Unit 3

Literature Review
Introduction
This unit takes the trainee through various ways of evaluating related literature to the chosen
research problems. It also covers the sources of information necessary for research. How to
reference within text and compile references have also been comprehensively covered.
Upon completion of this unit you will be able to:

Outcomes
 Conduct literature review based on a research topic.
 Differentiate various sources of information.
 Indicate the role of a library and internet in research.
 Make quotations within text.
 Compile references and bibliographies.
Terminology
Data: It refers to all the information a researcher gathers for his or her study.
Literature Review: It involves locating, reading and evaluating reports of previous studies,
observations and opinions related to the planned study.
Cited reference: It is a list of references which the researcher actually read and cited in the text.
Bibliography: It refers to the list of materials that were read whether they are cited or not.

Literature Review
The review of literature involves systematic identification, location and analysis of documents that
contain information related to the problem being investigated.
It’s the related literature that the researcher has reviewed on the related topic/title. It comprises of
both the Primary literature (sources) and Secondary literature (sources).
Literature review is the documentation of a comprehensive review of the published and unpublished
work from secondary sources of data in the areas of specific interest to the researcher or good
sources of secondary data.
Primary Sources
Primary sources are those that comprise first hand knowledge e.g. eye witness reports and original
documents. A Primary source is a direct description of any occurrence by an individual who actually
observed or witnessed the occurrence. It’s a description of a research by a person who actually
carried the research. Information from the primary sources is more reliable than secondary sources.
Secondary Sources
Secondary sources are the sources which comprise of the second hand information. They are the
publications written by an author who was not a direct observer or participant in the events
described.
Such sources include books, journals, newspapers, magazines, conference proceedings, doctoral
dissertations, master’s theses, Govt. publications, financial, marketing and other reports and others.
Library and electronic databases are good sources of literature review. Grey literature (something
written but not published e.g. lecture notes, manuals), abstracts, periodicals, microfilm, pictures,
visual information are also good sources of literature.
It’s a description of an event by persons other than the eyewitnesses. It’s the account or records
which have been prepared by someone who was not actually present to observe the event. It’s a
description of a research as carried out by a person who actually carried out the research. It’s
advisable to use primary sources where possible because they contain current information.
Literature review is not the researcher’s words but the words of the author.
It is an examination of what others have said or done in the field covered by the research problem.
It’s a researcher’s critiques of findings from other studies done in related areas and the critiques
should include an assessment and the relationships and differences between researcher’s study and
the studies reviewed.
It’s the systematic identification and analysis of documents containing information related to the
study and it should point out how the problem of study is related to the previous research
findings.

Purpose of Literature review

a) The purpose of the review of literature is to inform the reader about previous research
conducted on the topic being researched or to determine what has been done already related
to the research problem being investigated.
b) It also provides a framework for establishing the importance of the study.
c) It also highlights the gaps in the existing studies and provides the background for the
development of the present study.
 d) It ensures that unnecessary duplication is avoided.
e) It enables the researcher to acknowledge what others (researchers before him) have done.
f) In conclusion literature review is an important component of research because the person
undertaking research benefits a lot from other researchers’ experience.
A short introductory paragraph should be included at the beginning of the literature review section.

Steps in Undertaking Literature Review

a) Be familiar with the library before beginning the literature review.
b) Make a list of the key words or phrases to guide your literature search. It involves listing the main
research headings and sub-headings or the key words under which it may be classified in a library
catalogue or a computerized retrieval system.
c) The already compiled list in (1) above will at this stage assist you to go to the source/s of
literature such as the Internet, Electronically Published materials either by the Government/Public
offices, archives etc. In some cases solicit for support from the library staff to do the computer
research in case the system is computerized.
d) Summarize the references on cards for easy organization of the literature such as articles, books,
dissertations, periodicals, journals etc. These references must be relevant to the research topic or
title.
e) Once collected, the literature should be analyzed, organized and reported in an orderly manner.
Maintain a complete list of reference sources and include all the bibliographic details of the source
such as the title, author, Edition, Publisher, place of publication, year of publication, website details,
Journal details e.g. Vol. No. year, Page etc. Page numbers are vital when the source is directly
quoted.
f) Make an outline of your main headings/topics/themes and subheadings/subtopics/themes in
order of presentation. It involves deciding on the no. of headings and subheadings depending on
how detailed the review is.
g) Analyze each reference in terms of the outline made and establish where it will be most relevant.
h) This is followed immediately by the compilation of literature review. The review of literature
should be well organized in such a manner that the more general is covered first before the
researcher narrows down to that which is more specific to the research problem. Similar concepts
should be grouped together.
Note that enough time is required for reading, organization and the delivery of references especially
when they are not within your custody. The presentation should be done in a professional and
acceptable manner.

