Literature Review

By: Julie Pearl A. Labrilla

 Role of Literature Review
• Adds integrity to your work
• Delimits the research problem
• Seek new lines of inquiry
• Avoid fruitless approaches
• Gain methodological insights
• Seek support for grounded theory
 What will you look for in a Literature?
Research is conducted atleast twice in any study in the review of
literature and in actual study.
 How to find the sources you need?
• A scholarly source is a book or journal article that is written by an expert
for other scholars and has undergone peer review
• Non- scholarly sources include newspaper articles, magazine, blogs,
social media posts, or a self-published book.
3 criteria used to Identify a True Scholarly Source
• Scholarly sources are written by experts
• Scholars write scholarly sources for other scholars
• Scholarly sources have undergone peer review
 Where to look for sources
• Find 1 or 2 highly-relevant recent journal articles then look at the
references section to get added articles (snowball method)
• Ask a mentor
• Check google scholar
• Check your library resources
• Go to researcher portals (academia, researchgate)
 What to do with your sources?
• Take down notes
• clearly distinguish what the other authors are saying and your own opinion.
• Draw and present your conclusions
- identify the core findings
- look for common themes and ideas that were missed by other authors
- look for debates, conflicting statements, or methodological differences
 Common Mistakes
• Does not clearly relate the findings of the literature review to the
researcher’s own study
• Does not define the best descriptors and identify the best sources to use.
• Relies on secondary rather than primary sources
• Immediately accepts another researcher’s findings as valid
• Does not report the search procedures
Thank you