Writing The Related Literature

University of Southeastern Philippines
Thesis Writing
Orientation for Research Writing

Prepared by: Samuel O. Parami, MPD, MM. DBM (CAR)
Orientation: Thesis Writing

What is a Thesis?
 a dissertation embodying results of original research and especially

substantiating a specific view especially : one written by a candidate for an
academic degree.
- Meriam Webster Dictionary
- A thesis is an idea or theory that is expressed as a statement and is
discussed in a logical way.
- A thesis is a long piece of writing based on your own ideas and research
that you do as part of a university degree
- - Collins English Dictionary
1
Thesis vs. Dissertation Writing
 Used interchangeably in some countries
 Thesis is much shorter than dissertation (Less than 100 pages

vs. over 100 pages)
 Objectives of Thesis: to teach and train the student in research
methodology, and in thesis the process is more important than
the outcome.
 Objectives of Doctoral Dissertation: there is bound to be a new
outcome and it reflects the critical thinking of the candidate on
the research topic

Thesis vs. Dissertation Writing
 Used interchangeably in some countries
 Thesis is much shorter than dissertation (Less than 100 pages

vs. over 100 pages)
 Objectives of Thesis: to teach and train the student in research
methodology, and in thesis the process is more important than
the outcome.
 Objectives of Doctoral Dissertation: there is bound to be a new
outcome and it reflects the critical thinking of the candidate on
the research topic
2
Thesis Writing
Thesis Writing
3
Orientation: Research Writing
USEP Thesis Writing Format
Preliminaries
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Review of Related Literature and Theoretical Framework
Chapter 3: Methodology
Chapter 4: Presentation, Analysis, and Interpretation of Data
Chapter 5: Summary, Conclusion, and Recommendations
References, Appendices, and Curriculum Vitae

USEP Thesis Writing Format
Preliminaries
❑ Cover Page
❑ Declaration of Originality
❑ Abstract
❑ Approval Sheet
❑ Table of Contents
4
Sample:
Abstract

Chapter 1: Introduction
 Generally consists of:
1. The Background of the Study
2. Statement of the Problem
3. Objectives of the Study
4. Significance of the Study
5. Scope and Limitations of the Study
6. Definition of Terms
5
Orientation on Thesis Writing
❑ Brief statement of the origin of the research problem
❑ An account describing the circumstances requiring research
❑ May include a justification of the selection or choice of the
study
❑ Presents the global, national, and local background / scenario
of the research topic
❑ 2-3 pages; do not start with a quotation

❑ identifies and describes the history and nature of a well-defined
research problem with reference to the existing literature.
❑ Background information in your Introduction should indicate
➢ the root of the problem being studied, its scope,
➢ the extent to which previous studies have successfully investigated the
problem,
➢ noting, in particular, where gaps exist that your study attempts to
address.
➢ places the research problem in proper context
6
❑ provides the reader with the essential context needed to
understand the research problem
➢ Cultural -- the issue placed within the learned behavior of
specific groups of people.
➢ Economic -- of or relating to systems of production and
management of material wealth and/or business activities.
➢ Historical -- the time in which something takes place or was
created and how that influences how you interpret it.

➢ Philosophical -- clarification of the essential nature of being or
of phenomena as it relates to the research problem.
➢ Physical/Spatial -- reflects the space around something and
how that influences how you see it.
➢ Political -- concerns the environment in which something is
produced indicating it's public purpose or agenda.
7
➢ Social -- the environment of people that surrounds something's
creation or intended audience, reflecting how the people
around something use and interpret it.
➢ Temporal -- reflects issues or events of, relating to, or limited
by time.

❑ Some questions to consider:
➢ Are there concepts, terms, theories, or ideas that may be
unfamiliar to the reader and, thus, require additional
explanation?
➢ Are there historical elements that need to be explored in order
to add needed context, to highlight specific people, issues, or
events, or to lay a foundation for understanding the emergence
of a current issue or event?
8
➢ Is the research study unusual in some way that requires
additional explanation, such as,
➢ a) your study uses a method never applied before to the
research problem you are investigating;
➢ b) your study investigates a very esoteric or complex research
problem; or,

➢ Is the research study unusual in some way that requires
additional explanation, such as,
➢ c) your study relies upon analyzing unique texts or documents,
such as archival materials or primary documents like diaries or
personal letters, that do not represent the established body of
source literature on the topic
9
RESEARCH GAP
Dumar, DM (2020). Journey through research gaps. White Paper
Background of the Study
Past Knowledge Expected Knowledge

