MODULE 1: IDENTIFYING THE INQUIRY AND STATING THE PROBLEM

INTRODUCTION
Inquiry or research drives you to a thorough or an in-depth analysis of a certain subject matter. This kind of study
involves several stages that require much time and effort. You need to spend some time in finalizing your mind about a
particular topic to research on or in determining the appropriateness of such topic, in obtaining background knowledge
about it, and in raising some specific questions that you want your research work to answer. Focusing seriously on these
aspects of your study is laying a good foundation or beginning of your research work.

INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES:

After this lesson, you should be able to:
1. widen your vocabulary;
2. communicate with one another using newly learned words;
3. distinguish a good research topic from a bad one;
4. characterize a researchable topic;
5. narrow down a general topic into a smaller one; and
6. choose a good research topic.

LESSON 5: SUBJECT MATTER OF THE INQUIRY OR RESEARCH

You begin your research work with a problem; that is, having a problem or topic to work on. Mulling over a topic
for your research work drives you to perform HOTS or higher-order thinking strategies of inferential, critical, integrative,
and creative thinking in finalizing your mind on one topic among several choices. A topic is researchable if the
knowledge and information about it are supported by evidence that is observable, factual, and logical.

GUIDELINES IN CHOOSING A RESEARCH TOPIC

1. Interest in the subject matter
Your interest in a topic may be caused by your rich background knowledge about it and by its novelty;
meaning, its unfamiliarity to you. Being curious about a subject, like a conundrum or a puzzle, makes you
determined to unravel the mystery or intriguing thing behind it. Your real interest in a subject pushes you to
research, investigate, or inquire about it with full motivation, enthusiasm, and energy.
2. Availability of information
Collecting a lot of information as evidence to support your claims about your subject matter from varied
forms of literature like books, journals, and newspapers, among others, is a part and parcel of any research
work. Hence, in choosing a research topic, visit your library to check the availability of reading materials on your
chosen topic. Included in your investigation of the availability of reading materials are questions on how
updated and authoritative the materials are. Let these questions linger as you tour the library: What are the
copyright dates of the materials? How old or new are they? How expert or qualified the writers are in coming
out with such kind of reading materials about your topic?
3. Timeliness and relevance of the topic
The topic is relevant if it yields results that are instrumental in societal improvement. It is timely if it is
related to the present. For instance, unless it is a pure or historical research, a research on the ins and outs of
people’s revolutionary acts will prosper more if it tackles the contemporary revolutionary actions rather than
those in the ancient time.
4. Limitations on the subject
This makes you link your choosing with course requirements. For example, to make you complete the
requirements, your teacher instructs you to submit a paper that will apply the key principles you learned in
business, psychology, education, and so on. In this case, you have no freedom to choose your topic based on
your interest, but has to decide on one topic to finish your course.
5. Personal resources
Before sticking fully to your final choice, assess your research abilities in terms of your financial standing,
health condition, mental capacity, needed facilities, and time allotment to enable you to complete your
research. Imagine yourself pouring much time and effort into its initial stage, only to find out later that you are
unable to complete it because of your failure to raise the amount needed for questionnaire printing and
interview trips. (Barbour 2014)

RESEARCH TOPICS TO BE AVOIDED

1. Controversial topics. These are topics that depend greatly on the writer’s opinion, which may tend to be biased
or prejudicial. Facts cannot support topics like these.
2. Highly technical subjects. For a beginner, researching on topics that require an advanced study, technical
knowledge, and vast experience is a very difficult task.
3. Hard-to-investigate subjects. A subject is hard to investigate if there are no available reading materials about it
and if such materials are not up-to-date.
4. Too broad subjects. Topics that are too broad will prevent you from giving a concentrated or an in-depth
analysis of the subject matter of the paper. The remedy to this is to narrow or limit the topic to a smaller one.

1|Page
 5. Too narrow subjects. These subjects are so limited or specific that an extensive or thorough searching or
reading for information about these is necessary.
6. Vague subjects. Choosing topics like these will prevent you from having a clear focus on your paper. For
instance, titles beginning with indefinite adjectives such as several, many, some, etc., as in “Some Remarkable
Traits of a Filipino” or “Several People’s Comments on the RH Law,” are vague enough to decrease the readers’
interests and curiosity.

SOURCES OF RESEARCH TOPICS

This time, you already have ideas on some factors that affect your process of choosing a researchable topic. It is
also necessary for you to know where a good research topic may come from. Knowing some sources of probable
research topics could hasten your choosing; thereby, freeing you from a prolonged time of pondering over a problem of
knowing which problem is good for you to research on. The following can help you generate ideas about a good research
topic. (Silverman 2013)
1. Mass media communication – press (newspapers, ads, TV, radio, films, etc.)
2. Books, Internet, peer-reviewed journals, government publications
3. Professional periodicals like College English Language Teaching Forum, English Forum, The Economist,
Academia, Business Circle, Law Review, etc.
4. General periodicals such as Readers’ Digest, Women’s Magazine, Panorama Magazine, Time Magazine, World
Mission Magazine, etc.
5. Previous reading assignments in your other subjects
6. Work experience – clues to a researchable topic from full-time or part-time jobs, OJT (on-the-job training)
experience, fieldwork, etc.

