Literature Review in Business Research

Literature Review in Business Research

Prof. Appalayya Meesala

Many young researchers expect their research report to beaccepted by evaluators, failing to understand the importance ofliterature review which is the foundation and integral to theresearch one undertakes. The hawkish eyes of the evaluators firstfall on the literature review which is Achilles’ heel of many researchers.Worst of all, researchers of some ilk are completely clueless ofwhat constitutes research. Sadly, some researchers still thinkthat literature review is just a formality; some of them thinkthat doing a survey is research; and some others think thatwriting a voluminous book is research. This essay is an attemptto wean the researchers away from erroneous ways and theirmisconceptions about research and put them on the right track.

This essay attempts to first explain critical terms - research,relationships and theories -whose understanding is essential toembarking on a meaningful research. It will be followed by adiscussion on the important dimensions of business research -relationships among variables, features of a phenomenon, anddifferent forms of a phenomenon.

Importantly, a detailed discussion on the meaning and thepurposes of a literature review will be presented. It will befollowed by some suggestions on how to start off on a literaturereview. Since how to structure the contents of a literaturereview is most baffling, a detailed framework will be given. Itwill be followed by an overview of what is a critical evaluationof literature.

Referencing formats like APA, MLA and CMS are explained withillustrations. At the end, how MS word can be used to make in-

text citations and reference lists according to a chosen formatwill be explained.

Literature and Literature Review

Literature and literature review are the most confusing and

misunderstood terms of business researchers in the developing

countries. If these terms are not properly understood by the

researchers of a nation, the quality of literature that comes

from it will be less acceptable to the international research

community as reflected in the negligible number of research

articles published in reputed international journals.

Literature, in simple terms, means the existing body of knowledge

on a chosen topic. The meaning of literature in the context of

business research is different from that of a language. Language

literature is the wide array of creative works. Contrarily,

literature that relates to research in social sciences, of which

is business is one, is the research already done and documented.

Such documented research findings are also referred to as ‘body

of knowledge’. A research finding becomes either a new theory or

leads to a modification of an existing theory. Body of knowledge

means all the theories that were put forward by the scholars

based on evidence. It is needless to say that research results in

the advancing of a new theory or modification of an existing

theory. That way, research adds to literature by uncovering new

knowledge through investigation. Since theories make the core of

literature or its review, a brief explanation of what constitutes

a theory is apt here.

Relationships and Theories

A theory has primarily three dimensions (aspects): (a) a

relationship between different factors or (b) features of a

phenomenon or (c) different forms of a phenomenon. A brief

discussion on these three different dimensions is given here.

What is a ‘relationship between different factors’? Research

establishes (or proves) the relationship between different

factors. Before research, a relationship or no relationship is

assumed (or suspected) between the factors. Statisticians call

this assumption (or suspicion) ‘a hypothesis’. There will be some

more discussion on ‘hypothesis’ later. Factors are the business

phenomena. These factors are also called, ‘constructs’. In simple

terms, they are either concepts or ideas or situations. The

examples for constructs (factors) include job satisfaction,

employee engagement, employee productivity, innovativeness of the

product, brand equity, decisive mind, entrepreneurial trait,

sales, production units, material wasted in units etc. Among the

aforementioned phenomena, some constructs like sales or

production or material wasted etc. are in measured units. There

are other phenomena like employee engagement or job satisfaction

which are not in measured units. They have to be measured using a

scale or a measure. A scale or a measure is a set of statements

each representing a different dimension of the construct

(phenomenon). Each statement is called an ‘item’. The reliability

and validity of this scale or measure has to be established

before it is used for survey.

Three Dimensions of Business Research

An example for a suspected or assumed relationship is the one

(relationship) between job satisfaction and employee

productivity. This is only an example; don’t ever attempt to do

research about this suspected relationship since enough research

was already on this. The hypothesis (assumed relationship) reads

as follows: there is a relationship between job satisfaction and

employee productivity. To investigate this, data from employees

is collected, using a survey instrument (questionnaire)

consisting of sets of statements ( scales/measures) relating to

these two constructs. Such data is put to statistical tools like

correlation or regression or anova or t-test or chi-square tests.

The results of the test prove or disprove the assumed

relationship.

The second aspect of research relates to understanding different

features of a phenomenon. For example, job satisfaction is

composed of several sub-dimensions like satisfaction from salary,

warm relations with peers, superiors and subordinates, promotion

opportunities, benefits, distinct job role and so on. The

researcher has to establish that the construct has those

components (or features). Regression analysis or factor analysis

are used to determine the features of a construct. More

importantly, relationship of each of the contributing factors

(also called ‘independent’ or ‘indicator’ or ‘predictor’

variables) to the phenomenon should be quantified so that the

relative importance of each of the features of the phenomenon is

established.

