[CPE 6398 – CpE Design Project 1]

[Review of Related Literature]

Module 05 Review of Related Literature

Course Learning Outcomes:

At the end of this module, the student should be able to:
1. Describe the purpose of Review of Related Literature.
2. Describe the sources of Literature.
3. Describe the steps in conducting review of related literature.

The Review of Related Literature

To further determine the value of studying the proposed topic or research study, what
direction to take, and how to move from a general research topic to a specific research purpose
and research questions, you need to conduct a literature review (Leavy, 2017). The review of
related literature helps to determine whether the topic is worth studying, and it provides
insight into ways in which the researcher can limit the scope to a needed area of inquiry
(Creswell, 2018).
The review of related literature and studies is an activity in the research process related to the
research problem. After the problem has been identified, information is needed to support the
problem under study so that it can be put in the proper context and the research study can
proceed effectively. The review of related literature and studies should be presented in topical
form, irrespective of whether it is local or foreign, and not necessarily in chronological order
(Zulueta, 2010).
The review of the literature section of the research study will provide the basic rationale for
your research from which will emerge the statement of the problem, research questions or
hypotheses, and design of your study. Therefore, it is recommended that you begin work on the
“Review of the Literature,” prior to writing the different sections in chapter one, for you will
need to know the theory and previous research relevant to your problem.

Purpose of Literature
According to Christensen, Johnson and Turner (2015).
(i) Will tell you the degree to which the problem you have identified has
already been researched. If it has been heavily researched, you should
either revise the problem and your research questions in light of the
results so that your study builds on the current literature, or you should
look for another problem.
(ii) Might give you ideas as to how to proceed in designing your study so that
you can obtain an answer to your research question.
(iii) Can point out methodological problems specific to the research question
you are studying.

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(iv) Can identify whether special groups or special pieces of equipment are
needed and perhaps give clues as to where to find the equipment or how
to identify the particular groups of participants needed.
(v) Will provide needed information for preparing the research report,
because this research report requires that you not only set your study in
the context of prior studies but also that you discuss the results in
relation to other studies.
According to Zulueta (2010).
(i) It delimits the research problem.
(ii) It selects new line of investigation.
(iii) It avoids fruitless approaches.
(iv) It gains methodological insights.
According to (https://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide/literaturereview) the purpose
of a literature review is to:
(i) Place each work in the context of its contribution to understanding the
research problem being studied.
(ii) Describe the relationship of each work to the others under consideration.
(iii) Identify new ways to interpret prior research.
(iv) Reveal any gaps that exist in the literature.
(v) Resolve conflicts amongst seemingly contradictory previous studies.
(vi) Identify areas of prior scholarship to prevent duplication of effort.
(vii) Point the way in fulfilling a need for additional research.
(viii) Locate your own research within the context of existing literature [very
important].

Sources of Literature
According to Lunenburg (2008).
(i) Handbooks and encyclopedias. Handbooks and encyclopedias provide
an excellent place to begin your literature search. Handbooks and
encyclopedias summarize major research contributions in specific
areas.
(ii) Annual reviews. Annual reviews are published yearly and provide
comprehensive reviews of the literature on specific topics. These
topical reviews are written by specialists in the field. Annual reviews
can be excellent resources if your topic has been reviewed recently.
(iii) Review articles. Another excellent source for a literature search are
review articles. Some journals in education and related fields
periodically devote entire issues of the journal to specific topics.
These are comprehensive reviews of research on a specific topic.
(iv) Government documents. Government documents are another useful
source of information. Government documents provide a massive
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amount of information that is published regularly. Search for various

government agencies that have created Websites on which they post
newly funded projects.
(v) Major public search engines. Major search engines used by the public
at large can also provide helpful information for use in literature
reviews for dissertations and master’s theses. You can use search
engines (browsers) such as Microsoft Explorer, Netscape, Opera, or
Safari to search for information on a variety of topics using keywords,
wherever the search engine has indexed the Web.
According to Christensen, Johnson, and Turner (2015).
(i) Books. This is actually a good place to start your literature search
because it will provide you with an introduction to your research
topic and a summary of the literature published up to the time of the
writing of the book.
(ii) Journals. After you have examined several books and have become
familiar with your research topic, your next step is to identify relevant
journal articles. Most of the current information about a research
topic is usually found in journals.
(iii) Internet Resources. The Internet is an additional resource that can be
used to acquire information.
(iv) Computer Databases. With advances in computer technology and
particularly the Internet, it has become possible to store and access
large data sets electronically.

Steps in Conducting Review of Related Literature According

to Creswell (2018).
(i) Begin by identifying key words, which is useful in locating materials in
an academic library at a college or university. These key words may
emerge in identifying a topic or may result from preliminary readings.
(ii) With these key words in mind, use your home computer to begin
searching the databases for holdings (i.e., journals and books). Most
major libraries have computerized databases, and we suggest you
focus initially on journals and books related to the topic.
(iii) Initially, try to locate about 50 reports of research in articles or books
related to research on your topic. Set a priority on the search for
journal articles and books because they are easy to locate and obtain.
Determine whether these articles and books exist in your academic
library or whether you need to send for them by interlibrary loan or
purchase them through a bookstore.

