Lesson Presentation/Discussion

Lesson 1: The Criteria in Selecting, Citing, and Synthesizing Related Literature

Lesson 2: Ethical Standards in Writing Related Literature

I. The Criteria in Selecting, Citing, and Synthesizing Related Literature

Terminologies

Citations -a line or short section taken from a piece of writing or a speech

Corroborates - to support or help prove (a statement, theory, etc.) by providing information or
evidence.
Hypothesis - an idea or theory that is not proven but that leads to further study or discussion
Plagiarism - the act of using another person's words or ideas without giving credit to that
person.

Related Literature
A review of related literature is the process of reading, collecting, and selecting books,
journals, encyclopedias, magazines, and newspapers to be included among the facts and
principles that are related to the study. In reviewing related literature, you should look for the
major concepts, conclusions, theories, and arguments that underlie the work. This is difficult
when you first start reading but should become easier the more you read about the topic.
You should start reviewing related literature as early as the conceptualization of the
research project. In this manner, you would already be guided from the start on the definition of
the research problem by noting te key variables specified in the objectives of the study. The
theories that are needed to explain the research problem and used as a basis for analyzing
relationships between variables can be generated from the review of related literature.
Read with a purpose: you need to summarize the work you read but you must also
decide which ideas or information are important to your research (so you can emphasize them),
and which are less important and can be covered briefly or left out of your review.
In doing this, it is advised that the researcher should have a list of the search terms or
keywords, or phrases coming from the title and the hypothesis so that unrelated literature may
not be included. The study on job satisfaction and job performance as earlier mentioned would
have "job satisfaction" and "job performance" as key terms.
The format of a review of literature may vary from one institution to another and from
discipline to discipline. In presenting the review of literature, it is important that you present the
concepts or principles in such a way that there is continuity as if you are recounting what the
different authors said continuously. You might start by saying that "Mendoza (2011) defines.." for
the next paragraph, you might continue with "On the other hand (Cruz, 2006) included ... The
third paragraph would continue with "Reyes (2007) corroborates Cruz's idea emphasizing that..."
you can continue using several phrases indicating continuity of the concepts and ideas of the
different authors until you reach the last author by saying: "Finally...was emphasized by Ada
(2008) with a very clear presentation of .." you may use your creativity in presenting the related
 literature but be careful not to violate the basic rule in Research Writing which is the use of
friendly and simple terms.

Related Studies
This part of the research is composed of studies, inquiries, and investigations already
conducted to which your study is related. These are usually taken from the theses and
dissertations which are generally unpublished. This is done to ldentify related research and to
set the current project within a conceptual and theoretical context.
The review of related studies should be done at the beginning of the conceptualization
of the research project. In this manner, you would be aided in determining the variables to be
included, the direction of the study, and to determine whether there is still a need to conduct
the research along that line.
You should organize your related studies using time and author as the organizing system.
You may use the time to arrange your reviewed studies chronologically if developments over
time as crucial to explain the context of your research problem. Present and organize the related
studies alphabetically by author name if you intend to show the relationships between the work
of different researchers and your work by looking for similarities and differences.
In presenting related studies, as in the related literature, do it in such a manner that you
are recounting the findings and concepts with continuity. Look for major concepts, conclusions,
theories, arguments, etc., that underlie the work, and look for similarities and differences with
closely related studies and your study.
Terms like agrees, substantiates, upholds, corroborates, backs up, supports, confirms,
emphasizes, nevertheless, similarly, on the other hand, however, refute, contests, contradicts,
validates, further, insists, stresses, underlines, highlights, underscores, and many more may be
used to established continuity and emphasize the similarities and differences.
While reviewing the related studies, you should not forget to take note of the
bibliographical data which include the author, title, date of publication, name of publication, and
the pages of the article. You will need these later for inclusion in Bibliography. Then, look for the
key points to be used in your full review: the problem, the objectives, the hypothesis, the major
findings, and the conclusions of the study. Remember .0u are not doing a review of related
literature and studies to show what other authors and researchers Have done. You are doing it
for the reasons already indicated above. Make sure that your references are the most recent for
both literature and studies. As a rule, there should be no citations of more than ten years ago.

II. Ethical Standards in Writing Related Literature

As mentioned in the previous lessons, ethics should be applied in all stages of research
from the planning to the gathering of data, to the analysis and interpretation, and in the
evaluation (oral examination) of the research. Ethics should therefore be applied even in
writing related literature and studies.

To ensure this, researchers must strictly observe the following:

1. To report their findings with complete honesty;

2. Not to misrepresent, misinform, mislead and/or intentionally misinterpret;

3. Give appropriate credit when using other people's work; and

4. Avoid plagiarism by fully acknowledging all content belonging to others.

What is plagiarism? You need to be very careful that you do not claim someone else's
work as your own. Do not "cut and paste" others' work to form ideas. This is unfortunately
getting easier with the use of electronic databases and information on the web. Do not be
tempted to simply cut the paragraphs (or more) out of other documents. If you do, make
sure you appropriately cite this material. Plagiarism can fail the subject or failure in the class.
Therefore, you need to be very careful when using material from others to ensure that it is
adequately referenced.

Conclusion/Summary
- These topics will help you develop your expertise in using related literature and studies to
improve the research paper while at the same time considering ethical standards in the use of
such related literature and studies.

Activity 1:
In two paragraphs, choose and define the research design and research approach. Be sure
that there is a reference and explanation of why such design and approach are used