Trade Project – Lesson 3 - Chapter Two

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

It should have a minimum 3 pages and maximum 5 pages
The literature review should not be just a compilation or reproduction of the works of others.
It requires the student to examine and comment critically on the literature relevant to the student’s
project area or area of research. The student should review all existing similar systems, identify
the gaps, state them and state the improvements that will be in the proposed system.
The literature review
Research proposals and reports typically have a section that reviews the related literature.
The review describes theoretical perspectives and previous research findings related to the
problem at hand.
Literature review involves the systematic identification, location and analysis of documents
containing information related to the research problem being investigated. Its function is to
“look again” (re + view) at what others have done in areas similar, though not necessarily
identical, to one’s own areas of investigation.
Steps in carrying out literature review
1. Be very familiar with the library before beginning the LR.
2. Make a list of key words or phrases to guide your literature search.
3. With the keywords and phrases one should go to the source of literature. Library staff are
generally very helpful in offering guidance.
4. Summarize the references on card for easy organization of the literature.
5. Make an outline of the main topics or themes in order of presentation. Decide on the
number of headlines and sub headlines required depending on how detailed the LR is.
6. Analyze each reference in terms of the outline made and establish where it will be most
relevant.
7. Studies contrary to received wisdom should not be ignored when reviewing literature.
Such studies should be analyzed with view to accounting for differences of opinion.
8. LR should be organized in such a way that the more general is covered first before the
researcher narrows down to that which is more specific to the research problem.
Organizing the Literature in this way leads to testable hypothesis.
9. You can have brief summary of the literature and its implication.

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Trade Project – Lesson 3 - Chapter Two

Source of literature review

The following are good places to start with your literature review are:
 The library: Almost all libraries will certainly have a number of books relevant to your
research topic. As a general rule “use books with the most recent copyright dates”,
because they give you a sense of current perspectives in your field and alert you to recent
research findings that may be pertinent to your research problem.
 The indexes and abstracts in the library reference section: The indexes and abstracts
located in the reference section provide another good jumping-off point for the researcher
who is just beginning a literature review. An index lists articles and research reports in
certain specified areas. An abstract is summary of an article or study- it gives the source
of the original study should the reader wish to refer to it.
 Online searches: Online searches yield very many databases which when combined
include billions of records. Such searches look for keywords that are identified in your
main problem and sub-problems.
 Government Publications- these include policy papers and research reports owned by
governments, some of which are normally sponsored by international agencies.
 Scholarly Journals- they are crucial research documents found in libraries. Many of
them are also found in the web.
 Thesis And Dissertations- all graduates who wish to receive a masters degree or doctor
of philosophy (PhD) undertake original work which they write up as a thesis or
dissertations such manuscripts could prove of great value to the researcher.
 Conference Papers- Papers presented at conference are good sources of literature.
Eventually such papers get published in conferences proceedings or refereed journals.
 References Quoted in Books- the references given at the back of a relevant book may
reveal more relevant sources of books or journal.
 Periodicals- these include journals, magazines or local newspapers which are published
periodically. They are available in all libraries.
 Africana Section- special area in libraries in Africa where any material written by
Africans (Kenyans).

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Trade Project – Lesson 3 - Chapter Two

 The Internet- with access to the Internet, it is very easy to browse the web and get
literature from latest journals, articles, conference papers and policy documents from
various organizations.
The scope of the literature review - knowing when to quit
Many researchers ask themselves these questions:
 How wide or narrow should the LR be?
 When should one stop?
 When do I know that I have completed the review of the literature?
The following are some hints towards determining when to stop:
 If the area of study has been studied for a long time and therefore there is a huge body of
literature, one can read only those studies that are reasonably close to one’s research
topic.
 In new or little researched areas, where little depth is available, a researcher would
require to review any relevant material in order to develop a logical framework and
appropriate hypothesis for the study.
 The researcher should avoid the temptation to include all available materials. Excessive
material does not mean great research info. A smaller well organized review is preferable
to a review containing many studies that are only remotely related to the problem.
 Another indicator to abandon literature review is when you constantly encounter material
already reviewed. Look for repetitive patterns in the material you are finding and reading.
As you read more sources, eventually familiar arguments, methodological and design
findings will start to appear.
Evaluating, organizing and synthesizing the literature review
A good literature review does not just report but also involves evaluation, organization and
synthesis of what other said. The rule is ‘do not just read others work but also critically evaluate
it”- including their methods and conclusions.
In addition to evaluation you must organize the ideas you are encountering during the review.
The sub-problems identified within the researcher’s main problem should in many cases, provide
a general organizational scheme that can be used.

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Finally the researcher must synthesize what he or she has learnt from the review, i.e. one must
pull together the diverse perspectives and research results that one has read into a cohesive
whole. E.g.
 Compare and contrast varying theoretical perspectives on the topic.
 Show how approaches to the topic have changed over time
 Describe general trends in research findings.
 Identify discrepant or contradictory findings, and suggest possible explanations for the
discrepancies.
 Identify general themes that run throughout the literature.
Writing the literature review section
Once a researcher has read, evaluated, organized and synthesized the literature relevant to his or
her research problem, the researcher will then begin writing the section or chapter that describes
his or her literature.
Guidelines to writing a clear and cohesive review
 Get the proper psychological orientation: Be clear in your thinking. Know precisely
what you are attempting to do. The review of the related literature section is a discussion
of the studies, research reports and scholarly writings that bear directly on your own
research effort.
 Emphasize relatedness: Keep your reader constantly aware of how the literature you are
discussing is related to your own problem. Point out precisely what the relationship is
Remember that you are writing a review of the related literature. Literature review should
never be a chain of isolated summaries of writings of others. Make an attempt to show
relatedness. Whenever you cite a study, explain clearly how it is related t your own
research problem. If you cannot identify a relationship-leave it out of your Literature
review.
 Review the literature, do not reproduce it: Part of the Literature review involves
presenting the ideas of others. Therefore give credit to the authors whenever you
reference. There are two method of referencing within text. The statement may be
paraphrased and therefore need not be in quotation marks.

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Trade Project – Lesson 3 - Chapter Two

METHOD 1:
The author’s last name and year of the documents publication are put after a paraphrased
statement in a text. Where the name and the year are put in brackets.
 E.g.1: Among the economic factors that affect satisfaction with quality of life,
income has been found to be positively related in satisfaction with quality of life
(Berry and Williams, 1987).
 E.g. 2: Berry and Williams (1987) found a positive relationship between income
and satisfaction with quality of life.
METHOD 2:
In this method of referencing within the text, numbers representing names of
authors are used.
E.g.: Communication is an important planning tool that enables a household to
realize goals (1, 1987) 1 refers to the number against the particular reference as
listed in the cited references. I987 is the publishing year.
A variation of this method is when the number is put after the statement but not in
brackets. E.g. Demographic factors have been found to be related to quality of
life.1
 Summarize what you have said- ask yourself “what does it all mean?” every discussion of
related literature should end with a brief summary section in which you gather up all that
has been said and describe its importance in terms of the research problem- under a
simple heading “summary”.
Note: This is what will earn you marks in chapter two:

What will be looked at Marks awarded

Relevance of the reviewed literature to the study 3

Adequate literature review 2

Correct and consistent reference methods (citation) 2

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