LEARNING FROM OTHERS AND REVIEWING THE LITERATURE

What is literature?
 Is any printed material used for research reference.
 Most common examples of literature are journals, books, biographies, essays, official
documents and reports, newspaper clippings and feature articles, and concept papers among
others.
 Liberally, other literature may also include speeches, letters, presentation materials (like
Powerpoint and PDF slides) and online materials from the internet (like Google Scholar or other
online encyclopedia).
 For quantitative research, additional literature includes financial statements, audit reports,
statistical surveys, feasibility studies, numerical graphs and such other similar literature or
documents that are numerical and quantitative in nature.

Reminders or criteria need to be considered in selecting and citing proper literature:

1. Appropriateness of the literature. Is the literature proper or suitable for the research topic or
problem being addressed?
2. Reliability of the literature. Is the source of the literature credible and can be trusted?
3. Identifiability of the literature. Is the literature identifiable enough for proper citation.
4. Recency of the literature. Except for citing literature for classical theories and important
concepts, it is better to cite the most recent possible literature to be able to locate the research
in the latest trends in the field of discipline.

What is review of related literature (RRL)?

 Is giving importance to the relatedness of the used and cited literature. This is the
appropriateness and suitability of various literature used in research. A few important definitions
of RRL are advanced by the following experts:
1. Arlene Fink: “A research literature review is a systematic, explicit, and reproducible method
for identifying, evaluating and synthesizing the existing body of completed and recorded work
produced by researchers, scholars and practitioners” (Fink, 2014:3).
2. Ling Pan: “A literature review is a synthesis- the combining of often varied and diverse ideas,
forces or factors into coherent or consistent complex-of the literature on a topic” (Pan, 2004:1)
3. Fely David: “A review of related literature is the process of collecting, selecting and
reading…reference materials including electronic resources…to get relevant information
about the problem under investigation” (David, 2002:30).

Why is RRL important?

1. Knowledge scoping and levelling: to know the known in order to know the unknown (knowledge
gaps)
2. Knowledge benchmarking: to gauge the extent and level generated knowledge (knowledge
generation)
3. Knowledge mapping: to situate the research with existing knowledge.
4. Knowledge resonation or knowledge reinforcement: to affirm or associate with other literature.
5. Knowledge multiplier: to add knowledge to existing knowledge
6. Knowledge referencing: to attribute and cite other sources of knowledge.

What is good or bad RRL?

A Good RRL
a. Allows for a storyline of the manuscript,
where the paragraphs are properly
connected to one another. This is the most
important characteristics of a good RRL.
Literature helps make sense of the
research.
b. Balanced use and distribution of literature
cited in all chapters of the manuscript.
c. The cited literatures interact with one
another using the literature review
techniques.
A Bad RRl
a. When literature are just enumerated; no
connection at all among them.
b. No storyline in the manuscript; one
paragraph is not related to another. One
literature is not linked to another.
c. Asymmetry of literature: literature used are
concentrated only in one part or chapter of
the manuscript.
 d. The researchers also interacts with cited d. More citations (direct quotations)
literature i.e. as if the research is in a than attribution (rephrased literature)
dialog with the various authors used in the
manuscript.
e. It is excellent to use and engage with live e. Plagiarized literature
literature (authors who are still alive). If
they are contacted by phone or email and
made aware that they are being cited in the
manuscript, they can happily add some
more materials for use by the researcher.
f. More attributions (rephrased literature) f. Literature scarcity: too few literature
than citation (direct quotations) are used.
g. Literature excessiveness: too many
literature are used.

STEPS IN WRITING RRL

1. Identify and narrow down a particular topic to guide the researcher or students on what literature
to find and read.
2. Research and read on the important literature.
3. Take down important notes or annotations using the Literature Matrix Collation.
4. Once the literature sources are replete, start drafting a written review of related literature by
connecting or synthesizing various literature materials. Make a story out of the literature.
5. Do not forget to attribute or cite sources of literature. All authors in the main text must be reflected
as well in the references or bibliography.

HOW DO YOU ATTRIBUTE OR CITE LITERATURE?

 Citing literature means making a reference to any literature used in research.

Two ways of making a literature reference:

1. Attribution
o Recognizing and acknowledging literature as sources of original ideas. It is done by
phrasing or re-stating an idea from original author or writer.
o The re-phrased or re-stated idea becomes another idea that came from several original
sources.
o It is also known as indirect citation.
2. Citation
o Is a form of directly making use of the original idea of an author or writer. Direct quotation
of words and sentences are borrowed using open and close quotation marks.

