TOPIC 1: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDY

Related Literature is a discussion of facts and principles that is closely related to the present
research study.
Related Studies are studies or investigation that have been conducted which is similar or related to
the present research study

For example, if your study is about COVID-19, then the facts, principles or investigations that you
are going to review or read must be about COVID-19.

IMPORTANCE, PURPOSE AND FUNCTION:

 It guides the researcher in selecting a best research problem or topic.
 It helps the researcher in understanding the research better.
 It prevents from duplication of other studies.
 It provides the conceptual or theoretical framework of the planned research
 It gives the researcher a feeling of confidence
 It gives information of the details of the research methods used
It gives information of the findings and conclusions of the previous investigations
CHARACTERISTICS
 The materials reviewed must be recent. The year of publication must be 5-10 years ago.
 Materials reviewed must be objective and unbiased
 Materials surveyed must be closely related to the present study
 Surveyed materials must have been based on the original and true facts or data to make them valid
and reliable.

HOW TO CONDUCT THE REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

 Visit the school library or other libraries in the vicinity.
Browse over books, magazines, journals, etc. Be patient.
 Do a computer-aided search through an electronic database.
- Google Scholar
- Website of journals; Botanicus
 Ask for reprints from experts
 Take down notes on index card or research notebook. Begin organizing your notes by devising
sections and headings such as:
a. General Information
b. Methods in other studies
c. Support for Objectives 1 and 2.
d. Results to compare with mine.
e. Pros and cons of controversy
 Write all bibliographic information, i.e., author(s), complete title, publisher, date and place of
publication, and so on.

SOURCES OF REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES.

Literature reviewed includes scholarly journals or books, authoritative database, and primary sources.
Sometimes, it will include secondary sources such a snewspapers, magazines, video, audio and many more.

PRIMARY SOURCES
- are the origin of information of study, basic documents relating to a specific subject area or topic.
- These are firsthand account written by a person who is present in study or event.
- Ex. Original documents such as diaries, speeches, manuscripts, letters, interviews, records, eyewitness
accounts, autobiographies. Empirical scholarly works such as research articles, clinical reports, case studies,
dissertations. Creative works such as poetry, music, video, photography

SECONDARY SOURCES
- These are information that was created later by someone who did not experience first-hand or
participate in the events or conditions.
- Ex., Publications such as textbooks, magazine articles, book reviews, commentaries, encyclopedias,
almanacs
LOCATION OF SOURCES
Generally, the location of the related literature and studies are found in the following places:
➢ Libraries, either government, school or private libraries
➢ Government or private offices

HOW TO WRITE THE REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE?

 Use headings arranged in logical order to indicate main points
 Avoid lengthy introduction to your main topic.
 Include information that are directly related and relevant to your topic.
 A maximum of half-page (double-space) must constitute one paragraph
 Do not copy the information from your source. No more than 10% of the entire paper is allowed for
direct quotation.
 Give due credit to the real source of your data. Cite the authors at the end of the sentence. How?
 Paraphrase the data gathered using your own words and style
 Summarize important points from your sources and relate them to your topic.
 Reinforce your data with selected figures or statistics from your course.

TOPIC 2: SCIENTIFIC WRITING, QUOTING, PARAPHRASING A

SCIENTIFIC WRITING A writing based on knowledge of a particular subject area or topic to produce
solutions basing on the existing theories and postulates.

CHARACTERISTICS OF SCIENTIFIC WRITING:

 Clear – it avoids details that are not important.
 Simple – it uses direct language and avoids difficult to understand or complicated sentences
 Avoid technical terms or jargon- are only used when necessary for accuracy
 Neutral – it avoids using unproven statements and making of assumptions. Conclusions must be
supported with evidence (the how, when and where the data were collected).
 Structured logically – ideas and processes are presented in logical manner
 Accurate – it uses exact language and avoid vague and ambiguous terms such as about,
approximately, almost.
 Objective – ideas and statements must be based on what has been observed supported by evidences
on how conclusion was drawn basing on the collected data.

THREE WAYS TO ADD INFORMATION FROM OUTSIDE

SOURCES TO SCIENTIFIC WRITING
Quotations:
 These are verbatim words (are exact words with no changes or corrections).
 These are exact words of the author directly copied from the sources set off with quotation marks.
 Make sure not to quote more than 10% of your paper
 This is used to support your argument.
 These are introduced with signal phrase and ends with a citation.

Examples of signal phrases:

- According to Lewis, ”……”
- Lewis added, “……”
- Smith concluded, “……”

Example of Quotation:
Amores reported that “the increase of infected persons with COVID-19 is due to local transmission (54).”

PARAPHRASING
 These are author’s thoughts or ideas but restated in a researcher's own words.
 In paraphrasing do not just change the words but change the structure of the sentence.
 The same with quotations, it is introduced with signal phrases and ends with a quotation.

