The Review of Related

Literature
Chapter 2
Review of Related Literature
• A written summary of published research studies and relevant works
about a particular subject matter that is related to a study’s main
topic.
• To generate this chapter, central issues and problems, including other
perspectives that matter in understanding the research’s relevance
among existing literatures must be presented comprehensively.
• Do not present this chapter like a grocery list of paraphrased
literature.
• Group each literature according to its scope or theme and present
them in order according to what you would like to establish first.
Importance of this chapter
• Helps a researcher build an understanding regarding what was done
so far or what was established so far based on existing literatures
• What methodologies were used
• What theory/ies was/were used
• What gap/s was/were filled in
• What recommendations were provided by the professionals in the field
• What conclusions were made that you could possibly replicate in your study
to confirm if these were valid
• It helps as well in narrowing your topic and aids you in discussing it
• For you to learn more about your topic and how you can creatively provide
new insights
• You can likewise learn how this chapter is written by other researchers
• You can likewise learn from the experiences of other researchers
A good RRL must be able to:
• explain existing bodies of knowledge sufficiently, including major issues ;
• increase the confidence of readers while reading your paper especially if
you wrote this chapter comprehensively and competently ;
• sketch the direction of your study through contextualizing it efficiently ;
• produce a good integration (through grouping your RRLs) and synthesis
(which studies agree, which studies disagree, which literatures made
you spot your study’s research gap) ; and eventually
• identify unstudied areas and propose hypotheses.
Sources of Related Literatures
• A primary source is an original document/image, the results of an
experiment, statistical data, first-hand account, or creative work.
• theses/dissertations (written by graduate students; some are unpublished
and can be accessed through university libraries),
• scholarly journal articles/e-journals (purely research-based),
• some government reports (published by the national government/local
government unit/government agencies/international agencies),
• symposia and conference proceedings (from annual conferences where
scholarly papers are presented),
• policy reports (may come from private research institutes),
• original artwork, poems, photographs, speeches, letters, memos, personal
narratives, diaries, interviews, autobiographies, and correspondence.
Sources of Related Literatures
• A secondary source is something written about primary sources or is
using primary sources. These sources offer an analysis or restatement
of primary sources. They often try to describe, explain, or gives value
to primary sources.
• periodicals (newspapers, science magazines, social sciences magazines, news
summaries, opinion magazines, editorials --> if these mention or critique
other scholarly works, then these qualify as secondary sources)
• Textbooks, edited works, books (contain a compilation of research articles)
and articles that interpret or review research works,
• scholarly journal articles/e-journals (not research-based but peer reviewed),
• histories, biographies, literary criticism and interpretation,
• reviews of law and legislation, political analyses and commentaries --> if
these mention or critique other scholarly works, then these qualify as
secondary sources.
Sources of Related Literatures
• A tertiary source is a compilation of primary sources and secondary
sources.
• These are sources that index, abstract, organize, compile, or digest
other sources. Some reference materials and textbooks are
considered tertiary sources when their chief purpose is to list,
summarize or simply repackage ideas or other information.
• Almanacs, fact books
• Guidebooks, manuals
• Encyclopedias, dictionaries (can be secondary)
Steps in writing your RRL
• Define and delimit your topic – identify particular topics that could help in
narrowing down your study based on what you saw among existing
literatures so far
• Design your literature search
• consider the type of resource (e.g. primary, secondary, tertiary, and what specific
resource under these categories),
• extent of the review (delve into studies that go in line with your study, you can
likewise present disagreements found so far or unstudied areas for you to justify
the research gap you have written in Chapter 1, consider studies that have
integrated or synthesized findings)
• time that you will devote for the review (set a group schedule)
• Number of works or studies to be reviewed (remember that you must not present a
grocery list of paraphrased studies; you can set a considerable limit but not less
than 10)
• Format of recording these reviewed sources (the documentation and analysis)
Steps in writing your RRL
• Locate research reports – based on the topics you have narrowed down,
you can now search for existing studies relating to these that you have
identified ; you can always change your narrowed topics based on the
availability of studies
• Take down notes – record the following using a note card:
• Abstract (summary of the study; presented first on the study’s first few pages)
• Hypotheses (if the study is experimental)
• Methodology (what is the data gathering procedure, how is it being analyzed)
• Major findings, results, and conclusion (analyze if these information matter directly
to your study)
• Research design (e.g. quantitative, qualitative, mixed method, exploratory,
explanatory, descriptive, action)
• Recommendations given (are you going to do this, are you going to disprove this)
• Strengths, weaknesses/errors (these information will be beneficial for your research
gap)
Steps in writing your RRL
• Organize your notes through mapping – develop a map that will help
you analyze and group the studies you have recorded according to the
topics you have identified
• Write your RRL – once you have mapped out these studies, you can
now write your Chapter 2