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Module 3 - FUNDAMENTALS OF LITERATURE REVIEW

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Module 3 - FUNDAMENTALS OF LITERATURE REVIEW

Module 3

FUNDAMENTALS OF LITERATURE REVIEW

INTRODUCTION

In this module, you are expected to demonstrate understanding of the fundamentals of writing a
Review of Related Literature (RRL). Specifically, this module focuses on selecting, citing, and synthesizing
the reviewed literature relevant to the proposed research study.
After the researcher had identified his or her research problem, the next step is to search for relevant
related literature and studies that will strengthen the chosen study. This part of the research proposal helps
researchers learn what others have written about a topic. It also enables researchers to see the results of
other related studies. It basically provides an opportunity to update one’s knowledge and identify what aspect
of the chosen topic has not yet been an object of research.

MODULE LEARNING OUTCOMES

In this module, you should be able to:

▪ identify the steps in conducting a review of related literature;

▪ conduct both manual and computer search of related literatures;
▪ select relevant and updated literature from various sources; and
▪ compose a related literature review applying standard citation styles.
▪
PRE-ASSESSMENT

A. Read the question in each item carefully. Choose the letter of the correct answer.
1. It generally refers to a body of written works that are used as sources of knowledge.
a. literature c. websites
b. journal articles d. books

2. Which is not one of the purposes of doing an RRL?

a. Avoid repeating previous studies c. Gain background knowledge
b. Explain technical terms d. Establish collaboration with experts

3. This is the process of searching and analyzing works/texts relevant to one's research.
a. Abstract c. Snowballing
b. Review of related literature d. Background of the study

4. The stage in the RRL process wherein one looks for basis to support the assumptions about the topic.
a. Reading of the source materials c. Searching for literatures
b. Cross-referencing d. Writing the review

5. The researcher makes use of HOTS to make sense of the source materials during the RRL process.
a. Reading of the source materials c. Searching for literatures
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Module 3 - FUNDAMENTALS OF LITERATURE REVIEW

b. Cross-referencing d. Writing the review

6. A great deal of paraphrasing or summarizing is done in this stage of the RRL process.
a. Reading of the source materials c. Searching for literatures
b. Cross-referencing d. Writing the review

7. An important principle in research is ______ the owners of “knowledge” that you borrowed.
a. verifying c. knowing
b. praising d. acknowledging

8. The paper's beginning portion that identifies individuals who have contributed something.
a. acknowledgement c. reference citation
b. works cited d. in-text citation

9. The references within the main body of the text in an RRL.

a. bibliography c. acknowledgement
b. in-text citation d. reference citation

10. The section (theories-based) that shows how the input goes through a process to produce the output.
a. Paradigmatic shift c. Theoretical framework
b. the RRL process d. Conceptual framework

11. A complete list of all reading materials from where borrowed ideas came from.
a. bibliography c. acknowledgement
b. in-text citation d. reference citation

12. Which is not one of the purposes of citation?

a. to allow fact-checking c. to make the paper longer
b. to give respect to the source d. to avoid plagiarism

13. A bibliographic info present in the MLA template which is not in APA.
a. Publication medium c. Publication year
b. Publisher's location d. Publisher

14. A citation standard style developed by social scientists to standardized scientific writing.
a. MLA c. CMS
b. APA d. Turabian

15. A citation standard style that focuses on authorship and is used in arts and humanities.
a. MLA c. CMS
b. APA d. Turabian

B. Application: Cite the book information below using the APA style.

Author: Charles Freemont

Title: No pain, No gain
Year of Pub: 2015
City of Pub: Madrid
Publisher: Xlibris

Template: AUTHOR (Year).Title of Book. City of Publication: Publisher.

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Module 3 - FUNDAMENTALS OF LITERATURE REVIEW

MODULE MAP

Searching Reading Writing Revised

for the the Source the RRL Chapter 2
Literature Materials Draft (RRL)

\The map above illustrates the RRL process.