Steps if paraphrasing:
1. Reread the original passage until you understand its full meaning.
2. Set the original aside and write your paraphrase on a note card.
3. Jot down a few words below your paraphrase to remind you later how you envision using this
material. At the top of the note card, write a key word or phrase to indicate the subject of your paraphrase.
4. Check your rendition with the original to make sure that your version accurately expresses all the
essential information in a new form.
5. Use quotation marks to identify any unique term or phraseology you have borrowed exactly from
the source.
6. Record the source (including the page) on your note card so that you can credit it easily if you
decide to incorporate the material into your
paper.
Example of Paraphrase:
Original statement:
Giraffes like acacia leaves and hay and they can consume 75 pounds of food a day.
Paraphrase:
A giraffe can eat up to 75 pounds of acacia leaves and hay every day.

SUMMARIZING
 It a short and brief statements of the key ideas of the authors into your own words.
 A summary provides an overview of the main idea and is shorter compared to the original text.
 Same with quotation and paraphrase, it is introduced with signal phrases and ends with citation.
How to summarize?
1. Record the author, title, year of publication and source of the text.
2. Skim the text. Note any sub-headings, or try to divide the text into sections.
3. Read the text carefully. Use a dictionary if necessary and be prepared to read very difficult texts more
than once.
4. Pay special attention to the first and last paragraphs. Try to identify the main idea or argument.
5. Identify the topic sentence in each paragraph.
6. Identify the main support for the topic sentence.
7. Write the topic sentence of your summary. Include the author’s name, the title of the text, the year of
publication and the author’s main idea or argument

Why should we use them?

1. Provide support for claims or add credibility to your writing
2. Refer to work that leads up to the work you are now doing

TOPIC 3: RESEARCH ETHICS

ETHICS These are moral principles or standards that guides people in making decisions and resolving
conflicting values.

MORALITY These are set of unwritten rules that will guide people in conducting activities to maintain
harmony and order.

RESEARCH ETHICS
It is specifically interested in the analysis of ethical issues that arise in conducting research when
human beings or animals are involved as participants in research.

MPORTANCE OF RESEARCH ETHICS

➢ It avoids the researcher from committing mistakes in the process of conducting research.
➢ It promotes essential values that help researchers on a topic to have a common understanding of how
things should go about.
➢ It binds together experts from different fields by considering the important values such as
accountability, cooperation, mutual respect, and fairness among others.

SOME RESEARCH ETHICS RULES

1. Be Honest
➢ Honesty is important in reporting the results or findings of your investigation or research.
2. Be Objective
➢ Report what have observed based on the facts or data that you have gathered and avoid bias.
3. Be a Person of Integrity
➢ Act with sincerity and should be able to keep your words true.
4. Be Caring
➢ You should be after of the welfare and benefits of the subjects especially when dealing with
human or animals.
5. Be Open
➢ Willing to accept opinions, ideas, comments and suggestions of others.
. Be Careful
➢ Treat your colleagues fairly and acknowledge the works of others.
7. Be Trustworthy
➢ The data or information gathered from the research or investigation should be kept confidential unless
there is a need to be divulged in public.
8. Be Responsible
➢ In conducting studies, consider the rules and regulation of the different institutions. Be of help in
publishing research that aims to advance knowledge and promote social welfare.

3R’S ETHICAL PRINCIPLE IN ANIMAL RESEARCH

1. Reduce
In sampling in biomedical or animal research, it is much appreciated if we will use the least number
of possible participants in a research study.
2. Refine
Procedures done in animal research must minimize the pain and suffering of the animal participants.
3. Replace
Researchers should opt for its replacements if there is a possibility that animals can replaced by other non-
biological subjects.

IGHTS OF HUMAN RESEARCH PARTICIPANTS

1. Rights to Voluntary Participation
➢ All participants should participate in a research out of his free will and he can back out from the research
if wants to.
2. Right to Informed Consent
➢ All participant should be informed of the risk and the benefits of the research that he will be involved.
3. Right to be Protected from Harm
➢ Researchers should protect the participants from any form of harm.
4. Right to Confidentiality
➢ All information taken from the participants should be kept confidential.
5. Right to Anonymity
➢ Participants may choose not to disclose his identity to anyone including the researchers.

SCIENTIFIC MISCONDUCT
1. Fabrication or Falsification of Data
➢ Data is produced without actual gathering of data or experimentation or altering of data.
2. Non-publication of Data
➢ Data is not recorded if it will not answer the hypotheses which is opposite to the first scientific
misconduct.
3. Faulty Data-gathering Procedures
➢ This is cause by using inappropriate measuring equipment and treatment of the subject, invalid
procedures being followed and poor data recording.
4. Plagiarism
➢ This refers to using ideas of others as your own without acknowledging the author.

