First attempt for journal paper

Before I continue further, let me start with this.

-Michael Jordan-

Universities nowadays are becoming so concern about ranking. Normally, rank is assessed by the number of published journals affiliated with the university. My university is no different. They spent huge on grants etc and ask (in return) a numbers of journal etc.

Some time last week, I sent a paper to this one very new indexed journal and hope that the paper will be accepted for publication. The following is the editor's reply:

"Thank you for submitting your paper to xxxxx. I read all papers as they
arrive before they are progressing through the system. I think your paper is
not a research paper and and it is not enough of critical evaluation toqualify as a review paper"

The moment I read this, it feels like there's a bomb just exploded in my head. I had just failed. The paper did not even move in the system and it didn't even pass the editor. No need to say more. [motivation at its lowest...]

It continues like this:

"However, I would be happy to send it for review as a "Viewpoint", papers
that are of general interest without being classified as research. They are
searchable  in the same way as research papers. The peer review is slightlydifferent but accepted papers qualify as peer reviewed"

Some relief though.... at least there's a home for it.

Now comes the recommendations:

"If you want your paper as a viewpoint, could you please remove the
inappropriate references to "theory" in the title and text and edit the
English, which is currently not of a publishable standard."

This really caught my attention. How am I going to edit the English? because that was the only English I ever knew.

I am so poor in grammar but what can I do.

But at least the editor had given me a good option. Perhaps I will just edit and send it over again.

"When you have done that, send it to me as an attachment to an email and I'll
send it to referees."

It left me wonder (really..) on my level of English...

Reading pre-departure note

I've lost count on the number of pre-departure note that I should appropriately assigned, so I would just leave it as it is. Perhaps the archive could trace it's number.

I am called to put a note on the whole process leading to this attachment, and even tough I have two more months or so to leave for Reading, this note should summarize the process that have taken place in the last four/five months or so.

Start-up

I am an avid student of UTM I might say. I earned my Msc. here and when its about time to decide for doctorate place, my gut had always say it's probably UTM again. Don't ask me why but UTM had always earn my respects in so many ways, perhaps because I met my wife there <>

It was all started when my sv mentioned about this attachment thing and I was so naive not knowing how to start the whole process. Fortunately, a professor from Reading visited UTM so I was given detail explanation on what should I expected.

The process of getting the invitation letter from the professor took quite a number of months but I am so fortunate that my sv did all the communication. After all I did not know how to speak properly with a pure Englishman because our style of English with so many 'la' in the end has kept him staring at me trying to understand how that 'la' had got to do in the sentences.

The letter and funding

Little I know that for MOHE scholar who'd received all education locally has this attachment facility with overseas institution. I did an enquiry with the personnel in charge and was encouraged to apply for it. Of course, the invitation letter from the overseas institution is the only prerequisite along with support letter from my sv. The rest of the process was more on soft skill, communication etc with the dean and officers in home university and as long these all fulfilled, in sya allah, nothing would meddle in between.

The process at MOHE was one straight forward process. Submit online application, made a few calls to inform them about the application and within less than a month, I finally got the approval. Just to note here that approval was given through the system and again I was so fortunate because the officer in charge did notify me through email on the approval. The email stated that my application was approved for the duration requested with detail funds that will be given for that particular duration. There will be slight adjustment with the amount of the scholarship and with the commitment I've made with the accommodation personnel at Reading, I guess that should be enough to cover the daily expenses. Accommodation cost would consume more than half of the amount given by MOHE. Although I should be able to get much cheaper accommodation, I would rather stick with this as it comes with en suite bathroom and close to the university.

My flight ticket

Got from Emirates for less than 5k. Quite on the high side but that was all I managed to get. This ticket is reimbursable, meaning MOHE will pay for it later.

I am now waiting for the fund to be credited. Hopefully, as it now less than a month before my departure date. I will try to update more on this and wish I could write more when I am physically in the UK.

Till then.



 

It killing

Good morning,

Back with more stuff than usual make me thinks whether this phd things is furthering me up or dragging me down. While correlation equation has made it clear that there is only +1 and -1 relationship so, I guess, gains are at the expense of losing. Do not know whether this [in real life term..] means that I am losing some aspects of my life.

