Researchers almost never conduct a study in an intellectual vacuum: their studies are undertaken within the context of an already existing knowledge base.
2. Contents
Definition of literature review
Benefits/Purposes of literature review
Types scholarly literature and literature review
Do’s and don’t Do’s in literature review
In-text citation, Referencing styles and
plagiarism
3. Researchers almost never conduct a study in an
intellectual vacuum: their studies are undertaken
within the context of an already existing
knowledge base.
Researchers generally undertake a literature
review to familiarise themselves with that
knowledge base.
4. Definition of Literature (Review)
Literature is an area not necessarily identical with, but collateral to, one’s
own area of study.
Literature review is a broad, comprehensive, in-depth, systematic, and
critical review of scholarly publications, unpublished scholarly materials,
and scholarly personal communications on a particular research topic.
It is presentation of the current state of knowledge on a topic, which is
designed to highlight past research findings and to pave the way for the
present study.
It is where you get together the scholars in different places to the same and
discuss with them to learn from them. But it is not a simple list of article
summaries (he said this, she said that, they said another thing) ; you
should rather structure the discussion, the themes, the headings.
Scholarly literature is available in the form of published and unpublished
literature. This includes:
Books, journal articles, internet materials, newspapers, magazines,
theses/dissertations, conference proceedings, reports, personal
communications and documentaries.
6. Benefits and purposes of a scholarly review
Alerts you about what has already been researched so
that you do not waste time doing it again (Research
gap).
Provides new ideas that you can use in your own
research.
Helps you identify problems or flows in existing
research.
Enables you to place your research in a larger
context, so that you can show what new conclusions
might result from your research.
Introduces us to significant research personalities
7. Benefits cont...
Enables you to have a good idea of the
methodology that has been used to investigate
the concepts that you are investigating now.
This could include:
Insight about the indicators of the concept you are
studying
Research design and sampling design
Instruments to collect data
Methods to present and analyze data
Much more important in the discussion part of
your research: are findings confirming or
refuting it?
8. Provides background to the research (theory, practice,
methodology, previous findings, rationale for the current
study.
Identifies gaps/weaknesses/consistencies/inconsistencies in
conducted studies (subject, concept/problem, designs,
methods. Thus,
justifies a need for a new investigation and demonstrates
the relevance of the research
generates research questions for the study.
Helps to ground on theory so as to discuss the results/
findings of your study.
Benefits cont...
9. Cont…
Compare, contrast, criticize, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate the
major theories and empirical works in the field.
Show the reader that you have examined and interpreted the
available literature from a critical viewpoint.
It should enable you to sharpen and focus your initial research
questions or even suggest new research questions.
It should provide you with a wide and deep knowledge of the
theoretical, empirical and methodological issues within your
chosen research topic.
It should enable you to speak with authority on your research
topic and the wider subject area.
It should enable you to compare your research methods,
theoretical framework and findings with work already done.
It should enable you to set the scope and range of your research
topic.
10. Types Literature and Literature Review
Types of Literature: Theoretical Vs Empirical
Types of Literature Review: Depending on the purpose
of the research, three types of literature review can be
undertaken. However, they are not mutually exclusive
and can often be mixed together.
These are:
Evaluative Literature Review
Exploratory Literature Review
Instrumental Literature Review
In the case of academic research, Exploratory
Literature Review is the most common one.
11. Types cont...
1. Evaluative Literature Review
This type of literature review focuses on providing a
discussion of the literature in terms of its coverage and
contribution to knowledge in a particular subject area.
An apt example of this type of review is meta-analysis
which provides a comprehensive commentary on a very
large number of research projects focused on a specific
topic.
It is often used to directly compare research findings
from these projects when the findings are directly
comparable; for example, in measuring reliability
coefficients, regression coefficients, and also artificial
constructs defined in the same way but applied in different
projects.
12. Types cont...
2. Exploratory Review
This is a literature review which is seeking to find out what
actually exists in the academic literature in terms of
theory, empirical evidence and research methods as they
pertain to a specific research topic and its related wider
subject area.
