Writing 119 (Mumford): Reviews / Original Research

Original research articles are based on an experiment or study. They will have a methodology section that tells how the experiment was set up and conducted, a results or discussion section, and usually a conclusion section.

B. Ghorbani, M. Ghashami and M. Ashjaee. Electricity production with low grade heat in thermal power plants by design improvement of a hybrid dry cooling tower and a solar chimney concept. Energy Conversion and Management 94(0), pp. 1-11. 2015. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2015.01.044.

Review articles are written to bring together and summarize the results/conclusions from multiple original research articles/studies. They will not usually have a methodology section, and they generally have very extensive bibliographies.

C. Lamnatou, D. Chemisana, R. Mateus, M. G. Almeida and S. M. Silva. Review and perspectives on life cycle analysis of solar technologies with emphasis on building-integrated solar thermal systems. Renewable Energy 75(0), pp. 833-846. 2015. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2014.09.057.

Depending on your engineering topic, you may be able to limit to reviews.  Reviews can point you to other literature related to this topic.  In ScienceDirect, the Advanced Search option allows users to limit to Reviews under the Journals tab.

Reviews do not appear to be that common in some engineering fields OR a database will not include a review limiter.  Consider using terms such as survey, trends, or review to locate articles that discuss research on your topic.

Example 1: ACM Digital Library

Search for networks AND security AND review.

Find the article --> Wireless body area networks: challenges, trends, and emerging technologies

Look at the abstract --> “We provide a comprehensive review of the challenges and emerging technologies for EBANS: Wireless Body Area Networks”.

Example 2: Security in vehicular adhoc networks: a survey 10.1145/1947940.1948063

Abstract: "In this paper we present an overview on some of the important research works proposed on the security in VANETs. In this paper we review recent advances on some of the security proposals for VANETs proposed by researchers."