(What is existing) RESEARCH GAP (What is required)
Inconsistencies
Contradictions
Known Controversies Unknown
Conflicts
RESEARCH GAP

Known Unknown
Gap in Gap in
Population Concepts
Inconsistencies
Contradictions
Gap in Controversies Gap in
Analysis Conflicts Perspective
Gap in Gap in Gap in Gap in

Implication Methods Population Methodology
10
RESEARCH GAP

Inconsistencies
Known Contradictions Unknown
Controversies
Conflicts
Conceptual New
Frame Theoretical
Frame
11
Thesis Writing
12
Thesis Writing
Statement of the Problem ❑ Put the problem in context
❑ The problem studied must be (what do we already know?)
shown as one, which arose from ❑ Describe the precise issue
the situation of need or that the research will address
unresolved difficulties. The reader (what do we need to know?)
must be made to recognize this. ❑ Show the relevance of the
❑ Should be stated precisely, problem (why do we need to
accurately, and clearly know it?)
❑ Should be defined in terms of the ❑ Set the objectives of the
data that can be obtained. research (what will you do to
find out?)
Thesis Writing
13
Thesis Writing
Statement of the Problem
❑ The problem studied must be
shown as one, which arose from
the situation of need or unresolved
difficulties. The reader must be
made to recognize this.
❑ Should be stated precisely,
accurately, and clearly
❑ Should be defined in terms of the
data that can be obtained.
Thesis Writing
14
Quantitative
Problem
Statement
Thesis Writing
15
Qualitative
Problem
Statement
Thesis Writing
16
Qualitative
Purpose
Statement
Qualitative
Purpose
Statement
17
Thesis
Writing
Literature Review
This chapter consists of the review of related literature and studies,
the framework itself including its presentation in the form of a
paradigm, the hypotheses, and the discussion on key variables.
A. Related Literature and Studies: Why

❑ To familiarize yourself with the current state of knowledge on
your topic
❑ To identify areas of prior scholarship to prevent duplication of
effort
18
Literature Review
Related Literature and Studies: Why
❑ To identify gaps in knowledge and unresolved problems that your
research can address
❑ To develop your theoretical framework and methodology
❑ To provide an overview of the key findings and debates on the
topic
❑ To place each work in the context of its contribution to the
understanding of the research problem being studied,
❑ To describe the relationship of each work to the others under
consideration,
Literature Review
Related Literature and Studies: Why
❑ To resolve conflicts amongst seemingly contradictory previous
studies,
❑ To point the way in fulfilling a need for additional research, and
❑ To locate your own research within the context of existing
literature.
❑ To give a new interpretation of old material or combine new with
old interpretations
❑ To describe all variables in the conceptual framework
19
Related Literature
and Studies: Why
Literature Review: Common Mistakes

1. Relevance
❑ Sources in your literature review do not clearly relate to the
research problem;
❑ You do not take sufficient time to define and identify the most
relevant sources to use in the literature review related to the
research problem
❑ Irrelevant or unfocused content.
20
2. Authority / Reliability of sources
❑ Over-reliance on low-quality sources
❑ Relies exclusively on secondary analytical sources rather than
including relevant primary research studies or data
❑ A lack of current literature

3. Critical analysis
❑ Reports isolated statistical results rather than synthesizing them in
chi-squared or meta-analytic methods
❑ Uncritically accepts another researcher's findings and
interpretations as valid, rather than examining critically all aspects
of the research design and analysis;
❑ Simply summarizing the readings and failing to integrate
arguments into the review
21
4. Objectivity / impartiality
❑ Only includes research that validates assumptions and does not
consider contrary findings and alternative interpretations
❑ Does not describe the search procedures that were used in the
literature review;
❑ no systematic review of primary studies, published and
unpublished, meeting the criteria of inclusion and exclusion;
❑ Lack representativeness of all the results of the primary studies

❑ self-selection bias if researchers choose not to publish some of the
primary studies for various reasons, null, unexpected, or
unexplained findings.
❑ accepting studies with statistically significant results, especially if
this happens even when the size of the sample is relatively small
22
❑ Based on publication bias - understood as the tendency to publish
results that are systematically different from reality.
❑ Failure to publish results may be due to the decision of the author
or funder of the study, who does not submit for publication
unfavorable findings, or from editors of scientific journals, who
may not be interested in disclosing negative (with no statistical
relevance) findings.