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Module 3 - FUNDAMENTALS OF LITERATURE REVIEW

CORE CONTENTS

ENGAGE: Stirring Up Your Imagination

Activity 1: Picture Analysis. Examine the picture above. What comes into your mind upon seeing it?

EXPLORE: Acquiring RRL Fundamentals

Activity 2: Individual Reading Activity

What is a Review of Related Literature (RRL)?

▪ Literature is an oral or written record of man’s significant experiences that are artistically conveyed in
a prosaic manner. Embodied in any literary work like essay, novel, journal, story, biography, etc. are
man’s best thoughts and feelings about the world (Ridley, 2012).

▪ A Review of Related Literature is an analysis of man’s written or spoken knowledge of the world. It is
an examination of man’s thinking about the world to determine the connection of your research with
what people already know about it (Wallman, 2014).
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Module 3 - FUNDAMENTALS OF LITERATURE REVIEW

▪ In your analysis or reading of recorded knowledge, you just do not catalog ideas in your research
paper, but also interpret them or merge your thinking with the author’s ideas (Wallman, 2014).

▪ Merging your world understanding with the author’s world perceptions enables you to get a good
analysis of existing written works that are related to your research study (Wallman, 2014).

▪ Review of Related Literature is an account of materials published by professionals, researchers, and

experts in their corresponding fields of expertise related to your present research. These materials
are the outcomes of their professional work and researches (Salkind, 2012).

Purposes of Review of Related Literature (RRL):

1. To obtain background knowledge of your research.
2. To relate your study to the current condition or situation of the world.
3. To show the capacity of your research work to introduce new knowledge.
4. To expand, prove, or disprove the findings of previous research studies.
5. To increase your understanding of the underlying theories, principles, or concepts of your research.
6. To explain technical terms involved in the study.
7. To highlight the significance of your work with the kind of evidence gathered to support the conclusion of
your research.
8. To avoid repeating previous research studies.
9. To recommend the necessity of further research on a certain topic.

Recency of Reviewed Literature

It is encouraged to look for materials that were published for a period of not later than five (5) years.
Get the most recent materials you can find in your library or the web. The more recent they are, the better!

Snowballing Technique
Once you have found a relevant material (e.g. theses, dissertations etc.), go over the references or
bibliography section and it will give you a long list of other materials which you can search further in a library
or the web (Salkind, 2012).

The Internet has the widest range of choices available on any topic. These include e-journals, e-
books, e-news etc. Make sure that these sites of organizations, agencies or educational institutions are
reputable, legitimate, professional and credible.

THE PROCESS OF RRL

Your search for knowledge happens in every stage of your research work, but it is in the research
stage of review of related literature where you spend considerable time searching knowledge about the topic.
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Exposed to various sources and conditioned by a timeframe, it is necessary that you adopt a certain
method. Going methodical in your review means you have to go through the following stages of the process
that are true for any style of review (traditional or systematic). (Lappuci 2013; Robyler 2013; Freinbell 2012)

STAGE 1: Search for the Literature

This is the stage where you devote much of your time in looking for sources of knowledge, data, or
information to answer your research questions or to support your assumptions about your research topic.

❖ Secondary sources give the most number of materials such as the Internet, books, peer-reviewed
articles in journals, published literary reviews, theses, dissertations, conference proceedings, leaflets,
posters, research studies, and other library materials.

❖ Websites, social media, and other online encyclopedia such as Wikipedia, are the other sources of
information that you can consult during this stage. You may find them valuable but they are NOT as
dependable as the other sources of knowledge.

❖ Some consider the information from these as not very scholarly because it is susceptible to anybody’s
penchant for editing. Since any person is free to use the web for displaying information, you need to
be careful in evaluating online sources (McLeod, 2012).