It is also used to sharpen, focus and identify research
questions that remain unanswered in the specific topic.
The review should be seen as being informative to the
researcher and providing him/her with clearer ideas on the
common theories, methods and findings existing in the
topic.
13. Types cont...
3. Instrumental Literature
This is where the literature is used exclusively as a source of
information on how to conduct some research on a highly
specific research problem.
It is not designed to identify the state of current knowledge
in an area but to identify the best way to carry out a
research project without reinventing the wheel and without
incurring unnecessary and avoidable costs.
This is the type of review which would be typically done in-
house by company employees who are tasked to solve an
urgent or unexpected business problem.
14. Sources of Literature
What type of literature do I review?
There are many sources of literature including:
Journals and journal articles,
Books (incl. monographs, chapters in anthologies),
Reports (e.g. government and corporate reports and
documents),
Theses and dissertations,
Unpublished manuscripts, working papers, conference
proceedings (cutting-edge research by top scholars)
Electronic materials (e.g websites, ebook, ejournals, etc).
15. Textbooks (and lecture notes) are usually not acceptable.
They are for teaching purposes, not for research. If a
concept is mentioned in a textbook you can be sure it is
based on an important original work.
Wikipedia and other open-source texts: Their
authoritativeness is in doubt due to many authors and lack
of information on their methodology.
Newspaper articles and magazines
o Unless a news item or opinion piece on a contemporary
topic adds something to the scholarly debate, which is
not very common.
o Newspaper articles have a certain angle, are time-bound,
and have not been peer-reviewed. So if you use them,
think carefully about why it’s justified.
Which sources to avoid?
16. Which sources to use?
Recommended in scientific research are: Journal articles
(scholarly articles), conference proceedings, books and
chapters in anthologies, thesis/dissertation
Be sure to include plenty of peer-reviewed sources
(usually journal articles, but also books from reliable
publishing houses).
Why these are good sources?
They provide up-to-date information, and they offer a
relatively concise information for research.
Journal articles keeps the authors on their toes, checking
that their arguments are valid, that their methodology is
sound because they are peer reviewed.
Can limit the discussion in a field (because of word limits),
but is still a well-accepted practice.
17. 17
Cont…
Scholarly Journals have the following characteristics:
Peer reviewed by scholars in the field. Thus, have a sober
and serious look.
Scholarly journals always cite their sources in the form of
footnotes or bibliographies.
Articles are written by a scholar in the field or by someone
who has done research in the field.
Often present empirical data to test hypotheses or answer
research questions.
The language of scholarly journals is that of the discipline.
It assumes some scholarly background on the part of the
reader.
18. Cont…
Books: remember that books tend to be less up-to-date, as
it takes longer for a book to be published than for a journal
article.
They are still likely to be useful for including in your
literature review as they offer a good starting point by
providing you some theories.
Conference proceedings: these can be useful in providing
the latest research, or research that has not been published.
They are also helpful in providing information about people
in different research areas, and so can be helpful in tracking
down other work by the same researchers.
Government/corporate reports: Many government
departments and corporations carry out research. Their
published findings can provide a useful source of
information.
19. Cont…
Theses and dissertations: these can be useful sources of
information. However there are disadvantages:
they can be difficult to obtain since they are not published,
but are generally only available from the library or
interlibrary systems
the student who carried out the research may not be an
experienced researcher and therefore you might have to
treat their findings with more caution than published
research.
Internet: the fastest-growing source of information is on the
Internet.
Bear in mind that anyone can post information on the Internet so
the quality may not be reliable
The information you find may be intended for a general audience
and so not be suitable for inclusion in your literature review
(information for a general audience is usually less detailed)
20. Points to consider in choosing a material
Assess a piece of research work on the following basis:
Provenance: What are the author's credentials? Are the
author's arguments supported by evidence (e.g. primary
historical material, case studies, narratives, statistics, recent
scientific findings)?
Objectivity: Is the author's perspective even-handed or
prejudicial? Is contrary data considered or is certain
pertinent information ignored to prove the author's point?
Persuasiveness: is the author's thesis convincing?
