LITERATURE

Selecting and Synthesizing Information from

Relevant Literature
Have you imagined a human body without
bones?
What do you think might happen
if there is an absence of them?
Do you think you can stand firm and be able to
perform all the activities that you can do now?
 Use these four (4) pictures to guess the word being asked.
Additional clue is given
below.

.
Clue: The answer is a word which has six (6) letters and begins with the letter “S.”
Answer: S ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
In conducting a study, such a situation goes similar especially
in dealing with then development of Research Chapter II. All
ideas should be related to your study so that these will allow
your readers to picture out and understand the depth of the
study you will investigate. If your study, let’s say, is
concerned with the study habits of the students, you will
definitely select relevant literature and studies that will
support your own work.
 Definition of the Literature Review

Other previous researches related to the study currently conducted

by a researcher should be put into consideration. When they are
summarized comprehensively, this makes the process of literature
review. As cited from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania (2020),
literature review requires for a survey of scholarly articles, books,
and other sources which will later be enumerated, summarized, and
evaluated in order to form a concrete basis and support for the
current study. When it is done, the selected literature may appear
on various sections of the study such as in the introduction, related
literature section, and the discussion of results.
Purposes of Reviewing a Literature

1. It provides the researcher a clear

understanding of the study to be
investigated. Through literature review,
the researcher can boost his/her
confidence by clearly understanding the
phenomenon and be able to clarify
essential variables of the study.
2. It justifies the need for conducting
the study. Review of literature allows
the researcher to identify the existing
gaps in knowledge. Thus, further
investigation to be conducted by the
researcher will be justified.
3. It serves as the basis for
establishing concepts presented in
the study. Reviewing literature
relevant to the current study of the
researcher enables him/her to
substantiate his/her work. Concepts
presented from the study which are
supported by literature can make the
work of the researcher more
Selecting the Literature for a Study

Once the researcher has a clear

problem as well as a rationale for
conducting a study, he/she may now
begin selecting literature such as
theories, conceptual framework,
and related studies that will serve
as the foundation of the work.
 In selecting the literature for a study, the
following questions should be considered:

1. Can this literature help me clearly present the delimitation of my

study?
2. Can this literature give me insights to present properly essential
variables of my study?
3. Is this literature up-to-date?
4. Does this literature provide perceptive and accurate results and
conclusions?
5. Does this literature present contrasting ideas which can be used
in identifying research gaps?
Conducting a Review of Literature
When the researcher is about to engage
himself/herself in doing literature
review, he/she must do it in a
systematic procedure so as to arrive
with a comprehensive output which can
later be used in substantiating the work.
Boza (2015) of University of California
presents six steps in conducting a
literature review. These steps are as
follows:
1. Decide on the area of research. The first
step always begins with the clear problem in
mind of the researcher. He/she must clearly
know the topic as well as the rationale of the
study to be conducted. This will allow the
researcher to focus on articles and books that
are relevant and can help him/her substantiate
the work.
2. Search for the literature. In searching for the
literature which can be used for a study, the
researcher may utilize printed materials and
references which can normally be found in the
libraries. On the other hand, online sources, which
offer scholarly articles and books, must likewise be
considered for these can make the researcher saves
more time.
3. Find relevant excerpts in books and articles. Reading the abstract
of a scholarly work will help the researcher determine whether it is
relevant or not to the study under investigation. Meanwhile, other
sections of a scholarly source as in articles and books can also be
skimmed in order to get the excerpts of important data which can
be used as bases of the study. Definition of terms, prevalent claims,
findings, and conclusions are some of those which the researcher
should observe and read carefully. Further, employing different
levels and types of reading can help the researcher to scrutinize
efficiently the data and information presented from a reference.
Wilson (1990) identified four types of reading. These are as
follows:
- Elementary reading. This type of reading pertains
to word-recognition type of reading wherein
sentences are literally comprehended.
- Systematic reading. This type of reading employs
skimming strategy wherein the researcher-reader
may focus on the highlighted terms in the sample
source manuscript. Similarly, he/she may also look
into the title of the sample and will try to see if
similar variables of the current study are presented.
If yes, he/she may consider the sample as relevant
to his/her own work.
- Analytic reading. This type of reading requires the
researcher-reader to break the whole scholarly work into
parts for better understanding. In addition, it may also
observe here that the researcher-reader establishes
connection with the author by asking the 5Ws and 1H
questions through annotation. Use of a dictionary for
concept clarification is also often considered in this type of
reading. The notes made from the analysis are then
synthesized and will serve as an output.
- Comparative reading. This type of reading considers
two or more scholarly works which will be analyzed for
comparing-contrasting purposes. Here, the various
viewpoints of the authors regarding the particular
concepts and principles will be carefully observed. The
generalized summary of the analysis from this type of
reading then serves as an output.
4. Code the literature.
Categorizing the themes of the concepts found in
different literature must be done for better analysis and
evaluation. Themes can be categorized from the
similarities to the differences found among those relevant
works. Meanwhile, tools for reading and reviewing should
also be considered by the researcher in order to save
more time since these allow him/her to easily revisit the
concepts that may be a help in the process of literature
review. Two of the commonly used tools for reading and
review purposes are as follows:
- Highlighting. This tool uses marks and symbols that will help
the researcher to easily revisit the important ideas found in a
scholarly work. This can also aid the researcher to easily
distinguish the similarities and differences found in various
sources.
- Annotation. This tool uses words, phrases, and sentences
which serve as written remarks of the researcher reflecting
his/her understanding and questions regarding the scholarly
work.
5. Create conceptual schema.
After coding the concepts perceived to be important by
the researcher in the conduct of the study, he/she may then
organize them in order to see in a wider perspective the
relevance, including their similarities and differences, to the
current work. The researcher may utilize a literature review
synthesis matrix to better see how the gathered data from
literature review will be presented in the study. As cited from
Ashford University (2020), synthesis matrix refers to a table
used for organizing important ideas found in the literature.
This matrix further allows the researcher to see overlapping
ideas among the Authors.
6. Begin writing literature review.
- With a complete vision of necessary data that
came from reading and reviewing literature, the
researcher may now begin the draft of the
manuscript for review of the related literature
section. He/she must not forget to cite the author
of any data that will be used for the study. The
use of transitional words will also be helpful in
order to arrange ideas accordingly (e.g., the use
of “similarly” to present that ideas have in
common).
Example of literature review presented in a research manuscript
entitled, Emojiology: NA Study of Functions of Emojis in the Virtual
Community (Tabernero, 2020):
Additional Activities

