention.
The colours of the “Altmetric rgb (crop)” by Altmetric is
doughnut represent licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
the sources of online
mentions. For example, blog posts are yellow, Twitter is blue
 USING ALTMETRICS | 389

and policy documents are purple. The amount of each colour

changes depending on which kinds of sources make up the
mentions.
The number that appears in the middle of the doughnut
is the Altmetric Attention Score, a product of the number of
mentions and the quality of the mentions sources. For
example, a mention in online news media scores higher than
a Reddit post.

Watch this video to find out more about Altmetric Explorer.

Altmetric Explorer for Institutions Introductory
Tutorial (5:06 min)

One or more interactive elements has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view them online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=2804#oembed-1

Altmetric Explorer for Institutions Introductory Tutorial (5:06 min) by

Altmetric YouTube Channel (YouTube)
390 | USING ALTMETRICS

Accessing Altmetric Explorer

Access Altmetric Explorer (login required). Note: create an
account with your RMIT email.
Once logged in, the default page will display the full
database but you can toggle and select ‘edit search’ to access
Advanced Search and then select ‘My institution only’ for
RMIT University research outputs only.

Search

Quick search option is available, but the Advanced search

provides many options such as keyword, title of output,
ORCID, DOI, and more.
After searching, results will be broken down into highlights,
research outputs, timeline, demographics, mentions, and
journals.
Attention breakdown includes social media, news and
blogs, policy and patents, academic sources and other sources.
You can use the saved searches icon to share searches with
others and email the reports to yourself.

Details page

Selecting the ‘doughnut’ will take you to the Altmetric details

page, giving you access to the attention received by this output.
 USING ALTMETRICS | 391

The Attention Score gives an overview of the attention that

any particular output has received.
Tabs across the top will give you a feed of mentions by
mention type. You can set up an alert for new mentions.
‘Attention score in context’ benchmarks the paper against
other mentions.

Create shareable reports

You can create a report to share, either as a static PDF or

as a dynamic link which is usable even by people without
subscription access to Altmetric Explorer. If you share your
report via a link the data is live and will update automatically
to reflect changes. Instructions are available on the Altmetrics
library guide.
392 | USING ALTMETRICS

About PlumX
PlumX is altmetrics
displayed in databases such
as Scopus, Science Direct
and EbscoHost. PlumX
offers item (article) level
metrics that includes
traditional citation metrics
as well as metrics on the way
people interact with the
individual research outputs.
PlumX gathers metrics from
many different online
research outputs that are
Photo by Jelleke Vanooteghem on
categorised into the Unsplash
following five areas:
Citations – contains traditional citation indexes such as
Scopus, as well as citations indicating societal impact.
Examples: citation indexes, patent citations, clinical citations,
policy citations.
Usage – Signals how people may be using the research.
Examples: clicks, downloads, views, library holdings, video
plays.
Captures – This work may attract future citations.
Examples: bookmarks, favourites, readers, watchers.
Mentions – Measurement of activities such as news articles
 USING ALTMETRICS | 393

or blog posts, showing how people have engaged with the

research. Examples: blog posts, comments, reviews, Wikipedia
references, news media.
Social media – Social media measures the attention. It
is also a good indication of how well the research has been
promoted. Examples: shares, likes, comments, tweets.

Activity

Explore the different sources presenting altmetrics

for the following article:
Ionic imbalance induced self-propulsion of liquid
metals.

Where has the article been mentioned and received

attention?

• Journal website
• Scopus database (login required)
• Altmetric Explorer database (login required)
• RMIT Research Repository
394 | USING ALTMETRICS

Tips to improve your

altmetrics

An interactive H5P element has been

excluded from this version of the text. You
can view it online here:
https://rmit.pressbooks.pub/
researchwritingmodules/?p=2804#h5p-36
 EXPLORE FURTHER | 395

EXPLORE FURTHER

Congratulations on
completing this module. We
have explored concepts
around academic research
impact, and hopefully you
are now familiar with the Photo by Kier… in Sight on Unsplash
bibliometric and altmetric
measures of research impact and the tools available to gauge
these measures.

Further assistance
Individual assistance – For more assistance with research
metrics contact the library by submitting a Request Research
Assistance form.
There are a number of useful library guides, including:

• Research metrics
• Altmetrics
• Research evidence for grants and promotion
396 | EXPLORE FURTHER

Learn more
You may also be interested in viewing the following webinar
Are you being cited? (55 mins) recorded from the Library’s
PhD Up! program (now called Research Plus). The webinar
content complements this online module.
The International Association of University Libraries
(IATUL) has produced a self-paced training program IATUL
Research Impact Things with the aim to equip learners with
the skills and knowledge required to engage in the use of a
range of metrics around research impact and
gain understanding of the research landscape.
The Researcher Capability Development has a suite of
online modules, explore the offerings on Impact.

Feedback
Your comments and suggestions on how we can improve this
module will be appreciated. Please complete our feedback
form.

What’s next?
You have completed this module on Are you being cited? You
can return to the Research and Writing Hub to choose
another module to complete.