Lesson 12:

Writing the Review

of Related Literature
At the end of this module, I can:
• Select relevant literature.
• Cite related literature using
standard style.
• Synthesiza information from
relevant literature and studies.
• Write the review of related
literature.
 Writing the Review of Related Literature
A literature review is a process of studying what has already been
written on a particular topic. The process involves identifying, locating,
and analyzing, documents that contain information related to a
researcher's research topic.

The literature review can serve multiple purposes at different stages of

the research process such as the following:
● Determine what has already been done or studied about your topic.

● It gives wider understanding of your topic and which will help you

identify what has been done and what needs to be done about your
topic.
● Provides the rationale for your research hypothesis and can help you

justify the significance of your study.

Writing the Review of Related Literature
The role of literature review in
qualitative researches is not entirely
defined. Some qualitative researchers
argue that reviewing the literature is used
to determine the direction of the research
and thus should be avoided at the early
stages of the research process. Others
suggest that the review of related
literature is important early in the
qualitative research process because of
the following functions:
 Writing the Review of Related Literature

• The literature review demonstrates the

underlying assumptions (propositions)
behind the research questions that are central
to the research proposal.
• The literature review provides a way for the
novice researcher to convince the proposal
reviewers that he or she is knowledgeable
about the related research and the
“intellectual traditions” that support the
proposed study.
Writing the Review of Related Literature

• The literature review provides the researcher

with an opportunity to identify any gaps that
may exist in the body of literature and to
provide a rationale for how the proposed
study may contribute to the existing body of
knowledge.
• The literature review helps the researcher to
refine the research questions and embed
them in guiding hypotheses that provide
possible directions the researcher may
follow.
Writing the Review of Related Literature

As mentioned, the review of literature involves

the skill of identifying documents to be
retrieved. The documents are not limited to
books and research journals. It can include
articles, reviews, monographs, dissertations,
other research reports, and electronic media.
Thus, you also have to develop the skill of
identifying or selecting materials for review
before doing the actual review.
 Writing the Review of Related Literature
The following are some tips on how to select materials for literature
review:
1. The material should be relevant to the topic or problem that you are
studying.
2. The material should be recent as much as possible. However, old
materials that are pioneer in the topic may sometimes be included.
3. Gather materials from varied sources such as previous studies,
journals, books, monographs, and even magazines. Additionally, you
may take advantage of the information available online; however,
you must be extra careful when using online sources. Make sure that
you only use credible web sites.
Writing the Review of Related Literature

After gathering materials for review, the next step

is writing the literature review section of the
research. One important skill that you need to
learn when writing the literature review is proper
citation. This is to avoid plagiarism in your
research work. Study the following excerpt from a
literature review:
 Writing the Review of Related Literature

Avilla (2009) found out that learning theories such as

constructivism, experiential learning or learning by doing, and
cognitive theory of learning are embedded in the students’
images on chemistry. Valderama (2006) said that drawings have
been utilized extensively by psychologists for a range of
purposes such as assessing children’s motor and cognitive
development, examining the content of children’s drawings in
relation to culture content, and helping children deal with social
and emotional trauma such as abuse. These drawings are
considered to be the students’ images. They are images of
actions. These views represent what students say about what they
do (Ryder, Leach, & Driver, 1997).
Writing the Review of Related Literature

This is an example from a study of Avilla in

2009. The name of the author and the year
of publication of the material cited is
included in the paragraph. This is called
parenthetical citation. The name and the
year of publication may be written at the
beginning or at the end of a sentence.
 Citation Styles

There are different styles of

citing information in a literature
review. The two most
commonly used are the
American Psychological
Association (APA) citation
style and the Modern
Language Association (MLA)
citation style.
 Citation Styles

A. APA Style
The APA style is commonly used within the social sciences
discipline. It follows the author-date system of citation. This means that
the last name of the author and the date of publication of the work must
appear in the text (e.g., Avilla, 2009), and the complete bibliographic
information should appear on the “Reference List” page. Note that in APA
citation style, the page number is used only if you are directly quoting the
material, or making reference to an entire book, article or other work.
The following are the basic guidelines when using the APA style
of citation which is adapted from Purdue University Online Writing Lab.
 A. APA Citation Style

• Work by a Single Author: The last name of the author and the year of
publication are placed in the text. When the name of the author is part
of the narrative, only the date is placed in the parentheses. When both
information are in the parenthesis, the year is separated from the
surname with a comma.

Examples:
Santos (2014) asserted that education alleviates poverty.
…education alleviates poverty (Santos, 2014).
 A. APA Citation Style
• Work by Two Authors: Name both authors in the signal phrase or in the parentheses each time
you cite the work. Use the word "and" between the authors' names within the text and use the
ampersand in the parentheses.
Examples:
Santos and Reyes (2014) explained that ...
... as has been shown (Santos & Reyes, 2014)
• Work by Three to Five Authors: List all the authors in the signal phrase or in parentheses the
first time you cite the source. Use the word "and" between the authors names within the text and
use the ampersand in the parentheses.
Examples:
David, Garcia, and Isabelo (2014)
(David, Garcia, & Isabelo, 2014)

In subsequent citations, only use the first author's last name followed by et al." in the
signal phrase or in parentheses.
(David et al., 2014)
 A. APA Citation Style
• Six or More Authors: Use the first author's name followed by et al." in the signal
phrase or in parentheses.
Examples:
David et al. (2014) argued...
(David et al., 2014)
• Unknown Author: If the work does not have an author, cite the source by its title in
the signal phrase or use the first word or two in the parentheses. Titles of books and
reports are italicized or underlined; titles of articles, chapters, and Web pages are in
quotation marks.
Example:
A similar study was done of students learning to format research papers
("Using APA," 2001).
Note: In the rare case the "Anonymous" is used for the author, treat it as the
author’s name (Anonymous, 2001). In the reference list, use the name
"Anonymous" as the author.
 A. APA Citation Style
• Organization as an Author: If the author is an organization or a government
agency. mention the organization in the signal phrase or in the parenthetical citation
the first time you cite the source.

