1. Review of Related Literature As soon as you have chosen a topic for your thesis, you should look for a theory linking your topic to an available body of knowledge. Theory is a set of interrelated constructs (concepts), definitions, and proposition that presents a systematic view of phenomena by specifying relations among variables, with the purpose of explaining and predicting the phenomena.

2. Function of the Review of Literature to look again (re-view) at the literature (the reports of what others have done) in a related area, an area not necessarily identical with but collateral to your own area of study. Main Purpose of the Review to assist you in attacking your problem for research

3. When you know what others have done, you are better prepared to attack the problem you have chosen to investigate with deeper insight and more complete knowledge. Purposes of the Review 1. Discovering important variables 2. Distinguishing what has been done from what needs to be done 3. Synthesizing and gaining perspective 4. Determining and supporting meanings and relationships

4. 5. Establishing the context of a problem 6. Establishing the significance of a problem Benefits of the Review 1. It can reveal investigations similar to your own and it can show you how the collateral researchers handled these situations. 2. It can reveal to you sources of data that you may not have known existed. 3. It can introduce you to significant research personalities of whose research efforts and collateral writings you may have had no knowledge.

5. 4. It can suggest a method of dealing with a problematic situation that may also suggest avenues of approach to the solution of similar difficulties you may be facing. 5. It can help you to see your own study in historical and associational perspective and in relation to earlier and more primitive attacks on the same problem. 6. It can provide you with new ideas and approaches that may not have occurred to you. 7. It can assist you in evaluating your own research efforts by comparing them with related efforts done by others.

6. How to begin a search for related literature 1.Go to the indexes and abstracts. 2. Data base access to the literature (computer/ Internet) 3. The treasury of government publications 4. Go to the library armed with data gathering tools. 5. Make as many copies of the bibliographic item as necessary. 6. Be systematic and thorough. 7. Relate your bibliography to your problem.

7. Reading the Existing Literature 1. Start with references in bibliographies from books and journal articles and move on to using online sources for your literature review.online sources 2. If there are very many references, try to identify the major ones and work outwards from there. 3. Take good notes, including the details of the material you read. 4. You will be able to revise and refine your research questions in the process of reviewing the literature.

8. 6. A competent critical review of the literature can affirm your credibility as someone who is knowledgeable in your chosen area.critical review Critical Reading Skills 1. Your literature review should be critical rather than merely descriptive 2. Developing a critical approach is not necessarily one of simply criticizing the work of others. 3. It entails moving beyond mere description and asking questions about the significance of the work.

9. a. How does the item relate to others you have read? b. Are there any apparent strengths and deficiencies? c. What theoretical ideas have influenced the item? Issues to Identify in the Existing Literature In relation to the area of study, 1. What is already known? 2. What concepts and theories are relevant? 3. What research methods and research strategies have been employed?

10. 4. Are there any significant controversies? 5. Are there any inconsistencies in the findings? 6. Are there any unanswered research questions? How to Write the Section on the Related Literature 1.Get the proper psychological orientation. 2. Include an introductory paragraph stating what is included in the review and how it is organized and presented. 3. Have a plan.

11. Begin your discussion from a comprehensive perspective, broad end first. Then you can deal with more and more specific or more localized studies that focus more and more on your specific problem. 4. Decide on the basic structure of the review and outline the review before beginning to write. 5. Emphasize relatedness. Point out precisely what the relationship is. 6. Review the literature, don’t reproduce it.

12. a. Present your own discussion. b. Paraphrase. c. Use short, direct quotations, if necessary. d. Long quotations are a last resort. Use them only for a very good reason. 7. Summarize what you have said—synthesis of related literature at the end of the discussion.