
- it is an account of what has been on a research area
- it evaluates the report of the information found in the literature related to one's particular area of study.
- it appears as a chapter in an academic report and also, certain references to the literature can be found in various places such as introduction and other parts of the report.
- it is not just a listing of information available
- it should describe, summarize, evaluate the studies reviewed.
- it should give theoretical base of the research
- it should help ascertain the nature/scope of the research
- the citation must be in standard format (book title, journal, publisher and year)
- the literatures takern must be the ones written withe last five years, so as to be up to date with recent findings in that area of study.
- there are three ways in writing literature review (summarizing, paraphrasing and original quotation)
| Good learning | Bad (not learning) |
| 1. Provide a context for the research 2. Justifies the research 3. Will illustrate how the subject has been studied previously 4. Outlines gaps in previous researches 5. Shows the researchers understanding of the topic being studied. | 1. When there is no provided context 2. When the research is not justified 3. When there is no illustration of how the subject has beein studied previoulsy 4. When there is no understanding of the topic been studied |
- good bibliography
- maintain a list of reference
- organize reading materials and make notes
- write individual sections according to themes
- integrate all the sections
- the great challange of literature review is to integrate the various readings that relate to the objectives of the research.
- there are 3 major ways of citing information from secondary sources to support the research
- summarizing
- direct quotation
- paraphrasing






