This document discusses literature reviews as an important part of the research process in architecture. It begins by defining a literature review as a survey of sources that produces more lasting and widely useful knowledge. It then outlines the main components and purposes of conducting a literature review, including exploring existing knowledge on a topic, identifying gaps, and situating a research question within a body of literature. The document also compares annotated bibliographies to literature reviews and discusses organizing, taking notes, and retrieving information found during the review process.
3. Introduction
• Knowledge we already possess New information
• Literature Review (LR):
– A survey of various sources to produce knowledge that
is more lasting and has more widespread usefulness.
– A very important part of the research process
– Not only at the beginning of the process but throughout
it.
4. Introduction
Information from research:
• Address a specific topic Summarized in several sentences)
• Find its place in larger domain of relevant literature
(community of people)
• Should be able to stand on its own
5. Research Cyclical Process
• A research must be informed about existing literature.
• The outcome will expand that body of literature.
6. 3.1.1. LR as an Exploratory System
• LR:
– A body of information existing in a wide varity of
stored formats
– Has conceptual relevance for a particular topic of
inquiry.
– Activities to use that body of information to define and
address a topic of inquiry.
7. 3.1.1. LR as an Exploratory System
• Important issues:
– Key sources
– Key theories
– Major issues and databases
– Epistemological* and ontological** grounds
– Main questions and problems
* Epistemological - is the branch of philosophy concerned with the
nature and scope of knowledge.
** Ontological - is the philosophical study of the nature
of being, existence, or reality.
8. 3.1.2. Annotated Bibliography vs LR
• Annotated Bibliography:
– Listing of references obtained from searching a field’s
literature
– Respond to each reference cited with a descriptive
paragraph: Goals, Theoretical stance, Relevance for
the investigation.
9. 3.1.2. Annotated Bibliography vs LR
• Annotated Bibliography:
– Listing of references obtained from searching a field’s
literature
– Respond to each reference cited with a descriptive
paragraph: Goals, Theoretical stance, Relevance for
the investigation.
10. 3.1.2. Annotated Bibliography vs LR
• Annotated Bibliography:
– Listing of references obtained from searching a field’s
literature
– Respond to each reference cited with a descriptive
paragraph: Goals, Theoretical stance, Relevance for
the investigation.
11. 3.1.2. Annotated Bibliography vs LR
• From Annotated Bibliography TO Literature Review
– Introductory statement
– Summary of the lines of existing research (grouped)
– Observations on the state of literature: Expand –
Covered – Arguments - …
13. 3.1.4. LR for Designers vs LR for
Researcher
Design Research
Aim Empirical object Explanatory conceptual
Particular place and Beyond place and time
time
Use Pragmatic - Connect topic f inquiry –
Typological - Facts for Theoretical –
normative action Philosophical –
Epistemological -
Methodolical
Outcome Loose connection – Connections –
Designed object – Explanatory – Relates to
Without reference to a body of literature
larger literature
14. 3.2. Uses of LR
• To identify the research question:
– Emerge from analyzing, criticizing and suggesting
improvements to an existing work.
– Comparison of literature.
– Existing Theory
– Testing Theory
– Expansion of concept or Theory
• Mining the Literature to develop
a research question
15. 3.2. Uses of LR
• Research Creativity:
– Derive new implications from existing position
– Critique past stances from an awareness of present
positions
– Project future conditions based upon learned
premises.
16. 3.2. Uses of LR
• To Focus the topic of inquiry:
– Topic should not be:
• Too general
• Too broad
• Too restrictive
• To Understand the Makeup of the Research Question
– Back-and-forth between Literature and Research
– Restate the topic several times
17. 3.2. Uses of LR
• To Understand an Idea’s Generic Roots
– Historical lineage
– Family tree
– Network
– Grow the tree
18. 3.2. Uses of LR
• To Understand the Current Conceptual Landscape
– Contemporary context
– Current points of view
• Competing
• Opposing
• Nuanced (slight degree of difference)
– Intellectual agenda (buzz-words)
• Sustainability
• Deconstruction
• Transdisciplinary
19. 3.3. General Topics
• Facts and Ideas
– Fact: Agreement – Quantifiable and certifiable -
– Idea: Inference or hypothesis (newspapers,
letters, material objects, historical studies, …)
• Primary and secondary Sources
– Primary: Original
– Secondary: A source can be primary or secondary
• Methodology by Theory and by Application
– Describe methodology
– Apply methodology
20. 3.4. Specific Tactics
1. Knowing where the resources are
2. Having an organizing and retrieving system
3. Motivation and imagination
21. 3.4.1. Where to go: Resources
• Internet
• Library
• Archives
• Organizations
• Agencies
• Media
22. 3.4.1. Where to go: Resources
• Internet
– Search Engines
– Specialized Search Engines
• Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Colombia University
– http://library.columbia.edu/indiv/avery/avery_index.html
• Arts and Humanities Search
– http://www.thomsonscientific.com/cgi-
bin/jrnlst/jloptions.cgi?PC=H
23. 3.4.1. Where to go: Resources
• Internet
– Full Text Services
• eJournals
• eBooks
– ProQuest
http://www.proquest.co.uk/en-UK/
– ScienceDirect
http://www.sciencedirect.com/
– NetLibrary
http://www.netlibrary.net/
24. 3.4.1. Where to go: Resources
• Internet
– Library Databases
– Specific Websites
25. 3.4.2. What to do: Organization and
Retrieval
• Locating Borrowing
• Digest the gathered information
• Frame the research report
• Note taking
• Catalog
• Creative imagination
26. 3.4.2. What to do: Organization and
Retrieval
• Note taking
– Systematic way
– Index cards
– Notebook
– Laptop
– Record all of the bibliographic
Information of the source
– Order
– To be retrieved
– Note taking Note organizing
– Creativity and Imagination
27. 3.4.2. What to do: Organization and
Retrieval
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