The third aspect of research relates to understanding the

different forms of a phenomenon. For example, service quality

(SERVQUAL) and performance quality of performance (SERVPERF) are

two different forms of measuring service quality. Those seemingly

similar forms have to be distinguished. As we all know, SERVQUAL

reflects only the resources that have the potential for delivery

of a good service while SERVPERF is the net outcome that results

from those resources which were put to best use. Another example

is distinction between work engagement and employee engagement.

Employee engagement is about dedication of an employee to a job

while work engagement is to what extent the work engages an

employee so that he is motivated with a high enthusiasm.

After giving a reasonable understanding of meaning of research

with the help of the foregoing discussion, a discussion on the

meaning of literature review and its purposes is presented as

follows.

Meaning of Literature Review

In the words of Hart (1998), literature review is all about

collection and presentation of information, ideas, data, and

evidence from the selected documents, be they published or

unpublished, on a chosen topic from a particular standpoint to

express certain views on the nature of the topic and how it is to

be investigated; they have to be evaluated as to how they are

related to the proposed research.

According to APA Manual ( 2010, p.10), “authors of literature

reviews evaluate a body of literature by identifying relations,

contradictions, gaps, and inconsistencies in the literature and

by suggesting the next step needed to solve the research

problem.”

Review is not a formality; it is the foundation of research. In

fact, literature review commands more attention from the

researcher than any other activity of research. A wishy-washy

review will make the entire exercise futile. It sometimes happens

that, after all the research was done, one wakes up to find that

research on similar lines was already done. The thesis examiners

or article reviewers do instantly reject the work with candor!

The literature review of a researcher first establishes what he

knows about the topic; a researcher without adequate

understanding of the literature is not expected to perform a

significant research contribution ( Boote & Beile, 2005).

According to Mullins & Kiley ( 2002), a poorly written literature

review will give indications to the reviewers that the rest of

the dissertation will invariably have problems, and so critically

look at the data collection methods, analysis, and conclusions.

With a few modifications the process that applies to primary

research applies to literature review too; an apt alternative

term for literature review is secondary research (Randolph,

2009).

The American Education Research Association (Cited in Randolph,

2009) gives an idea about how and why a new research should be

done.

Firstly, the research should contribute a new line of thinking to

an established theory or empirical research; the new contribution

should either elaborate or enrich the existing theory or validate

the it in a new context. There should be enough evidence pointing

to the new theory, why it is needed and where it is applicable.

Secondly, the research finding can address practical concerns if

there are important; the research should justify how the new

research can resolve the practical issues. Thirdly, the research

may intend to provide new information or insights about a problem

or an issue; if it is so, the research should clarify what

information is lacking, why it is important, and this new

research will bring out new information on certain obscure

dimensions, or new insights about a problem.

Purposes of a Literature Review

Hart (1998) has enumerated the purposes of literature review.

(a) Understanding the gap in research- what was done and

what has to be done;

(b) Identifying the most important variables relating to

the topic- variables are those phenomenon that potentially

impact an issue;

(c) Synthesizing the research- bringing together different

aspects of research relating to the same issue so that a new

line of thought can be discovered;

(d) Understanding the relationship between ideas and

practices;

(e) Creating the context for the topic or problem;

(f) Highlighting the significance of the problem;

(g) Acquiring subject-related knowledge;

(h) Understanding the structure of the subject;

(i) Identifying the main and appropriate research

techniques;

(j) Tracing the history of the subject’s development up

till the current stage.

To get more clarity on the purpose of literature review and get

guided on this exercise, asking oneself of certain questions is

more apt. Those questions include:

1. What all does the researcher know about the topic?

2. What are the theories that were already proposed on the

topic?

3. What are important variables or constructs in the theories?

4. What are the inconsistencies and shortcomings of existing

theories?

5. Which aspect of a given theory requires further testing

because of its inadequacy?

6. Which methods or designs are defective or faulty?

7. Why should a researcher study this further?

8. What contributions will the researcher make as an outcome of

his research?

How to Start Off On a Literature Review

Beginning is half done. But, how should one start a literature

review activity? Charles Sturt University ( 2008) advises the

scholars that: (1) a general topic or issue or an area of concern

has to be identified to create an appropriate context; (2) the

review should point out the major trends in what has been

published about the topic ( theories), or conflicts in the

theory, or gaps in research; or the review should take up a

single problem or introduce a new perspective of immediate

interest; (3) the researcher should present his point of view for

reviewing the literature and explain (a)the criteria to compare

the literature, (b) structure of the review ( order), and (c)

reason for not including certain other literature.

