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L4: REVIEWING THE LITERATURE
LITERATURE
Literature is an oral or written record of man’s significance experiences that are
artistically conveyed in prosaic manner. A review of related literature is an analysis
of man’s written or spoken knowledge of the world. It is an important aspect in
doing research.
A literature review provides an overview of what has been written about a specific
topic. The review of literature includes practically all the information and data which
are authoritative and relevant to the topic of the study.
Purposes of Review of Related Literature (RRL)
1. To obtain background knowledge of your research.
2. To relate your study to the current condition or situation of the world.
3. To show the capacity of your research work to introduce new knowledge.
4. To expand, prove, or disprove the findings of previous research studies.
5. To increase your understanding of the underlying theories, principles, or
concepts of your research.
6. To explain technical terms involved in your research study.
7. To avoid repeating previous research studies.
8. To recommend the necessity of further research on certain topic
Kinds or Styles of RRL
1. Traditional – also referred to as narrative literature review. It summarizes
present forms of knowledge on a specific subject or provides a quick
overview of current studies. It helps explain why your study is important in
the context of literature, and can help you identify areas that need further
research.
a. Conceptual review – analysis of concepts or ideas to give meaning to
some national or world issues
b. Critical review – focuses on theories or hypotheses and examines
meanings and results of their application to situation
c. State-of-the-Art review – makes the researcher deal with the latest
research studies on the subject
d. Expert review – encourages a well-known expert to do the RRL
because of the influence of a certain ideology, paradigm or belief
e. Scoping Review – prepares a situation for a future research work in
the form of project making about community development,
government policies, and health services, among others
2. Systematic – means methodical that involves sequential acts of review of
related literature. It is a rigorous way of obtaining data from written works.
It is a bias-free style that limits review to peer-reviewed journals,
academically written work, and others. It requires the following steps:
a. Have a clear understanding of the research questions.
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b. Plan your manner if obtaining data.
c. Do the literature search.
d. Determine which data, studies, or sources of knowledge are valuable
or not.
e. Summarize what you have gathered from various sources of data.
Characteristic of a Good Literature Review
1. Materials must be as recent as possible.
2. Materials must be as objective and unbiased as possible.
3. Materials must be relevant to the study.
4. Materials must not be too few but nor too many.
Types of Sources
1. Primary Sources – publications in which researchers report the results of their
studies. Findings are communicated by authors directly to the readers.
Ex. journals published monthly
2. Secondary Sources – publications in which the authors describe the work of
others
Ex. textbook, research reviews
Categories of Sources:
Frenkel (2015) enumerates the categories of sources from where your
culled data and information in the literature review may have been taken.
1. Documents – These include written or printed materials that have been
produced in some form or another such as annual reports, books, circulars,
diaries, notebooks, artworks, cartoons, etc. They may be published or
unpublished, intended for private or public consumption; they may be original
works or copies.
2. Numerical Records – They may be considered as a separate type of source in
and of themselves or as a subcategory of documents. Several records include
any type of numerical data in printed form: test scores, attendance figures,
census reports, school budget and the like.
3. Oral Statements – These may include stories, myths, tales, legends, chants,
songs, and other forms of oral expressions. These materials leave a record for
future generations.
4. Relics – These are formal types of historical sources. A relic is any object
where physical or visual characteristics can provide some information about the
past. Examples: furniture, artwork, clothing, buildings, or equipment.
CITATION
Research makes use of previous information and data from statements of experts
which are expressed in various sources, most common of which are books, journals,
and computer databases. These become the sources of information in your research.
When you used these sources, it is a cardinal principle to acknowledge or recognize
the owners of any form of knowledge included in your paper.
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Three Ways of Acknowledging Sources:
1. Acknowledgement – the beginning portion of the work that identifies the
individuals who have contributed something for the production of the paper
2. References of Bibliography – a complete list of all reading materials,
including books, journals, periodicals, and more from where borrowed
materials came from
3. Citation or In-text Citation – references within the main body of the text,
specifically in Review of Related Literature
Purposes:
1. to give importance and respect to other people for what they know about
the field
2. to give authority, validity, and credibility to other people’s claims,
conclusions, and arguments
3. to prove your broad and extensive reading of authentic and relevant
materials about your topic
4. to help readers find or contact the sources of ideas easily
5. to permit readers to check the accuracy of your work
6. to avoid plagiarism
Styles of Citation
1. APA (American Psychological Association) – is an author / date
based style. This means emphasis is placed on the author and the date of
a piece of work to uniquely identify
2. MLA (Modern Language Association) – is most often applied in the
arts and humanities, particularly in the U.S.A. The citations in-text are
very brief, usually just the author’s family name and a relative page
number
3. HARVARD – is very similar to APA. It is the most well-used referencing
style in the UK and Australia, and it is encouraged for use with humanities
4.
CHICAGO & TURABIAN – are two separate styles but very similar. They
are also widely used for history and economics.
Patterns of Citation
1. Summary – the citation is a shortened version if the original text or a
condensed and objective account of the main ideas and features of a text.
A summary consist only of a few paragraphs or approximately reducing the
text to 50%. The goal is to omit details that are not important in your
research.
2. Paraphrase – is a restatement of a text or passage without any attempt
at reducing the original material. Its goal is to explain or clarify what the
text means to the study using the researcher’s own words. A paraphrase is
more detailed than a summary.
