10 * PRACTICAL RESEARCH 1 DOING A RESEARCH IN COLLEGE Meaning of Research In college, you involve yourself in varied school activities such as academic contests, sports fests, elocution contest, music festivals, college week celebrations, art exhibits, research work, debate competitions, and many more. All of these activities are aimed to let you develop a well-rounded personality. But one or two of them gave emphasis in honing a particular ability (e.g., making you ‘excel in mathematics, science, arts, music, and many more). : ‘One school activity that every college student has to excel in is research. This is a hallmark of a university or college education. Your research abilities reflect the quality of your school. If you graduate from a school with superb knowledge of research work, you can tell yourself that, “I am a product of a quality college or university.” Hence, the greatness of a higher education institution depends on how knowledgeable its faculty and students are about the ins and outs of research; more so, on the application of this to their everyday life for the progress of the whole world. What is research? A number of books on research define this term in many ways, but such varied definitions boil down to the primary meaning of this word, which is: Research is a process of executing various mental acts for discovering and examining facts and information to prove the accuracy or truthfulness of your claims or conclusions about the topic of your research. Research requires you to inquire or investigate about your chosen research topic by asking questions that will make you engage yourself in top-level thinking strategies of interpreting, analyzing, synthesizing, criticizing, appreciating, or creating to enable you to discover truths about the many things you tend to wonder about the topic of your research work. (Litchman 2013) Research is analogous to inquiry, in that, both involve investigation of something through questioning, However, the meaning of research is more complicated than inquiry because it does not center mainly on raising questions about the topic, but also on carrying out a particular order of research stages. Each stage of the research process is not an individual task because the knowledge you obtain through each ‘comes not only from yourself but other people as well. Thus, similar to inquiry, research involves cooperative learning. Central to research is your way of discovering new knowledge, applying knowledge in various ways as well as seeing relationships of ideas, events, and situations. Research then puts you in a context where a problem exists. You have to collect facts or information, study such data, and come up with a solution to the problem based on the results of your analysis. It is a process requiring you to work logically or systematically and collaboratively with others. ‘To sum up your concepts about the nature of research, the following will give you the characteristics, purposes, classification, types of, and approaches to research. (Badke 2012; Silverman 2013; De Mey 2013) ‘UNIT! - NATURE OF INQUIRY AND RESEARCH © 11 Characteristics of Research 1 “3 6. Accuracy. It must give correct or accurate data, which the footnotes, notes, and bibliographical entries should honestly and appropriately documented or acknowledged. Objectiveness. It must deal with facts, not with mere opinions arising from assumptions, generalizations, predictions, or conclusions. ‘Timeliness, It must work on a topic that is fresh, new, and interesting to the Present society. Relevance. Its topic must be instrumental in improving society or in solving, Problems affecting the lives of people in a community. Clarity. It must succeed in expressing its central point or discoveries by using simple, direct, concise, and correct language. Qe Systematic. It must take place in an organized or orderly manner. Purposes of Research Pepe ae ‘To learn how to work independently To learn how to work scientifically or systematically ‘To have an in-depth knowledge of something To elevate your mental abilities by letting you think in higher-order thinking strategies (HOTS) of inferring, evaluating, synthesizing, appreciating, applying, and creating ‘To improve your reading and writing skills To be familiar with the basic tools of research and the various techniques of gathering data and of presenting research findings ql To free yourself, to a certain extent, from the domination or strong influence of a single textbook or of the professor’s lone viewpoint or spoon feeding Based on Application of Research Method Is the research applied to theoretical or practical issues? If it deals with concepts, principles, or abstract things, it is a pure research. This type of re- search aims to increase your knowledge about something. However, if your intention is to apply your chosen research to societal problems or issues, finding ways to make positive changes in society, you call your research, applied research, Based on Purpose of the Research Depending on your objective or goal in conducting research, you do any of these types of research: descriptive, correlational, explanatory, exploratory, or action.12 * PRACTICAL RESEARCH 1 i research aims at defining or giving = Ths oe thing, event, group, situation, in period or a limi Its of to a certain ‘ore limited number of years. Based on the resu your descriptive studies about a subject, you develop the inclination of Conducting further studies on such topic. Correlational Research - A correlational research shows relationships or connectedness of two factors, circumstances, or agents called variables that affect the research. It is only concerned in indicating the existence of a relationship, not the causes and ways of the development of such relationship. research elaborates or explains Research - This of Sa 0 factors, but also the ways _ Explanatory not just the reasons behind the relationship of tw: by which such relationship exists. Exploratory Research - An exploratory research’s purpose is to find ‘out how reasonable or possible it is to conduct a research study on a certain topic. Here, you will discover ideas on topics that could trigger your interest in conducting research studies. Action Research - This type of research studies an ongoing practice of a school, organization, community, or institution for the purpose of obtaining results that will bring improvements in the system. 