REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

A review of related literature is a collection of papers in a certain field of study. It assesses, categorizes, and
summarizes all relevant prior studies on a certain subject. It's also made to defend your study by pointing out prior
studies' flaws. It is critical that you organize your literature review. As a result, rather than gathering a broad range of
studies that are already irrelevant to your study, you should pick studies that are focused on your issue.
Purpose of a Literature Review
The review of related literature is anchored to the following purposes.
1. To discover the connection of your research to the existing body of knowledge and to the real-life situations. 23
2. To identify more theories or concepts as the foundation of your research study and learn from them.
3. To determine the relationship of your research with previous research studies to prevent duplication and to
acknowledge other researchers.
4. To acquire knowledge on the accuracy and significance of your research questions.
5. To acquaint yourself with the technical terminologies relevant to your study.
6. To determine possible gaps, conflicts, and open questions left from other researches which might help you in
formulating and justifying your research ideas.
7. To clarify misconceptions on previous researches and help refocus, polish, and contribute to the development of
the body of knowledge.
Structure of Literature Review
This is how you are going to structure your review of related literature. The main goal for doing this is to make the
reader understand easily the different studies and how they are relevant to your study.
1. Introduction The introduction somehow presents the fundamental idea of the particular study of the literature
review.
2. Main Body The main body is consists of the organized discussion of sources. This is where you summarize and
synthesize your literature review and reflect how they related to your study.
3. Conclusions/Recommendations Conclusion and recommendation emphasized what you have learned from
reviewing the literature and where would your study leads to.
Type of Sources for a Literature Review
Researchers must be familiar with the three (3) fundamental categories of sources while doing a literature review:
general references, primary sources, and secondary sources. Sources that a researcher uses to track down other
sources are referred to as general references. Primary sources are books or articles in which a researcher describes
the results of his or her study. Journal articles include the majority of original sources. Secondary sources are books in
which a researcher analyzes other people's work.
Where can you find review of related literature?
You may obtain information on research studies in a variety of media as a researcher, including books, academic
journal articles, dissertations, government papers, policy reports, and magazines. The majority of researchers also
present their results in professional society and organization meetings, congresses, and conventions.
1. Books Many different types of knowledge are conveyed through books. The necessary data can be found in books
that comprise a compilation of study materials and articles. In the catalog system, you may discover citation
information about them such as title, author, date, and publisher.
2. Scholarly Journals Academic journals and peer-reviewed journals are both terms used to describe scholarly
periodicals. They're jam-packed with research that's been peer-reviewed. Articles are authored by experts in the
subject, and the author is always named. A list of the information's sources, such as footnotes, endnotes, and
bibliography, is always supplied. Because the researcher utilizes technical terminology in their field of study, they
usually use advanced terminologies. The researcher expects that the reader is familiar with the study field and has a
basic grasp of it.
3. Dissertations The dissertation is the final prerequisite for the doctor of philosophy (Ph.D.) degree, and it requires
the student or researcher to finish an original research project. Some dissertations are subsequently published as
books or papers, with the results and contributions to the academic subject taken into account. Dissertations may be
an useful source of knowledge since they are original research.
4. Government Documents The majority of government entities throughout the world sponsor research projects
and publicize the results. The government and some school libraries generally save government papers. The catalog
system seldom contains these materials. Because some materials are considered specialty publications, you will need
the help of a librarian to locate them.
5. Policy Reports and Presented Papers In a literature review, policy papers are also a good source of information.
Policy papers differ from research papers in several ways. They are usually discussed with non-academic audiences.
They may begin by identifying a problem or phenomena to which they generally claim a response, and they are intent
on persuasion. Furthermore, policy papers are well-written, and most readers do not want to read a book owing to
time constraints. They are usually accompanied by policy briefs that summarize the papers.
6. Periodicals Periodicals are the study's findings that may be found in newspapers, popular magazines, television or
radio broadcasts, and summaries on the Internet. They are carefully selected edited summaries written by journalists
for the general public. They are missing a number of key facts that are necessary for thoroughly evaluating the study.
As a result, it is critical to augment this information with data from other sources.
Selecting Relevant Literature
Selecting relevant literature will help you to segregate the known and the unknown information in a topic. Some
research undertakings are conducted to disprove, redefine or even replicate what is already established. Others seek
to explore an unfamiliar concept or idea. Thus, doing a literature review clarifies your research focus within the
context of your field.
GOALS OF LITERATURE REVIEW
1. To demonstrate a familiarity with a body of knowledge and establish credibility. A good review increases a reader’s
confidence in the researcher’s professional competence, ability and background.
2. To show the path of prior research and how a current project is linked to it. A good review places a research
project in a context and demonstrates its relevance by making connections to a body of knowledge.
3. To integrate and summarize what is known in an area. A good review points out areas where prior studies agree,
where they disagree and where major questions remain. It also indicates the directions for future research.
4. To learn from others and stimulate new ideas. A good review identifies blind alleys and suggests hypotheses for
replication and gain new insights.
The following are the five basic criteria for evaluating information from any sources:
Synthesizing Review of Related Literature
Synthesizing an RRL must demonstrate a critical analysis of the papers or sources that the researcher collected, as
well as, it must show the ability of the researcher to integrate the results of her analysis on Chapter II. A synthesis
must also be evaluated and weighed critically.
How to synthesize a review of Related Literature?
In a person’s daily routine, they always experience synthesizing information from different sources, such as from the
stories you have heard from a new source and discussions about the same topic with others.
Below are the steps on how to synthesize a Review of Related Literature.
1. Digest the material and understand the content of the sources.
In this process, you have to determine and identify similarities among the articles by group in terms of concepts,
patterns, and relationship. You may ask these questions within yourself.
• Did the author used similar conceptual and theoretical framework, sample participants, methodologies, or
instruments and procedures to collect data?
• How and in what way are the findings similar?
• Are there any studies that served as an extension of another study?
Remember you should be noting not only the articles that are similar but how they are similar.
2. Review and critically analyze the sources. This second step may determine the differences and contradictions
among the articles by group. You can ask these questions to yourself.
• Did the authors used different conceptual and theoretical framework, sample participants, methodologies, or
instruments and procedures to collect data?
• How and in what ways are the findings different and contradictory?
3. Synthesize the content of the information that you have gathered.
It means going beyond your critique to determine the relationships or patterns among sources, identifying then
comparing and contrasting common concepts or themes.
This step determines general observations and conclusions about each topic given the relationship inferred from the
group of articles within each topic. It also determines the existence of any reoccurring concepts, relationships,
patterns, or themes and if any of these are in need of further inquiry.