Research Articles Should Be Sorted

All the research studies that are going to be reviewed should be

appropriately grouped; in the absence of such grouping, the text

would lack the direction and the reader will be left confused,

tired and annoyed. The bases of grouping can be type of

literature (articles or case studies), type of research

(quantitative or qualitative), specific purposes of researches,

chronology (recent or old). Each article has to be summarized but

with as much detail as they each deserve. It is needless to say

that the amount of space used for a particular article is an

indicator of its significance.

It is very important to see that the reader is properly guided

through text with the proper heads, topic sentences, and

introductory and transitional phrases. This is most easily done

when the review itself is guided by certain questions that it is

going to answer. Simple stated, like primary research has certain

questions to answer, literature review too should answer certain

questions as illustrated before. These questions give focus and

structure to the review.

While searching for the literature, one stumbles on a raft of

literature and gets confused about what to select and what to let

go. An innocent scholar may waste a lot of time and energy on

less useful literature and that way, crowd the review document

with unwanted material. RMIT university has suggested three tests

for selecting the literature. (1) Relevance: The material should

help him develop the main concepts or clarify his stand, or

provide models for his design. (2) Authority: The material should

have been written by a veteran and the publisher should be one of

repute; the material should have been properly reviewed by noted

scholars before publication. (3) Currency: The material should

not be outdated and should be in use at present.

Structure of a Literature Review

University of New South Wales (UNSW) has very succinctly

delineated the possible structures of literature review.

According to it, the literature review can primarily be

structured in four different ways: (1) tracing of the evolution

of a topic or theory; (2) an outline of benchmark studies (or

theories or articles); (3) slightly different but related themes;

(4) broader theories and their specific and localized

applications. A brief overview of the each of those structures is

as follows.

(1) Evolution of a topic or a theory: The review traces how

a particular theory or topic has first emerged and gradually

grown to the current stage. This is based on chronology. In

other words, it is tracing of history of a theory. To

illustrate, service quality was first measured with

SERVQUAL; this was followed by SERVPERF which focuses on

actual performance unlike the former which measures only the

potential but not actual delivery. In parallel or as

sequels, separate industry specific versions of SERVQUAL for

sectors like healthcare, hospitality, retailing etc. have

also been proposed.

(2) Benchmark Studies: According to this method, an attempt

is made to give an overview of certain important studies

which have been appreciated or criticized by the

contemporary scholars. For example, employee productivity

theories were advanced, but, sooner or later, followed by

employee engagement theories. But these theories are now

being followed by employer or work engagement theories.

Literature review captures all the significant studies that

were made on these closely related topics.

(3) Theme-based presentation: Different themes or topics of

a theory or a view. For example, various determinants or

components of job satisfaction are touched upon. This way,

all the knowledge or insights are arranged in an order that

facilitates the understanding of the theory by the reader;

with this, the context of the proposed research is brought

home to the readers.

(4) Broader theories to specific theories: First of all a

broad view of the theory is presented to be followed by the

localized versions of it. It is an inverted pyramid approach

in that broad views give way to industry-specific or

location-specific theories.

Critical examination of literature

The researcher should critically examine the current literature.

This points out its strengths, weaknesses, gaps (omissions) and,

such examination and their discussion justifies the research

being undertaken by the reviewer. In other words, the research

question is put amidst popular theories and views with a mention

of their omissions. This is what I often refer to as

‘contextualizing’. The popular term for that is ‘justification’.

There are four important dimensions of this review exercise.

First, others’ views (popular theories or studies) are presented.

Second, the limitations of the others’ views (popular theories or

studies) are pointed out. Third, researcher’s views are put

forward. Last, the justification for his research is presented.

The guidelines of University of Washington (2010) say that giving

a detailed description of each study or theory is easy, but

evaluating the works of distinguished researchers is difficult

since it requires thought and assuming of some risk too.

A couple of guidelines of University of Washington are so apt

that they deserve a brief of mention of them here. (1) Start off

with a research question (broad area), progressively narrow it

down , and finally state the specific lines of research which the

researcher will be discussing. (2) Describe each article and then

compare them to show how they are different. The possible bases

of comparison include: (a)research assumptions, (b)research

theories tested, (c)hypotheses stated, (d)research designs used,

(e)variables selected (independent and dependent), (f)tools used,

(g)results obtained, (h) interpretation of results, and

( i )researcher’s speculations about future studies. Despite so

many bases of comparison available, only relevant ones have to be

used.

Cooper, H.M. (1988) has succinctly captured the essence of

literature review by proposing what the components and the

principles of literature review should be on important dimensions

like focus, goal and organization of a literature review.