TOPIC 4: USE OF LIBRARY AND INTERNET

LIBRARY is a building with a collection of different sources of information that is made accessible to
everyone for reference or borrowing. A library's collection can include books, periodicals, newspapers,
manuscripts, films, maps, prints, documents, micro form, CDs, cassettes, videotapes, DVDs, Blu-ray Discs,
e-books, audiobooks, databases, and other formats.
USERS
• Researchers
• Students
• Teachers
USES
• Borrowing of Books and Journals.
• Using of Reading room and Working spaces.
• Using of catalogues and other library specific online
services.
• Using of E-learning services run by the Library.
ADVANTAGES
• The best place to get Learning.
• To keep Yourself safe from Bad habits.
• For getting Oceans of Knowledge
DISADVANTAGES
• People near to it can only access it.
• Limited numbers of Books are available.
• It is costly to build a Library.
• People got addicted to it Waste a Lot of Time
in reading and give major part of time to it.

INTERNET a global computer network providing a variety of information and communication facilities,
consisting of interconnected networks using standardized communication protocols.

USES
• Email
• Internet searching
• E-commerce
• E-book
• Social Media
ADVANTAGES
• Unlimited Communication
• Abundant Information and Resources
• Easy Sharing
• Online Services
• Entertainment
DISADVANTAGES
• Spam Mail
• Waste of Time
• Access use of Social Websites
• Negative effect on family communication
• Conflict Information

TIPS IN SEARCHING THE INTERNET

• Define your topic
• Think exactly what information you are looking for.
• Choose a search engine.
- Search Engine is a program that allows you to search the Internet for information.
Example: yahoo.com, google.com, etc…
• Know the parts of the Search Engine Results Page (SERP).
1. . Title of the webpage
2. The snippet—the short description of the website
3. The URL—the web address of the website
4. Cached link—a link to an earlier version of the webpage
Search for research
- Type in search terms or key words, NOT an entire question.
- Do not include unimportant words like the, with, a and similar words.

Example for search question: Which countries usually participate in the Winter Olympics?
- Example for search terms:
Countries Winter
Olympics
Participating
Less is more
1. two or three key words will give you a broader set of results
2. Don’t add punctuation
3. Use web friendly words. If you are searching for medical information, use medical words.
Example: use the word--Headache NOT “my head hurts”

TOPIC 5: WRITING BIBILIOGRAPHY IN RESEARCH

• A bibliography is an orderly list of resources on a particular subject
• A bibliography provides the full reference information for all the sources which you may have consulted
in preparing a particular project
• The purpose of a bibliography is to allow the reader to trace the sources used

Distinguishing Traits of a Bibliography

1. The author’s name is listed in reverse order-surname first-for the purpose of alphabetizing.
2. The entry is generally presented in hanging-indention form. That is the second and subsequent lines of an
entry begin at a uniform distance to the right of the beginning point of the first line.
3. The entry gives the inclusive pages of articles, but not for books, and does not refer to any one page or
passage
4. Second and subsequent references to publications of the same author are indicated by a uniform line.

When do you use bibliography?

1. In a report with statistics to show where you found those facts.
2. In a paper/report that uses a main idea from an author.
3. In a research paper to show ALL the different sources required by the teacher.

What are some “sources” your teacher might ask you to use?
1. Textbooks
4. Encyclopedias
2. Reference books
5. Reliable websites
3. Books on the topic
6. Magazine articles
What does it mean to “cite” a source?
• If you “borrow” ideas from a source, you must give the source credit, or it is plagiarism.

Plagiarism
- the verbatim copying of others works without acknowledgement.
- the unacknowledged quotation of phrases.
• You “cite” the source by writing it down in the Bibliography (or sometimes referred to as Works
Cited).

How many sources should you use?

• This often depends upon your teacher.
• Usually a teacher will give you a limit such as, “You must use at least 5 sources.”

What types of sources should be used?

• Once again this will probably depend upon your teacher, who will give requirement:
- Use at least 1 encyclopedia
- Use at least 2 books
- Use at least 2 reliable websites

What information do you need for a book?

• Author’s last name, first name.
• Title of Book.
• City of publication
• Publishing company
• Copyright date.
Always check punctuation!
• Double check that you have used correct punctuation marks.
• There is ALWAYS a period at the end of every entry.
• Be sure to indent the second line (if there is one) of each entry.
• After listing all the sources, make sure to arrange it alphabetically.

Commonly Used Citation Styles in a Bibliography

1. Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA)- Psychology, education and other
social sciences (author/ date) date important
2. Chicago Manual of Style (author/ date) emphasis on source origin, footnotes)
3. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (MLA)- literature & arts (author/ date) authorship
important

Referencing in APA, Chicago and MLA for books -

Examples
• APA
Darwin, C. (2006). On the origin of species: By means of natural selection. New York: Dover
Publications.
• Chicago Manual of Style
Darwin, Charles. 2006. On the origin of species: By means of natural selection. New York: Dover
Publications.
• MLA
Darwin, Charles. On the origin of species: By means of natural selection. New York: Dover
Publications, 2006.