Activity 1
Directions: INDIVIDUAL WORK. Identify the word or phrase referred to by the following expressions.
_________________1. A descriptive word for a topic useful to society’s progress
_________________2. The effect of a topic you like so much or find close to your heart
_________________3. Topics appealing solely to a person’s thoughts and feelings
_________________4. Topics needing an intensive reading in the library
_________________5. A remedy against a very broad topic
_________________6. The effect of working on a vague or not-so-clear topic
_________________7. The reason behind a topic hard to investigate
_________________8. Very easy research topics
_________________9. Topics not needing factual data
_________________10. An adjective for a topic attuned to current happenings

Activity 2
Directions: Check the title that appears to be the best in terms of narrowing down a broad topic.
1. _______ Symptoms of AIDS
_______ Physical Symptoms of AIDS
_______ Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome or AIDS

2. _______ History of Traditional Grammar

_______ History of American Traditional Grammar
_______ Traditional Grammar

3. _______ The Psychology of Reading

_______ A Study of Human Behavior
_______ Sensory Experience in Reading

4. _______ World Ideologies

_______ Feminism in the Digital Era
_______ Feminism in Nick Joaquin’s Latest Novel

5. _______ Communication Skills

_______ The Writing Process
_______ Pre-writing Strategies

6. _______ War Among Nations

_______ World War II
_______ Japan’s Role in World War II

2|Page
 7. _______ Hotel and Restaurant Management
_______ Food Serving Techniques
_______ Russian-Plate Service

8. _______ The University of the Philippines

_______ The History of the University of the Philippines
_______ The University of the Philippines in the 1960s

9. _______ Philippine Transportation System

_______ Metro Manila’s Transportation System
_______ Manila’s LRT/MRT Systems

10. _______ The Enactment of Laws in Congress

_______ The Governing Bodies of the Philippines
_______ The Congress of the Philippines

Activity 3
Directions: Narrow down each of the following general subjects to make it a good research topic.
1. General subject: Communications
NARROWED _________________________
Narrowed further _________________________
Narrowed further _________________________
Narrowed further _________________________
Narrowed further _________________________
Narrowed further _________________________
Narrowed further _________________________

2. General subject: The Philippine Government

NARROWED _________________________
Narrowed further _________________________
Narrowed further _________________________
Narrowed further _________________________
Narrowed further _________________________
Narrowed further _________________________
Narrowed further _________________________

LESSON 6 Research Problem and Research Question

INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOUMES

After this lesson, you should be able to:
1. expand your vocabulary;
2. communicate your worldviews using newly learned words;
3. define a research question and a research problem;
4. give the relationship between research problem and research question;
5. formulate correct research questions;
6. identify the sources of research problem and research question; and
7. justify the essence of having background knowledge of the problem.

Activity 4: Making Words Meaningful

Directions: From the table, choose the expression that corresponds to the meaning of the italicized/bolded word in the
sentence.
Driving force Felt uncertain or doubtful Result from
Final Permanent decision Riddle
Being in a relative position Taking things as factual Deep
Coming before
Sentences
_________________1. You will be perplexed by something you know nothing about.
_________________2. Their closeness stems from their two-month togetherness in the 2015 Climate-Change
Summit in Alaska.
3|Page
 _________________3. Why don’t you give me a clue to that conundrum you want me answer instantly?
_________________4. Coming from different cultural backgrounds, you can’t have an alignment of beliefs and
ideas about that matter.
_________________5. Wanting to graduate as a valedictorian could be the impetus behind that student’s frequent
library work.
_________________6. Try to get an intense understanding of that theory to avoid flunking the test.
_________________7. Preceding number seven is eight.
_________________8. You’ve already heard my conclusive statement; hence, close the deal now.
_________________9. What you see around you, what you read in papers, and what you hear from people help
you adopt an objective view of the case.
_________________10. I’ve joined so many singing competitions already, this time, I’ll try The Voice, the ultimate
contest I’ll be participating in.

Activity 5: Using the Newly Learned Words

Directions: Write a paragraph with seven to ten sentences about an interesting topic to you. Use some of the newly
learned words in your short composition and give an interesting title to your work. Write this on the lines provided.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

ACTIVITY 6: Stirring Up Imagination

What immediately comes to your mind the moment you hear these two words: PROBLEM and QUESTION? How would
you compare and contrast the two? In the space below, make an appropriate graph (e.g., table or a Venn diagram) to
show their similarities and differences.
PROBLEM VS. QUESTION

DISCOVERING MORE CONCEPTS

How do you think are your thoughts about problems and questions similar to or different from what the following text
discusses? Read the selection below to find out more about these words.

RESEARCH PROBLEM VS. RESEARCH QUESTION

Meaning of Research Problem
The ultimate goal of the research is not only to propose ways of studying things, people, places, and events, but
also to discover and introduce new practices, strategies, or techniques in solving a problem. The word “problem” makes
you worry and pushes you to exert considerable effort in finding a solution for it. When you feel perplexed or anxious
about what to do about something you are doubtful of or about a question you are incapable of answering, you then
come to think of conducting research, an investigation, or inquiry. You consider research as the remedy for getting over
any problem.
When you decide to do research, you begin with a problem that will lead you to a specific topic to focus on. For
instance, you are beset by a problem of year-by-year flash floods in your community. This problem drives you to think of
one topic you can investigate or focus on for the solution to your community’s flood problem. Perhaps, you can research

