Review of Related Literature Example (RRL): Local and Foreign Literature, Studies and Synthesis (2026)

Quick answer

A review of related literature (RRL) summarizes and connects what books, articles and earlier studies say about your topic, then shows the gap your study fills. In Philippine research it is usually Chapter 2, divided into related literature and related studies, each local and foreign, and ends with a synthesis. Below is an annotated RRL example, APA 7 citation samples and a free way to find sources.

What Is a Review of Related Literature (RRL)?

The review of related literature (RRL) is the part of your paper that shows what is already known about your topic. In most Philippine Senior High School and college templates, it is Chapter 2: Review of Related Literature and Studies. It does three jobs:

Updated October 2026.

1. Shows you know the topic. You summarize the main ideas, theories and findings about your variables.
2. Connects sources. You compare what different authors found: where they agree, where they disagree.
3. Finds the gap. You show what is still missing, which is the reason your study exists.

A good RRL is not a list of summaries. It is organized by topic or variable, every claim has a citation, and it ends with a synthesis that leads directly to your research problem. This guide uses the same running example as our quantitative research example and Chapter 1 research example: "Study Habits and Academic Performance of Grade 12 STEM Students." For the general method of reviewing literature at any level, see how to write a literature review.

Jump to: Literature vs studies · Structure · Full example · Synthesis · APA 7 · Find sources free · Checklist · FAQ

Related Literature vs Related Studies (and Local vs Foreign)

Many Philippine templates ask for four groups: local literature, foreign literature, local studies and foreign studies. The difference is simple.

Related literature is published writing that explains or discusses your topic but is not itself a research study: textbooks, theory books, review articles, government reports, laws and policies (for example, DepEd orders), and articles in professional magazines.

Related studies are research with a method and results: journal articles reporting surveys or experiments, published theses and dissertations, and conference papers. When you describe a study, mention who the respondents were, what method was used and what was found.

Local means written in or about the Philippines. Foreign means from other countries. Some schools define local as within your region and national as the rest of the Philippines; follow your teacher.

RRL Structure: How to Organize Chapter 2

There are two common ways to organize an RRL. The first is by source type (local literature, foreign literature, local studies, foreign studies). The second, which most advisers now prefer, is by topic or variable, with local and foreign sources mixed inside each topic. Topic-based organization makes comparison easier and avoids a "list of summaries."

A practical compromise that fits most templates: organize by topic, and within each topic, discuss literature first, then studies, and mention whether each is local or foreign in the sentence.

Review of Related Literature Example (Annotated)

Below is a short, original illustrative RRL written by our team. The writing, the local studies and the structure are invented for teaching. Two foreign studies are real and cited correctly so you can see how real citations look; everything marked [illustrative] is a placeholder you must replace with a real, traceable source in your own paper. Do not copy this text as your own work.

Title: Study Habits and Academic Performance of Grade 12 STEM Students

Topic 1: Study Habits

Study Habits

Study habits refer to the regular methods and routines a learner uses to prepare for classes and examinations, such as planning study time, taking notes, reviewing for tests and keeping attention while studying [foreign literature: cite a textbook or review that defines study habits]. Theories of self-regulated learning describe effective learners as people who plan their learning, monitor their progress and adjust their strategies [foreign literature: cite the theory source].

In the Philippine setting, educational psychology textbooks describe study habits as learned behaviors that schools can strengthen through guidance programs [local literature, illustrative]. A survey of Grade 11 students in a public school in Region IV-A found that time management was the weakest study habit, while note-taking was the strongest [local study, illustrative].

Topic 2: Study Habits and Academic Performance

Study Habits and Academic Performance

Several foreign studies have found a link between study habits and grades. Bin Abdulrahman et al. (2021) surveyed 675 medical students from six colleges in Saudi Arabia and found a significant correlation between study habits and academic achievement; highly effective students managed their time, removed interruptions such as phones, and set study goals. Similarly, Aljaffer et al. (2024) surveyed 336 medical students and reported significant associations between some study habits, such as motivation for self-fulfillment and recall of recently studied material, and academic achievement.

