Critically Reviewing the Literature

Chapter two

09/28/2023 Ali Yassin Sheikh, PhD

 Critically Reviewing the Literature: Outline
• Introduction: Definition, Purpose
• Why Do You Need to Review the Literature for Your Research
Project?
• Sources of Information for Literature Review
• Requirements of Good Literature Review
• 8 Steps for Effective Literature Review
• Literature Review Process
• Chapter Contents of Literature Review
• Tools and Techniques for Literature Review
• What Are the Examiners Looking for?
• Plagiarism Issues
09/28/2023 Ali Yassin Sheikh, PhD
 Introduction: Definition, Purpose
• Introduction:
– reviewing the literature is one of requirements of
scientific research,
– Because the researcher must understand the
issues and facts surrounding the problem at hand.
– In order to understand the problem at hand, the
researcher must read several articles, books etc
that relate to the issue under investigation

09/28/2023 Ali Yassin Sheikh, PhD

 What is LR?
• Definition: literature review is the systemic
identification, location, retrieval (recovery),
analysis, and evaluation of documents containing
information that are related to the research
problem.
• Purpose: it is to help the researcher to
understanding and insight into previous works and
trends that have been recorded pertaining to the
research problem.
(Oso and Onen, 2008)
09/28/2023 Ali Yassin Sheikh, PhD
 What is LR?
 Literature = books, journal articles, electronic journals,
newspapers, magazines, theses and dissertations,
conference proceedings, reports, and documentaries.
 Literature reviews
 a section of the paper.
 a paper in itself.
 What is LR?
 A literature review discusses published information in
a particular subject area, and sometimes information
in a particular subject area within a certain time
period.
 A literature review can be just a simple summary of
the sources, but it usually has an organizational
pattern and combines both summary and
synthesis (re-organizing and managing the information).

09/28/2023 Ali Yassin Sheikh, PhD

 What is LR?
 A summary is a recap of the important
information of the source, but a synthesis is a
re-organization, or a reshuffling, of that
information.
 It might give a new interpretation of old
material or combine new with old
interpretations.

09/28/2023 Ali Yassin Sheikh, PhD

 What is LR?
 Or it might outline the intellectual
progression of the field, including major
debates.
 And depending on the situation, the
literature review may evaluate the
sources and advise the reader on the
most significant or relevant.

09/28/2023 Ali Yassin Sheikh, PhD

 Why Do You Need to Review the Literature for
Your Research Project?

• A review of the literature has the following

functions:
– To justify your choice of research question,
theoretical or conceptual framework, and method;
– To establish the importance of the topic;
– To provide background information needed to
understand the study;

09/28/2023 Ali Yassin Sheikh, PhD

 Why Do You Need to Review the Literature for
Your Research Project? Cont..
• A review of the literature has the following functions:
– To show readers you are familiar with
significant and/or up-to-date research
relevant to the topic;
– To establish your study as one link in a chain
of research that is developing knowledge in
your field.
(Monash University, 2010)

09/28/2023 Ali Yassin Sheikh, PhD

 A Good Literature Review Helps the
Researcher
• Critically Reviewing the Literature helps the
researcher as follows:
– Identify what has already been done that relates
to the research problem
– Identify and recognize those who have already
worked on the problem
– Reveal contributions, weaknesses and gaps to be
filled as a way of contribution

09/28/2023 Ali Yassin Sheikh, PhD

Sources of Information for Literature Review
• Preliminary sources (general sources): these are the references that the researcher
consults first to help him/her locate other sources related to the research problem
– Table of contents
– Abstracts
• Primary sources: these are direct descriptions of an occurrence by an individual
who actually experienced or witnessed the accident. They are publications in
which persons who carried out the research report their findings.
– Journals
– Reports
– Dissertations
– Theses
– Conference papers
• Secondary sources: these refer to publications in which authors describe the works
of others.
– Textbook

