LECTURE NOTES

LITERATURE REVIEW

Literature review is the reading and digging into literature written in the area of interest by
other experts and scholars.

It is the reading scholarly or academic materials to establish information about the research
problem. Literature review involves systematic identification, location and analysis of
documents that contain information about the research problem. In itself, literature review
is a preliminary research which helps the researcher to generate and refine the research
problem and objectives.

Until sufficient review of literature is done, it is not possible to know what has been done
and what remains to be done and therefore it is also not possible to develop a research
project that advances knowledge creation.

Review of literature is a continuous process throughout a research project and enables the
researcher to continuously look for more information or literature on specific issues as they
emerge or are encountered as the study progresses.

Purpose of Literature Review

a. Helps get clear ideas of what has been done and documented in a particular research
area
b. Allows the researcher to appreciate the results of other similar or relevant studies
c. Provides a rational theoretical base or conceptual framework for the research and
procedures to be used in the research
d. Enables the research to identify gaps on literature in the area of interest that needs to
be filled
e. Provides a justification of methods and procedures to be used in the study

More precisely, literature review helps in;

i. Defining and refining the problem statement

ii. Limiting the scope of the study
iii. Searching for new approaches
iv. Comparing methodologies, models or approaches and exposing their weaknesses

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This way, literature review helps the researcher to avoid mistakes already made by others
and to advance on the weaknesses of previous studies.

Literature review should be relevant to the study by concerning itself specifically with the
variables identified in the purpose, objectives and hypothesis/research questions as these
inform the direction that the study takes.

Sources of Literature

Sources of research literature can be grouped into;

a. Primary sources
b. Secondary sources
c. Tertiary sources

Primary sources are publications of results of research studies. They are a result of the
authors involvement in research studies and include; thesis, journals, websites, census
reports, survey reports, conference proceedings, company reports, government publications
etc. These sources provide direct information or description of phenomena.

Secondary and tertiary sources of literature refers to publications which are build by
reporting the works of others or primary sources. The authors are not directly involved in
research either as researchers, observers or participants. They are exhaustive compilations
of the works of others. Examples of secondary sources include; textbooks, government
reports and policy papers, non-governmental organizations’ reports, year books,
newspapers etc. Examples of tertiary sources include; Dictionaries, Encyclopedias,
Bibliographies, indices, catalogues etc

Note: Primary sources are the most appropriate sources for literature review. Secondary
sources provide conceptual literature. However news paper articles tend to be very
contemporary and subjective often not revealing their sources of information and therefore
are not authoritative sources in research.

Literature review process

a. Defining the problem: here, the research area, topic or subject is selected and key
variables identified

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b. Identify literature sources through general references: Using the subject, topic and
key variables, general references will lead the researcher to identify
secondary or primary sources
c. Obtaining and reading relevant primary and secondary sources
d. Taking notes and recording bibliographic cards: the researcher peruses, scans and
reads in detail to extract key information
e. Cleaning information from the selected literature: extract information on the
research problem, variables, methodology used and the findings
f. Determining the relevance of literature: select only literature relevant to your study
objectives
g. Summarizing and recording details from literature: the literature is recorded
systematically based on the variables beginning with the oldest to the
most recent literature
h. Preparing the literature review (actual writing): this involves writing the text to the
literature review; inserting quotations and citations; and compiling
reference lists

TASK:

Read on APA referencing style as Lesson 5

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