It's true. I am losing my time with my family and I miss catching up my kid's smattering talks. I have tried best to minimize this, but unfortunately this phd had dragged me down even further. See, everybody is enjoying their holiday today while I am stuck in this four walls trying to figure out how I could solve the world's problem. Well, I am not a superhero more powerful than I thought, but this is really stressing.

I got some of these comics, mind you that I am not plagiarizing just some of my thought about the facts that I am enduring right now:

ok that was it. I've wasted 45 minutes on this. Now get back to work!

Back from a month long hibernation

Salam,

I love Ramadhan but it's over now.

Syawal? Great for kids (including my kids) due to duit raya and good food but not for an adult so pokai like me...


- for illustration purposes only

I do not know why, but somehow this is an issue so pressing that I spent this whole morning logging in to all savings that I have just to wonder how am I going to transfer that 9 bucks to my other account. Because IBG now cost only tenth of a buck, I even went to the extent of taking that cost into my calculation and after deducting that cost that would handsomely left me with 8.90 in saving... enough to keep me straight for about 2 days, well of course on plain rice and eggs.

So where did I spent for Raya?

New Raya outfit - RM 0.00 (I've recycled last year's outfit but donned it with a set of button I found inside a box doom for the trash bin)

New shoes - RM 199.00 (Went to JPO with wife and accidentally bumped with this good looking leather shoes at Timberland. The price tag was 312.00/614.00, I did not know which is which but finally the cashier punch in 199.00. Just keep silence, flash my card and go).

Casual shirt - RM 120.00 (for 3 pieces of casual shirts I mean, not a single shirt. Found those in the nook of a popular shopping complex near home with a few size left. Grabbed it).

Food supplies - about RM 400.00 (went home for few buka puasa sessions with family on the weekends and bought my mom some supplies for raya. Nothing much, a pack of 5kg fragrant rice, 3 whole birds etc etc. I did not have cash to hand out to my mom and all these expenses were parked in the credit card. Pathetic indeed T_T"

Duit raya - standard RM 30 x 8 fella = RM 240.00 - No more but probably less since these were given out in a dollar bill. That was what left when you visit the bank 2 days before raya.

Compassionate duit raya - RM 2 x 10 packets - For those lucky one who I think really  deserve my hard earned cash. Still got around RM 10 with me, indicating only few fortunate fellas.

Kids new outfit - Some RM 500.00 - My daughter came back from school and constantly repeat this "I want baju raya" (repeat 20 x daily for a week). I wonder what her teacher has taught her especially the value of raya instead of new baju raya (cry).

Some RM 20.00 - For keeping the kids entertained while mummy brazing the raya crowd, hand picking some outfit left by other shoppers for raya.


- huge gap in my wallet now GAP (for illustration - credit)

So who is actually in raya mood? those with deep pocket of course.

But whatever it was/is, I am so fortunate for having family who are so understanding. My brothers/sisters/wife were so helpful and I was so glad that they help me with my kids. In sha Allah, hope to repay them with whatever I could in the future and hopefully they will forever receive bounty from Allah swt.

So now, let's get back to this research stuff, write and produce something, impress my supervisor with my writing, prepare the progress report, code all responses from the respondents and experience new things later in October in Berks.

Cheers!

Macam pergi je

Are you?

Finally, got the confirmation from accommodation team at Reading. Relief and syukur

I was requested (in advance) to pay a reservation fee of GBP200 to guarantee an accommodation there. The time I went to CIMB, ringgit was at 4.80 something to a pound, so for GBP 200, it was close to a thousand ringgit. Instantly scan and email a copy to Reading and reply was surprisingly fast. Booked a room there and now the flight ticket.

I spent the whole Sunday, trying to figure out the most economical (no need to be fast though!) way to fly from KUL to LHR. Several airlines provide the service, but most will involve transiting in the middle east for a couple of hours before connecting to LHR. I use Skyscanner just to figure out roughly who and how long does it takes to reach LHR from KUL and the first indication suggest that ticket tend to be at it's high side. Sri Lankan still however, offer the cheapest but my gut feeling tell me to reserve this maybe for later.

