T h e C r i t i c a l L i t e ra t u r e

Review
e rs ity – B u s ine s s A d m inistration
Karabuk Un iv
hniques
Scientific Research Tec
c h M e tho d s F or Bu sine ss (Chapter 4)
Resear

AHMADI
Student Name: Munibullah
13
Student Number: 20282470
TABLE OF CONTENT
• Introduction
• The Functions of Critical Literature Review
• How to Approach the Literature Review
• Searching For Literature
• Evaluating the Literature
• Documenting the Literature Review
• Ethical Issues
• Common Forms of Plagiarism
• 9 Steps For Writing a Literature Review
• Conclusion
Introduction
• This figure illustrates that the next step is the critical
literature review.

• To generate viable alternatives for effective decision

making you have to become an expert on your topic.

• Critical literature review is the selection of

available documents on the topics

• Contain information, ideas and evidence written

from a standpoint to fulfill certain aims.
A literature review ensures that:
• The research effort is positioned relative to
existing knowledge and builds on this knowledge.
• Look at a problem from a specific angel; it shapes
your thinking and sparks useful insight on the
topic.
• Do not run the risk of “reinventing the wheel”,
that is, wasting effort on trying to rediscover
something that is already known.
• Introduce relevant terminology and define key terms
used in your writing.
• You obtain useful insights of the research methods that
others have used to provide an answer to similar
questions. Knowing the research methods used by
others help you replicate existing research – relate your
findings with other’s findings.
• The effort can be contextualized in a wider academic
debate. It allows you to relate your findings to the
findings of others.
 The Function of Critical Literature Review
Descriptive
• Ex: describe how a major player in the
pharmaceutical industry delivers
valuable products to the market.
• The review should help come up with a
comprehensive overview of the relevant
perspectives on value, a guiding
definition of value on frameworks,
instruments, and analytical tools that
can describe how the organization can
create value.
Inductive and
exploratory
• Ex: develop a theoretical background of
the literature pertinent to the specific
topic of study.
• Research findings, methodological issues,
and conclusions of earlier works are put
forward, the continuity between earlier
and more recent works are clarified, and
controversial issues are addressed.
• Despite the earlier findings, exploratory
research is needed.
Deductive
• This study helped to obtain a clear idea
as to what variables will be important to
consider in theoretical framework, why
they are considered important, how they
are related to each other, and how they
should be measured to solve the
problem.
• The review also helped to provide
arguments for the relationships between
the variables and to develop hypotheses.
How To Approach The Literature Review

Data Sources:

• The quality of a literature review depends on cautious

selection and reading of books, journals, reports,
theses, conference proceedings, unpublished
manuscripts…

• Academic books and journals are the most useful

sources

• Professional journals, reports and newspapers can

provide you specific, real world information on
markets, industries or companies.
Searching for Literature
• With modern technology, locating sources where • Electronic journals, full-text databases,
the topics of interest have been published has bibliographic databases, abstract databases.
become easier.

• Almost every library has a computer online system.

• Advantages: saving time, comprehensive in their
listing and review of references, gaining access is
inexpensive.

• Most libraries have the following electronic

resources at their disposals:
Evaluating the Literature
• Because the Search for literature can provide
various amount of results, you have to be
careful on selecting books and articles.
• The titles will help which of them may be
pertinent and which others are peripheral.
• The abstract provides an overview of the
study purpose, general research strategy,
findings and conclusion.
• An articles introduction also provides an
overview of the problem addressed by the
research and specific research objectives.
• A good literature review should include
references to the key studies in the field –
articles and books that are often cited by
others must be included in your literature
review.
To asses the quality of recent research you could ask the following questions:

• Is the main research question presented in a clear and analytical way?