Local findings point in the same direction but are mostly descriptive. A study of senior high school students in Mindanao reported that students with "very good" study habits had higher average grades, but it did not test the relationship statistically [local study, illustrative]. Another local thesis among college freshmen found only a weak relationship between study habits and GWA, suggesting that other factors, such as financial difficulty, also matter [local study, illustrative].

Synthesis Example

Synthesis

The reviewed literature and studies agree that study habits, especially time management and concentration, are related to students' academic performance (Aljaffer et al., 2024; Bin Abdulrahman et al., 2021). However, most foreign studies were done with college or medical students, whose schedules and learning demands differ from those of senior high school students. Local studies were mostly descriptive or involved college freshmen, and some found weaker relationships than foreign studies did. Few studies have measured the study habits of Grade 12 STEM students in a Philippine public senior high school and statistically tested their relationship with GWA. The present study fills this gap by measuring four areas of study habits and testing their relationship with the first-semester GWA of Grade 12 STEM students.

Weak vs Strong RRL Writing

The most common panel comment on Chapter 2 is "This is just a list of summaries." Compare these illustrative samples.

How to Cite in Your RRL (APA 7th Edition)

Most Philippine schools use APA 7th edition. You need an in-text citation in the sentence and a full reference in the reference list at the end of the paper.

In-text citations

• One author: (Santos, 2023) or Santos (2023) found…
• Two authors: (Reyes & Cruz, 2022) or Reyes and Cruz (2022)
• Three or more authors: (Aljaffer et al., 2024) or Bin Abdulrahman et al. (2021)
• Two sources together: (Aljaffer et al., 2024; Bin Abdulrahman et al., 2021), in alphabetical order

Reference list (journal articles, real examples)

Aljaffer, M. A., Almadani, A. H., AlDughaither, A. S., Basfar, A. A., AlGhadir, S. M., AlGhamdi, Y. A., AlHubaysh, B. N., AlMayouf, O. A., AlGhamdi, S. A., Ahmad, T., & Abdulghani, H. M. (2024). The impact of study habits and personal factors on the academic achievement performances of medical students. BMC Medical Education, 24(1), Article 888. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-024-05889-y

Bin Abdulrahman, K. A., Khalaf, A. M., Bin Abbas, F. B., & Alanazi, O. T. (2021). Study habits of highly effective medical students. Advances in Medical Education and Practice, 12, 627–633. https://doi.org/10.2147/AMEP.S309535

Note the pattern: authors (surname, initials), year, article title in sentence case, journal name and volume in italics, issue in parentheses, pages or article number, then the DOI as a link. APA 7 lists up to 20 authors in the reference list. For more examples, see the official APA Style journal article references page.

Shortcut: on Ocean of Papers, every paper has a ready citation in APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, Vancouver and BibTeX. Always double-check capitalization and italics against your school's guide before submitting.

How to Find RRL Sources Free With Ocean of Papers

Finding enough real, recent studies is the hardest part of the RRL for most students. Here is a free workflow on Ocean of Papers, which searches 250M+ papers from OpenAlex, PubMed, arXiv, bioRxiv, medRxiv and Europe PMC and links to legal free PDFs (via Unpaywall, PubMed Central, arXiv, bioRxiv and medRxiv) where they exist.

1. Search your variables. Type your two variables together, for example "study habits academic performance", and add your respondents ("high school", "senior high", "Philippines") to find local studies. If you already have a DOI, paste it to open the exact paper.
2. Open a citation map. On one strong study, open its citation map. Switch to Prior works to see the older studies it builds on, and Derivative works to see newer studies that cite it. This is the fastest way to find recent foreign and local studies on the same topic.
3. Save to a project. Create a free account and save the best papers into a library project (for example, "Chapter 2 – Study habits"), with notes and tags such as local, foreign, literature or study.
4. Use Discover. Discover looks at the papers in your project and suggests ones you are missing, with a reason for each (for example, "cited by 3 of your papers"). Add the useful ones with one click.
5. Export citations. Copy each paper's APA citation, or export the whole project as BibTeX, RIS or CSV.