Qatar, Etihad and Emirates seems competing but I think Emirates faring the best. Return journey on Emirates cost a whopping RM3756 while Etihad and Qatar cost about the same or slightly lower. Emirates operates some A380s in KUL sector but they partnered with Qantas for DXB LHR route. So I guess, I will have to transfer to Qantas at DXB en route to LHR. By the way, I found Expedia fares are a bit lower rather than booking direct at airline's website. No experience though, I heard some difficulty in case of name change whatsoever. Better not to.

Me? Business class? 10 years payback perhaps (credit to owner)

Let's be real, this is where i'm going to ride (credit to owner)

Plan to reward my wife for being very patience with me for all this while so I decided to sponsor her a trip to the UK. But sorry kids, its mom and dad only affairs and both of you are to be grounded at grandma's. We believe both of you will enjoy that as much we will enjoy ourselves there.

Do I need to tell you more?

But, I haven't purchased her the ticket yet. Hopefully there'll be some promotion later towards the end of the year.

Cheers!

  

Pre-departure Note 2 - digging

I am digging for more information now about the accommodation suggested to me in Reading. Two (or three?) estate agents have responded but few lets on short term basis. The only exception is this one, Walmsley, suggested by the University. The only problem is - it took the agent 'years' to respond. I do not know if that is how they work or my email to them took another 'years' to arrive. I sent them another email this morning, hopefully something positive would land in my inbox this afternoon.

Flight to LHR

Next to this, is flight ticket. Shortlisted 3, Emirates, Etihad and Qatar but found Cathay to be RM200 cheaper than Etihad. Qatar is ok and worth the consideration. Anyway I really do not want to spend 3 hours to HK, waiting in transit for 3 to 4 hours, before flying again 13 hours non stop to LHR. That should well 20 hours total journey time and I should be able to reach the ISS if I were to board NASA's Discovery.

Why not MAS? 

MAS goes for an average 4000 MYR return with good and exceptional service. By far, MAS rank (in term of ticket cost..) first, followed by those from the middle east. SIA? I haven't check on them, but quite unlikely they will offer good bargain. KLM? Heard folks saying having to check in luggage for the second time in AMS. What else? Sri Lankan, could get less than 3000 MYR but of course transiting in Colombo. Perhaps staying loyal to MAS would do, I don't know - God please help me!

[anybody has any experience with Reading please help me]

Pre-departure Note 1

Pre-departure note 1: Reading's stuff etc

It was a very tiring week last week. First, I was caught with flu, fever and all you can name it. Went to meet a doctor and was prescribed with paracetamol, flu pills, vitamin C, cough syrup and antibiotics. The combination of flu pills/medication and cough syrup were so drowsing and I was down in bed for 3 days. Hate it every time I consume the flu and cough medication as it triggered that drowsiness. Can't practically do anything other than to doze off.

Second, I was advised by my Reading's supervisor to look for a decent accommodation there. He advised for accommodation within the university which should save me pounds from travelling etc. I did email an officer from the university and although the reply was warm and receptive, the problem really was, they didn't offer short term stay within the university. The officer advised me to try to contact one letting agent and hope that the agency would able to offer any unit from the list available to them. It was a tiring moment just to get the emails replied. Since their day in UK only started at around 2pm here in Malaysia, I have to spent countless nights waiting for their responds which mostly coming in to my inbox at around 11pm. I understand that they might be busy, and as thousands will come there this coming September, things becoming even more challenging. 

I manage to get this nice lady to respond to my email and even though it sometimes took her 1 to 2 days to reply, I eventually was offered this unit further up in Redlands. I was so joyous to learn this but since no confirmation has been received so far, I decided to wait before I chart my action further. I can't wait to update on this and hopefully things will be much easier with the rest.    

Reading, UK - Am I really going?

Salam,

I think I should write more here rather than writing on trips. Somehow writing on trips were much more relaxed but that were mostly leisure activities. I need a break sometimes but let's be real, this is my current business and I have to admit that by far this suppose to be the 'thing' to be noted at the highest back of my head.

So, am I going to Reading? 

I remember the first time my supervisor (sv) coined out this idea. It was like a year ago and at that point of time I was like 'Is it for real?'..

UK or particularly any parts of it is a dream to me. I believe not only me. I like to think that to many of us, perhaps because of historical reason, in some way or another, dream to be able to go there for whatever reason we could think of. I read and met a lot of people who have been there and they really enjoy for being able to step their foot there. So, what have I done that makes me think that I will someday, step my feet there?

