Literature Review

Ewnetu Firdawek

Friday, January 5, 2024 1

 Outline
• Introduction
• Definition
• Purpose of Literature Review
• Sources of Literature Review
• What to Review ?
• Referencing and Citation

Friday, January 5, 2024 2

 Introduction
• To conduct research regarding a topic, by implication,
means that the researcher has obtained sound
knowledge with regard to the research topic.

• It is therefore imperative that the researcher, clearly

indicates what theoretical knowledge he possesses
about the prospective research while completing the
proposal.

• Therefore, it is mandatory to accomplish a thorough

literature review before undertaking an investigation.
Friday, January 5, 2024 3
 Introduction
• However, the question remains: Why Review?

• There are various reasons and purposes why a

literature review is very essential and an integral part
of a research process.

• The first and foremost reason is that researchers

personal experiences are limited compared with
cumulative scientific knowledge.

Friday, January 5, 2024 4

 Introduction

• Therefore, Literature Review can provide the

researcher about what has been said on the subject we
are interested and how it has been done.

• Research conducted after extensive review of the

literature is more likely to built on previous studies
and contribute toward the further development of
scientific knowledge.

Friday, January 5, 2024 5

 Definition:
“…..is the foundation upon which all future works will be build.
If we fail to build the foundation of the knowledge, provided by
the review of literature, our work is likely to be shallow and
naive and will often duplicate work that has been done better
by someone else.” (W.R. Borg)

Friday, January 5, 2024 6

 Purpose of Reviewing Literatures
• Helps to understand the subject matter further
• By then, Helps to refine “Statement of the problem”
• Helps to focus the areas to be studied (some might
answered)
• Helps to find out what others have learned and
concluded about the topic (Up-to-date information)
• Helps to appropriately select the research designs and
procedures
• Makes familiar with various research designs that
might be used
Friday, January 5, 2024 7
 …..Purpose
• Provides comparative data and findings useful in the
interpretation of our findings
• Helps to identify any relevant theories on the topic of
our interest
• Helps to identify relevant variables that should be
considered
• Helps to raise research areas or to draw hypothesis
• Provides insights on the strong points and limitations
of previous studies
• Prevents from duplication
Friday, January 5, 2024 8
 Sources of Literature Review
• Various resources can be consulted for review of
literature, the major sources are
– Books
– journals, including professional journals, published news
(letter, magazines and news papers)
– Thesis, including doctoral and master’s thesis
– Unpublished works including monographs, technical
reports, grant proposals, conference papers, personal
manuscripts, and other unpublished materials

Friday, January 5, 2024 9

 ….. Sources
• However, currently access to gain health system
researches has improved through retrieval of post
research works on national, institutional and
international data base systems.

• Hence, computer (Web)-based abstracting and

indexing services have given us wide chances to
explore the areas of our interest with different level
of access.
(Open for Subscribers, Associate Members, Free)
Friday, January 5, 2024 10
 …..Sources
• Some national and international websites that provide different publications
– http://hinari-gw.who.int/
– www.eric.ed.gov/
– www.measuredhs.com/
– www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/
– www.jsi.com/JSIInternet/publication
– www.idrc.ca/en/
– www.meline.com
– www.etharc.org
– www.etd.aau.edu.et/dspace/
– www.unaids.org/en/
– www.who.org
– www.globalforumhealth.org
– www.epha.org.et

Friday, January 5, 2024 11

 …..Sources
• Search
– We can simply write our topic of interest on
Google search bar and can run search
• Your title should be very specific
• Give focus to the core area
• As the number of words increase search results become
to vast and out of our focus (1-3 words)
– Alternatively, we can write down the addresses
that we want to visit on our internet search bar and
run the search
Friday, January 5, 2024 12
 …..Sources
• More advanced

– Write-down the title of the publication, the author and year

of publication if you have detail information on the article ,
journal, book, abstract or any other sort of publication
interested to refer

– The detail of such informations can be gathered from

publications reference.

Friday, January 5, 2024 13

 What to review ?
• Obviously, as a beginner researcher we might not
know what points to review and what points are
important for our study.

• After having copies or electronic articles, the

reviewer will have an opportunity to judge which
articles are going to reviewed and will use some
inclusion and exclusion criteria.