❖ Here are some pointers to apply in searching for the best sources of information or data (Fraenbell,
2012):
✓ Choose previous research findings that are closely related to your research.
✓ Give more weight to studies done by experts in the field.
✓ Consider sources that refer more to primary data than secondary data.
✓ Prefer getting information from peer-reviewed materials than from general reading materials

STAGE 2: Read the Source Material

Reading or making sense of the source materials permits you to modify, construct, or reconstruct
ideas based on a certain principle, theory, pattern, method, or theme underlying your research.

STAGE 3: Writing the Review

You do a great deal of paraphrasing and summarizing in this last stage of RRL. In doing either of
these two, you get to change the arrangement of ideas, structures of the language, and the format of the text
using appropriate organizational techniques of comparison-contrast, chronological order, spatial relationship,
inductive-deductive order, and transitional devices. This means that in writing a review, you are free to fuse
your opinions with the author’s ideas.

The mere description, transfer, or listing of writer’s ideas that is devoid of or not reflective of your own
thinking is called dump or stringing method. Good RRL avoids presenting ideas in serial abstracts, which
means every paragraph merely consists of one article. This is source-by-source literature writing that fails to
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link, compare and contrast articles based on a theory or theme around which the research questions revolve
(Remlen, 2011).

Dealing with studies with respect to each other is your way of proving the extent of the validity of the
findings of previous studies vis-à-vis the recent ones. Writing it analytically or critically, you give yourself the
chance to express your opinionated knowledge about the topic; thereby, increasing the readers’ interest in
your work (Radylyer, 2013).

Not so good openings:

Aquino (2015) said…
Roxas (2016) stated…
Perez (2017) wrote…
Mendoza (2018) asserted…

Examples of better article openings:

One early work by (Castro, 2017) proves that…

Another study on the topic by (Torres, 2017) maintains that…
The latest study by (Gomez, 2018) reveals that…
A research study by (Rivera, 2017) explains that…
Transitional devices:
Also, additionally, again, similarly, a similar opinion, however, conversely, on
the other hand, nevertheless, a contrasting opinion,
a different approach, etc.

STANDARD STYLES IN RRL CITATIONS / REFERENCES

One cardinal principle in research is acknowledging the owners of “knowledge” you intend to put into
your paper. This is not only an act of honesty or courtesy but also of appreciation for their contribution to the
field (Hammersely, 2013).

Three terms used to show appreciation/recognition of people’s ownership of borrowed ideas (Sharp,
2012):

❖ ACKNOWLEDGEMENT – the beginning portion of the work that identifies individuals who have
contributed something
❖ REFERENCES/BIBLIOGRAPHY– a complete list of all reading materials from where borrowed ideas
came from
❖ CITATION OR IN-TEXT CITATION– references within the main body of the text in a RRL.
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Important bibliographic information to take note of:

✓ Author’s name
✓ Title of the book, journal or article
✓ Volume and series (for journals)
✓ Editor’s name ( if there is one)
✓ Publisher and location
✓ Year of publication
✓ For the web: Uniform Resource Locator (URL) or web address; date of extraction

Purposes of Citation (Badke, 2012):

✓ To give importance/respect to the source
✓ To give authority, validity, and credibility to other people’s claims or arguments
✓ To prove your extensive reading of relevant materials about your topic
✓ To help readers find or contact the sources of ideas easily
✓ To allow reader check the accuracy of your work
✓ To save yourself from plagiarism

The 3 approaches in citing sources:

❖ APA – American Psychological Association
❖ MLA – Modern Languages Association
❖ CMS- Chicago Manual of Style

The type of reference style will depend on the research studies of the student namely:
1) APA: Psychology, Education and other Social Sciences;
2) MLA: Arts and Humanities;
3) CMS: History and many other subjects in scholarly and non-scholarly work

American Psychological Association (APA) - developed by social and behavioral scientists to standardize
scientific writing (Angelie, E., Wagner, J., Lawrick, E., Moore, K., Anderson, M., Soderlund, L., & Brizee, A.,
2010).