At the time i'm writing this note, there still a lot to be accomplished particularly the research which I am pursuing right now. I only managed until to date to write 2 chapters whereby I should actually completed the 3rd. I'm doing data collection right now, and if there is any reason to put the blame on, I am happy to put it with the process of collecting data itself. This process - collecting data, is the real work in any research. Some said without data, a research simply cannot proceed. I've spent months, completing and then perfecting the instrument and now I have to try to persuade people to answer it for me. It's not an easy task, for instance my pilot survey suggest that if I were to be too optimistic that by randomly selecting respondents I would get the response, then I would really used up all my resources without gaining any responses. So, I resorted to non random sampling, hoping that I would be able to gain as much responses to support the research.

The process is a painstaking one. I travel up to KL almost every month since April, some twice a month just to meet prospective respondents and try to persuade them to answer. Some were very helpful and I indebted to them while others were cold and simply not willing to answer. Well, I believe this is the process and PhD is not just being diligent, but physically fit as well. Intelligence? No. You don't have to be intelligence to do a PhD, prepared to be challenged mentally and physically, then you're good to do one.

So what is this Reading has got to do?

I was told by MOHE (now no more - merge as MOE) that for MOHE scholar holder, there are 2 facilities that could be applied for. 1 - the facility to present paper overseas and 2 - overseas research. I did some research and was astonished to discover that facility no 2 would be appropriate to support my application overseas. So, after discovering that, I report the finding to my sv and she was very happy to assist me to communicate with the overseas counterpart. It happen that her friend in Reading is the visiting professor here, and I was able to meet and discuss with him on my intention to go to Reading under his supervision. I met the  Professor twice over the past one year and eventually I managed to get his consent to go there. It was a very joyful moment when I received the letter and I wait no further to submit my application to MOHE. 

Many said that MOHE would take months (if not years!) to process the aplication. So, since I plan to go to Reading in October, then I made my own time allowance in order to make it sufficient for them to decide and finally giving approval. To my surprise, it took my application less than a month to be approved. I was so excited upon learning the news and to me, they key was to conduct some research on their organisation and nail the right person whether to follow up or tracking the application. I was very fortunate to have met the right person who did the upward processing of my application and even my calls were answered promptly. 

The bulk of the ongoing tasks is now rest with me. Where to find accommodation, visa (required or not) and the probable expenses there. Alhamdullilah, I manage to get in touch with a colleague who just came back from Reading and she has referred me to her colleague who is now pursuing his PhD in Reading. I have been communicating with him ever since and I hope to get more information about the local area in due time.

I really would like to detail up the application process, but it would take me months to finish it. So, I hope Allah will give me strength to write more and I really hope that I would be able to share more about this.

To those who recently did answer a questionnaire, it might be from me or anyone else but whatever it is, I just would like to thank you for your understanding on why data is important to us as a researcher and hopefully your good deed will receive reward from Allah swt.

Till then and hope to update more on this!

Salam

My first progress presentation

Received an email few days ago which required presentation to be made on progress made so far. Really do not know what to expect from the session as it only states "literature review to those who just registered", still in the blank on my status whether am I still consider new or should I present those achieved so far. As at the moment, I'm still synthesizing literature covered and only manage to cover 100 odd literatures (actually 90 over to be exact!).

The panel name is also given and I really do not know what to expect from them. My supervisor has been away and I also plan not to meet my supervisor until I get something in hand. More to cover but I do hope the presentation will provide an avenue to exchange ideas (not shooting range I hope..) and perhaps listening to others who might said may open up new possibilities which I myself could not contemplate.

Its been a lonesome journey so far, I have talking only to myself, and regard what I am saying is totally the rightful answers. Indeed this is the time when I need to face criticism and try to defend what I have done so far. Its true that journey to acquire knowledge is painstaking one but what I may discover along the way is sweet and unchallenge.

I need a break!! (i said seriously)

It's raining now and it seems the rain and air conditioning had failed to cool down my brain temperature!