4|Page
only one aspect of the flood problem, like examining only the neighborhood lifestyle in relation to floods in the area, the
need to construct antiflood structures, or the practicability of more footbridges in the area. (Gray 2013)

Background of the Problem

You must not rush into gathering ideas and information about your topic. First, spend time getting background
knowledge about the problem that triggered off your research topic to discover its relation to what the world,
particularly the experts,
professionals, and learned people know about your topic. Also, reading for rich background ideas about the problem is
also another way to discover some theories or principles to support your study. (Braun 2014; Woodwell 2014)

Research Questions
The research problem enables you to generate a set of research questions. However, your ability to identify your
research problem and to formulate the questions depends on the background knowledge you have about the topic. To
get a good idea of the problem, you must have a rich background knowledge about the topic through the RRL (Review of
Related Literature), which requires intensive reading about your topic. Apart from having a clearer picture of the topic, it
will also help you in adopting an appropriate research method and have a thorough understanding of the knowledge
area of your research.
A research problem serving as an impetus behind your desire to carry out a research study comes from many
sources. Difficulties in life are arising from social relationships, governmental affairs, institutional practices, cultural
patterns, environmental issues, marketing strategies, etc. are problematic situations that will lead you to identify one
topic to research on. Centering your mind on the problem, you can formulate one general or mother problem of your
research work.
To give your study a clear direction, you have to break this big, overreaching, general question into several
smaller or specific research questions. The specific questions, also called sub-problems, identify or direct you to the
exact aspect of the problem that your study has to focus on. Beset by many factors, the general question or research
problem is prone to reducing itself to several specific questions, seeking conclusive answers to the problem.
The following shows you the link among the following: research problem, research topic, research question, and
the construction of one general question and specific questions in a research paper.
Research Problem: The need to have a safer, comfortable, and healthful walk or transfer of students from place to place
in the UST campus
Research Topic: The Construction of a Covered Pathway in the UST Campus
General Question: What kind of covered path should UST construct in its campus?

Specific Questions:
1. What materials are needed for the construction of the covered pathway in the UST campus?
2. What roofing material is appropriate for the covered path?
3. In what way can the covered pathway link all buildings in the campus?
4. What is the width and height of the covered path?
5. How can the covered path realize green architecture?

Research questions aim at investigating specific aspects of the research problem. Though deduced from the general
or mother question, one specific question may lead to another sub-problem or sub-question, requiring a different data-
gathering technique and directing the research to a triangulation or mixed method approach. Referring to varied aspects
of the general problem, a set of research questions plays a crucial part in the entire research work. They lay the
foundation for the research study. Therefore, they determine the research design or plan of the research. Through sub-
questions, you can precisely determine the type of data and the method of collecting, analyzing, and presenting data.
Any method or technique of collecting, collating, and analyzing data specified by the research design depends
greatly on the research questions. The correct formulation of research questions warrants not only excellent collection,
analysis, and presentation of data, but a credible conclusion as well. (Layder 2013)
Hence, the following are things you have to remember in research question formulation. (Barbie 2013; Litchman
2013; Silverman 2013)

Guidelines in Formulating Research Questions

1. Establish a clear relation between the research questions and the problem or topic.
2. Base your research questions on your RRL or Review of Related Literature because existing published works help
you get good background knowledge of the research problem and help you gauge the people’s current
understanding or unfamiliarity about the topic, as well as the extent of their knowledge and interest in it.
Convincing solutions to research problems or answers to research questions stem from their alignment with
what the world already knows or what previous research studies have already discovered about the research
problem or topic.
3. Formulate research questions that can arouse your curiosity and surprise you with your discoveries or findings.
This is true for research questions asked about a problem that was never investigated upon.
5|Page
 4. State your research questions in such a way that they include all dependent and independent variables referred
to by the theories, principles, or concepts underlying your research work.
5. Let the set of research questions or sub-problems be preceded by one question expressing the main problem of
the research.
6. Avoid asking research questions that are answerable with “yes” or “no” and use the “how” questions only in a
quantitative research.
7. Be guided by the acronym SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, time-bound) in formulating the
research questions. Applying SMART, you must deal with exact answers and observable things, determine the
extent or limit of the data collected, be aware of the timeframe and completion period of the study, and
endeavor to have your research study arrive at a particular conclusion that is indicative of what are objective,
factual, or real in this world.

MODULE 2: LEARNING FROM OTHERS AND REVIEWING THE LITERATURE

Introduction
You want to discover truths about an animate creature or an inanimate thing you find wonderful or puzzling.
Thinking speculatively, you tend to bombard your mind with varieties of questions about the object of your curiosity.
Where do you get the answers to your questions? Get them from yourself and from other published written works
containing people’s ideas, facts, and information about your subject matter. Aligning what you already know with what
others know or have already done about your chosen topic indicates the timeliness and relevance of your work.
Moreover, reading extensively about your subject matter enables you to obtain a rich background knowledge that will
help you establish a good foundation or direction of your research work.

LESSON 7 Review of Related Literature (RRL)

Intended Learning Outcomes
After this lesson, you should be able to:
1. increase the number of English words you know;
2. use the newly learned words in expressing your worldviews;
3. explain the meaning of review of related literature;
4. carry out a review of related literature properly;
5. compare and contrast the styles of review of related literature; and
6. critically evaluate review of related literature reports.

