13-Lit Review

• Literature review - is a survey of scholarly sources such as books, journal articles, and theses. It is related to a specific topic or research question
• Importance of Literature Review in Writing A Research Report:

  • Establish the research trends and the strengths and weaknesses of the current study and the previous studies.
  • Identify the research gap which your study is addressing.
  • Develop a sound theoretical and literature review which can serve as the basis in interpreting the results or findings of the study.
• Criteria in Evaluating the Credibility of Sources:

  • Authority - author/s, sources)
  • Accuracy - verifiable or fake?)
  • Objectivity - free from any biases, present pros and cons
  • Currency/Recency - at least 5 years ago, except when establishing the development of a theory, a concept, etc.
  • Relevance - connected to your research topic.
• Authority - refers to the credibility of the author.
• Primary sources are original materials or first-hand information.
• Secondary source are documented from primary sources and are interpretations and evaluations of primary sources.
• Tertiary source consists of information which is a distillation and collection of primary and secondary sources.
• Accuracy refers to the correctness of information.
• Objectivity requires factual or objective presentation of information that is free from any biases.
• Currency/Recency refers to the use of updated facts, information and findings relevant to the topic of research.
• Outdated information from 10 to 15 years ago should not be used unless it is a theory or concept significant to the topic.
• Relevance refers to information essential in developing a particular topic.
• Three types of organization in writing a literature review:

  • Chronological
  • Thematic
  • Methodological
• Chronological means to present the historical development of an area of study.
• Thematic organizes sources around a particular topic or issue.
• Methodological focuses on the approach that the authors utilize in investigating a particular subject for their research.
• Three academic note-taking skills:

  • Direct quotation
  • Paraphrasing
  • Summarizing
• Direct quotation refers to copying of author's words directly from a source.
• Paraphrasing is restating in one's own words the idea indicated in a text.
• Summarizing - indicates salient points of the text, disregarding unnecessary details.
• Formats in Writing In-text Citations:

  • Researcher-focus
  • Chronology-Focus
  • Idea-Focus
• Researcher-focus is used when the author is an authority in the field and citing him/her will strengthen your claim in a particular topic you're developing.
• Chronology-Focus is the year or copyright date appears at the beginning of a sentence followed by the author's surname and his/her concept (idea).
• Idea-focus the concept is more important than the author.