I need a break but I too afraid to take it or too worried that even a minute break will waste my precious seconds. I have 2 major tasks this and the following week. No. 1 - extract all information from those articles and scan all contemporary issues concerning my study, and No. 2 - more RU paper in the pipeline. I suggest a very low level topic for the RU paper and I really hope to submit for publication. Seems ambitous though, but I believe it is now or never. The paper will be a fast track approach by the university to increase publication and if it published, I should be able to cite my own work or increase the credibility of the research that will be undertaken. It should be.

Task No. 1 is a new task suggested by my supervisor last week and looking at the timing she gave me, I know, time now is an essence. My strategy is two cover the two tasks within this week and I think task no. 2 is almost ready. The hurdle now is to write and give the paper a focus. The problem i'm having now is in term of reference, most are outdated and originated overseas. I need more local paper to support the proposal but it was nowhere to be found.

This morning I rushed to the library once it opened trying to look for books that the database mentioned as available. It wasn't there. Dissapointed though.

I need a break, I need a break....

The tale of paracetamol and gold digging

This week is rather melancholic. I started Monday with headache, end up the day with 4 hours sleep and wake up with more headache. A bad day indeed. This week suppose to be my 4th week in the whole study and I still reading and downloading more and more articles from the online database. The whole process is a lot of frustration cause it slow. The internet is slow, the loading is slow and the reading is well slow of course. Digging the database is like mining gold or diamond. The unearthing takes 'years' while the result can somewhat good or none at all. It depends on the key words used, and I feel like I used them all. Sometimes i found key words try it, and the result is good. Most of the time, from 100 results, only 10 match or have something related. The next problem is the publication dates. I know it is important to have an up to date reference in the list of reference. It means, the topic is contemporary and research is sought. To date, to be frank, in my 'end note' i only have 18 registered related articles and few others pending review. I think to date i'm good at the basic of end note and i do hope to explore more.

I started this morning with 2 tablets of paracetamol and i'm good. Don't know should this be what i'll be doing for the next 3 years!

I was at the Civil Eng (CE) Faculty this morning and noticed that Martin Skitmore is in town. He's a renown scholar in construction management and the faculty will be conducting colloquium tomorrow at 10am. I'm interested to attend hoping to broaden the horizon and perhaps listen to others talking. I think the CE faculty is more structured when it comes to PG since the numbers of PG students are large compared to the faculty in which i currently attached. They have a dedicated office to cater PG matters and all forms are available for students in a dedicated place, a sight not available in my faculty.

A 'lone-some' journey indeed...

I officially started my journey for PhD on 24th October 2011 with official registration today. I received my new and latest matric card with confusion as I know this will be the starting point of glory or doom. I spend the whole day for the last week, venturing into the unknown of scholarly journals and articles hoping to find something that enable me to progress. Yes, the keyword here is progress. I found numerous articles talking about so many things, from construction technology, bidding and my fondly searched items, the BoQ. Its like searching a mountain just to find so little that really match the hopes. Spent half day today in a library, with the new matric card, downloading so many articles which I really do not know is it the things that i'm looking or something else. Lone-some is a disease which I start to feel with wife and family hook imbalance over a small strip of string. I'm raising 2 kids, infant to be true, and it is not an easy task. The last thing in my mind is fight between me and my wife over dozens of issues which I really hate to admit that it is sometimes happening. Here in this place, I really do not have much friend to share the loneliness and sometimes the bored I endure in most days. The only day that I really enjoy is the day when I suppose to meet my supervisor. She do not help much at this stage but meeting her would at least clear something and give me some directions. I know it still too early to decide on something but I know I have to explore on daily basis. For this, I created a small system which I recorded all information I collected through my readings. I put in proper reference, excerpt and also comment hoping that this piece of work will help me finding my direction. I do not know whether the system will help me or not, but I guess that would probably shed some directions and record all information that I collected throughout this period.

My biggest concern now is to strike a balance between my family and the study that just started. I really do not know, if I were in my wife position, whether I'll be behaving good and understand the next 3 years will be difficult or adamant that responsibility is a responsibility, no break or study lining between it. I just hope that my wife will be more open to an issue, put aside personal interest and help me with this journey. I felt the pressure every night when I tried to put myself to bed and wonder what am I doing on bed rather on my desk, reviewing the mountainous articles and continue pondering my fate for the next 3 years. I do hope that this period of boredom will soon be over and replaced with directions, seminar paper maybe or even part time work. I'll continue reading for the next 2 or three months and see whether luck will be on my side. I always pray to Allah that he will show me the direction and help me out from this blurring situation.