5. Poor referencing
❑ Lacks proper citation
❑ indicating the sources incorrectly
23
Literature Review: Considerations before writing
1. Clarify
❑ Roughly how many sources should I include?
❑ What types of sources should I review (books, journal articles,
websites)?
❑ Should I summarize, synthesize, or critique your sources by
discussing a common theme or issue?
❑ Should I evaluate the sources?
❑ Should I provide subheadings and other background information,
such as definitions and/or a history?

2. Find Models
❑ Use the exercise of reviewing the literature to examine how
authors in your discipline or area of interest have composed their
literature reviews.
❑ Read them to get a sense of the types of themes you might want to
look for in your own research or ways to organize your final
review.
❑ The bibliography or reference section of sources you've already
read are also excellent entry points into your own research.
24
3. Narrow the Topic
❑ The narrower your topic, the easier it will be to limit the number
of sources you need to read in order to obtain a good survey of
relevant resources.
❑ You can also review the subject indexes of books to find
references to specific issues that can serve as the focus of your
research.

4. Consider Whether Your Sources are Current
❑ Some disciplines require that you use information that is as
current as possible.
❑ This is very common in the sciences where research conducted
only two years ago could be obsolete.
❑ Try sorting through some other current bibliographies or literature
reviews in the field to get a sense of what your discipline expects.
You can also use this method to consider what is consider by
scholars to be a "hot topic" and what is not.
25
Literature Review: How
Types of Literature Review: Know the layers of research on the topic
It is important to think of knowledge in a given field as consisting of
three layers.*
1. First, there are the primary studies that researchers conduct and
publish.
2. Second are the reviews of those studies that summarize and offer
new interpretations built from and often extending beyond the
original studies..

Types of Literature Review: Know the layers of research on the topic
3. Third, there are the perceptions, conclusions, opinion, and
interpretations that are shared informally that become part of the
lore of field.
In composing a literature review, it is important to note that it is often
this third layer of knowledge that is cited as "true" even though it
often has only a loose relationship to the primary studies and
secondary literature reviews.
26
Literature
Review
Structure
❑ An overview of the subject, issue or theory under

consideration, along with the objectives of the literature
review,
❑ Division of works under review into themes or categories
Literature (e.g. works that support of a particular position, those
against, and those offering alternative approaches entirely),
Review
❑ An explanation of how each work is similar to and how it
Structure varies from the others,
❑ Conclusions as to which pieces are best considered in their
argument, are most convincing of their opinions, and make
the greatest contribution to the understanding and
development of their area of research
27
Approaches / Types of Literature Review
1. Argumentative Review
❑ This form examines literature selectively in order to support or
refute an argument, deeply imbedded assumption, or philosophical
problem already established in the literature.
❑ The purpose is to develop a body of literature that establishes a
contrarian viewpoint.
❑ However, note that they can also introduce problems of bias when they are
used to make summary claims of the sort found in systematic reviews.

2. Integrative Review
❑ Considered a form of research that reviews, critiques, and
synthesizes representative literature on a topic in an integrated
way such that new frameworks and perspectives on the topic are
generated.
❑ The body of literature includes all studies that address related or
identical hypotheses.
28
2. Integrative Review
❑ A well-done integrative review meets the same standards as
primary research in regard to clarity, rigor, and replication.
3. Historical Review
❑ Historical reviews are focused on examining research throughout
a period of time, often starting with the first time an issue,
concept, theory, phenomena emerged in the literature, then tracing
its evolution within the scholarship of a discipline.

3. Historical Review
❑ The purpose is to place research in a historical context to show
familiarity with state-of-the-art developments and to identify the
likely directions for future research.
4. Methodological Review
❑ A review does not always focus on what someone said [content],
but how they said it [method of analysis].
29
❑ This approach provides a framework of understanding at different
levels (i.e. those of theory, substantive fields, research approaches
and data collection and analysis techniques),
❑ enables researchers to draw on a wide variety of knowledge
ranging from the conceptual level to practical documents

❑ for use in fieldwork in the areas of ontological and
epistemological consideration, quantitative and qualitative
integration, sampling, interviewing, data collection and data
analysis, and helps highlight many ethical issues which we should
be aware of and consider as we go through our study.
30
5. Systematic Review
❑ This form consists of an overview of existing evidence pertinent
to a clearly formulated research question, which uses pre-specified
and standardized methods to identify and critically appraise
relevant research, and to collect, report, and analyze data from the
studies that are included in the review.
❑ Typically it focuses on a very specific empirical question, often posed in a
cause-and-effect form, such as "To what extent does A contribute to B?"