APA Citation Basics

Author-date method of in-text citation is used. In-text citation means acknowledging the author within
the text because they are either borrowed or references that we used.

APA In-text citation example:

Growing up to be a teenager is not only difficult (Smith, 2014), but also complicated.

APA In-text citation

When you use APA in-text citation, the author (all sources cited in the text) is included in the complete
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reference list at the end of your paper. For a more detailed in-text citation rules, refer to
http://www.apastyle.org

OTHER ONLINE REFERENCES ON APA:

http://student.ucol.ac.nz/library/onlineresources/Documents/APA_guide_2015.pdf

http://web.calstatela.edu/library/guides/3apa.pdf

http://www.ecu.edu/csdhs/laupuslibrary/upload/apa_style_guide_6th_ed_oct09.pdf

APA Reference Basics

The reference list provides information necessary to locate or retrieve the source of the material. All
entries in the reference section should be double-spaced with hanging indention (Angeli, E. et.al., 2010).

APA Reference Basic Format

Author’s family name first, then initials (Date of Publication). Title of material. Publisher. Place
of Publication.

Example:
Fong, S.E. (1995). Expo 11. Miriam College. Quezon City.

For Internet Sources:

Author, A. (Date of Publication). Title of Article. Title of Online Periodical. Volume number
(issue number if available). Retrieved from URL. Retrieved 28 July 2018.

Example:
Berstein, A. (2017). 10 tips on writing the living web. A List Apart: For People Who Make Websites.
Retrieved from http://www.alistapart.com/articles/writeliving. Retrieved 28 July 2018.

EXPLAIN: Elaborating the Learned Concepts

Activity 3: Search and Explain

A. Look for 2 related literatures that you find relevant to your proposed study. Supply the information
below:

1. Type of Source:
Author(s):
Title:
Place of Publication:
Publisher:
URL:
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Module 3 - FUNDAMENTALS OF LITERATURE REVIEW

How did you find it relevant to your proposed study?

2. Type of Source:
Author(s):
Title:
Place of Publication:
Publisher:
URL:

How did you find it relevant to your proposed study?

B. What is the most important stage of the Review of Related Literature Process? Explain your answer.

C. What is “ethical research” in the context of writing a literature review?

EXTEND: Writing the First Draft

Activity 4: Collaborate with your groupmates to write the first draft of your “Chapter 2 - The Review of
Related Literature”. Consult and seek corrections / recommendations from your instructor. The encoded
revision must be submitted on or before the deadline. Refer to the given samples and follow the guidelines.

Guidelines in Writing Chapter 2

Chapter 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

● Must be started in a new page. Use Times New Roman 12. Double space in all discussions.
● This chapter requires essence of research studies confined from various research resources. It is
suggested as much as possible that you focus your review of related literature on works done
within the last five years.
● Include only conceptual literature and research studies relevant to your proposed research.
● Conceptual literature (related literature) are those that are taken from textbooks, general
references and the like that explain a certain concept. For example, the definition of reading
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Module 3 - FUNDAMENTALS OF LITERATURE REVIEW

difficulty as explained by psychologists or experts is an example of conceptual literature.

● Research studies are those results of studies done by other researchers. Citing the findings of a
study conducted by a researcher about reading difficulties is an example of this.
● Present links, strengths, gaps in knowledge, weaknesses and inconsistencies or areas of
controversy in the literature to give a clearer perspective of your research problem.
● Do not include any literature /studies which are not conceptually connected to each other and
have nothing to do with your research problem. Make sure that all literature that is gathered is
relevant and reliable.
● Present or discuss a minimum of 5 literatures related to the topic and which are not beyond 10
years.
● Include at least 5 related studies not beyond 5 years.
● Give a synthesis of your literature. The synthesis specifies how the review of literature has
enforced the proposed study and how similar or different from the previous ones.
● Properly quote or cite the reference of the extracted research studies to avoid plagiarism.