According to his taxonomy of literature review, focus should be

on (a) research outcomes, (b) research methods, (c) theories, and

(d) practices and applications, while goals should be (a)

integration, (b) criticism and (c) identification of central

issues; integration refers to (a) generalization, ( b )conflict

resolution and ( c ) linguistic bridge building. The structure or

organization of literature review should be on either historical

milestones or conceptual or methodological bases. Further,

according to him, the perspective of literature review can be a

neutral representation or an espousal of a position.

In a nutshell, literature review captures the theories, their

evolution, methodologies used, their flaws, and need for a fresh

investigation about an issue. While describing the theories or

the methodologies used, the researcher has to cite the sources of

information, primarily to give authenticity to his work, and give

the credit to the authors that produced the work. A detailed

discussion on citing of sources is presented in the following

sections.

Why to Cite Sources?

The credibility of a researcher’s work depends heavily on the

sources, particularly the credible ones, he has drawn on. The

researcher has to establish that his work is a logical sequel to

the work of other scholars. He has to build his argument with the

help of carefully chosen and logically presented sources.

Further, any research output is just as much respected as it is

contextualized. Simply stated, one has to delineate the context

of research. A systematic presentation and discussion of previous

works makes up the context that will be appreciated by the

scholars. It bears repetition to say that context not only gives

a proper frame of mind to the reader but latter is also convinced

about the need for research.

The goals of citing sources in a research report are, primarily,

fourfold. (1) A context for proposed research has to be

portrayed; (2) the readers have to be convinced that the

researcher has reviewed relevant previous research enough; (3)

his arguments and justification for the proposed research are

well founded; and (4) the researcher does not intend to

plagiarize and so is willing to acknowledge the sources of ideas

honestly.

How to Cite Sources?

Sources that can be cited in a research report are numerous. The

most popular sources are journal articles, books, newspaper

articles, films, company reports, research theses and reports,

interviews, websites, encyclopedias, and dictionaries.

A well-written research report is crowded with citations. Such

citing or quoting is also referred to as ‘referencing’ and such

citations as ‘references’. All these citations have to be

properly listed. These lists help the reader in rereading the

sources for a detailed review any number of times in future. Each

reference, an item in the list, should give full details of the

source, like authors’ names, year of publication, title of

article, name of the journal, volume and issue numbers of the

journal, page numbers of the journal in which this article can be

found, name of the publisher, and city from where the book is

published etc. More importantly, each reference in the list

should follow a uniform pattern in giving these source details

and punctuation marks as well. It is needless to say that these

patterns, also known as ‘referencing formats’, ‘referencing

styles’, and ‘academic formats’ prescribe for each referred

source, what details ( authors’ names, year of publication etc.)

have to be given and in what order, what punctuation marks have

to be used, and also which words should be italicized.

Referencing Formats

There are different referencing formats such as APA (American

Psychological Association), MLA (Modern Language Association),

Chicago/CMS( Chicago Manual of Style) etc. each being followed

exclusively by researchers of a particular field. For example,

business and social science researchers follow APA style while

literature researchers use MLA style and scientific researchers

work with Chicago Manual of Style. Each of these styles will be

described in detail in the chapter.

What is an in-text citation?

An important feature of this referencing practice is that each

instance of referencing happens in two stages, and so has two

parts. The first part is mentioned in the text itself and the

second part mentioned with full details in reference list. The

first part is called, ‘in-text citation’ which is just a brief

mention of the source. It is also referred to as ‘parenthetical

citation’. The in-text citation, being a part of the text, does

not give full details of source except two or three. Authors’

names, and the year of publication (and sometimes page numbers

are also mentioned in case of specific quote reproduced as it is)

are only given as in-text citation.

Some examples for in-text citations include the following.

Meesala (2011) reported a relation between engagement andtenure.

The studies made in Indian industry established a clearrelation between engagement and tenure ( Meesala, 2011).

“The interest in engagement is, in fact, rooted in its criticality in making an organization effective” ( Meesala, 2011, p. 157).

The full details of the source are given in the reference list.

References List is variously called as ‘Works Cited’, ‘List of

References’ and ‘Bibliography’.

What is most important is that there should be a correspondence

between in-text citation and reference list. It means that what

is mentioned in the reference list is first given as an in-text

citation, and what is given as in-text citation should find its

place with full details in the reference list. As mentioned

before, the in-text citations, and the details and their order,

in reference list have a pattern religiously specific to the

chosen style. The pattern should be followed strictly uniformly

and the author should not deviate from it.

And, mind you, the MBA students in this part of the world don’t

adhere to a particular style. It is a bad example for us to never

follow. Reports or articles which don’t follow a particular

pattern are not accepted by thesis evaluators or journals as the

case may be.

Academic styles prescribe many things like size of the paper,

table numbers, line spacing, font size, and type face etc. But

this chapter restricts its job to in-text citation and reference

list only.