3. Based on Types of Data Needed ‘The kind of data you want to work on reflects whether you wish to do a quantitative or a qualitative research. Qualitative research requires non-numerical data, which means that the research uses words rather than numbers to express the results, the inquiry, or investigation about people's thoughts, beliefs, feelings, views, and lifestyles regarding the object of the study. These opinionated answers from people are not measurable; so, verbal language is the right way to express .. your findings in a qualitative research. . Meanwhile, quantitative research involves measurement of data. Thus, it presents research findings referring to the number or frequency of something in numerical forms (i.e., using percentages, fractions, numbers), ‘Thi data you deal With tn sesearst die elthet peitiity o¢ seeordlayy data. Primary data are obtained through direct observation or contact wit people, objects, artifacts, paintings, etc. Primary data are new and original information resulting from your sensory experience. However, if such data have already been written about or reported on and are available for reading purposes, they exist as secondary data,Te UNIT| — NATURE OF INQUIRY AND RESEARCH * 13 Approaches to Research After choosing your topic for research, what is your next move? In other words, how are you going to approach or begin your research, deal with your data, and establish a connection among all things or activities involved in your research? There are three approaches that you can choose from. The first is the scientific or positive approach, in which you discover and measure information as well as observe and control variables in an impersonal manner. It allows control of variables. Therefore, the data gathering techniques appropriate for this approach are structured interviews, questionnaires, and observational checklists. Data given by these techniques are expressed through numbers, which means that this method is suitable for quantitative research. The second approach is the naturalistic approach. In contrast to the scientific approach that uses numbers to express data, the naturalistic approach uses words. This research approach directs you to deal with qualitative data that speak of how people behave toward their surroundings. These are non-numerical data that express truths about the way people perceive or understand the world. Since people look at their world in a subjective or personal basis in an uncontrolled or unstructured manner, a naturalistic approach happens in a natural setting. Is it possible to plan your research activities based on these two approaches? Combining these two approaches in designing your research leads you to the third one, research types, data gathering, and data analysis techniques. Triangulation approach gives you the opportunity to view every angle of the research from different perspectives. (Badke 2012; Silverman 2013)EE 38 © PRACTICALRESEARCH 1 Discovering More Concepts ; What think does the following selection tll you about topics people love to roel ben speak, and write about? Read it to know more about topics of any ‘communicative activity. SUBJECT MATTER OF THE INQUIRY OR RESEARCH ‘You begit research work with a problem; that is, having a problem or topic to weaken Ruling over a topiefor your research work drives you to perform HOTS ot higher-order thinking strategies of inferential, critical, integrative, and creative thinking in finalizing your mind on one topic among several choices A "opie researdbable if the Keowledge and information about it are supported by evidence thet is observable, factual, and logical. Here are some pointers you have to keep in mind in selecting a research topic (Babbie 2013): . Guidelines in Choosing a Research Topic 1, _ Interest in the subject matter Your interest in a topic may be caused by your rich background knowledge about it and by its novelty; meaning, its unfamiliarity to you. Being curious about a subject, like a conundrum or a puzzle, makes you determined to unravel the mystery or intriguing thing behind it. Your real interest in a subject pushes you to research, investigate, or inquire about it with full motivation, enthusiasm, and energy. 2. Availability of information Collecting a lot of information as evidence to support your claims about your subject matter from varied forms of literature like books, journals, and ‘newspapers, among others, isa part and parcel of any research work. Hence, in choosing a research topic, visit your library to check the availability of reading materials on your chosen topic. Included in your investigation of the availability of reading materials are questions on how updated and authoritative the materials are. Let these questions linger as you tour the brary: What are the copyright dates of the materials? How old or new are they? How expert or qualified the writers are in coming out with such kind of reading materials about your topic? 