3. Verbatim – is the simplest and easiest because it is using exactly the same
words as the original text. It is a word-for-word copying of the article usually
in quotation or putting the copied text in quotation marks.
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a. Short direct quotation – only part of the authors sentences, the whole
or several sentences (not exceeding 40 words) is written or copied,
indicating the page where the it could be found
Ex. Context is influenced by these four factors: “language, culture,
institutions, and ideologies.” (Aranda, 2015, p. 8)
b. Long direct quote or Block quotation – it copies the author’s exact
words numbering from 40 up to 100 words. Under APA, the limit is
eight lines, placed at the center of the page with no indention. The
copied lines look like a stanza of a poem.
Ex. The latest study by Hizon (2015) reveals the social nature of
language. Stressing this nature of language, he says:
Language features result from the way people
use language to meet their social needs. In their
interactions, they use language to describe,
compare, agree, explain, disagree, and so on.
Each language function requires a certain set of
language features like nouns for naming,
adjectives for comparing, verbs for agreeing,
prepositions for directing, and conjunctions for
connecting ideas. (p. 38)
4. Tense of Verbs for reporting – active verbs are effective words to use in
reporting author’s ideas. Present their ideas in any of these tenses: present,
simple past, or present perfect. The APA system, however, prefers the use
of present perfect tense.
Ex. Present tense Marcos explains
Past tense Marcos explained
Present Perfect tense Marcos has explained
PLAGIARISM
Plagiarism is an act of quoting or copying the exact words of the writer and passing
the quoted words off as your own. The leading act of plagiarism is using the words
of the original text in expressing your understanding of the reading material. The
right way to avoid plagiarism is to express borrowed ideas in your own words.
SYNTHESIS
A synthesis is a discussion that draws on or more sources. It refers to the bringing
together of materials from different sources, and the creation of an integrated whole
– the structured review of relevant works and your argument for the study you are
doing.
Types of Synthesis:
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1. Explanatory Synthesis. It helps the readers understand the topic. Its primary
aim is to the facts in a reasonably objective manner. Explanations given may
entail descriptions, sequence of events or state of affairs.
2. Argument Synthesis. Its purpose is for you to present your own point of view
with the support of relevant facts drawn from services and presented in a
logical manner. What is presented may be debatable.
Techniques for Writing a Synthesis
1. Summary – It is the simplest way of organizing a synthesis. Here, you write
one after the other the most relevant information and sources you have
gathered.
2. Example or Illustration – It is a reference to a particularly illuminating
example or illustration that you have included in your review. You need to
credit your source/s.
3. Two (or more) Reasons – This approach can be an effective method by
simply stating your thesis, then gives reasons why it is true. Your reasons need
to be supported by evidence from your data and sources.
4. Comparison and Contrast – These techniques will lead to examining two
subjects or data in terms of one another. Comparison considers similarities
while contrast highlights the differences.
ETHICAL STANDARDS
Ethics refer to the norms of conduct that distinguish between acceptable and
unacceptable behavior. It also refers to rules in making a distinction between right
and wrong.
Key Terms
Ethical Relativism – It refers to the view that values are relative in the sense that
a person feels his/her value is better than any other person’s value.
Ethical Principles – The term refers to values that are translated into rules or
standards of conduct.
Ethical Dilemma – It entails a situation where there is a felt conflict between
values or principles, and a choice of action needs to be decided
Research Integrity – means that a researcher uses word/s that can be trusted as
representative, truthful, position statements
Core Principles
1. Do good (known as beneficiaries)
2. Do no harm (known as malfeasance)
Ethical Standards in Writing RRL
 Report findings with complete honesty
 Do not misrepresent, mislead, and/or intentionally misinterpret.
 Give appropriate credit when using other people’s work.
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 It is the participants who decide to participate in the research.
 Maintain the confidentiality of information that were gathered from the
participants.
WRITING THE REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Typically, the review of related literature consists of give parts:
1. Introduction - It briefly describes the nature of the problem. The researcher
also explains what lead him/her to study and probe into the question and why
it is an important question to investigate.
2. Body of the Review – It briefly reports what others have found or thought
about the research problem. Related studies are usually discussed together,
grouped under subhead to make the review easier to read.
3. Summary of the Review – It ties together the main ideas revealed in the
literature reviewed and presents a composite picture of what is known or
thought to date. Findings may be tabulated to give the reader ideas of how
many other researchers have reported identical or similar findings or have
similar recommendations.
4. Conclusions – It justifies the researchers feelings based on the state of
knowledge revealed in the literature.
5. Bibliography – It includes full bibliographic data for all sources mentioned in
the review following the format used for reference lists.
Criteria for a Good Literature Review
1. Focused – it presents only ideas and reports on studies that are closely
related to the topic
2. Concise – the ideas should be presented economically
3. Logical – the flow within and among paragraphs should be a smooth,
logical progression from one idea to the next
4. Developed – the ideas are fully and completely written
5. Integrative – it shows how ideas are related and hos all reviewed
materials contribute to your topic
6. Current – it exhibits up-to-date information related to your study.
References:
Baraceros, Esther L. (2016). Practical Research 1. Manila: Rex Book Store
Prieto, Nelia G. et.al. (2017) Practical Research 1 for Senior High School –
Quantitive. Manila: LoriMar Publishing
Shamoo A and Resnik D. 2015. Responsible Conduct of Research, 3rd ed. (New
York: Oxford University Press).
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