Quotations in Literature
With the expectation of direct quotations, the entire research report should be presented in the
author’s own words. It means that the researcher should not cut and paste pieces from other
sources.
A direct quotation should be used especially when something is expressed so eloquently that one
feels that accuracy will be lost in the process of re-formulating it.
A direct quotation also adds strength to the researchers work especially when the quotation is from a
recognized authority.
Whenever a quotation is used, it must be reproduced as it was in the original quotation
The quoted material should be enclosed in the double quotation marks like ..”…….” especially if it
is less than two lines of a page but if longer than that, it should be left but indented.
For example, Koontz (2001, P 56) says that, “management is a process that involves the five
functions of management.”
The longer quotations should be indented as an independent block meaning that the script
should start at four spaces from the left and four spaces from the right of the margin. The sir
name of the author, the year of publication and the page no. must be incorporated in the quotation
e.g. Mungai (1999, P30).

Reference System
A recognized and consistent referencing system is vital.
A reference system enables the reader of the researching report to locate the information sources
referred to when needed.
A reader may want to read more about the issue from the information sources and hence the
need for including the referred resources at the end of every page.
Cited references, is a list of references which the researcher actually read and cited in the text.
A bibliography is list of materials that were read whether cited or not. A researcher could decide to
include the cited references only or have cited references and a bibliography and in this case, the
cited references are separate and do not need to be repeated in the bibliography or have the
bibliography only, which will have all references that is, those cited and those that were just read to
gather information.
The American Psychological Association (APA) is the most common method of writing references
and bibliography which entails writing the author’s name, year of publication in brackets, title, place
of publication and publisher.
Grey literature is anything written but not published like lecture notes, conference papers,
manuscripts etc.
3.2.4.1 List of References
a). A Textbook
When citing a book or the title of a book, the following should be observed. Author-surname first,
(the year of publication) title of the book and the subtitle, the edition, the place of publication, the
publisher. Title name of the book is either put in italics or underlined.
When a book is written by two authors, you capture the two authors and the rest of the
bibliographic information.
If more than two authors, capture the first name and et al. meaning and others but the rest remain.
Example of References
DU Preez, P. (1991). A science of mind the quest for psychological reality . 3rd Edition. London:
Academic Press.

Weiss, N. & Hasset, M. Introductory statistics. Reading MA. Addis Ababa: Wesley. 1982.

Mugenda, O. M & Mugenda, A.G (1999). Research Methods. Quantitative and Qualitative
approaches. Boston: Allyn & Bacon
If a source has more than two authors, you should only quote only the surname of the first author
followed by “et al” which stands for “and others.” e.g. a book by plug, Meyer,Louw and
Gouws(1987) should be quoted as follows;
Plug et al.(1987)…….
b). Journal Article
An article in a journal- where the article is again written or authored or edited by one person, just
quote the author of the article, (year of publication), title of the article, Title of the journal (italics or
underlined)volume or no page of where the article is located. For example;
Eleenhard, H. (1990).Introduction guidance-what do the movies want? South African journal of
psychology.22.p.210-225
Vol.1 1.22 210 –225.No…..
c). Internet Source (Web Page)
Author’s surname, year of publication if given, title of document in italics followed by online in
square brackets, publisher, available from Inf-URL, date you accessed the site.
Rao,P.(2001).MARKETING OF SERVICES[ONLINE], MCgraw Hill, Available from
www.rao.com. (accessed on: 14 December 2005)

d). Dissertation or Thesis

Author,year, Project title. State of the dissertation in this case is it unpublished, the source or
where you can get it. e.g Botha, M.P.(1990).Television exposure and aggressiveness among high
school pupils: A follow up study over five years. Unpublished. Doctoral thesis, University of
Free State.
Bloeim fountain.South Africa.
Or
Musumba,D.M.(2002).The survey of public libraries in Kenya. Unpublished.Masters/Doctoral
Thesis, University of Nairobi, Nairobi.

e).Unpublished Paper delivered in a Meeting/Conference

Author, year and the month, title of the paper, where the paper was presented.
e). g. Stumpter, D.J (1980 September).One hundred and One Years. Paper presented at the
National Psychological Congress. Johannesburg

f). Article in a Newspaper

Author (year and date).Title of the article, the title of the Newspaper. page No.
Eg Botha, J.(1988 1 April).Worst USA TV series also broadcast here.The Star,
P10 g). Reference to a CD ROM
Example;
20th World Conference on Open Learning and Distant Education.(2001).[CD-ROM].Fern
University, Hague, German.