The free plan includes unlimited search, PDFs and exports plus 5 new citation maps per month. For a deeper guide on building the map, read citation network and how to find papers that cite a paper. For other free databases, see free academic search engines.

1. Search — Variables + respondents
2. Citation map — Prior and derivative works
3. Save to project — Tag local / foreign
4. Discover — Papers you are missing
5. Cite in APA 7 — Copy or export

RRL Example for Qualitative Research

For a qualitative study such as "Lived Experiences of Working Students in Senior High School" from our qualitative research example, the RRL is organized by the themes of your research questions instead of variables. An illustrative outline:

• Working students: who they are and why they work (local and foreign studies, mostly on college students).
• Challenges of balancing work and school: fatigue, absences, missed group work.
• Coping strategies: problem-focused (planning, asking for help) and emotion-focused (prayer, positive thinking).
• Synthesis (illustrative): "Most reviewed studies focused on college students and used surveys. Few explored the experiences of senior high school working students in their own words. This study fills that gap."

The rules are the same: organize by topic, compare sources, cite everything, and end with a synthesis that leads to your research questions.

RRL Checklist

Check these before submitting Chapter 2:

• The chapter opens with a short paragraph explaining its organization.
• Sources are grouped by topic or variable, not listed one per paragraph.
• Your template's required groups are covered (local and foreign literature, local and foreign studies).
• Each study is described with respondents, method and main finding.
• Sources are compared with signal words (similarly, in contrast, however).
• Most sources are recent (many schools ask for the last 5–10 years), apart from classic theories.
• Every source is real and traceable: you can give its DOI, URL or library location.
• Every in-text citation appears in the reference list, and vice versa, in APA 7 format.
• No pasted abstracts; everything is paraphrased in your own words.
• The synthesis states agreements, limitations, the gap and how your study fills it.
• The gap matches the one in your Chapter 1 background, and your variables match your research methodology.

FAQ

What is an RRL example?

An RRL example is a sample Chapter 2 that shows how to summarize, compare and synthesize sources on a topic. The annotated example above, on study habits and academic performance, shows topic-based organization, local and foreign sources, and a synthesis paragraph.

What is the difference between related literature and related studies?

Related literature is writing about the topic that is not research, such as books, theories, reviews, laws and policies. Related studies are research papers or theses with methods and results. Many Philippine templates ask for both, local and foreign.

What is a local and foreign literature example?

A local literature example is a DepEd order or a Philippine textbook on study habits. A foreign literature example is an international textbook or review article on self-regulated learning. Studies follow the same split: Philippine research is local, research from other countries is foreign.

How many sources should my RRL have?

It depends on your school. Many senior high school teachers ask for around 10 to 20 sources, and college theses often need more. Quality matters more than number: use real, relevant and mostly recent studies.

How do I write a synthesis in an RRL?

State what the sources agree on, how they differ or are limited, what is still missing, and how your study fills that gap. Keep it to one or two paragraphs at the end of the chapter, with citations.

Where can I find related studies for free?

Search your variables on Ocean of Papers, open a citation map on a strong study to find earlier and later work, and use Discover to see papers your project is missing. Many studies have legal free PDFs through PubMed Central, Unpaywall and preprint servers.

Can I cite theses and online articles in my RRL?

Yes, if they are real and traceable. Published theses, journal articles and official reports are good sources. Avoid essay-sharing sites and pages with no author, date or publisher.

Can I copy the RRL example on this page?

No. Most of it is illustrative, and placeholders marked [illustrative] are not real sources. Use it to learn the structure, then write your own RRL with real sources in your own words.

Related guides

• How to write a literature review (with example PDFs)
• Chapter 1 research example (background of the study)
• Research methodology (Chapter 3) example
• Qualitative research example (Chapters 1–5)
• Citation network: what it is and how to make one free

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