A discussion on each of the referencing styles is presented in

the following. Although there are several styles and, also minor

variations in each style, only three dominant styles, namely,

APA, MLA, and CMS styles are taken up for discussion here. (A note

of caution: These examples are taken from websites of academic

format organizations. Secondly, the format slightly changes from

institution to institution; importantly, the format suggested

here is only indicative, but not prescriptive)

American Psychological Association (APA) Referencing Format

In-text citation: The authors’ last name and year of publication

(Author- Date System) should appear in the in-text citation. If a

direct quote is reproduced, page number of the article also

should be given after the year of publication. Commas should be

used to separate authors’ last name, year of publication, and

page numbers. The examples are: (a) (Meesala, 2011); (b)

(Meesala, 2011, p.157). If more than one reference has to be

given for the same note, semicolon has to be used to separate

different references. The different elements, their order and

their punctuation marks of APA style are given in the following.

Journal Article printed: Authors’ last names and initials

for first and middle names, full stop, year of publication

within parentheses, full stop, name of the article in

sentence case, full stop, name of the journal italicized and

each word capitalized, comma, volume number followed by

issue number in parentheses, starting page number and ending

page number separated by dash, and full stop. An example is

given below.

Rowan, B. (1994). Comparing teachers' work with work with other

occupations: Notes on the professional status of teaching.

Educational Researcher , 23 (67), 4-21.

Textbook printed: Authors’ last names and initials for first

and middle names, full stop, year of publication within

parentheses, full stop, title of the textbook in italics,

full stop, place of publication, colon, name of the

publisher, and full stop. See the example given below.

Koontz, H., & Weihrich, H. (2005). Essentials of Management-An International Perspective. New Delhi: Tata Mcgraw-Hill Publishing Company.

Edited Book printed: Authors’ last names and initials forfirst and middle names, full stop, year of publicationwithin parentheses, full stop, name of the article insentence case, full stop, ‘In’, editors’ family names andinitials of first and middle names, ‘EDs’ in parentheses,

comma, title of the book in sentence case and italicized,with parentheses ‘pp.’ starting and ending page numbers,full stop, place of publication, colon, name of thepublisher, and full stop.

Meesala, A.. (2005). Strategic Corporate Philanthropy: A New Business Model of ITC. In Dr. Balvinder Shukla & Dr. Sanjeev Prashar (Eds.), Management Case Studies (pp. 208-16). New Delhi: Amity University Press.

Website without author details: Title of the website in italics, full stop, year or year with month and date ( of webpage created) in parentheses, full stop, ‘Retrieved’ month, date, comma, year, comma, ‘from, URL ( no punctuationmark).

Rectal Cancer: National Foundation for Cancer Research.(2014). Retrieved September 27, 2014, from http://www.nfcr.org/rectal-cancer?gclid=COXixtvPgcECFVgNjgodUJ8ARg

Website with author details: Authors’ last names andinitials for first and middle names, full stop, year ofpublication (of webpage created) within parentheses, fullstop, title of the webpage in italics, full stop,‘Retrieved’ month, date, comma, year ( date of accessing thewebsite), comma, ‘from, title of the webpage in title case,colon, URL ( no punctuation mark).

Dr.Appalayya, M. (2011, September 28). How to Do Research for Award of Ph.D. in Management Studies. Retrieved September 27, 2014, from: Ezinearticles.com:http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Do-Research-for-the-Award-of-a-PhD-Degree-in-Management-Studies?&id=6590746

Modern Language Association (MLA) Referencing Format

This is widely used in writing on language and literature.

In-text Citation: The author’s family name, followed by page

number(s) are mentioned but with no punctuation mark in between.

Some examples include: ( a) (Meesala 165); ( b ) (Meesala 165-

179); ( c ) (Meesala & Harpanahalli 165-179).

Journal Article printed: First name ( last name), comma, family

name, full stop, title of the article in title case and in double

quote marks, name of the journal in title case and italics,

volume number, full stop, issue number, and year of publication

within parentheses, colon, starting and ending page numbers, full

stop, Print, and Full stop.

Meesala, A., and Vani, H. "The Impact of Best HR Practices

and Employee Engagement on Career Success: A Discriminant

Analysis" Prabandhan: Indian Journal of Management 7.1 (January

2014): 5-14. Print.

Text book printed: First name ( last name), comma, family name,

full stop, title of the book in title case in italics, full stop,

place of publication, colon, name of the publisher, comma, year

of publication, full stop, and Print.

Carver, R.H., and Nash, J.G. Doing Data Analysis with SPSS. New Delhi: Cengage Learning, 2006. Print.