Connecting Concepts
Linking Old and New Knowledge
Activity 1: Making Words Meaningful
Directions: INDIVIDUAL WORK. Give the meaning of the underlined word in each sentence. Be guided by the contextual
clues.
1. Your facial expressions and gestures could easily convey your reactions to his statement. ________________
2. Poems use poetic language; newspaper, prosaic language for an easy understanding of the news item by all
kinds of readers, highly learned or not. ______________________
3. I don’t need a catalog of ideas on a piece of paper. What I need is an application of ideas. _____________
4. Myriad of people from all over the world witnessed the historical demolition of the Berlin Wall.
_______________
5. Through your facial expression, I will try to infer, rather than directly state the meaning of your sentence.
_______________
6. I would rather opt to stay here than go home at this time of the night. ___________________________
7. Your performance of higher-order thinking strategies will ensure your victory in the academic contest.
___________________
8. All those in Grade 6 belong to a peer group that excludes those not within their age bracket.
__________________
9. Love reading books to widen your world perception. ___________
10. Embodied in the introduction are the major parts of your paper. _______________

Activity 2: Using the Newly Learned Words

Directions: Use the newly learned words in narrating one incident in your life. Try combining or mixing them up in only
one sentence. Write them on the lines provided.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

6|Page
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Activity 3: Stirring Up Imagination

Directions: PICTURE ANALYSIS. Examine the picture above. What comes to your mind upon seeing it? Explain.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE (RRL)

Meaning of Review of Related Literature
Literature is an oral or written record of man’s significant experiences that are artistically conveyed in a prosaic
manner. Embodied in any literary work like essay, novel, journal, story, biography, etc. are man’s best thoughts and
feelings about the world. These recorded or preserved world perceptions of man are expressed directly and indirectly.
Direct expressions of man’s knowledge of the world are in books, periodicals, and online reading materials. Indirect
expressions are his inferences or reflections of his surroundings that are not written or spoken at all. (Ridley 2012).
A review of related literature is an analysis of man’s written or spoken knowledge of the world. You examine
representations of man’s thinking about the world to determine the connection of your research with what people
already know about it. In your analysis or reading of recorded knowledge, you just do not catalog ideas in your research
paper, but also interpret them or merge your thinking with the author’s ideas. Hence, in doing the RRL, you deal with
both formal or direct and informal or indirect expressions of man’s knowledge. Fusing your world understanding with
the authors’ world perceptions enables you to get a good analysis of existing written works that are related to your
research study. (Wallman 2014)

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 highlight the significance of your work with the kind of evidence it gathered to support the conclusion of your
research
8. To avoid repeating previous research studies
9. To recommend the necessity of further research on a certain topic
7|Page
Styles or Approaches of RRL or Review of Related Literature
1. Traditional Review of Literature
To do a review of literature in a traditional way is to summarize present forms of knowledge on a
specific subject. Your aim here is to give an expanded or new understanding of an existing work. Being
necessarily descriptive, interpretative, evaluative, and methodically unclear and uncertain, a traditional review is
prone to your subjectivity. This kind of review does not require you to describe your method of reviewing
literature but expects you to state your intentions in conducting the review and to name the sources of
information.
You experience much freedom or flexibility in doing a traditional RRL, so as an undergraduate student
taking BA, BSE, BSEED, or any four-year bachelor degree and lacking much knowledge and expertise in research
work, this is the appropriate method for you. Attaining mastery in doing a traditional RRL is an excellent
preparation for the more demanding, second style of RRL called systematic review that is required at the
graduate level. Hence, being unprepared for a systematic review, you have no other way but to do the
traditional review to complete the requirements of your course. (Jesson 2011)
Traditional review is of different types that are as follows:
1. Conceptual review – analysis of concepts or ideas to give meaning to some national or world issues
2. Critical review – focuses on theories or hypotheses and examines meanings and results of their application
to situations
3. State-of-the-Art review – makes the researcher deal with the latest research studies on the subject
4. Expert review – encourages a well-known expert to do the RRL because of the influence of a certain
ideology, paradigm, or belief on him/her
5. 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 Review of Literature
As indicated by its name, systematic, which means methodical, is a style of RRL that involves sequential
acts of a review of related literature. Unlike the traditional review that has no particular method, systematic
review requires you to go through the following RRL steps (Ridley 2012):
1. Have a clear understanding of the research questions. Serving as the compass to direct your research
activities, the research questions tell you what to collect and where to obtain those data you want to collect.
2. Plan your manner of obtaining the data. Imagining how you will get to where the data are, you will come to
think also of what keywords to use for easy searching and how to accord courtesy and respect to people or
institutions from where the data will come such as planning how to communicate your request to these
sources of data.
3. Do the literature search. Using keywords, you look for the needed information from all sources of
knowledge: Internet, books, journals periodicals, government publications, general references, and the like.
4. Using a certain standard, determine which data, studies, or sources of knowledge are valuable or not to
warrant the reasonableness of your decision to take some data and junk the rest.
5. Determine the methodological soundness of the research studies. Use a checklist or a certain set of criteria
in assessing the ways researchers conduct their studies to arrive at a certain conclusion.
6. Summarize what you have gathered from various sources of data. To concisely present a synthesis of your
report, use a graph such as a table and other presentation formats that are not prone to verbosity.