Friday, January 5, 2024 14

 …...What to review?
• Exclusion criteria
– Wrong subject matter :- title and abstract may not fully
reflect the contents of the paper
– Flawed designs:- too small sample size, inappropriate
comparison groups, poorly chosen samples, validity of
questionnaire and method chosen
– Flawed Analysis:- No description about statistical
procedures, statistical tests unsuitable for the data,
inconsistent results

Friday, January 5, 2024 15

 Synthesizing Research Publications
• Reviewing Literature has two phases

1. Identifying all relevant publications in the

problem area and reading thoroughly to have a
broader understanding on the subject matter and
develop foundation of ideas and results on which
our study will be built on.
2. Writing this foundation of ideas in to sections.

Friday, January 5, 2024 16

 …...What to review?
• Synthesizing research publications starts by
– categorizing a series of related studies
– Analyzing and interpreting their findings
– Summarizing their findings in to unified
statements about the topic being reviewed.

Friday, January 5, 2024 17

 …...What to review?
• For example, in a discussion of research related to
student self-efficacy, the literature review may include
• Smithers, Rogers, and Molpus (2000) offered
graduate students in their programs APA workshops
each year and found that students who attended these
workshops felt more secure in their writing and
tended to write more proficiently. Additionally, a 2006
study showed similar results in graduate nursing
students who attended an APA style training at their
state conference (Knowles & Drury, 2006).
 …...What to review?
• A more synthesized style of writing would
report these two studies in the following
fashion
• Students who attended training in the use of
APA style reported higher levels of security
and self-efficacy related to their graduate
writing style (Knowles & Drury, 2006;
Smithers, Rogers, & Molpus, 2000).
 …...What to review?
• Try to review ……. Example
– The problem and its significance
– Any technical and methodological issues related to the topic
– Highlight of previous findings
– Unresolved controversies
– New development of issues related to the topic
– Research questions or hypothesis related to the topic
– Designs, sampling methods, sample characters, variables, any models or
theories and statistics used
– Findings of the study.. Prevalence of the outcome variable, significant
variables as predictor or with association
– Practical implications of the findings
– Any limitations of the study (Limitations Vs Problems faced ?? )
Friday, January 5, 2024 20
 Referencing….. Citation
• After having taken a certain note from a publication,
we are obliged to refer or cite the author of that
statement.

• Statements that are not solely our own has to be

followed by references.

• We might use different type of referencing based on

the protocol of the institution we are working or the
journal we want to publish.
Friday, January 5, 2024 21
 Referencing….. Citation
• In our setup, we usually use two types of citation
methods

– Harvard System

– Vancouver System

Friday, January 5, 2024 22

 Citation….Vancouver System
For an article..
Author(s)’ Surname followed by initials. Title of article. Name of
Journal. Year, Volume, (number): page numbers of article.

Louria DB. Emerging- and re-emerging infections: The societal

variables. International Journal of Infectious Disease. 1996,
1(2):59-62.

For a book…
Author(s)’ Surname followed by initials. Title of book. Place:
Publisher, year, Edition

Abramson JH. Survey methods in community medicine. Edinburgh:

Churchill Livingstone, 1990, 4th ed.
Friday, January 5, 2024 23
 Citation….Vancouver System
For chapters in a book
Author(s) of chapter (Surname(s) followed by initials).
Chapter title. In: Editor(s) of book, (Surname(s) followed
by initials). (eds). Title of book. Place: Publisher, year:
page numbers of chapter.

Todd J and Barongo L. Epidemiological methods. In:

Ng’weshemi J, Boerma T, Bennett J and Schapink D (eds).
HIV prevention and AIDS care in Africa; A district level
approach. Amsterdam: KIT Press, 1997: 51-68.

Friday, January 5, 2024 24

 Citation…Harvard System
• For an article…
– Author(s)’ Surname followed by initials. Year, Volume,
(number): Title of article. Name of Journal. page
numbers of article.
• For a book….
Author(s)’ Surname followed by initials. Year, Edition.
Title of book. Place: Publisher.

Abramson JH. (1990) 4th ed. Survey methods in

community medicine. Edinburgh: Churchill
Livingstone.
Friday, January 5, 2024 25
 …..Referencing
• Similar to the retrieval, computers make citation and
referencing more simpler.

• There are different software that we can use for referencing

and citation, common ones
– Zootero (http://www.zotero.org)

– End note(http://www.endnote.com)

Friday, January 5, 2024 26

 Plagiarism

• Plagiarism-is the presentation of another's ideas as if

they were your own
• In research writing, using another author's words, ideas,
or even ways of organizing a topic without properly
crediting the original work constitutes plagiarism
• It is critical, as a developing scholarly writer, for you to
find your own way of synthesizing and preserving
material found in existing literature
Any comment or questions?