Edited Book printed: Name. Title of the chapter or article in

title case and full stop and within double quotes, title of the

journal in italics, full stop, Ed, full stop, name of the author,

full stop, place of publication, colon, place of publication,

comma, year of publication, full stop, page numbers, Print, and

full stop.

Appalayya, M. "Strategic Corporate Philanthropy: A New Business Model of ITC." Management Case Studies. Ed. Dr. Balvinder Shukla & Dr. Sanjeev Prashar.

     New Delhi: Amity University Press, 2005. 208-16. Print.

Website without author details: The page title within double

quotation marks, full stop within quotes , name of the website in

italics, full stop, website version, date, full stop, Web, full

stop, date accessed, and full stop.

"Irritable Bowel Syndrome(IBS)." http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Do-

Research-for-the-Award-of-a-PhD-Degree-in-Management-Studies?&id=6590746.

Grocare India, 21 Jan. 2014. Web. 27 Sep. 2014.

Website with author details: Name of the author (last name or

first name), full stop, page title within double quotation marks,

full stop within quotes , name of the website in italics, full

stop, website version, date, full stop, Web, full stop, date

accessed, and full stop.

Hyman, M. "Five Simple Steps to Cure IBS."

http://drhyman.com/blog/2010/09/16/5-simple-steps-to-cure-ibs-without-drugs/#close.

Dr. Mark Hyman, 30 Jan. 2014. Web. 27 Sep. 2014.

Chicago Manual of Style (CMS or Chicago) Referencing Format

Chicago Manual of Style ( CMS), also called ‘Chicago style’,

consists of two variants, one for humanities, and the other for

physical, natural, and social sciences. The style for humanities

is also called ‘Note-Bibliography’ style and that for sciences

called ‘author-date’ style.

In the note-bibliography style, a superscript number ( for

example, 1 or 2 has to be put at the end of the specific passage

which is referred to. This is equivalent to in-text citation of

other styles which were discussed in the foregoing text. Another

extra feature of this style is giving a long or short note at the

end of the paper or at the bottom of the page with the

superscript number cited again. This long or short note may

contain several or fewer details. That apart, an entry with full

details of the reference has to be included in the ‘Bibliography’

arranged in alphabetical order at the end of the paper. The

examples for note-bibliography are given below followed by those

for author-date style.

Journal article printed: For long note- Superscript, authors’

names, comma, title of article in quotes, comma, name of the

journal in title case and italics followed by edition number,

year of publication in parenthesis, colon, starting and ending

page numbers separated by a hyphen, and full stop.

For short note: Superscript, authors’ family names, last couple

of words in the title of the article within double quotes, comma,

starting and ending page numbers, and full stop.

Bibliography: Authors’ names, full stop, title of the article

with all words capitalized with double quotes and with full stop

within quotes, title of the journal with words capitalized and

italicized, volume number, no, full stop, issue number, year of

publication in parentheses, colon, starting and ending page

numbers. The examples are given below.

Long note: 1. Meesala, Appalayya. "Job Satisfaction Determinants in AP State Public Sector Undertakings," Gitam Journal of Management 9 no.4 (2011): 243.

Short Note: 2. Meesala, "Job Satisfaction Determinants," 243–51.

Bibliography: Meesala, Appalayya. " Job Satisfaction Determinantsin AP State Public Sector Undertakings." Gitam Journal of Management9 no. 4 (2011): 243–51.

Book printed: For long note: Superscript, full stop, authors’

names, title of the book in title case and italicized followed by

place of publication, colon, name of the publisher, comma, year

of publication with all three elements written within

parentheses, comma, starting and ending page numbers.

For short note: Superscript, full stop, family names of authors,

first two words of title of the book, page numbers, full stop.

Bibliography: Names of the authors, full stop, title of the book,

full stop, place of publication, name of the publisher, comma,

starting and ending page numbers, and full stop.

The examples are given below.

Long note:  1. Gary Dessler, Human Resource Management (New Delhi: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006), 295–310.

Short Note:  2. Dessler, Human Resource Management, 295. 

Bibliography: Dessler, Gary. Human Resource Management. New Delhi:Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006.

Website with no authors:

Long note: Superscript, title of the page within double quotes,

comma within double quotes, last modified, date, comma, URL, full

stop.

Short note: Superscript, title of the page within double quotes,

full stop within double quotes.

Bibliography: Authors’ names, title of the page within double

quotes and a full stop within double quotes, Last Modified Month,

day, comma, year, full stop, URL and full stop.

The following examples illustrate the elements of the style.

Long note: 1.“ Colorectal Cancer Symptoms,” Last modified March

11, 2014,

http://www.ccalliance.org/colorectal_cancer/symptoms.html.

