Review of Related Literature
As soon as you have chosen a topic for your
thesis, you should look for a theory linking
your topic to an available body of
knowledge.
Theory is a set of interrelated constructs
(concepts), definitions, and proposition that
presents a systematic view of phenomena by
specifying relations among variables, with the
purpose of explaining and predicting the
phenomena.
Function of the Review of Literature
• to look again (re-view) at the literature (the
reports of what others have done) in a
related area, an area not necessarily
identical with but collateral to your own
area of study.
Main Purpose of the Review
• to assist you in attacking your problem for
research
When you know what others have done, you
are better prepared to attack the problem you
have chosen to investigate with deeper
insight and more complete knowledge.
Purposes of the Review
1. Discovering important variables
2. Distinguishing what has been done from what
needs to be done
3. Synthesizing and gaining perspective
4. Determining and supporting
meanings and relationships
5. Establishing the context of a problem
6. Establishing the significance of a problem
Benefits of the Review
1. It can reveal investigations similar to your
own and it can show you how the collateral
researchers handled these situations.
2. It can reveal to you sources of data that you
may not have known existed.
3. It can introduce you to significant research
personalities of whose research efforts and
collateral writings you may have had no
knowledge.
4. It can suggest a method of dealing with a
problematic situation that may also suggest
avenues of approach to the solution of
similar difficulties you may be facing.
5. It can help you to see your own study in
historical and associational perspective and in
relation to earlier and more primitive attacks
on the same problem.
6. It can provide you with new ideas and
approaches that may not have occurred to you.
7. It can assist you in evaluating your own
research efforts by comparing them with
related efforts done by others.
How to begin a search for related literature
1.Go to the indexes and abstracts.
2. Data base access to the literature (computer/
Internet)
3. The treasury of government publications
4. Go to the library armed with data gathering tools.
5. Make as many copies of the bibliographic item
as necessary.
6. Be systematic and thorough.
7. Relate your bibliography to your problem.
Reading the Existing Literature
1. Start with references in bibliographies from
books and journal articles and move on to
using online sources for your literature review.
2. If there are very many references, try to identify
the major ones and work outwards from there.
3. Take good notes, including the details of the
material you read.
4. You will be able to revise and refine your
research questions in the process of
reviewing the literature.
6. A competent critical review of the literature
can affirm your credibility as someone who is
knowledgeable in your chosen area.
Critical Reading Skills
1. Your literature review should be critical rather
than merely descriptive
2. Developing a critical approach is not
necessarily one of simply criticizing the work
of others.
3. It entails moving beyond mere description
and asking questions about the
significance of the work.
a. How does the item relate to others you
have read?
b. Are there any apparent strengths and
deficiencies?
c. What theoretical ideas have influenced the item?
Issues to Identify in the Existing Literature
In relation to the area of study,
1. What is already known?
2. What concepts and theories are relevant?
3. What research methods and research
strategies have been employed?
4. Are there any significant controversies?
5. Are there any inconsistencies in the findings?
6. Are there any unanswered research questions?
How to Write the Section on the
Related Literature
1.Get the proper psychological orientation.
2. Include an introductory paragraph stating what
is included in the review and how it is organized
and presented.
3. Have a plan.
• Begin your discussion from a
comprehensive perspective, broad end first.
• Then you can deal with more and more
specific or more localized studies that focus
more and more on your specific problem.
4. Decide on the basic structure of the review and
outline the review before beginning to write.
5. Emphasize relatedness. Point out precisely
what the relationship is.
6. Review the literature, don’t reproduce it.
a. Present your own discussion.
b. Paraphrase.
c. Use short, direct quotations, if necessary.
d. Long quotations are a last resort. Use them
only for a very good reason.
7. Summarize what you have said—synthesis of
related literature at the end of the discussion.