A systematic review of literature is a rigorous way of obtaining data from written works. It is a bias-free
style that every researcher wanting to be a research expert should experience. Limiting itself to peer-reviewed
journals, academically written works, and quantitative assessment of data through statistical methods, this style
of literature review ensures objectivity in every stage of the research. (Fraenbell 2012)
The following table shows the way several books on RRL compare and contrast the two styles of RRL.

Standards Traditional Review Systematic Review

Purpose To have a thorough and clear To meet a certain object based on
understanding of the field specific research questions
Scope Comprehensive, wide picture Restricted focus
Review Design Indefinite plan, permits creative and Viewable process and paper trail
exploratory plan
Choice of studies Purposeful selection by the reviewer Prepared standards for studies
selection
Nature of studies Inquiry-based techniques involving Wide and thorough search for all
several studies studies
Quality appraisal Reviewers’ view Assessment checklist

8|Page
 Summary Narrative Graphical and short summary
answers

Structure of the RRL

The structure of the whole literature review indicates the organizational pattern or order of the components of
the summary of the RRL results. For the traditional review, the structure of the summary resembles that of an essay
where series of united sentences presents the RRL results. However, this structure of traditional review varies based on
your subject and area of specialization. For the systematic review, the structure is based on the research questions; so
much so, that, if your RRL does not adhere to a certain method to make you begin your RRL with research questions,
your RRL is headed toward a traditional literature review structure.
Regardless of what RRL structure you opt to use, you must see to it that the organizational pattern of the results
of your review contains these three elements: an introduction to explain the organizational method of your literature
review; headings and subheadings to indicate the right placement of your supporting statements and a summary to
concisely restate your main point. (Ridley 2013)

Activity 4
Directions: Explain each expression the way you understood them in relation to research. (in your own words)
1. Related Literature
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
2. Review of Related Literature
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
3. Traditional review of Literature
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
4. Systematic review of related literature
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
5. Structure of literature review results
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________

Activity 5
Directions: In the space provided, give a graphical presentation of the sequential acts of a systematic review of
literature.

9|Page
Activity 6: Essay Writing
Directions: Using a comparison-contrast organization technique, write a short essay about the two styles of review of
related literature.
Give your work a good title.
_______________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

MODULE 3: LEARNING FROM OTHERS AND REVIEWING THE LITERATURE

LESSON 8 The Process of Review of Related Literature

Intended Learning Outcomes
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to
1. widen your vocabulary;
2. communicate your worldviews through newly learned words;
3. differentiate the three stages of review of related literature;
4. distinguish a superior source of data from an inferior one;
5. write a literature review in a critical or argumentative manner;
6. link authors’ ideas based on a certain pattern, theme, or theory; and
7. present and organize ideas using active verbs and transitional devices.

Activity 1: Making Words Meaningful

Directions: Using the other words in the cluster as clues, give the meaning of the underlined word.
1. subject to, disposed to, liable, susceptible
2. merely, purely, only, just
3. mergers, fuses, unites, combines
4. inclination liking, penchant, prone
5. per individual, single, per, one
6. avoid, prevent, refrain, shun
7. empty, devoid, nothing, zero

THE PROCESS OF REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Curious about a person or a thing, you want to know more about the ins and outs of this object of your interest.
In your quest of becoming knowledgeable about the “apple of your eyes,” you are inclined to find all ways and means to
get a full view, knowledge, or understanding of the center of your attention. And if there is one activity of yours that
really pushes you to continue searching knowledge up to a certain period of time about the focus of your attention, it is
research. From the start up to the end of your research, you are prone to searching answers to the many things you are
curious about.
Your search for knowledge happens in every stage of your research work, but it is in the research stage of
review of related literature where you spend considerable time searching knowledge about the topic. Exposed to various
sources of knowledge and conditioned by a timeframe of the research work, it is necessary that you adopt a certain
10 | P a g e
method in reviewing or reading varied works of literature that are related to your research problem or topic. Going
methodical in your review of related literature means you have to go through the following related stages of the process
of review of related literature that are true for any style of review (traditional or systematic) that you want to adopt.
(Lappuci 2013; Robyler 2013; Freinbell 2012)

Stage 1: Search for the Literature

This is the stage of review of related literature where you devote much of your time in looking for sources of
knowledge, data, or information to answer your research questions or to support your assumptions about your research
topic. Generally, there are three basic types of literature sources: general references that will direct you to the location
of other sources; primary sources that directly report or present a person’s own experiences; and secondary sources that
report or describe other people’s experiences or worldviews. Secondary sources of knowledge give the most number of
materials such as the Internet, books, peer-reviewed articles in journals, published literary reviews of a field, grey
literature or unpublished and non-peer reviewed materials like theses, dissertations, conference proceedings, leaflets
and posters, research studies in progress, and other library materials.
Websites introducing materials whose quality depends solely on every individual, social media networks
(Twitter, Facebook, blogs, podcasts, YouTube, video, etc.) and other online encyclopedia such as Wikipedia, are the
other sources of information that you can consult during this stage. You may find these reading materials valuable,
especially, the Wikipedia, because of their timeliness, diversified knowledge or information, varied presentation formats
(texts, sounds, animation) and 24-hour availability. But they are not as dependable as the other sources of knowledge.
Some consider the information from these as not very scholarly in weight because it is susceptible to anybody’s
penchant for editing. Since any person is free to use the Internet for displaying information that is peer-reviewed or not,
you need to be careful in evaluating online sources. (Mc Leod 2012)
You can have an access to these various sources of data in two methods: manually, or getting hold of the printed
form of the material, and electronically or having a computer or online reading of the sources of knowledge. Regardless
of which method you use, all throughout your literature search, your mind must be focused on the essence and
purposes of the library because most of the data you want to obtain are in this important section of your school. Having
familiarity with the nature of your library will facilitate your literature search.
Here are the pointers you have to remember in searching for the best sources of information or data: (Fraenbell
2012)
1. Choose previous research findings that are closely related to your research.
2. Give more weight to studies done by people possessing expertise or authority in the field of knowledge to
which the research studies belong.
3. Consider sources of knowledge that refer more to primary data than to secondary data.
4. Prefer getting information from peer-reviewed materials than from general reading materials.