09/28/2023 Ali Yassin Sheikh, PhD

 Requirements of Good Literature Review

• Should be relevant: relates to variables raised

in the study.
• Should be analytical instead of narrative
• Appropriate citations and referencing style –
APA style
• Priority and focus
• Never say that your area is so new that no
research exists

09/28/2023 Ali Yassin Sheikh, PhD

 8 Steps for Effective Literature Review
• Borg (1987) provides eight steps for effective
literature review:
1. Defining the research problem
2. Review secondary sources – provides an
introduction to the problem and help define it in
more precise terms
3. Formulate search words
4. Select and skim through the most appropriate
preliminary sources

09/28/2023 Ali Yassin Sheikh, PhD

 8 Steps for Effective Literature Review
5.Search the preliminary sources for the most
relevant primary sources.
6.Read the relevant primary sources in more detail
now, taking notes by use of note cards.
7.Organize the notes.
8. write the report

09/28/2023 Ali Yassin Sheikh, PhD

 Steps for Writing a LR

• Planning
• Reading and Research
• Analyzing
• Drafting
• Revising
 Chapter Contents of Literature Review

• Chapter II – Literature Review: May contain the

following sections:
– Introduction
– Concepts and Definitions of independent variable
– Concepts and Definitions of the dependent variable
– Linkage between IV to DV(Article Review)
– Conceptual framework
– Summary and
– Conclusion
09/28/2023 Ali Yassin Sheikh, PhD
 Tool for Reviewing the Literature
Author, Objective( IV Main Main Limitation
year, topic s) methods results s and
and source future
of the researches
article

09/28/2023 Ali Yassin Sheikh, PhD

 What Are the Examiners Looking for?
• A review of the literature should:
– set up a theoretical framework for your research;
– show your reader that you:
• have a clear understanding of the key concepts/ideas/studies/ models
related to your topic;
• know about the history of your research area and any related controversies;
• can discuss these ideas in a context appropriate for your own investigation;
• can evaluate the work of others;
– clarify important definitions/terminology;
– develop the research space you will also indicate in the Introduction
and Abstract;
– narrow the problem, and make the study feasible.

(Monash University, 2010)

09/28/2023 Ali Yassin Sheikh, PhD

 Plagiarism Issues

• Definition:
– Plagiarism means taking the ideas or words from other writers
without acknowledging them.
– Along with fabricating results, it is considered to be one of the worst
academic sins!
– When you submit your thesis you must be very confident that all
sources are acknowledged; hence the Declaration Statement.
– This is why you must use a method of note taking which allows you
to easily distinguish your own work from that of others.
• Example: The original author wrote:
• "[Microsoft's chairman has explained the] company's strategy
to make Windows the universal client operating system in the
enterprise."
09/28/2023 Ali Yassin Sheikh, PhD
 Plagiarism Issues Cont…
• The student wrote:
– The company's strategy is to make Windows the
universal client operating system in the enterprise by
the Window Open Services Architecture (WOSA)
[Semich, 1992].
– The student has copied word for word from the original
author's article. Although the student acknowledged the
author, he didn't put the passage in quotation marks or
adequately paraphrase the original wording. This is still
not acceptable, and may be considered plagiarism.

(Monash University, 2010)

09/28/2023 Ali Yassin Sheikh, PhD

 Plagiarism Issues Cont…
• Park (2003) lists four common forms of plagiarism,
which are commonly found in universities:
– Stealing material from another and passing it off as your
own.
– Submitting a paper written by someone else and passing it
off as your own.
– Copying section of material from one or more source texts,
supplying proper documentation but leaving out quotation
marks, thus giving the impression that the material has
been paraphrased rather than directly quoted.
– Paraphrasing material from one or more source texts
without supplying appropriate documentation.
(see Saunders et al., 2009, p.97-8)
09/28/2023 Ali Yassin Sheikh, PhD
 Discussion – Literature Review

Q&A

09/28/2023 Ali Yassin Sheikh, PhD