3. Timeliness and relevance of the topic ‘The topic is relevant if it yields results that are instrumental in societal improvement, It is timely if it is related to the present. For instance, unless it is a pure or historical research, a research on the ins and outs of people’s revolutionary acts will prosper more if it tackles the contemporary revolutionary actions rather than those in the ancient time. 4. Limitations on the subject ‘This makes you link your choosing with course requirements. For example, to make you complete the requirements, your teacher instructs you to submit a paper that will apply the key principles you learned in business,UNIT Wl ~ IDENTIFYING THE INQUIRY AND STATING THE PROBLEM * 39 psychology, education, and so on. In this case, you have no freedom to choose your topic based on your interest, but has to decide on one topic to finish your course. Personal resources Before sticking fully to your final choice, assess your research abilities in terms of your financial standing, health condition, mental capacity, needed facilities, and time allotment to enable you to complete your research. Imagine yourself pouring much time and effort into its initial stage, only to find out later that you are unable to complete it because of your failure to raise the amount needed for questionnaire printing and interview trips. (Barbour 2014) Research Topics to be Avoided 1 Controversial topics. These are topics that depend greatly on the writer's opinion, which may tend to be biased or prejudicial. Facts cannot support topics like these. Highly technical subjects. For a beginner, researching on topics that require an advanced study, technical knowledge, and vast experience is a very difficult task. Hard-to-investigate subjects. A subject is hard to investigate if there are no available reading materials about it and if such materials are not up-to-date. Too broad subjects. Topics that are too broad will prevent you from giving a concentrated or an in-depth analysis of the subject matter of the paper. The remedy to this is to narrow or limit the topic to a smaller one. Too narrow subjects. These subjects are so limited or specific that an extensive or thorough searching or reading for information about these is necessary. Vague subjects. Choosing topics like these will prevent you from having a clear focus on your paper. For instance, titles beginning with indefinite adjectives such as several, many, some, etc., a8 in “Some Remarkable Traits of a Filipino” or ” Several People’s Comments on the RH Law,” are vague enough to decrease the readers’ interests and curiosity. Sources of Research Topics This time, you already have ideas on some factors that affect your process of choosing a researchable topic. It is also necessary for you to know where a good research topic may come from. Knowing some sources of probable research topics could hasten your choosing; thereby, freeing you from a prolonged time of pondering over a problem of knowing which problem is good for you to research on. The following can help you generate ideas about a good research topic. (Silverman 2013) 1 2 3. Mass media communication - press (newspapers, ads, TV, radio, films, etc.) Books, Internet, peer-reviewed journals, government publications Professional periodicals like College English Language Teaching Forum, English Forum, The Economist, Academia, Business Circle, Law Review, etc.NN EE ‘UNIT Ill — IDENTIFYING THE INQUIRY AND STATING THE PROBLEM * 47 Discovering More Concepts How do you think are your thoughts about problems and questions similar to or different from what the followit ise i ‘ais abou wan wing text discusses? Read the selection below to find out RESEARCH PROBLEM VS, RESEARCH QUESTION Meaning of Research Problem The ultimate goal of the research is not only to propose ways of studyin; things, people, Places, and events, but also to discover and introdce pew pricions strategies, or techniques in solving a problem. The word “problem” makes you worry and pushes you to exert considerable effort in finding a solution for it. When you feel perplexed Or anxious about what to do about something you are doubtful of or about @ question you are incapable of answering, you then come to think of conducting research, an investigation, or inquiry. You consid arch as the i eee \quiry. You consider research as the remedy for getting When you decide to do research, you begin with a problem that will lead you to a specific topic to focus on. For instance, you are beset by a problem of year-by-year flash floods in your community. This problem drives you to think of one topic you can investigate or focus on for the solution to your community's flood problem. Perhaps, you can research only one aspect of the flood problem, like examining only the neighborhood lifestyle in relation to floods in the area, the need to construct anti- flood structures, or the practicability of more footbridges in the area. (Gray 2013) Background of the Problem You must not rush into gathering ideas and information about your topic. First, spend time getting background knowledge about the problem that triggered off your research topic to discover its relation to what the world, particularly the experts, professionals, and learned people know about your topic. Also, reading for rich background ideas about the problem is also another way to discover some theories or principles to support your study. (Braun 2014; Woodwell 2014) Research Questions The research problem enables you to generate a set of research questions. However, your ability to identify your research problem and to formulate the questions depends ‘on the background knowledge you have about the topic. To get a good idea of the problem, you must have a rich background knowledge about the topic through the RRL (Review of Related Literature), which requires intensive reading about your topic. ‘Apart from having a clearer picture of the topic, it