Stage 2: Reading the Source Material

Reading, understanding, or making the materials meaningful to you is what will preoccupy you on the second
stage of reading RRL. You can only benefit much from your reading activities if you confront the reading materials with
the help of your HOTS. In understanding the sources of knowledge with your HOTS, you need to think interpretatively
through these ways of inferential thinking: predicting, generalizing, concluding, and assuming. On top of these should be
your ability to criticize or evaluate, apply, and create things about what you have read. Hence, reading or making sense
of the source materials does not only make you list down ideas from the materials, but also permits you to modify,
construct, or reconstruct ideas based on a certain principle, theory, pattern, method, or theme underlying your research.

Stage 3: Writing the Review

You do a great deal of idea connection and organization in this last stage of RRL to form an overall
understanding of the material by paraphrasing or summarizing the it. In doing either of these two, you get to change the
arrangement of ideas, structures of the language, and the format of the text using appropriate organizational techniques
of comparison-contrast, chronological order, spatial relationship, inductive-deductive order, and transitional devices.
Also, you make effective changes not only on language structures and format but also the quality of ideas incorporated
into the summary or paraphrase as well. This means that in writing the review, based on the focus, theme, or theory
underlying your research, you are free to fuse your opinions with the author’s ideas. (Corti 2014)
A simple presentation of the findings or argumentations of the writers on a particular topic with no
incorporation of your own inferential, analytical, and comparative- contrastive thinking about other people’s ideas
indicates poor literature review writing. This mere description, transfer, or listing of writer’s ideas that is devoid of or not
reflective of your thinking is called dump or stringing method. Good literature review writing shuns presenting ideas in
serial abstracts, which means every paragraph merely consists of one article. This is a source-by-source literature writing
that fails to link, compare, and contrast series of articles based on a theory or a theme around which the research
questions revolve. (Remlen 2011)
Juxtaposing or dealing with studies with respect to each other is your way of proving the extent of the validity of
the findings of previous studies vis-à-vis the recent ones. Reading the source material and writing the review analytically,

11 | P a g e
argumentatively, or critically, you give yourself the chance to express your genuine or opinionated knowledge about the
topic; thereby, increasing the enthusiasm of people in reading your work. (Radylyer 2013)
Another good approach to writing an excellent review is adopting good opening sentences of articles that should
chronologically appear in the paper. Opening an article with a bibliographical list that begins with the author’s name like
the following examples is not good.
Aquino (2015) said...
Roxas (2016) stated…
Perez (2017) wrote...
Mendoza (2018) asserted...
Examples of better article openings manifesting critical thinking through analysis, comparison and contrast of ideas and
findings are as follows:
One early work by (Castro, 2017) proves that...
Another study on the topic by (Torres, 2017) maintains that...
The latest study by (Gomez, 2018) reveals that...
A research study by (Rivera, 2017) explains that...
Coming from various books on literature review writing are the following transitional devices and active verbs to link or
express authors’ ideas in your paper. Using correct words to link ideas will make you synthesize your literature review, in
a way that evidence coming from various sources of data, will present an overall understanding of the context or of the
present circumstances affecting the research problem.
 Transitional devices – also, additionally, again, similarly, a similar opinion, however, conversely, on the other
hand, nevertheless, a contrasting opinion, a different approach, etc.
 Active verbs – analyze, argues, assess, assert, assume, claim, compare, contrast, conclude, criticize, debate,
defend, define, demonstrate, discuss, distinguish, differentiate, evaluate, examine, emphasize, expand, explain,
exhibit, identify, illustrate, imply, indicate, judge, justify, narrate, outline, persuade, propose, question, relate to,
report, review, suggest, summarize.

Activity 1
Directions: Write the letter of the word or phrase in column B that corresponds in meaning to the expression in column
A.
A B
______1. Theme or theory a. Some paragraphs but one article per par.
______2. Wikipedia b. Lacking in well-learned ideas
______3. Websites c. Comparing-contrasting two findings
______4. HOTS d. Elicits opinions on the topic
______5. Dump method e. Biographical list
______6. Serial abstract f. Inferring, criticizing, applying, creating
______7. Juxtaposing ideas g. Dependent on readers for its quality
______8. Argumentative review h. Basis of linking authors’ ideas
______9. Aquino (2018) suggested… i. Reading comprehension
______10. Grey literature j. Thesis, dissertations, posters
k. Plain union of authors’

