Unit 4

Literature
Review
Learning Outcomes
At the end of this topic, students should be
able to:
 discuss the guidelines for preparing
literature review
 discuss the importance of literature review
 identify the sources of literature review
 construct literature review
Literature Review
A report or review of literature found
relevant to an area of research or study.
 Provides overview of current literature.
 Is a summary and synthesis of arguments
and ideas of others without adding new
contributions.
Importance of Literature
Review
 Provides overview of significant current
literature published on a topic.
 To arrange the knowledge about the
topic.
 To check whether another scholar has
done the same research.
 To check the possibility of finding the
answers to research questions.
Sources of Literature Review
 Article (magazines and newspaper).
 Journal.
 Academic publications/ books.
 Thesis.
 Working paper (conferences presentation
or proceedings).
 View of an expert/ someone of authority
in newspaper/media.
Citation Techniques
 Paraphrase – rephrasing or using own words
without changing the meaning of the
author’s ideas.
 Direct quotation:
 used to highlight author’s definition of important
terms
 illustrative examples of author’s specific views
 well expressed opinions, revealing insights which
paraphrase could not recapture):
 Short quotation (less than 40 words)
 Long quotation (more than 40 words)
Citation Techniques – direct
quotation
 Short quotation (less than 40 words)
 Within sentence quotation
 The original words or sentences are
integrated into the writer’s sentence.
 Eg.: Warner (2001, p. 6) describes the
novice student writer as an apprentice
writer in academic culture, or rather
cultures, where expectations may vary from
discipline to discipline, even subject to
subject.
Citation Techniques – direct
quotation
 Long quotation (more than 40 words):
 Block or indented quotation.
 Set from left margin, without quotation marks.

Warner (2001) describes a novice writer as:

An apprentice writer in academic culture, or rather
cultures, where expectations may vary from
discipline to discipline, even subject to subject. In this
case, students can build a repertoire of critical
thinking and writing skills that enable them to enter
the academic debates, even to challenge.
(Warner, 2001, p. 6)
Format for Long Quotation
 The in-text citation includes family name
of author, year of publication and page
number.
 Quotation is indented set in from the left
hand margin.
 Quotation is preceded with a colon.
 Single spacing and smaller font used
(usually 1 point smaller).
 No quotation marks are used.
Other Citations
 Generalization (combining several sources)
The ways in which decisions are made within
the WTO are typically inefficient (Mitchell, 1997;
Kim, 1998; Kirgis, 1998).
 Choice of emphasis:
 Emphasis on author – according to Hyland
(1999), there is considerable disciplinary
variation in citation patterns.
 Emphasis on information – There appears to be
considerable disciplinary variation in citation
patterns (Hyland, 1999).