Short note: 1. “ Colorectal Cancer Symptoms.”

Bibliography: “Colorectal Cancer Symptoms.” Last modified March

11, 2014.

http://www.ccalliance.org/colorectal_cancer/symptoms.html.

Website with authors:

Long note: Superscript, authors’ names, full stop, title of the

page within double quotes, comma within double quotes, last

modified, date, comma, URL, full stop.

Short note: Superscript, full stop, authors names, full stop,

title of the page within double quotes and full stop within

double quotes.

Bibliography: Authors’ names, full stop, title of the page with

double quotes and comma within double quotes, main title of web

site, comma, last modified, month, day, comma, year, comma, URL,

full stop.

The following examples show the use of the foregoing style.

Long note: 1. Hyman. M, “5 Simple Ways to Cure IBS Without

Drugs,” Dr. Mark Hyman Web, last modified August 2, 2014,

http://drhyman.com/blog/2010/09/16/5-simple-steps-to-cure-ibs-

without-drugs/.

Short note: 1. Hyman, “5 Simple Ways to Cure IBS.”

Bibliography: Hyman,M. “5 Simple Ways to Cure IBS Without Drugs,”

Dr. Mark Hyman Web, Last modified August 2, 2014,

http://drhyman.com/blog/2010/09/16/5-simple-steps-to-cure-ibs-

without-drugs/.

The author-date style: The variant of Chicago Manual of Style is

similar to APA in that it has in-text citation. No superscript

number is given. There will be no long or short notes.

In-text citation: Family name, year, comma, page number. The

examples are given below.

( a) (Weinstein 2009, 440); (b) (Pollan 2006, 99–100).

Journal Article in Print

Bibliography: Authors’ names, full stop, year of publication,

title of the article with all words in capitals within double

quotes and a full stop within double quotes, name of the journal

in title case and italicized, volume number, no. issue number,

colon, and starting and ending page numbers. An example is as

follows.

Meesala, A. 2005. “Challenges in B-School Education and

Strategies to Overcome Them.” Business Perspectives 7 no. 2:61–67.

Book

Bibliography: Authors’ names, full stop, title of the book in

italics with every word capitalized, full stop, place of

publication, colon, name of the publisher.

Dessler, Gary. 2006. Human Resource Management. New Delhi: Pearson

Prentice Hall.

Edited Book

Bibliography: Authors’ names, full stop, year, full stop, title

of the chapter followed by full stop and within double quotes,

‘In’, title of the book in italics, comma, ‘edited by’ editors’

names, comma, starting and ending page numbers, full stop, place

of publication, colon, place of publication.

Appalayya, M. 2005. "Strategic Corporate Philanthropy: A New

Business Model of ITC." In Management Case Studies, edited by Dr.

Balvinder Shukla & Dr. Sanjeev Prashar, 208-16. New Dlehi: Amity

University Press.

Website with no authors

Bibliography: Title of the page, full stop, year within

parentheses, full stop, name of the web page owners, “Accessed”

month, day, comma, year, and full stop. An example for this is

given below.

"Irritable Bowel Syndrome." (2013). Grocare India Official Site.

Accessed September 27, 2014. http://diagnose.grocare.com/?

page_id=92&gclid=COKGzY_dgcECFQ4mjgod0icA_g.

Webpage with authors

Bibliography:

Authors’ names, full stop, year of publication, full stop, title

of the page with a full stop and within double quotes, owner of

the website, full stop, “ Accessed” month, day, comma, year, and

full stop.

Hyman, Mark. 2011. "5 Simple Ways to Cure IBS Without Drugs."

National  Dr. Mark Hyman. Accessed September 27, 2014.

http://drhyman.com/blog/2010/09/16/5-simple-steps-to-cure-ibs-

without-drugs/.

These styles are slightly modified by the universities. A slight

modification of CMS style is also called, ‘Turabian’ style while

a slight modification of APA style is called, ‘Harvard style’. A

chosen style should be consistently followed by the authors.

How to Use Microsoft (MS) Word for Making References List

In-text citations and reference lists can be made with Microsoft

Office Word also. A brief description of how one can use MS Word

is presented below.

After typing the relevant content from the source which has to be

referenced, the cursor has to be put either at the beginning of

the passage or end of it as it is deemed appropriate. This is

where the in-text citation will automatically appear as written

once the reference details are filled in the dialogue box.

First, click on ‘References’ ( in the main menu consisting of

Home, Insert, Page Layout, References, Mailings, Review, and

View, this is in the fifth place, preceded by ‘Page Layout’ and

followed by ‘Mailings’). ‘References’ again consists of six sub-

menus which are seen under main menu. The third sub-menu

comprises (1) Insert Citation, (2) Manage Sources, (3) Style

( default APA Fifth), and (4) Bibliography icons.