APA Citation Basics:

Author-date method of in-text citation is to be used. In-text citation means acknowledging the
author within the text because they are either borrowed or references that we used.

APA In-text citation example:

Growing up to be a teenager is not only difficult (Smith, 2014), but also complicated.

One work, 1 author:

-Johnson (2010) found that locus of control…

-Student retention at doctoral level institutions (Jones, 2008)…

One work by 2 authors: Cite both names every time the reference occurs in the text:

-Smith and Jones (2008) reported that…

-Epidemiological samples were found to be consistent (Packer & Rupert, 2004).

APA Reference Basics

Author’s family name first, then initials (Date of Publication). Title of material. Publisher. Place of
Publication.

Example:

Fong, S.E. (1995). Expo 11. Miriam College. Quezon City.

For Internet Sources:

Author, A. (Date of Publication). Title of Article. Title of Online Periodical. Volume number (issue
number if available). Retrieved from URL. Retrieved 28 July 2016.

Berstein, A. (2017). 10 tips on writing the living web. A List Apart: For People Who Make
Websites. Retrieved from http://www.alistapart.com/articles/writeliving. Retrieved 28 July 2016.

-end-
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Module 3 - FUNDAMENTALS OF LITERATURE REVIEW

EVALUATE: Polishing Chapter 2 – The RRL

Activity 5: Implement the necessary changes, corrections and instructions given to you by instructor. The
encoded final revision must be submitted on or before the deadline.
✓ Your output MUST be correct, coherent, and complete.

TOPIC SUMMARY
In this lesson, you have learned that …
▪ Review of Related Literature is an account of materials published by professionals, researchers, and
experts in their corresponding fields of expertise related to your present research. These materials
are the outcomes of their professional work and researches (Salkind, 2012).

▪ THE PROCESS OF RRL

STAGE 1: Search for the Literature
STAGE 2: Read the Source Material
STAGE 3: Writing the Review

• Purposes of Citation (Badke, 2012):

✓ To give importance/respect to the source
✓ To give authority, validity, and credibility to other people’s claims or arguments
✓ To prove your extensive reading of relevant materials about your topic
✓ To help readers find or contact the sources of ideas easily
✓ To allow reader check the accuracy of your work
✓ To save yourself from plagiarism

• The 3 approaches in citing sources:

✓ APA – American Psychological Association
✓ MLA – Modern Languages Association
✓ CMS- Chicago Manual of Style
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Module 3 - FUNDAMENTALS OF LITERATURE REVIEW

POST-ASSESSMENT

A. Read the question in each item carefully. Choose the letter of the correct answer.
1. It generally refers to a body of written works that are used as sources of knowledge.
a. literature c. websites
b. journal articles d. books

2. Which is not one of the purposes of doing an RRL?

a. Avoid repeating previous studies c. Gain background knowledge
b. Explain technical terms d. Establish collaboration with experts

3. This is the process of searching and analyzing works/texts relevant to one's research.
a. Abstract c. Snowballing
b. Review of related literature d. Background of the study

4. The stage in the RRL process wherein one looks for basis to support the assumptions about the topic.
a. Reading of the source materials c. Searching for literatures
b. Cross-referencing d. Writing the review

5. The researcher makes use of HOTS to make sense of the source materials during the RRL process.
a. Reading of the source materials c. Searching for literatures
b. Cross-referencing d. Writing the review

6. A great deal of paraphrasing or summarizing is done in this stage of the RRL process.
a. Reading of the source materials c. Searching for literatures
b. Cross-referencing d. Writing the review

7. An important principle in research is ______ the owners of “knowledge” that you borrowed.
a. verifying c. knowing
b. praising d. acknowledging

8. The paper's beginning portion that identifies individuals who have contributed something.
a. acknowledgement c. reference citation
b. works cited d. in-text citation