will also help you in adopting an appropriate research method and have a thorough understanding of the knowledge area of your research. ‘research problem serving asan impetus behind your desire tocarry outaresearch study comes from many sources. Difficulties in life are arising from social relationships, governmental affairs, institutional practices, cultural patterns, environmental issues,48 © PRACTICAL RESEARCH 1 i i ic situati ill lead you to identify one marketing strategies, etc. are problematic situations that wil Ye topic to research ‘on. Centering your mind on the problem, you can formulate one general or mother problem of your research work. (Punch 2014) To give your study a clear direction, you have to break this big, overreaching, general question into several smaller or specific research questions. The specific questions, also called sub-problems, identify or direct you to the exact aspect of the problem that your study has to focus on. Beset by many factors, the general question or research problem is prone to reducing itself to several specific. questions, seeking conclusive answers to the problem. The following shows you the link among the following: research problem, research topic, research question, and the construction,of one general question and specific questions in a research paper. Research Problem: The need to have a safer, comfortable, and healthful walk or transfer of students from place to place in the UST campus Research Topic: The Construction of a Covered Pathway in the UST Campus General Question: What kind of covered path should UST construct in its campus? Specific Questions: 1. What materials are needed for the construction of the covered pathway in the UST campus? 2. What roofing material is appropriate for the covered path? 3. In what way can the covered pathway link all buildings in the campus? 4. What is the width and height of the covered path? 5. How can the covered path realize green architecture? Research questions aim at investigating specific aspects of the research problem. Though deduced from the general or mother question, one specific question may lead toanother sub-problem or sub-question, requiring a different data-gathering technique and directing the research to a triangulation or mixed method approach. Referring to varied aspects of the general problem, a set of research questions plays a crucial part in the entire research work. They lay the foundation for the research study, Therefore, they determine the research design or plan of the research. Through sub-questions, you can precisely determine the type of data and the method of collecting, analyzing, and presenting data. Any method or technique of collecting, collating, and analyzing data specified by the research design depends greatly on the research questions. The correct formulation of research questions warrants not only excellent collection, analysis, and presentation . of data, but a credible conclusion as well, (Layder 2013) ‘Hence, the following are things you have to remember in research tion formulation. (Barbie 2013; Litchman 2013; Silverman 2013) eeUNIT Iil - IDENTIFYING THE INQUIRY AND STATING THE PROBLEM * 39. psychology, education, and so on. In this case, you have no freedom to choose your topic based on your interest, but has to decide on one topic to. finish your course. Personal resources Before sticking fully to your final choice, assess your research abilities in terms of your financial standing, health condition, mental capacity, needed facilities, and time allotment to enable you to complete your research. Imagine yourself pouring much time and effort into its initial stage, only to find out later that you are unable to complete it because of your failure to raise the amount needed for questionnaire printing and interview trips. (Barbour 2014) Research Topics to be Avoided a: Controversial topics. These are topics that depend greatly on the writer’s opinion, which may tend to be biased or Prejudicial. Facts cannot support topics like these. Highly technical subjects. For a beginner, researching on topics that require an advanced study, technical knowledge, and vast experience is a very difficult task. Hard-to-investigate subjects. A subject is hard to investigate if there are no available reading materials about it and if such materials are not up-to-date. Too broad subjects. Topics that are too broad will prevent you from giving a concentrated or an in-depth analysis of the subject matter of the paper. The remedy to this is to narrow or limit the topic to a smaller one. Too narrow subjects. These subjects are so limited or specific that an extensive or thorough searching or reading for information about these is necessary. Vague subjects. Choosing topics like these will prevent you from having a clear focus on your paper. For instance, titles beginning with indefinite adjectives such as several, many, some, etc., as in “Some Remarkable Traits of a Filipino” or “ Several People’s Comments on the RH Law,” are vague enough to decrease the readers’ interests and curiosity. Sources of Research Topics This time, you already have ideas on some factors that affect your process of choosing a researchable topic. It is also necessary for you to know where a good research topic may come from. Knowing some sources of probable research topics could hasten your choosing; thereby, freeing you from a prolonged time of pondering over a problem of knowing which problem is good for you to research on. The following can help you generate ideas about a good research topic. (Silverman 2013) 1 2 3. Mass media communication — press (newspapers, ads, TV, radio, films, etc.) Books, Internet, peer-reviewed journals, government publications Professional periodicals like College English