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(iv) Skim this initial group of articles or chapters, and collect those that
are central to your topic. Throughout this process, simply try to obtain
a sense as to whether the article or chapter will make a useful
contribution to your understanding of the literature.
(v) As you identify useful literature, begin designing a literature map. This
is a visual picture (or figure) of groupings of the literature on the topic
that illustrates how your particular study will add to the existing
literature and position your study within the larger body of research.
(vi) As you put together the literature map, also begin to draft summaries
of the most relevant articles. These summaries are combined into the
final literature review that you write for your proposal or research
study. Include precise references to the literature using an
appropriate style guide, such as the Publication Manual of the
American Psychological Association (American Psychological
Association [APA], 2010) so that you have a complete reference to use
at the end of the proposal or study.
(vii) After summarizing the literature, assemble the literature review,
structuring it thematically or organizing it by important concepts. End
the literature review with a summary of the major themes and suggest
how your particular study further adds to the literature and addresses
a gap in the themes. This summary should also point toward the
methods (i.e., data collection and data analysis) that need to be
undertaken to add to the literature.
According to Leavy (2017).
(i) Searching for literature on your topic using keywords, locating both
recent research and landmark studies.
(ii) Establishing priorities for reducing and focusing the review.
(iii) Sorting through the literature by reading abstracts and scanning
articles.
(iv) Reading the literature and taking careful notes with citation
information.
(v) Summarizing each piece of literature and producing a catalogue of
these summaries.
(vi) Synthesizing and structuring the literature.
According to Mitchell (2012).
(i) Consult books.
(ii) Track down articles referenced in those books. Note: Older, bound
issues of journals may be in different parts of the library than newer
issues.

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(iii) Read those articles and their reference sections. Then, track down the
research cited in those articles.
(iv) Scan current issues of journals that are general in scope.
(v) Identify key terms that will allow you to search the literature.

Guidelines on Effective writing of Literature and Review

According to Zulueta (2010)
(i) Research papers must be written in a formal style, which is in the
third person, not the first person.
(ii) Avoid highly descriptive writing style, not appropriate for a scholarly
research.
(iii) Use the active voice for direct impact and easy understanding.
(iv) Avoid the se of jargon; use familiar terms in place of terminologies (v)
Language should be neutral gender, no sexy language like his.
(vi) Make the conclusions and contradictions found in the literature clear
in the report.
(vii) Use short sentences; avoid elongated and run-on expressions.
(viii) Use proper grammar and proofread the work.
(ix) Never plagiarize; give credit to the original author of ideas.
(x) Pay attention to the structure and form of published articles, which
are good examples of how literature reviews can be written.
According to Lunenburg (2008), the following techniques can be used to organize
your Review of the Literature:
(i) Organize your material in a funnel. The funnel provides a good
analogy for the shape of the review of the literature. The idea is that
the literature review is organized so that more general information is
discussed first, and the information most closely related to the
research reported in your thesis or dissertation is discussed last.
(ii) Be selective. A good literature review needs to be selective. It is
permissible to draw upon the research of others and incorporate them
into your own thesis or dissertation. However, a skillful researcher
draws on primary source material rather than relying on review
articles and secondary sources.
(iii) Make an outline. Make an outline of the major headings you plan to
use in your review of the literature. Developing and following an
outline while writing will accomplish two things: (a) It will produce
focused, logical prose, and (b) it will help you avoid becoming
overwhelmed by the sheer volume of mate rial to be covered in a
lengthy review of the literature.

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(iv) Write the introduction. The introduction should introduce the

research problem, including the key variables examined in the study,
and describe the scope and organization of the review. Conclude the
introduction with a paragraph that describes the sequence of the
literature you will cover, often referred to as an advance organizer,
using the exact headings that appear in the chapter.
(v) Use headings. Divide your literature review into useful major sections
(headings) and subsections (subheadings). Judicious use of headings
and subheadings serves two functions: (a) It helps readers understand
the organization of your review, and (b) it helps readers follow your
transitions from one topic or subtopic to another.
(vi) Use transitions. Use transitions between paragraphs to provide
connections between ideas. Use transitions within paragraphs to
provide a change from one sentence to another or from one section of
the paragraph to another.
(vii) Write a summary. Your Review of the Literature section should end
with a brief summary of the literature you reviewed. Thus, the
summary provides an overview of the historical, theoretical, and
empirical literature that supports your investigation.
(viii) Be careful not to plagiarize. When writing a thesis or dissertation, it is
often necessary to include extracts from journal articles, books, or
research reports. These extracts are used to support your arguments
and to help set the context for your research. It is important for you to
give credit to the author(s) of the work you have extracted.

References and Supplementary Materials

Books and Journals
1. Francisco M. Zulueta, Jose R. Perez; 2010; Methods of Research Thesis Writing and
Applied Statistics; National Bookstore
2. Fred C. Lunenburg, Beverly J. Irby; 2008; Writing a Successful Thesis or Dissertation;
California; Corwin Press
3. John W. Creswell, J. David Creswell; 2018; Research Design Qualitative Quantitative,
and Mixed Method Approaches; California; SAGE Publication Inc.
4. Larry B. Christensen, R. Burke Johnson, Lisa A. Tuurne (2015). Research Methods
Design and Analysis (12th Edition). England. Pearson Education Limited.
5. Mark L. Mitchell, Nanina M. Jolley; 2010; Research Design Explained; California;
Cengage Learning
6. Patricia Leavy (2017). Research Design. New York. The Guilford Press
Online Supplementary Reading Materials

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1. The literature Review; https://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide/literaturereview; 7Oct-

2019

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