Examples:
First citation: According to the National Institute of Chemistry (2013),...
(National Institute of Chemistry, 2013)

Second citation: (NIC, 2013)

 Citation Styles
B. MLA Citation Style
Commonly used within the liberal arts and humanities disciplines, the MLA
format follows the author-page method of in-text citation. Instead of the author's
surname and year of publication, this style uses the author's last name and the page
number(s) from which the quotation or paraphrase in the citation was lifted, and the
complete bibliographic information appears on the "Works Cited" page. The author's
name may appear either in the sentence itself or in parentheses following the quotation
or paraphrase, but the page number(s) should always appear in the parentheses, not in
the text of your sentence.

Examples:
Author's name in text:
Palomar emphasized that (20-21)
Author's name in parentheses:
This is given an emphasis (Palomar 20-21)
 B. MLA Citation Style
Multiple Authors:
This formula (Avilla and Santos 9) proved
…to be tested (Garcia and Reyes 24)

Organization as author:
(National Institute of Chemistry, 40-42)

APA and MLA are two most commonly citation styles. The APA style is
used within the social sciences while the MLA style is used within the
liberal arts and humanities.
You have to take note that whatever style is used, you have to make sure that all the
sources cited, not in the literature review but throughout the research paper, should
appear in the “Reference” list for APA or “Works Cited” list in MLA.
 B. MLA Citation Style
Now that you have learned how to cite sources, the next thing to learn is
how to write Writing the Review of Related Literature write the review of to
the literature review itself. The following are some guidelines on how related
literature as enumerated by Galvan (cited in Mongan-Rallis, 2014):

1. Identify the broad problem.

2. Indicate why the topic is being reviewed.
3. Distinguish between research findings and other sources of information.
4. Indicate why certain studies are important.
5. If citing classic or landmark studies, identify it as such. A landmark study is
a pioneering study on a certain topic. In the review, it is suggested to include
this kind of study to give emphasis on the topic being reviewed.
 B. MLA Citation Style
6. Discuss other literature reviews on your topic.
7. Avoid long lists of nonspecific references,
8. Cite separately inconsistent or varying results of previous studies.
9. Cite all relevant references.
It is also suggested to make an outline of the topics and subtopics as reflected
in the statement of the problem before you write the review. This will help you
avoid adding unnecessary literature as you write your review.

Writing the review of related literature is an important part of the

research. Thus, this will entail time, effort, and analysis.
 Guidelines in Writing the RRL
After you have reviewed related literature from previous studies, you are
now ready to develop a coherent essay on related literature. Galvan (2006),
as cited in the article of Mongan-Rallis (2014), enumerated some
guidelines on developing a coherent essay. These are some of the
guidelines:
1. If your review is long, provide an overview near the beginning of the
review. The overview provides the reader of what the author is aiming at.
This also gives a clear picture of what the literature is all about.

2. State explicitly what will and will not be covered in the review. There
are many possible literature and studies that might be related to your
present study. However, not all can be included in your review. To avoid
getting all unnecessary literature, it is important to make an outline of your
topics to be covered in writing your literature.
 Guidelines in Writing the RRL
3. Specify your point of view. You have to be very specific on the details and
know where you are heading to. This is important in writing the review to
avoid confusion on the part of the
reader.

4. Aim for a clear and cohesive essay that integrates the key details of the
literature and communicates your point of view. A coherent review of related
literature reinforces and concretizes your study.

5. Use subheadings especially in a long review. Your review is coherent

based on certain topic. To distinguish a topic or theme from one another, use
titles or subheadings.
 Guidelines in Writing the RRL
6. Use transitions to help trace your argument.

7. Consider reviewing studies from each discipline separately.

8. Write a conclusion at the end of the review. This is actually the synthesis of
the review of the related literature and addresses your research questions.

9. Make sure that the flow of the argument is coherent.

 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
This part contains the following:
✓ Local Literature
✓ Foreign Literature
✓ Local Studies
✓ Foreign Studies

Related Literature: Related Studies:

News Articles Hardbound Thesis
Book Citations Online researches
Official website’s opinions and facts Government public data
 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
What is the difference of related literature and related studies?
Related literature are often from journalist or any officials
whereas the opinions and facts presented matters and can affect the
masses’ opinion and thinking. Related Studies are from researchers or from
official public offices, and thesis from different universities and libraries.

Most of these are accessible and that is why we need proper

citation of others’ work. Literature and studies are best to support your
research or thesis in ways that it can provide resources and data that can be
tackled in your own.
END OF
SLIDE