InsyaAllah...

Sleepy

Huarrrghhh!!!

Dah beberapa hari sejak ambil keputusan untuk divert ke proposal lain. Alhamdulillah, dapat kontek dengan supervisor yang lain dari fakulti berkaitan dan beliau dah respond through email. Tapi camanapun, proses jumpa untuk discuss tu mesti ada, cuma tak tau bila, rough idea ada dalam kepala cuma belum ditulis on paper. Cuba2 search dalam online journal, journal2 berkaitan, tapi hit sikit je, tak tau la, tak ramai org tulis atau dah obsolete.

Sentiasa berharap yang jalan ini akan dipermudahkan. Buat 1st proposal memang susah. Nak buat kena tunggu anak tido, bila anak dah tido, internet pulak buat hal. Rasa cam sia2 je bayar Celcom ni rm98 sebulan dengan kualiti perkhidmatan yang sangat la siput. Klik sekali, loadingnya boleh sampai 2 minit, lagi2 kalau donlod artikel besar sikit, camna nak buat, komplen sudah, tapi jawabnya, kami sedang meningkatkan perkhidmatan atau memang ada aduan talian congested di area encik, boleh cuba 30 minit lagi. hessh.

Hiccup

I was so busy preparing and completing enormous forms and paperwork for the last 2 weeks for the purpose of continuing my study. Being a public sector staff, any opportunity given to further my study will definitely give an impact to my promotion and salary grade. The process has hooked me for so long. I officially started the quest sometime in 2010 and looking back it's been a year since I first consider that I need to continue further.

Study at this stage requires so many planning. I have wife and (will soon) two kids under my belt and enormous others responsibilities that I need to fulfill. First, my wife (thank you 5x) consider of moving with me to the south and recently has moved from her site office to the HQ just to make sure our planning goes well. On my side I assure her that my form will complete in due time for submission to the department.

And those were the planning....

My boss has asked for a discussion this morning regarding my application form, and I knew it, his boss has rejected my application on the ground that my supervisor (to him) is not that capable and experienced enough to supervise the area stated in my proposal. I am so frustrated and I bare all my dissatisfaction to my boss with regard to his boss. That proposal was a result of blood and tears! I spent sleepless nights and many trips down south just to get that 5 pages done and what 'his boss' said just change a supervisor or you won't be allowed to further. The problem is not the proposal, it's the supervisor he said. He don't know her and her capabilities and simply make a random conclusion. So narrow.

While discussing with my boss this morning, my boss assure me that I still can continue with the same proposal but perhaps with other supervisor from a faculty that is relevant with my area. So where's the **** is multidisciplinary as 'his boss' previously mentioned? Am I going to bring this proposal which the result of my discussion with my supervisor to other supervisor? No. I won't do that since that proposal concern something that is his (his boss) area. I am not going to belong to that group anymore. Plus, his boss always come out with an issue of plagiarism, I am not going to be labelled that way. My decision is clear I will divert into something that is considered core but not 'his boss' area. Well, every area is his area anyway.

Now, start the same process again, identify a supervisor, discuss, identify a research problem, discuss, make a proposal, my boss to verify and the 'his boss' to approve. Waste of time and waste of effort. My boss suggest me to see 'his boss' regularly to discuss on the proposal that I'll be working on. I said no!, if 'his boss' put in his idea into mine and I just ignore, then there will be possibility for my next application to be rejected, if I were to put his views into the proposal, then if I were not to acknowledged his contribution, then there will be issue on plagiarism. What to do lol!!. This guy (his boss) wants to always claim his stake even it just a view.

God. There'll be a long way for me to complete this task and as environment is not that supportive (only my boss, wife and supervisor supportive thank you 5x) the challenge will be more mounting as I ever expected. Do hope things will get better after this.

surfing for ideas

Come across this blog entry while surfing the web recently, thanks, i finally able to comprehend what literature review is all about. Citing the author's entry as follow (from http://hidupkitaindah.blogspot.com/search/label/way for Phd):

What is a review of the literature?