6. Theoretical Review
❑ The purpose of this form is to concretely examine the corpus of
theory that has accumulated in regard to an issue, concept, theory,
phenomena.
❑ The theoretical literature review help establish what theories
already exist, the relationships between them, to what degree the
existing theories have been investigated, and to develop new
hypotheses to be tested.
31
6. Theoretical Review
❑ Often this form is used to help establish a lack of appropriate
theories or reveal that current theories are inadequate for
explaining new or emerging research problems.
❑ The unit of analysis can focus on a theoretical concept or a whole
theory or framework.
Literature
Review:
General Steps
32
Literature Review: Phases
33
Organizing the Literature Review
1. Chronology of Events
❑ This approach should only be followed if a clear path of research
building on previous research can be identified and that these
trends follow a clear chronological order of development.
❑ Ex. A literature review focusing on continuing research about the
emergence of German economic power after the fall of the Soviet
Union.
34
2. By Publication
❑ Order your sources by publication chronology, then, only if the
order demonstrates a more important trend.
❑ For instance, you could order a review of literature on
environmental studies of brown fields if the progression revealed,
for example, a change in the soil collection practices of the
researchers who wrote and/or conducted the studies.

3. Thematic
❑ Thematic reviews of literature are organized around a topic or
issue, rather than the progression of time.
❑ However, progression of time may still be an important factor in a
thematic review.
❑ A review organized in this manner would shift between time
periods within each section according to the point made.
35
4. Methodological
❑ A methodological approach focuses on the methods utilized by the
researcher.
❑ A methodological scope will influence either the types of
documents in the review or the way in which these documents are
discussed.

When Writing the Literature Review
1. Use evidence
❑ A literature review in this sense is just like any other
academic research paper.
❑ Your interpretation of the available sources must be
backed up with evidence to show that what you are
saying is valid.
36
2. Be Selective
❑ Select only the most important points in each source to
highlight in the review.
❑ The type of information you choose to mention should
relate directly to the research problem, whether it is
thematic, methodological, or chronological.

3. Use Quotes Sparingly
❑ Some short quotes are okay if you want to emphasize a point, or if
what the author said just cannot be rewritten in your own words.
❑ Sometimes you may need to quote certain terms that were coined by
the author, not common knowledge, or taken directly from the study.
❑ Do not use extensive quotes as a substitute your own summary and
interpretation of the literature.
37
4. Summarize and Synthesize
❑ Remember to summarize and synthesize your sources within each
paragraph as well as throughout the review.
❑ Recapitulate important features of a research study, but then
synthesize it by rephrasing the study's significance and relating it
to their own work.

a. Summarize
❑ A summary is a shortened version of the original text.
❑ It should contain the main points of the original text but in a
shortened version.
❑ It should be written in your own words
❑ The source should be acknowledged.
38
a. Summarize: considerations
1) Make sure you understand the original text
2) Think about your purpose of using the text.
➢ Summarizing to support your point?
➢ Summarizing to criticize the work before you introduce your
point?

3) Select the relevant information – depending on your purpose.
4) Find the important ideas (words and phrases) and mark them in
some way or write them somewhere
➢ Distinguish the main and subsidiary information
➢ Delete most details, and examples, unimportant information,
anecdotes, illustrations, etc
39
5) Find synonyms or alternative phrases for those words
6) Change the structure of the text
➢ Changing adjectives to adverbs, nouns to verbs
➢ Breaking up long sentences and combining short sentences
➢ Identifying relationships between words and ideas and
expressing them differently

7) After having completed the above steps, begin rewriting the main
ideas in complete sentences, combining your notes into a piece of
continuing writing. Use conjunctions and adverbs such as
“therefore’, “however’, although’, since” to show connections
between ideas
8) Check your work
40
b. Paraphrase: considerations
❑ Sometimes summarizing is not appropriate or relevant and you
want to maintain a closer link with the original but you do not want
to quote word for word. In that case you need to paraphrase.
❑ It is a good idea to limit paraphrasing to short bits of text.
❑ You need to change the words, the structure of the original but keep
the meaning the same
❑ Acknowledge the author’s work