APA, Chicago and MLA for journal articles

• APA
Byrne, A. (2008). Web 2.0 strategy in libraries and information services. Australian Library Journal, 57
, 365-376.

• Chicago Manual of Style

Byrne, A. 2008. Web 2.0 strategy in libraries and information services. Australian Library Journal, 57
 : 365-376.

• MLA
Byrne, Alex. “Web 2.0 strategy in libraries and information services.” Australian Library Journal57.4
(2008): 365-376.

World Wide Web URL

(Uniform Resource Locator or WWW address). author
(or item's name, if mentioned), date.

TOPIC 6: NOTE TAKING

Note taking
• It is a process of writing down important points, arguments, facts or ideas from a written material.
• It is helpful in report writing and to relate to a written material for information.
• Efficient note taking is important as it would help you to study on your own.
• Notes are supplementary to memory. Several points, ideas, facts etc. get fixed in one’s mind
while note making. Hence, note making is important for the students in preparation for examinations.

Taking notes can help you to:

• improve your understanding by making you convert difficult ideas into your own words
• prepare for writing fuller, better connected arguments in your essays
• be more focused and time-efficient in your exam revision period
• assess your own progress as you study

Effective note taking requires:

• recognizing the main ideas
• identifying what information is relevant to your task
• having a system of note taking that works for you
• reducing the information to note and diagram format
• where possible, putting the information in your own words
• recording the source of the information

Note taking strategies

1. Be selective and systematic
- Think about your purpose for reading.
- Skim the text.
- Highlight or mark the main points and any relevant information you may need to take notes
from.
- read the relevant sections of the text carefully and take separate notes as you read.
- Set out your notebooks so that you have a similar format each time you take notes.
- Columns that distinguish the source information and your thoughts can be helpful.
- Headings that include bibliographic reference details of the sources of information are also important.
- The use of color to highlight major sections, main points and diagrams makes notes easy to access.

2. Identify the purpose and function of a text

- Read the title and the abstract or preface (if there is one)
- Read the introduction or first paragraph
- Skim the text to read topic headings and notice how the text is organized
- Read graphic material and predict its purpose in the text

3. Identify how information is organized

ORGANISING PRINCIPLES:
- Past ideas to present ideas
- The steps or stages of a process or event
- Most important point to least important
point
- Well known ideas to least known ideas
- Simple ideas to complex ideas
- General ideas to specific ideas
- The largest parts to the smallest parts of something
- Problems and solutions
- Causes and results

Guidelines for note taking

• Read the text for 2/3 times.
- 1st time for overall understanding,
- Subsequent readings for understanding main points and supporting details.
•Underline the main points with different colours for easier reference.
• Ensure the points are condensed and organized.
Hints to condense the information.
• Newspaper headlines are the best examples of condensed information. The most important aspect
of the information in the report focused in the headline.
• Use short words for long words e.g. plane for aeroplane.
• Use abbreviations or acronyms instead of whole words. In ambiguous cases include last letter in the
abbreviation e.g. bldg. for building, advt. for advertisement.
• Avoid writing complete sentences.
• Use reduced verb forms e.g. write ‘written’ for ‘has been written’
• Use standard symbols and signs to express the relationship between ideas.
➢ = equal to, is like, is equivalent to, is synonymous with
➢ ///ly Similarly
➢ > greater than, leads to, becomes, results in, is
formed into, is converted into
➢ < less than, comes from, emerging out of 
➢ e.g. for example
➢ & And
➢ - With

Note Taking Styles

The Outline Method
• use headings and subheadings followed by course material.
• Easiest method with organized lectures.

The Cornell Mehtod

• Divide your notepaper by drawing a vertical line 2 inches from the left margin.
• On the right side, take your notes from class.
• On the left side, write
- keywords
- questions
- comments
- examples
• On the bottom, write a summary
• These will make your work easier to review later
• Test yourself by identifying the lecture material on the right, prompted by your comments on the left.

Paragraph Method
• Often works best when a lot of notes are given in a short period of time and the instructor is a fast talker
or the lecture is disorganized.
• Listen critically for important facts
• Create your own summary of what has been presented.
• Write down summary on your own words.

The Fishbone Diagram

• The Problem or Outcome is printed in the “head” of the fish.
• Identify the primary factors and connect as ribs to the backbone.
• Elaborate each rib with the details related to the primary factor
The Mind Map Method
• A mind map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks or other items linked to and arranged
radially around a central key word or idea. It is used to generate and classify ideas and as an aid in study
organization, problem solving and decision making.