Language Teaching Forum, English Forum, The Economist, Academia, Business Circle, Law Review, etc.UNIT ill — IDENTIFYING THE INQUIRY AND STATING THE PROBLEM * 49 Guidelines in Formulating Research Questions 2 reir aclear relation between the research questions and the problem or topic. Base your research questions on your RRL or Review of Related Literature because existing published works help you get good background knowledge of the research problem and help you gauge the people's current understanding or unfamiliarity about the topic, as well as the extent of their knowledge and interest in it. Convincing solutions to research problems Or answers to research questions stem from their alignment with what the world already knows or what previous research studies have already discovered about the research problem or topic. Formulate research questions that can arouse your curiosity and surprise you with your discoveries or findings. This is true for research questions asked about a problem that was never investigated upon. State your research questions in such a way that they include all dependent and independent variables referred to by the theories, principles, or concepts underlying your research work. Let the set of research questions or sub-problems be preceded by one question expressing the main problem of the research. Avoid asking research questions that are answerable with “yes” or “no” and use the “how” questions only in a quantitative research. Be guided by the acronym SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, time-bound) in formulating the research questions. Applying SMART, you must deal with exact answers and observable things, determine the extent or limit of the data collected, be aware of the timeframe and completion period of the study, and endeavor to have your research study arrive at a particular conclusion that is indicative of what are objective, factu&l, or real in this world.UNIT IV ~ LEARNING FROM OTHERS AND REVIEWING THE LITERATURE * 57 Stirring Up Imagination Directions: PICTURE ANALYSIS. Examine the picture above. What comes to your mind upon seeing it? Explain. Discovering More Concepts Establish a link between the image and the title of the selection below. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE (RRL) Meaning of Review of Related Literature 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. These recorded or preserved world perceptions of man are expressed directly and indirectly. Direct expressions of man’s knowledge of the world are in books, periodicals, and online reading materials. Indirect expressions are his inferences or reflections of his surroundings that are not written or spoken at all. (Ridley 2012) Areview of related literature is an analysis of man’s written or spoken knowledge of the world. You examine representations of man’s thinking about the world to determine the connection of your research with what people already know about it. 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. Hence, in doing the RRL, you deal with both formal or direct and informal or indirect expressions of man’s knowledge. Fusing your world understanding with the authors’ world perceptions enables you to get a good analysis of existing written works that are related to your research study. (Wallman 2014) Purposes of Review of Related Literature (RRL) 1. Toobtain background knowledge of your research 2. To relate your study to the current condition or situation of the worldi ee 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. Toexplain technical terms involved in your research study 7. To highlight the significance of your work with the kind of evidence it gathered to support the conclusion of your research 8. Toavoid repeating previous research studies 9. To recommend the necessity of further research on a certain topic Styles or Approaches of RRL or Review of Related Literature 1. Traditional Review of Literature To do a review of literature in a traditional way is to summarize Present forms of knowledge on a specific subject. Your aim here is to give an expanded or new understanding of an existing work. Being necessarily descriptive, interpretative, evaluative, and methodically unclear and uncertain, a traditional review is prone to your subjectivity. This kind of review does not require you to describe your method of reviewing literature but expects you to state your intentions in conducting the review and to name the sources of information. You experience much freedom or flexibility in doing a traditional RRL, so as an undergraduate student taking BA, BSE, BSEED, or any four-year bachelor degree and lacking much knowledge and expertise in research work, this is the appropriate method for you. Attaining mastery in doing a traditional RRL is an excellent preparation for the more demanding, second style of RRL called systematic review that is required at the graduate level. Hence, being unprepared for a systematic review, you have no other way but to do the traditional review to complete the requirements of your course. Qesson 2011) ‘Traditional review is of different types that are as follows: 1, Conceptual review — analysis of concepts or ideas to'give meaning to ‘some national or world issues 2. Critical review - focuses on theories or hypotheses and examines meanings and results of their application to situations 3. State-of-the-Art review - makes the researcher deal with the latest research studies on the subject 4. Expert review — encourages a well-known expert to do the RRL because of the influence of a certain ideology, paradigm, or belief on him/her 5. Scoping review — prepares a situation for a future research work in the form of project making about community development, government policies, and health services, among others XN 58 * PRACTICAL RESEARCH 1 3. To show the capacity of your research work to introduce new knowledge |UNIT IV — LEARNING FROM OTHERS AND REVIEWING THE LITERATURE * 59 2. Systematic Review of Literature As indicated by its name, systematic, which means methodical, isa style of RRL that involves sequential acts of a review of related literature. Unlike the traditional review that has no particular method, systematic review requires you to go through the following RRL steps (Ridley 2012): 1. Have a clear understanding of the research questions. Serving as the compass to direct your research activities, the research questions tell you what to collect and where to obtain those data you want to collect. 