If one clicks on ‘Insert Citation’, one can see ‘Add New Source’.

If this is clicked, ‘New Source’ dialogue box will open. Before

that, one can choose a referencing ‘Style’ instead of ‘APA Fifth’

which is the default style; there are several choices like MLA,

Chicago, SISTO, Turabian etc.

From the top of the dialogue box, one has to choose an option

with regard to the type of source such as ‘Book’, ‘Journal

Article’, ‘Book Section’, Website etc. For example, if it is a

journal article, the relevant empty fields have to be filled.

Authors’ names have to be filled. If there are more than one

author, they have to be separated with a semicolon. Title of the

article, name of the journal, year of publication, and page

numbers (starting and ending numbers). Later, one has to click

‘Show All Bibliography Fields’ button. A new dialogue box will

appear. The most important fields of the new dialogue box relate

to volume and issue numbers. They have to be filled with

appropriate numbers. Later, OK has to be clicked. Then, one

immediately sees the ‘in-text citation.

Other entries also have to be made by first clicking ‘Insert

Citation’ and later, ‘Add New Source’ and filling the fields of

the dialogue box. After the document is finished, one has to

click on ‘Bibliography’. Again, from the two options –

Bibliography, Work Cited- one has to click an appropriate

option. If a specific ‘list heading’ is not apt for the author,

one can get title-free references (only references) by clicking

on ‘Insert ‘Bibliography’. The heading of an author’s choice can

be written on the top of the references listed.

MS Word can handle any number of references. One can also click

on ‘Manage Sources’ to edit the entries. In the ‘Manage Sources’

dialogue box, the left box contains all the sources of different

works of the author while right box has only those relating to

the current work.

A Quick Look at what one has to do with Literature Review

Literature Review is not a formality; it is an essential

part of the literature.

The important secret which most reviewers know is that if

the literature review is weak, the actual research will be

looked with suspicion about its worth.

Literature review documents all the relevant theories in

full; in a way, this shows what the author knows about the

topic.

The inadequacies of the theory or theories have to be

brought out; the theories have to be evaluated with regard

to their practical use, methodologies used, assumptions

made, and so on.

The reviewer should evaluate each study from a chosen

perspective. The reviewer has to let his voice echo in the

entire review.

The review should follow a pattern or structure; it may be

structured on the basis of chronology, or concept (topics),

benchmark studies or evolution of the topic.

The sources of information should be properly acknowledged

to give authenticity to the work, and give due credit to the

authors of the source.

Reference list can be created with MS Word also by accessing

‘References’ menu.

Bibliography

American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.). Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.

Boote, D. N., & Beile, P. (2005). Scholars before researchers: Onthe centrality of the dissertation literature review in research preparation. Educational Researcher, 34(6), 3-15.

Charles Sturt University. (2008).CSU Learning Skills: Your link to success. Retrieved July10, 2014 from http://www.csu.edu.au/division/studserv/learning

Cooper, H.M. (1988). Organizing Knowledge Synthesis: A Taxonomy of Literature Reviews. Knowledge in Society 1, 109-120.

Hart, C. (1998). Doing a literature review: Releasing the social science research imagination. London: Sage.

Mullins, G., & Kiley, M. (2002). “It’s a PhD, not a Nobel Prize”:How experienced examiners assess research theses. Studies in Higher Education, 27(4), 369-386.

OWL-Online Writing Lab. Sample APA Papers: Literature Review. Retrieved o July 10, 2014 from http://owl.english.purdue.edu/workshops/hypertext/APA/print/papers/litreview.html

Punch, K.F. (2000) Developing effective research proposals. London, Sage.

Randolph, J.J. (2009). A Guide to Writing the Dissertation Literature Review. Practical Assessment, Research and Evaluation,14(13), 1-13. Retrieved July 10, 2014 from http://pareonline.net/getvn.asp?v=14&n=13.

UNSW Current Students. Getting Started on Your Literature Review.Retrieved September 18, 2014 from https://student.unsw.edu.au/getting-started-your-literature-review

Writing a Psychology Literature Review. (2010). University of Washington. Retrieved July 10, 2014 from http://www.psych.uw.edu/psych.php#p=339

Author’s Biography

Appalayya Meesala, holding a doctoral degree in management, spent

20 years in the industry and 11 years in the academics. He is

currently Professor and Director, Dr. B.R Ambedkar Institute of

Management & Technology, Baghlingampally, Hyderabad. His research

interests are in HRM, Marketing and Strategy. He authored over 25

research articles. He gives training in SPSS and AMOS. He can be

contacted on email at: [email protected]. His

mobile number is: 0-9848514011.