A literature review is an account of what has been published on a topic by accredited scholars and researchers. Occasionally you will be asked to write one as a separate assignment (sometimes in the form of an annotated bibliography—see the bottom of the next page), but more often it is part of the introduction to an essay, research report, or thesis. In writing the literature review, your purpose is to convey to your reader what knowledge and ideas have been established on a topic, and what their strengths and weaknesses are. As a piece of writing, the literature review must be defined by a guiding concept (e.g., your research objective, the problem or issue you are discussing, or your argumentative thesis). It is not just a descriptive list of the material available, or a set of summaries

Besides enlarging your knowledge about the topic, writing a literature review lets you gain and demonstrate skills in two areas

1. information seeking: the ability to scan the literature efficiently, using manual or computerized methods, to identify a set of useful articles and books
2. critical appraisal: the ability to apply principles of analysis to identify unbiased and valid studies.

A literature review must do these things

1. be organized around and related directly to the thesis or research question you are developing
2. synthesize results into a summary of what is and is not known
3. identify areas of controversy in the literature
4. formulate questions that need further research

Ask yourself questions like these:

1. What is the specific thesis, problem, or research question that my literature review helps to define?
2. What type of literature review am I conducting? Am I looking at issues of theory? methodology? policy? quantitative research (e.g. on the effectiveness of a new procedure)? qualitative research (e.g., studies )?
3. What is the scope of my literature review? What types of publications am I using (e.g., journals, books, government documents, popular media)? What discipline am I working in (e.g., nursing psychology, sociology, medicine)?
4. How good was my information seeking? Has my search been wide enough to ensure I've found all the relevant material? Has it been narrow enough to exclude irrelevant material? Is the number of sources I've used appropriate for the length of my paper?
5. Have I critically analysed the literature I use? Do I follow through a set of concepts and questions, comparing items to each other in the ways they deal with them? Instead of just listing and summarizing items, do I assess them, discussing strengths and weaknesses?
6. Have I cited and discussed studies contrary to my perspective?
7. Will the reader find my literature review relevant, appropriate, and useful?

Ask yourself questions like these about each book or article you include:

1. Has the author formulated a problem/issue?
2. Is it clearly defined? Is its significance (scope, severity, relevance) clearly established?
3. Could the problem have been approached more effectively from another perspective?
4. What is the author's research orientation (e.g., interpretive, critical science, combination)?
5. What is the author's theoretical framework (e.g., psychological, developmental, feminist)?
6. What is the relationship between the theoretical and research perspectives?
7. Has the author evaluated the literature relevant to the problem/issue? Does the author include literature taking positions she or he does not agree with?
8. In a research study, how good are the basic components of the study design (e.g., population, intervention, outcome)? How accurate and valid are the measurements? Is the analysis of the data accurate and relevant to the research question? Are the conclusions validly based upon the data and analysis?
9. In material written for a popular readership, does the author use appeals to emotion, one-sided examples, or rhetorically-charged language and tone? Is there an objective basis to the reasoning, or is the author merely "proving" what he or she already believes?
10. How does the author structure the argument? Can you "deconstruct" the flow of the argument to see whether or where it breaks down logically (e.g., in establishing cause-effect relationships)?
11. In what ways does this book or article contribute to our understanding of the problem under study, and in what ways is it useful for practice? What are the strengths and limitations?
12. How does this book or article relate to the specific thesis or question I am developing?

Final Notes:

A literature review is a piece of discursive prose, not a list describing or summarizing one piece of literature after another. It's usually a bad sign to see every paragraph beginning with the name of a researcher. Instead, organize the literature review into sections that present themes or identify trends, including relevant theory. You are not trying to list all the material published, but to synthesize and evaluate it according to the guiding concept of your thesis or research question

Nak buat ke camana ni..

Dateline nak kena hantar studi suppose by end of this year. Tapi maklumla, mesti proses nak ambik masa lagi, nak kena pergi research method course lagi, proposal ntah apa cerita la (bila nak start pun tak tau lagi kaka)

Tapi kena positif la, baru bulan 3, tapi dah macam-macam nak kena buat (ada lagi tak mention kat sini lagi hoho). Slow and steady la. Kita tengok bulan 4 camna