LITERATURE

REVIEW

Also known as ‘review of related

literature’
Literature review
A search and evaluation of the
available literature in a given
subject area. It involves
- Surveying (searching & obtaining)
the literature in your chosen topic
- Synthesizing the information
gathered into a summary
- Critically analyzing information
gathered to identify areas of
controversy and identify research
Reasons for conducting
literature review
Bourner (1996) identifies the following
reasons:
To identify gaps in current
knowledge
To carry on from where others have
already reached-build on existing
knowledge
To identify researchers in your field:-
researcher network
To increase your breath of
knowledge in your subject area
Reasons cont.
To enable you to position your
project relative to other work
To identify opposing views
To put your work in perspective
To demonstrate that you can
access previous work in an area
To identify information & ideas that
may be relevant to your project
To identify research methods that
may be relevant to your study
Reasons cont…
Develop a deeper understanding
of the problem, its context and
major components
provides some background
knowledge to your research
question/s and objectives- gives a
more scholarly research
Identify and gain insight into the
theoretical perspective of the
problem and trends that have
emerged
Reasons cont.
Helps identify the issues surrounding the
research question (what is already known
about the problem)
Helps to identify issues and variables
related to the research topic
Helps to identify appropriate research
methodologies and techniques
Helps to establish a theoretical framework
upon which to base the research
Keeping abreast of on-going work in the
area of interest
Indicates that the researcher is
knowledgeable about the topic
Steps in conducting literature
review
Synthesize and evaluate information
-reading strategy: take note of themes,
or categories
-analyze & compare sources by
considering the main arguments,
agreements, which author has
convincing arguments, why?, where do
authors agree
Identify the main ideas of literature

-identify main ideas & trends

pertaining to your study
Steps cont.
Identify the main argument of
the literature review
-the main idea you would want
your readers to understand
Organize the main points of the
literature review
-organize the relevant aspects in a
coherent order, supporting ideas,
examples & sources that you will
use for each theme
Steps cont.
Write the literature review using
the following structure:
1. Introduction
Introduce your topic focusing on
the main idea or argument about
the literature review you are
reviewing, introduce variables in
your study & highlight their
significance
2. Body-group literature according
Steps cont.
-proceed from the general, wider
view of the research under review
to the specific problem
3. Conclusion
-summarize your findings from
literature review
-what does the literature provide
-where is literature lacking (gap)
-outline issues pertinent to your
study
Tips in writing
Do not just summarize what others
have published
Provide a critical discussion showing
insight and awareness of differing
arguments, theories & approaches &
link them to your study
Use linking words e.g. Authors with
similar opinions : similarly, in addition,
also, again, in the same vein, etc.
-If the authors disagree: however, on the
other hand, conversely, nevertheless,
etc.
 Literature review.
Use present tense when referring to
the author’s opinion e.g. argues,
claims, states, asserts, highlights,
reinforces, propounds ...
-Although Pasuwa (2013) argues that
attacking is the best way to defend,
Gorowa (2013) claims that---,
And use past tense when referring to
specific research or experiments
- A study by Moyo (2010) found that --
or Moyo’s (2010) study found that---
Do not use ‘I’ BUT the
‘researcher’
Use active rather than a passive
voice e.g. ‘The results support the
theory’ rather than ‘The theory is
supported by the results’
Do not plagiarize- presenting
someone’s work as if it is yours.
Every time you use someone’s
idea, recognise the author/s by
Literature Review
Paraphrase authors’ view in your
own words, direct quotes should
be used sparingly, done by
quoting exact words and indicate
author, year of publication and
page number .
Demonstrate wider reading, peer
reviewed journals are encouraged
than textbooks
Do not politicize the discussion
Literature review.
Use recent or current sources as
much as possible, not more than
10 years old.
How to find published
work
Find out what has been
published in your field
Read articles and books
◦define variables in your
study
◦Download the useful stuff
and open a file (research file)
◦Make use of university
library guide/catalogue,
E-resources
Sources of literature
Primary Sources
 Primary literature sources are the first
occurrence of a piece of work.
 They include published sources such as
reports and some central and local
government publications such as the White
Papers and planning documents.
 They also include unpublished manuscript
sources such as letters, memos and
committees meetings that may be analysed
as data in their own right.
 Since primary literature sources can be
difficult to trace, they are sometimes referred
as “grey literature”
Literature
 Secondary Sources
 Sources such as books and journals are the
subsequent publication of primary literature.
 These publications are aimed at a wider
audience.
 They are easier to locate than primary literature
as they are better covered by tertiary literature.
 Journals are a vital literature source for any
research
 Journal articles can be from refereed academic
journals (evaluated by academic peers prior to
publication) or professional journals (Produced for
their members by organizations e.g. ACCA, AMA)
 Literature Review contd.
Tertiary Sources
- These are search tools that help to
locate Primary and secondary
sources.
Encyclopedias
Abstracts
 CD-ROMs
Internet
Catalogues
 Dictionaries

Acknowledging Sources
References and Bibliography
References
◦ Specific ideas from specified
individuals
◦ Make sure Ideas are traceable to
source
◦ Author’s name and date of
publication
Bibliography
◦ Helpful materials used during
compilation
◦ Not making specific reference
Referencing Format
There are several ways of citing
references.
Most common
◦ APA style
◦ The Harvard system
◦ The New Harvard system
-THE END-