SIT740 Research & Development: Reflecting on Literature Reviews

This essay is a reflection on what constitutes a good literature review, based on an analysis of three literature reviews from the ACM Computing Surveys journal. The author examines articles on web search, cloud resource orchestration, and connected cars, comparing their approaches to integrating and synthesizing information. The essay argues that effective literature reviews go beyond mere summaries; they integrate concepts, provide insights, and suggest avenues for future research. The author emphasizes the importance of identifying gaps and possibilities for researchers to build upon, ultimately contributing to the advancement of the field. The essay concludes that well-crafted literature reviews should inspire further investigation by offering valuable insights and recommendations.

Running head: RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Student’s Name
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1RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Literature review articles are highly beneficial to researchers in terms of data
collection, and also to find out whether a particular research paper is reliable and appropriate,
before reading the entire text. The purpose of this reflective essay is to identify what really
makes a good literature review, by selecting and comparing three literature reviews from the
journal of ACM Computing surveys.
In an article called “Searching the Web of Things: State of the Art, Challenges, and
Solutions”, the authors attempt at finding out the complexities associated with the various
forms of specializations with the search engines and servers (Tran et al. 2017). The article
takes references from over 200 academic sources to provide a comprehensive framework for
the web of things search engine. What is special about this article is that it has taken
references from over two hundred sources. This is highly beneficial for a researcher to go
through the review and identify the appropriate sources which he would need for his own
research paper.
In another literature review article titled “A Taxonomy and Survey of Cloud Resource
Orchestration Techniques”, the authors take a holistic approach towards constructing a
framework for cloud resource orchestration (Weerasiri et al. 2017). This is achieved by
collating over a hundred academic sources to gain concepts and ideas into the matter. Unlike
the previous article, this article specializes in conceptualizing and formulating information
which would be helpful for further research, based on the findings of the research. In other
words, the article opens up a space for further research on the topic, by providing researchers
with the coalition of all the academic resources required to conduct the same.
The article “Connected Car: Technologies, Issues, Future Trends” takes references
from a number of resources to come to explain the future aspects of connected cars in the
modern world. This research paper also opens up the gates for further research, but in a more

2RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
comprehensive way. It urges researchers to do further primary research, as it concludes the
possibilities of the technology which can be implemented in the future. Integrating the
academic sources, the authors provide a wide range of possibilities which can base the
development of the technology in the near future (Coppola and Morisio 2016).
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that integration is the key in literature
reviews. The first article is highly informative but is synthesized in a way which does not
integrate the concepts of the literatures. The second and third article integrate the concepts so
well that they urge researchers to gain valuable insights into the subject, and also opens up
the gates to further research. The last article deliberately opens up gaps for researchers to fill,
as it outlines a vast number of possibilities for researchers to choose the most appropriate and
viable one to base their research on. What I learned from these literature reviews is that these
reviews should not just look like comprehension texts. Ideas and concepts must be integrated
to provide comprehensive insights and to urge researchers for further research, by suggesting
possibilities and recommendations for future research.

3RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
References
Coppola, R. and Morisio, M., 2016. Connected car: technologies, issues, future trends. ACM
Computing Surveys (CSUR), 49(3), p.46.
Weerasiri, D., Barukh, M.C., Benatallah, B., Sheng, Q.Z. and Ranjan, R., 2017. A taxonomy
and survey of cloud resource orchestration techniques. ACM Computing Surveys (CSUR),
50(2), p.26.
Tran, N.K., Sheng, Q.Z., Babar, M.A. and Yao, L., 2017. Searching the web of things: State
of the art, challenges, and solutions. ACM Computing Surveys (CSUR), 50(4), p.55.