2. Plan your manner of obtaining the data. Imagining how you will get to where the data are, you will come to think also of what keywords to use for easy searching and how to accord courtesy and respect to people or institutions from where the data will come such as planning, how to communicate your request to these sources of data. 3. Do the literature search. Using keywords, you look for the needed information from all sources of knowledge: Internet, books, journals periodicals, government publications, general references, and the like. 4. Using a certain standard, determine which data, studies, or sources of knowledge are valuable or not to warrant the reasonableness of your decision to take some data and junk the rest. 5. Determine the methodological soundness of the research studies. Use a checklist or a certain set of criteria in assessing the ways researchers conduct their studies to arrive at a certain conclusion. 6. Summarize what you have gathered from various sources of data. To concisely present a synthesis of your report, use a graph such as a table and other presentation formats that are not prone to verbosity. Asystematic review of literature is a rigorous way of obtaining, data from written works, It is a bias-free style that every researcher wanting to be a research expert should experience. Limiting itself to peer-reviewed journals, academically written works, and quantitative assessment of data through statistical methods, this style of literature review ensures objectivity in every stage of the research. (Fraenbell 2012) The following table shows the way several books on RRL compare and contrast the two styles of RRL. Indefinite plan, permits creative and exploratory planStructure of the RRL The structure of the whole literature review indicates the organizationa| pattern or order of the components of the summary of the RRL results. For the traditional review, the structure of the summary resembles that of an essay where series of united sentences presents the RRL results. However, this structure of traditional review varies based on your subject and area of specialization. For the syoematic review, the structure is based on the research questions; so much so, t, if your RRL does not adhere to a certain method to make you begin your RRL with research questions, your RRL is headed toward a traditional literature review structure. Regardless of what RRL structure you opt to use, you must see to it that the organizational of the results of your review contains these three elements: an introduction to explain the organizational method of your literature review; headings and subheadings to indicate the right placement of your supporting statements and a summary to concisely restate your main point. (Ridley 2013) ‘THE PROCESS OF REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE Curious about a person or a thing, you want to know more about the ins and outs of this object of your interest. In your quest of becoming knowledgeable about the “apple of your eyes,” you are inclined to find all ways and means to get a full view, knowledge, or understanding of the center of your attention. And if there is one activity of yours that really pushes you to continue searching knowledge up to a certain period of time about the focus of your attention, it is research. From the start up to the end of your research, you are prone to searching answers to the many things you are curious about.TR UNIT IV ~ LEARNING FROM OTHERS AND REVIEWING THE LITERATURE © 67 Your search for knowledge happens in every stage of your research work, but it is in the research stage of review related literature rhs vo spend considerable time searching knowledge about the topic. Exposed to various sources of knowledge and conditioned by a timeframe of the research work, itis necessary that you adopt a certain method in reviewing or reading varied works of literature that are related to your research problem or topic. Going methodical in your review of related literature ‘means you have to go through the following related stages of the process of review of related literature that are true for any style of review (traditional or systematic) that you want to adopt. (Lappuci 2013; Robyler 2013; Freinbell 2012) Stage 1: Search for the Literature : This is the stage of review of related literature 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, Generally, there are three basic types of literature sources: general references that will direct you to the location of other sources; primary sources that directly report or present a person’s own experiences; and secondary sources that report or describe other people's experiences or worldviews. ‘sources of knowledge give the most number of materials such as the Internet, books, peer-reviewed articles in journals, published literary reviews of a field, grey literature or unpublished and non-peer reviewed materials like theses, dissertations, conference Proceedings, leaflets and posters, research studies in Progress, and other library materials. Websites introducing