c. Synthesize: considerations
❑ All the points for summarizing and paraphrasing are relevant
when you synthesize. However, the following point can be added
to the summarizing points:
❑ Organize the information from summarizing the different texts.
You could give all the similar ideas in different texts the same
number or color to help you group them together.
41
B. Theory Base
❑ Shapes the justification of the research problems in order to
provide the legal basis for defining its parameters.
❑ This includes existing accepted concepts, principles, theories and
frameworks. (Include theories/frameworks where you anchor
your study)
❑ Ex. This study is anchored on (name of author)’s theory of (name
of theory)
C. Conceptual Framework
❑ From the review of the related literature and studies, the
researcher formulates a conceptual scheme for his/her research
problem, which is a tentative theoretical explanation of the
phenomenon/ problem he is going to investigate.
❑ The conceptual framework should be reduced into a paradigm/
schematic diagram showing the variables of the framework and
their interrelationships. The theoretical scheme is the basis for
formulating the research hypothesis/es.
42
D. Hypothesis
❑ Hypotheses are conjectural statements of
relationships between two or more variables. These
statements are based on existing information and are
tested experimentally or empirically.
❑ Whether stated explicitly or not, hypotheses are a
part of a research study. They guide the
investigation.
D. Hypothesis
❑ The hypothesis(es) should be: (1) rational, involving at least two

variables; (2) precise and clear; (3) non-judgment, i.e.
moral/value free; (4) not answerable by yes or no; and (5)
measurable.
❑ The hypotheses should originate from substantially the same
background as that which served to identify/ suggest the problem.
43
D. Hypothesis
❑ The research hypotheses are stated in the alternative form

however, these are changed to the null form when they are tested
statistically. Only null hypotheses can be subjected to statistical
testing.
Example
Parts of Research Paper Example
Topic / Focus Effects of Chemotherapy
Research Problem Nausea and vomiting are common side effects
among patients on chemotherapy, and
interventions to date have been only
moderately successful in reducing these
effects. New interventions that can reduce or
prevent these side effects need to be identified.
44
Example
Parts of Research Example
Paper
Statement of purpose The purpose of this study is to test an intervention to
reduce the chemotherapy-induced side effects –
specifically to compare the effectiveness of patient-
controlled and nurse-administered antiemetic therapy
of controlling nausea and vomiting in patients on
chemotherapy
Example
Paper
Research Question What is the relative effectiveness of patient-controlled
vs. nurse-administered antiemetic therapy with regard
to:
a. Medication consumption, and
b. Control of nausea and vomiting in patients on
chemotherapy
Research Objectives This study specifically aims to:
1. Develop and implement two alternative procedures
for administering antiemetic therapy for patients
45
Example
Paper
1. Develop and implement two alternative procedures
for administering antiemetic therapy for patients
receiving moderate emetogenic chemotherapy
(patient-controlled vs. nurse-controlled) ;
2. Test three hypotheses concerning the relative
effectiveness of alternative procedures on
medication consumption and control of side
effects, and
Example
Paper
3. Use the findings to develop recommendations for
possible changes to therapeutic procedures.
Hypothesis: 1. Subjects receiving antiemetic therapy by a patient-
controlled pump will report less nausea than
subjects receiving therapy by nurse-administration
2. Subjects receiving antiemetic therapy by a patient-
controlled pump will report less vomiting than
46
Example
Paper
Hypothesis: 3. Subjects receiving antiemetic therapy by a patient-

controlled pump will consume less medication than
47

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University of Southeastern Philippines

Orientation for Research Writing

Orientation: Thesis Writing

 a dissertation embodying results of original research and especially

 Thesis is much shorter than dissertation (Less than 100 pages

Orientation: Thesis Writing

 Thesis is much shorter than dissertation (Less than 100 pages

Orientation: Thesis Writing

Orientation: Thesis Writing

Orientation on Thesis Writing

Orientation on Thesis Writing

Orientation on Thesis Writing

Orientation on Thesis Writing

Past Knowledge Expected Knowledge

Past Knowledge Expected Knowledge

Gap in Gap in Gap in Gap in

Past Knowledge Expected Knowledge

Background of the Study

A. Related Literature and Studies: Why

Literature Review: Common Mistakes

Literature Review: Common Mistakes

Literature Review: Common Mistakes

Literature Review: Common Mistakes

Literature Review: Considerations before writing

Literature Review: Considerations before writing

Literature Review: How

❑ An overview of the subject, issue or theory under

Literature Review: How

Literature Review: How

Literature Review: How

Literature Review: How

Literature Review: How

Literature Review: How

Literature Review: How

Literature Review: How

Literature Review: How

Literature Review: How

Literature Review: How

Literature Review: How

❑ The hypothesis(es) should be: (1) rational, involving at least two

❑ The research hypotheses are stated in the alternative form

Hypothesis: 3. Subjects receiving antiemetic therapy by a patient-

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