Value: Does the work ultimately contribute in any
significant way to an understanding of the subject of my
research?
21. Things to Remember
1. Getting the proper psychological orientation
2. Organizing your points- (broad specific/Global
local) – Inverted Pyramid
3. Emphase relatedness:
Assisted by the use of headings & subheadings
Prevailing and current theories
Major findings in the area
Major controversies (if any)
Description of the types of studies which can
provide the basis for current theories and
controversies
Criticism of the work in the area
22. Cont...
When reviewing try to link between different studies
1) For agreements:
• Similarly, A points to…
• B concurs that…
• C also makes this point…
• In addition, it is noted that D agrees with E…
2) Disagreements
• A disagrees with B…
• On the other hand, C argues that…
• Conversely, D argues…
• However, what E suggests…
22
24. Rules of thumb
Focus on the leading authorities(seminal
works) in the area.
Focus on recent studies from high-
prestige or high-visibility sources.
Focus on studies that are most relevant
and helpful for your question of interest.
24
25. Avoid the following common errors
Poor structure, haphazard approach and poor logical flow
Lack of focus on most important key concepts of the study
Including unrelated/irrelevant literature to the study
Relying on only few references
Using outdated/old reference materials
Copy and paste without translation (plagiarism)
Reads like a series of disjointed summaries
Mere presentation/description without argument/critiques
Heavy reliance on online materials
Excessive reliance on grey literature (unpublished materials
that are not widely accessible)
Excessive reliance on cited in materials (refer to original
sources unless impossible)
26. Plagiarism
Forms of plagiarism
1. Submitting material written by other person
2. Copying material without quotation marks
3. Paraphrasing material without documentation
Now a days many Universities in the world use
Turnitin (a software) to check for plagiarism in
the thesis process.
27. Citation Focus (Parenthetical)
a. Information Prominent:
Author’s name(s), date of
publication, pages parenthetically
attached at the end of the sentence
b. Author Prominent:
Author’s name(s), date of
publication, pages parenthetically
come first
28. Ways of Citations
1. Author Prominent
1.1 Author Prominent and only one source:
• Reed (1997:25) described as…. Or Reed (1975, 25) described as….
• Reed (1997) stated that…..
1.2 Author Prominent with two source:
• Reed (1996) and Pollert (1997) stated that……
1.3 Author prominent with more than two sources:
• Reed (1996), Poller (1997) and Vehlming (1999) stated that....
2. Information Prominent and one source:
• (Reed 1996:25) or (Reed, 1996:25) ; (Reed 1996) or (Reed, 1996)
When we use more than one sources
(Reed, 1996; Pollert, 1997; Vehlming, 1999) or (Reed 1996; Pollert
1997; Vehlming 1999)
When more than two authors:
(Cook et al 2006) or (Cook and others 2006)
29. Making the Reference List
(An example)
Journals:
Reed, M. (1997). In praise of duality and dualism: rethinking agency and structure in
organizational analysis, Organization Studies, 18 (1), 21–42.
Pollert, A. (1996). Gender and class revisited; or, the poverty of patriarchy, Sociology, 30(4),
639–659.
Books
Fisher, C.M. (1998). Resource Allocation in the Public Sector: Values, Priorities and Markets in the
Management of Public Services, London: Routledge.
Cook, T. D., W. R. Shadish, and V. C. Wong (2006). Within Study Comparisons of Experiments and Non-
Experiments: Can they help decide on Evaluation Policy: Northwestern University.
Reports
MoFED (2002). Ethiopia: Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction Program, Ministry of Finance and
Economic Development (MoFED), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Conference papers
Tamrat, I. (2010). Governance of Large Scale Agricultural Investment in Africa: The Case of Ethiopia. A Paper
Presented at the World Bank Conference on Land Policy Administration. April 26-27, Washington DC.
Electronic materials
Access Capital (2010). Ethiopian Macroeconomic Handbook. Retrieved from:
http://www.accesscapitalsc.com/downloads/The-Ethiopia-Macroeconomic- Handbook-2010.pdf.
Accessed on 27 July 2011.