ETHICAL STANDARDS IN WRITING THE REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Research ethics: Why Proper Citation Matters
 The primary function of citations and references is to help readers in locating a publication.
 Citations allow readers to distinguish your original work from the work and ideas of others.
 Citations and references may be seen in the main text, the footnotes, endnotes, and in the
bibliography or references section of most research.
Plagiarism
o Is generally defined as stealing the work of another and claiming it as one’s work.
o It can be unintentional plagiarism which result from poor recording of cited materials or deliberate
plagiarism which is intentional and premeditated.
According to the White Paper on Plagiarism Spectrum by Turnitin.com, one of the top plagiarism
practices are:
a. Clone- the act of submitting another’s work, word-for-word, as one’s own.
b. CTRL-C- the act of submitting a written piece that contains significant portions of text from a
single source without alterations.
c. Mashup- the act of submitting a paper that represents a mix of copied materials from several
different sources without proper citation.
Plagiarism and its various forms
1. Cut and Paste Plagiarism- involves copying text word-per-word without properly indicating that
the text was taken from another source.
 2. Mosaic Plagiarism- involves copying text from another source and changing several words, while
maintaining the original sentence structure. It is still considered plagiarism even if the source
text is indicated or cited.
3. Misattribution Plagiarism- involves attributing an excerpt, quote, or an idea to the wrong author
or the incorrect source-or worse, a nonexistent source.
4. Self-plagiarism- is committed in two instances: duplication or replication. Duplication is
committed when a researcher copies the contents of his/her own work previously submitted or
published in whole or in part without proper attribution.
Replication is a graver act, in which a researcher submits one work multiple times (e.g., to
classes, publishers, teachers) without disclosing this first.

The Formulation of Conceptual Framework

What is Conceptual Framework?
 Is the presentation of the relationship of various variables, concepts or methods used in the
research
 It is a combination of visual and textual presentation. The visual presentation shows these
relationship relationships through symbols, illustrations, diagrams, charts and schemes.
 In some cases, the conceptual framework is used to support a theoretical framework, which
presents in visual and textual mode all the theories used or proposed in the study.
 David (2002) taught that conceptual framework can explain in detail the variables to be used or
observed in the research, and present the assumed connection, relation or association between
and among independent and dependent variables.
 The conceptual framework serves as a “map” or “rudder” that will guide you towards realizing
the objectives or intent of your study.

There are no hard and fast rule in making conceptual framework, but the following offer some helpful
tips:
1. A conceptual framework is aimed to capture the entire picture of the research, or the crux of the
research. Be creative in using symbols, illustrations, diagrams, charts and schemes.
2. Make use to align the conceptual framework with the research objectives and research
questions, and back it up with appropriate RRL.
3. Be clear in the use of symbols, illustrations, diagrams, charts and schemes by providing
distinctive features of each.
4. Be clear also in the use of solid and broken lines as connectors; they may have some meanings
that can either clarify or confuse. Connectors also need distinctive features.
5. Start simple, but do not be simplistic. Be elaborate, but be careful about over-complicating and
long winding visual presentation.
6. All the symbols, illustrations, diagrams, charts and schemes need to be explained in the textual
discourse analysis, including their relationships as shown in the connectors.
7. Conceptual framework needs RRL to support the claims of the research, or what the researcher
or the students wants to convey through the research.
8. Sometimes, conceptual frameworks may include the methodological techniques used to study
variables in groups, but this is not necessary.
9. Conceptual framework is normally in one visual presentation, but it can be broken down into
several figures for elaboration of the main parts.
The Research Hypotheses
Hypothesis
o Is often defined as an educated guess. It is a “specified testable expectation about empirical
reality” grounded from a more general prediction (Babble 2010, 46).
o It is a proposed explanation of a phenomenon that indicates how variable A influences or
possibly leads to variable B. Hypothesis written in this manner can be subjected to testing.
Null Hypothesis
o It states that there is no significant relationship between the dependent and independent
variables.
o It assumes that “something”, usually a measure of relationship, “equals zero”.

Alternative Hypothesis
o Predicts the opposite of the null hypothesis.
o It usually states that there is relationship between the variables.