Select two (2) relevant literature from either an

academic printed reference or an academic online
source which can be used for your study of interest. Use
the literature review synthesis matrix to present
important data. Copy the table and supply the
corresponding/needed information.
Plagiarism and
Paraphrasing
 Responsible writing is necessary for writing academic text
(Louw, 2017). As a novice researcher, you need to take note that
you ought to be responsible for the things that you write in your
research. One of the elements in writing responsibly is through
proper citation both in-text and reference citation. Aside from it, it
is proper to list your sources on the information that you are
bringing out. Furthermore, you need to give proper credit to the
author by acknowledging his or her ideas. Nonetheless, you are
avoiding plagiarism that is usually done when you quote words or
ideas created or first used by others. By doing it, your readers can
track down the sources that you utilized by citing them properly
through footnotes, bibliography, or reference list.
Plagiarism is often committed when you use
words and ideas without making credit to the
person who formulated it, making those words
and ideas your own (Sulaiman, 2018).
Types of Plagiarism:
1. Direct Plagiarism. This type of plagiarism is committed when you copy word-
forword a section of others’ works without quotation marks (Roig, 2002).
 Example

The stage of dialogue was the action of conversation. On

this manner, the incident was immediately addressed and effects
were identified.
from the research titled, “The Die is Cast: Experiences of Novice Teachers
in Handling Verbal Bullying Incidents in a Middle School” written by Dexter V.
Fernandez, MAED. and Arnel T. Sicat, Ph.D.
This is the proper way of citing a direct quotation.
“The stage of dialogue was the action of conversation. On this
manner, the incident was immediately addressed and effects were
identified”.
2. Self-Plagiarism.
This plagiarism is often committed when you mix your
previous works to come up with new article without proper
citation and permission to the teacher you previously
submitted the work (Helgesson & Eriksson, 2014;
Plagiarism.org, 2011).
 3. Mosaic Plagiarism.
It is committed when you take phrases from a
source without using quotation marks or citation;
thus, you just find synonyms to the authors’
words while keeping the same though as it is in
the original (Roka, 2017).
 4. Accidental Plagiarism.

This is committed when unintentionally

neglected to cite a source or quoted by
using similar words or sentence structure.
This can be avoided through responsible
writing and running your work in an initial
plagiarism test available in internet
(Learning Services Writing Center, 2018).
EVALUATION
Write Yes if the given statement is
correct and No if not. Write
1. Literature review includes collecting and synthesizing
ideas from different scholarly sources.
2. Literature review is used to design the conceptual
framework of one’s study.
3. Relevant literature is used to identify research gaps in a
particular field.
4. Literature review leads to a misconception of a study.
5. A literature review should only focus on one reference.
6. Articles and books to be reviewed must come from a scholarly
source.
7. Comparative reading employs a skimming strategy.
8. Elementary reading requires the researcher to ask Ws and H
questions towards the article being read.
9. Systematic reading deals with the analysis of viewpoints of
different authors.
10. Highlighting utilizes a table in order to organize important
ideas found from different literature.
Read each statement carefully. Write T
if the statement is True, F if otherwise.
1. Direct plagiarism happens borrow an essay made by your
best friend and then submit it as your own work.
2. Mosaic plagiarism happens when You borrow an essay
made by your best
friend and then submit it as your own work.
3. Self-plagiarism happens when you hand in an essay for
one subject that you have already submitted for another.
4. Direct plagiarism is committed when you download an
article from the internet and submit it to your teacher.
5. Accidental plagiarism happens when you copy down
exact sentences or paragraphs from others’ work.
6. Direct plagiarism is committed when you have read an
idea that you really like and put it in your own essay.
7. Accidental plagiarism happens when you have
unintentionally come up with sentence related to others.
8. Mosaic plagiarism happens when you copy every line of
others work.
9. Self-plagiarism is committed when you find a great
source for research on the internet then put it on your
essay.
10. Accidental plagiarism happens when you take
information from an outside source and presenting it as
your own.