9. The references within the main body of the text in an RRL.

a. bibliography c. acknowledgement
b. in-text citation d. reference citation

10. The section (theories-based) that shows how the input goes through a process to produce the output.
a. Paradigmatic shift c. Theoretical framework
b. the RRL process d. Conceptual framework

11. A complete list of all reading materials from where borrowed ideas came from.
a. bibliography c. acknowledgement
b. in-text citation d. reference citation

12. Which is not one of the purposes of citation?

a. to allow fact-checking c. to make the paper longer
b. to give respect to the source d. to avoid plagiarism

13. A bibliographic info present in the MLA template which is not in APA.
a. Publication medium c. Publication year
b. Publisher's location d. Publisher

14. A citation standard style developed by social scientists to standardized scientific writing.
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Module 3 - FUNDAMENTALS OF LITERATURE REVIEW

a. MLA c. CMS
b. APA d. Turabian

15. A citation standard style that focuses on authorship and is used in arts and humanities.
a. MLA c. CMS
b. APA d. Turabian

B. Application: Cite the book information below using the APA style.

Author: Charles Freemont

Title: No pain, No gain
Year of Pub: 2015
City of Pub: Madrid
Publisher: Xlibris

Template: AUTHOR (Year).Title of Book. City of Publication: Publisher.

REFERENCES

Books:

Alicay, C. 2014. Research Methods and Techniques. Great Books Publishing. Quezon City.

Babbie, E. (2014).The Basics of Social Research. 6th ed. Wadsworth- Cengage

Learning.USA.

Baraceros, E. (2016). Practical Research 1 - First Edition. Rex Book Store, Inc., Metro Manila.

Barbour, R. (2014). Introducing Qualitative Research: A Student Guide. Sage Publishing, Los
Angeles, California, USA.

Bordo, P. E. C., E. D. Mercado, M. G. Gayeta, E. S. Magtoto, & L. F. Noroña (2010). The elements of
writing across disciplines. Jimcyzville Publications, Malabon, Metro Manila.

Calderon, J. F. & E. C. Gonzales (1993). Methods of research and thesis writing. National Book
Store, Inc., Mandaluyong, Metro Manila.

Calmorin, L.P. (2016).Research and Thesis Writing with Statistics and Computer
Application .Rev.ed.Rex Book Store.Manila

Cristobal, A.P., Jr, & Cristobal, M.D. (2016). Practical Research 1 for Senior High
School .Ist ed.C & E Publishing Inc. Quezon City.

De Belen, R. (2019). Research and Thesis Writing - Outcomes-Based Manual. Jobal Publishing
House, Quezon City.

Johnson, B., & Christensen, L. (2008). Educational research: Quantitative, qualitative, and
mixed approaches. Sage Publications. Thousand Oaks, CA.

Lichtman, M. (2006). Qualitative research in education: A user’s guide. Sage Publications. Thousand
Oaks, CA.

Marquez-Fong, S. (2016). Practical Research 1. Vibal Group, Inc. Quezon City.

Pastor, M. (2020). Alternative Delivery Mode - Practical Research 1 First Edition. Bureau of Learning
Resources, Pasig City, Metro Manila.
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Module 3 - FUNDAMENTALS OF LITERATURE REVIEW

Prieto, N. et.al. (2017). Practical Research for Senior High School 1 – Qualitative. Lorimar Publishing.
Metro Manila.

Yazon, A. (2019). Learning Guide in Methods of Research. Wiseman’s Books Trading, Inc. Quezon
City.

Online:

Department of Education - Republic of the Philippines. (2016)

Practical Research 1 Teacher's Guide - First Edition. Retrieved from
https://www.academia.edu/35269763/Teachers_Guide_Department_of_Education_Republic_of_the_
Philippines. Retrieved 5 August 2020.

University of San Agustin. (2020). Picture of Library. Retrived from https://www.usa.edu.ph/library-

services.html. Retrieved 16 January 2021