• Is the relevance of the question made transparent?
• Does this study build directly upon previous research?
• Will the study make a contribution to the field?
• Is there a theory that guides the research?
• Is the theory relevant, understandable, structured and convincing?
• Are the methods used in the study explained clearly and are they convincing?
• Is the sample appropriate?
And few other questions…
Documenting the Literature Review
• Documenting the literature review is important to convince the reader that the research is knowledgeable
about the problem area.

• A literature review is intended to synthesize – and not necessarily summarize – relevant research on your
topic.
There are several methods of citing references:
The Publication Manual of the American Psychologist Association (2012) offers information on citations,
quotations, references…and is one of the accepted styles of referencing.
Other formats include The Chicago Manual of Style (2010) and Turabian’s Manual for Writers (2013).
Ethical Issues

• Research involves building on the work of others.

• There are two important pitfalls to be aware of when summarizing, adding to, or challenge the
work of others:
1- Purposely misrepresenting the work of other authors
2- Plagiarism – the use of another’s original words, arguments or ideas as though they were your
own, even if this is done out of carelessness or ignorance.
The other two reasons to take plagiarism very seriously are provided by Ijzermans and Van
Schaaijk (2007). They point out that:

1. Plagiarism makes it difficult for the reader to

verify whether your claims about other authors
and sources are accurate.
2. You are participating in a scientific debate. You
need to make your position in this debate clear by
designating the authors whose work you are
building on or whose ideas you are challenging.
Common Forms Of Plagiarism – Sources not cited
1. “The Ghost Writer” – the writer turn in another’s
work, as his or her own.
2. “The Photocopy” – the writer copies significant
portions of text straight from a single source, without
alteration.
3. “The Potluck Paper” – the writer tries to disguise
plagiarism by copying from several different sources,
tweaking the sentences to make them fit together
while retaining most of the original phrasing.
4. “The Poor Disguise” – although the writer has retained
the essential content of the resource, he or she altered the
paper’s appearance slightly by changing the key words.
5. “The Labor of Laziness” – the writer takes time to
paraphrase most of the paper from other sources and
make it fit all together, instead of spending the same
effort on original work.
6. “The Self-Stealer” – the writer “borrows” generously
from his/her previous work, violating policies concerning
the expectation of originality.
Sources cited (but still plagiarized)
1. “The Forgotten Footnote” – the writer mentions an
author’s name for a source, but neglects to include
specific information on the location of the material
referenced.
2. “The Misinformer” – the writer provides inaccurate
information regarding the sources, making it
impossible to find them.
3. “The Too-Perfect Paraphrase” – the writer properly
cited the source, but neglects to put quotation marks
text that has been copied word-to-word or close it.
4. “The Resourceful Citer” – the writer properly cites all
sources, paraphrasing and using quotations
appropriately. But the paper contains almost no original
work. It is sometimes difficult to spot this form of
plagiarism because it looks like any other well-
researched document.
5. “The Perfect Crime” – the writer properly quotes and
cites sources in some places, but goes on to paraphrase
other arguments from those sources without citation.
This way, writer tries to pass of the paraphrased
material as his/her own analysis of the cited material.
Conclusion

• A critical view of literature will spark many useful

insights on your research topic, it will allow you to
• Ethical issues: purposely misrepresenting the
work of others; and plagiarism – the use of
work in an expert manner, to make informed decisions,
and to benefit from existing knowledge.
another’s original words, arguments or ideas
as though they are your own.
• The first step of a literature review involves the
identification of material on the topic, searching for
material in the area of interest, selecting relevant
material.

• The relevance of issues, the importance of citation, the

year of publication, and overall quality.
9 Steps For Writing A Literature Review

1. Find a working topic. 6. Develop a working thesis.

2. Review the literature. 7. Organize your own paper based on the
3. Focus on your topic narrowly and select findings from steps 4 & 5.
papers accordingly. 8. Write the body of the paper.
4. Read the selected articles thoroughly and
9. Look at what you have written; focus on
evaluate them.
analysis, not descriptions.
5. Organize the selected papers by looking for
patterns and by developing subtopics.
 THE END
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