Activity 2: Modified True or False

Directions: Write T if the sentence is true and F, if it is false. Then, underline the part that makes the sentence false and
write the correct word/s on the line provided.
_____1. Doing a literature search alone proves that literature review writing is an interconnected process.
____________________________________________________________________________________
_____2. Editing by readers contributes to the inferiority of Wikipedia as a source of information.
____________________________________________________________________________________
_____3. Much editing by readers happens in grey literature.
____________________________________________________________________________________
_____4. Bibliographical list is not a good way to begin an article.
____________________________________________________________________________________
_____5. A researcher is discouraged from using this opening: One study by (Lim, 2017) asserts that…
____________________________________________________________________________________
_____6. Being an interconnected process, literature review stages affect one another.
____________________________________________________________________________________
_____7. HOTS take place extensively in Literature-review reading and writing.
____________________________________________________________________________________
_____8. Primary source is better than secondary source.
____________________________________________________________________________________
_____9. Similarly, also, on the hand are good article openings.
12 | P a g e
 ____________________________________________________________________________________
_____10. You begin your review of related literature by peer-viewed journals.
____________________________________________________________________________________

LESSON 9 Standard Styles in Review of Related Literature, Citation, or References

After this lesson, you should be able to:

1. unlock the meaning of an unfamiliar word through context clues;
2. express your thoughts and feelings using the newly learned words;
3. compare and contrast the styles and patterns of in-text citations;
4. enumerate the purposes of citations;
5. evaluate the accuracy of citations to reading materials; and
6. identify the causes and effects of plagiarism.

Activity 3: Making Words Meaningful

Directions: Using contextual clues, give the meaning of the bold/underlined word in the sentence
1. Those are my words that you want to appear in your book. Hence, you must give them the proper citation in
your work to tell the readers of my ownership of the ideas behind the language structures.
2. Refusing to acknowledge the presence of the Iranian guest, he turned the microphone to somebody, and then
left the stage.
3. People, topic, place, and time, among others, make up the context of communication.
4. Judiciously, the buyer analyzes and criticizes the item before he decides to say yes to the seller.
5. A flower is generally known as a part of a plant, but varied connotations by every individual have been given to
this blossom.

Activity 4: Stirring Up Imagination

SPECULATE... SPECULATE... SPECULATE...
How will you compare the text in the frame with an essay you encountered in the past? Why does this text look like
this?

One recent study by (Castro, 2016) defined Intercultural competence as an ability to interact
harmoniously with people from different cultural background. Giving this expression another name,
(David, 2017) calls it Crosscultural or Inter-culture Competence. Described by Tolentino (2018, p. 38)
as a social-based activity, intercultural competence has context as its “One latest study by (Tuazon,
2018) explains context as a broad term that refers to all the circumstances affecting social interaction

STANDARD STYLES IN RELATED LITERATURE CITATIONS OR REFERENCES

In reviewing related literature, you come to read varieties of reading materials containing knowledge related to
your research. It is a fact that these ideas, including the language structures to express these ideas, belong to other
people. They are not yours. One cardinal principle in research is acknowledging or recognizing the owners of any form of
knowledge you intend to include in your research paper. Doing this practice signals not just honesty and courtesy to
learned people whose ideas lend information to your paper, but also indicates your appreciation for their contribution
to the field. (Hammersely 2013)

The following are the three terms used to express your appreciation for or recognition of people’s ownership of
borrowed ideas (Sharp 2012):
1. Acknowledgment – the beginning portion of the work that identifies individuals who have contributed
something for the production of the paper
2. References or Bibliography – a complete list of all reading materials, including books, journals, periodicals, etc.
from where the borrowed ideas came from
3. Citation or In-text Citation – references within the main body of the text, specifically in Review of Related
Literature

The third one, citation, is the focus of this lesson. Citation, also called in-text citation, has many purposes and
style, which are as follows (Badke 2012):

PURPOSES OF CITATION

13 | P a g e
 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 save yourself from plagiarism

STYLES OF CITATION
1. Integral Citation
This is one way of citing or referring to the author whose ideas appear in your work. You do this by using
active verbs like claim, assert, state, etc. to report the author’s ideas. Using these types of verbs somehow
expresses the author’s mental position, attitude, stand, or opinion in relation to the information referred to. This
is the reason integral citation is often used in social sciences or any subjects belonging to the soft sciences.

Examples of Integral Citation:

APA MLA
One study by Manalo (2015) reveals… One study by (Manalo 70)
The latest work by (Lee, 2015) asserts… The latest work by (Lee 123)
According to Abad et al. (2015) context is… According to (Abad et al.: 54)

2. Non-integral Citation
In contrast to integral citation that reflects the author’s personal inclinations to a certain extent, this
second citation style downplays any strength of the writer’s personal characteristics. The stress is given to the
piece of information rather than to the owner of the ideas.

Examples of Non-integral Citation:

a. The Code of Ethics for Intercultural Competence give four ways by which people from different cultural
background can harmoniously relate themselves with one another. (De la Cruz, 2015)
b. Knowledge is one component of not only Systemic Functional Grammar but Intercultural competence as
well. It is the driving force beyond any successful collaborative activities to develop interpersonal
relationships and communicative competence. (Smith 2015)
c. The other components of Intercultural Competence which are also present in SFG are: context (Harold,
2015), appropriateness (Villar, Marcos, Atienza, 2016; Santos, and Daez, 2016), and emotions (Flores, 2016).

