chapter 2

is the process of collecting, selecting, and reading books, journals, reports, abstracts, and other reference materials.

Background information about the problem and related concepts.

Theories that explain the existence of the problem and the possible connection between certain factors and the problem.

Data that confirms the existence and seriousness of the problem.

General and specific findings of studies related to the problem.

Recommendations for further study given in related studies.

It helps the researcher identify and define a research problem

It helps justify the need for studying a problem.

It prevents unnecessary duplication of a study.

It can be a source of a theoretical basis for the study

It enables the researcher to learn how to conceptualize a research problem and properly identify and operationally define study variables.

It helps formulate and refine research instruments.

It provides lesson for data analysis and interpretation

what materials need to be reviewed

Examples are indexes, reviews and abstracts

Examples are researches found on published journals.

Publications where authors cite the works of others.

Examples are books, encyclopedias.

are good references for overview of the problem.

A literature review is a piece of ______, not a list describing or summarizing one piece of literature after another. It's usually a bad sign to see every paragraph beginning with the name of a researcher.

It defines technical terms based on how they are used in the study, specifically in the title.

This aims to provide the readers or future researches with the basic terminologies that are important to understand the paper.

consists of concepts and together with their definitions and reference to relevant scholarly literature, existing theory twhat is used for your particular study

must demonstrate an understanding of theories and concepts that are relevant to the topic of your research paper and that relate to the broader areas of knowledge being considered

is most often not something readily found within the literature.

You must review course readings and pertinent research studies for theories and analytic models that are relevant to the research problem you are investigating.

The selection of a theory should depend on its appropriateness, ease of application, and explanatory power

Douglas McGregor's Theory of X and Y

discusses published information in a particular subject area, and sometimes information in a particular subject area within a certain time period

provide a handy guide to a particular topic.

If you have limited time to conduct research, literature reviews can give you an overview or act as a stepping stone.

can be just a simple summary of the sources, but it usually has an organizational pattern and combines both summary and synthesis.

A summary is a recap of the important information of the source, but a synthesis is a reorganization, or a reshuffling, of that information.

It might give a new interpretation of old material or combine new with old interpretations.

represents the researcher’s synthesis of literature on how to explain a phenomenon.

It maps out the actions required in the course of the study given his previous knowledge of other researchers’ point of view and his observations on the subject of research.

is the researcher’s understanding of how the particular variables in his study connect with each other.

To show your reader you've done proper research by listing sources you used to get your information.

To be a responsible scholar by giving credit to other researchers and acknowledging their ideas.

To avoid plagiarism by quoting words and ideas used by other authors.

To allow your reader to track down the sources you used by citing them accurately in your paper by way of footnotes, a bibliography or reference list.