materials whose quality depends solely on every individual, social media networks (Twitter, Facebook, blogs, podcasts, YouTube, video, etc.) and other online encyclopedia such as Wikipedia, are the other sources of information that you can consult during this stage. You may find these reading materials valuable, especially, the Wikipedia, because of their timeliness, diversified knowledge or information, varied presentation formats (texts, sounds, animation) and 2-hour availability. But they are not as dependable as the other sources of knowledge. Some consider the information from these as not very scholarly in weight because it is susceptible to anybody's penchant for editing. Since any person is free to use the Internet for displaying information that is peer-reviewed or not, you need to be careful in evaluating online sources. (Mc Leod 2012) You can have an access to these various sources of data in two methods: manually, or getting hold of the printed form of the material, and electronically or having a computer or online reading of the sources of knowledge. Regardless of which method you use, all throughout your literature search, your mind must be focused on the essence and purposes of the library because most of the data you want to obtain are in this important section of your school. Having familiarity with the nature of your library will facilitate your literature search. Here are the pointers you have to remember in searching for the best sources of information or data: (Fraenbell 2012) 1. Choose previous research findings that are closely related to your research. 2. Give more weight to studies done by people possessing expertise or authority in the field of knowledge to which the research studies belong.68 * PRACTICAL RESEARCH 1 3. Consider sources of knowledge that refer more to primary data than tg secondary data. : 4. Prefer getting information from peer-reviewed materials than from genera, reading materials. Stage 2: Reading the Source Material Reading, understanding, or making the materials meaningful to you is what wil} Preoccupy you on the ‘second stage of reading RRL. You can only benefit much from your reading activities if you confront the reading materials with the help of your HOTS. In understanding the sources of knowledge with your HOTS, youneed to think interpretatively through these ways of inferential thinking: predicting, generalizing concluding, and assuming. On top of these should be your ability to criticize or evaluate, apply, and create things about what you have read. Hence, reading of making sense of the source materials does not only make you list down ideas from the materials, but also 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 idea connection and organization in this last stage of RRL to form an overall understanding of the material by paraphrasing or summarizing the it, 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. Also, you make effective changes not only on language Structures and format but also the quality of ideas incorporated into the summary or paraphrase as well. This means that in writing the review, based on the focus, theme, or theory underlying your research, you are free to fuse your opinions with the author's ideas. (Corti 2014) A simple presentation of the findings or argumentations of the writers on a particular topic with no incorporation of your own inferential, analytical, and comparative- contrastive thinking about other people's ideas indicates poor literature feview writing. This mere description, transfer, or listing of writer’s ideas that is devoid of or not reflective of your thinking is called dump or stringing method. Good literature review writing shuns presenting ideas in serial abstracts, which means every Paragraph merely consists of one article. This is a Source-by-source literature writing that fails to link, compare, and contrast series of articles based on a theory or a thems around which the research questions revolve. (Remlen 2011) Juxtaposing or dealing with studies with respect to each other is your way of proving the extent of the validity of the findings of previous studies i the recent ones. Reading the caer waa you give yourself the chance opinionat: wledge about the topic; thereby, increasing the enthusiasm of people in reading your work. (Radylyer 2013) oh 7 Another good approach to writing an excellent review is ad 800d opening ‘Sentences of articles that should chronologically appear in fom Opening anmic) fener ceraphica list that begins with the author's name like the following Aquino (2015) said... Roxas (2016) stated... Perez (2017) wrote... Mendoza (2018) asserted... compar and nt of ace a king ugh nls 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... Aresearch study by (Rivera, 2017) explains that... Coming, from various books on literature review writing are the following transitional devices and active verbs to link or express authors’ ideas in your paper. Using correct words to link ideas will make you synthesize your literature review, in a way that evidence coming from various sources of data, will present an overall understanding of the context or of the present circumstances affecting the research problem. Transitional devices - also, additionally, again, similarly, a similar opinion, however, conversely, on the other hand, nevertheless, a contrasting opinion, a different approach, etc. O Active verbs - analyze, argues, assess, assert, assume, claim, compare, contrast, conclude, criticize, debate, defend, define, demonstrate, discuss, distinguish, differentiate, evaluate, examine, emphasize, expand, explain, exhibit, identify, illustrate, imply, indicate, judge, justify, narrate, outline, persuade, propose, question, relate to, report, review, suggest, summarize.