PATTERNS OF CITATION
1. Summary. The citation in this case is a shortened version of the original text that is expressed in your own
language. Making the text short, you have to pick out only the most important ideas or aspects of the text.
2. Paraphrase. This is the antithesis of the first one because, here, instead of shortening the form of the text, you
explain what the text means to you using your own words. In doing so, it is possible that your explanations may
decrease or exceed the number of words of the original text.
3. Short Direct Quotation. Only a part of the author’s sentence, the whole sentence, or several sentences, not
exceeding 40 words, is what you can quote or repeat in writing through this citation pattern. Since this makes
you copy the exact words of the writer, it is necessary that you give the number of the page where the readers
can find the copied words.
Example:
Contexts is influenced by these four factors: “language, culture, institutions, and ideologies.” (Aranda,
2015, p.8)
4. Long Direct Quotation or Block Quotation, or Extract. Named in many ways, this citation pattern makes you copy
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 indentation, the copied lines look like they compose a stanza of a poem.
Example:
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)

You should quote judiciously because having so many quoted words or lines in your paper signals your lack
of understanding of such part of the text. Besides, frequent copying of the author’s words indicates your lack of

14 | P a g e
 originality in conducting your research work. To avoid negative connotations about direct quotations in your
paper, have in mind the following reasons to justify your act of quoting or repeating in writing other people’s
words. (Ransome 2013)
1. The idea is quite essential.
2. The idea is refutable or arguable.
3. The sentence is ambiguous or has multiple meanings.
4. There’s a strong possibility that questions may be raised about the citation.
5. It is an excellent idea that to make it a part of your paper will bring prestige and credibility to your
entire work.

There are two basic methods of referencing, pointing to, or identifying the exact author referred to by your
paper. These are the APA (American Psychological Association and the MLA (Modern Language Association).
Each of these two methods has its own in-text citation style. The following shows the difference between them
as regards citation format.
APA – (Ramos, 2015) or Ramos (2016)
(Manalo, 2015) or Manalo (2016)
MLA – (Bautista 183), Flores et.al. 150-158)
(Acosta, Hizon, Lopez 235-240)
(Velarde 4: 389-403) – for periodicals
5. Tense of verbs for reporting
Active verbs are effective words to use in reporting authors’ ideas. Present their ideas in any of these
tenses: present, simple past, or present perfect tense. The APA system, however, prefers the use of present
perfect tense.
Examples:
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 words. 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 the borrowed ideas in your own words. (Ransome 2013)

Taking ownership of what do not belong to you is a criminal act that is punishable by imprisonment and
indemnity or payment of money to compensate for any losses incurred by the owners of expressions that you
copied without their permission. The safest way to avoid plagiarism is to be aware of the fact that the copied
words are not yours. If you want these words to appear in your paper, you must reveal the name of the author
in your paper, including the pieces of information (title, date, place of publication, publisher, etc.) about the
book from where you copied the words. (Hammersely 2013)
Nowadays, due to the proliferation of “Grey Literature” or unpublished reading materials or of non-peer reviewed online
publications, many reading materials as sources of information for research studies appear questionable as to how
qualitative, credible, and authoritative they are. Notwithstanding the doubtful reputation of these grey literature, to free
yourself from any guilt of plagiarism, you must identify in your paper the owners of any idea, word, symbol that you
quoted or copied verbatim, summarized, or paraphrased. (Sharp 2012; Gray 2013)

Activity 5
Directions: Based on what you have finished reading, explain or clarify what you mean about the following lines.
1. Be judicious in quoting words.
2. Apply honesty and courtesy in Literature-review writing.
3. A stanza-like part of a text possibly appears in your paper.
4. You can’t personally say, “Thank you” to the authors, but can have other ways to express your gratitude to
them.
5. Quotations indicate lack of the paper’s originality.
6. You don’t have an absolute freedom to quote the words of the author.
7. Produce a condensed form of the reading material.
8. Citation is just one of the many ways to acknowledge the sources of information.
9. Integral citation has a personal touch.
10. There’s a limit to your act of quoting words.

Activity 6
15 | P a g e
Directions: Identify the citation style used in each sentence or paragraph.
1. Many gave their comments about the medicinal powers of ampalaya. For instance, the latest study by Santos
and Gomez revealed that the juice of this vegetable can be a good cure against diabetes.
__________________________________________________________________
2. De Jesus and Roces felt that one research study by (Collanto and Fernandez p. 88) and Vallejo, 2015 validated
Meneses findings on the Ebola virus.
__________________________________________________________________
3. A number of medicinal plants can be found in one’s family’s backyard. Fruit trees like santol, mango, guava,
tamarind, atis, and guyabano, among others, grow robustly in any spacious area in a yard. Needing no regular
watering, these plants always make themselves available to people believing in their medicinal qualities. (Rafael
Corpuz)
__________________________________________________________________
4. One study by Laguardia (2015) has identified the seven components of Intercultural competence that according
to Florentino (2015, p. 45) are likewise the leading elements of one “contemporary language theory called
Systemic Functional Grammar.”
__________________________________________________________________
5. According to William Smith, the K–12 curriculum is the key to the Philippines success in this era of globalization.
Agreeing on this, Mariano (2016) in his latest book said, “Any opposition against the immediate implementation
of K–12 curriculum must not be entertained by the government agencies in charge of monitoring the operation
of this educational program.”
__________________________________________________________________

16 | P a g e