What does RRL stand for in research?

RRL stands for review of related literature. It is the part of a research paper or thesis, usually Chapter 2 in the Philippines, that reviews published writing and earlier studies connected to your topic. Some schools title the chapter Review of Related Literature and Studies, and students still call the whole chapter the RRL.

Is the RRL always Chapter 2?

In the two university thesis manuals this guide draws on (PUP and Emilio Aguinaldo College), yes: the problem is Chapter 1, the review is Chapter 2 and the methodology is Chapter 3. Some formats differ. Short senior high school papers and journal-style manuscripts sometimes fold the review into the introduction, and the UP Diliman College of Science manual lists a Review of Literature section without fixing a chapter number. Follow your own school's manual.

How many sources does an RRL need?

It depends on your school. The Polytechnic University of the Philippines thesis manual, for example, sets a minimum of 20 reviewed works for an undergraduate thesis, 40 for a master's thesis and 50 for a dissertation. Other schools set their own number or none. If your manual gives no number, ask your adviser, and choose sources for relevance instead of trying to reach a count.

How old can RRL sources be?

It depends on your school. The PUP manual uses a ten-year window, with an exception for classical theories and other relevant literature. Your school or teacher may set a shorter or longer window. Check your manual, and if you cite something older, be ready to explain to your panel why it still matters.

What citation style is used for an RRL in the Philippines?

Check your manual. The PUP and Emilio Aguinaldo College manuals both require APA, and the Department of Education's Practical Research 2 curriculum guide names APA, MLA or the Chicago Manual of Style. The EAC manual also mentions ACM and IEEE formats. Both university manuals date from 2017 and refer to the APA 6th edition, while the 7th edition is dated 2020, so confirm which edition your department currently enforces.

Can I use AI to write my RRL?

Check your school's AI policy first. Whatever it allows, the chapter has to rest on sources you have opened and read: general chatbots can produce references that do not exist, so every reference an AI tool suggests must be checked against the publisher or a library database before you cite it. Search tools can help you find real papers, build search keywords and keep citations organized. The reading, the synthesis and the wording should be yours, and you will have to defend them before your panel.

What Is an RRL? Review of Related Literature Explained

If you study in the Philippines, you will hear "RRL" long before anyone explains it. Your research teacher says the RRL is due Friday. Your groupmates ask who is doing the RRL. This guide explains what the term means, what goes into it, and what school manuals ask for.

What RRL means

RRL stands for review of related literature. It is the section of a research paper, thesis or dissertation that reviews what has already been written and found about your topic.

In the chapter-based thesis format, the RRL is Chapter 2. The PUP thesis manual, for example, titles Chapter 1 "The Problem and Its Setting" and Chapter 2 "Review of Literature and Studies". The Emilio Aguinaldo College manual outlines five chapters: Introduction, Literature Review, Methodology, Results and Discussion, and Summary, Conclusions and Recommendations. Chapter titles vary by school, so copy them from your own manual.

Outside the Philippines the same chapter is usually called a literature review. The work is the same. The Philippine format is more specific about how the chapter is divided, which is covered below and in our comparison of RRL, literature review and RRS.

What an RRL is for

The Emilio Aguinaldo College thesis manual lists reasons for including a source in the review: it deals with a theory that undergirds your study, it puts your study into an external context, it defines the current state of research in your area, it helps maintain a coherent argument, and it acknowledges the work of others. Put together, a good RRL does four jobs:

It shows your panel that you know the topic well enough to research it.
It gives you the concepts, variables and theories you will use in your framework and instruments.
It shows what has already been answered, so you do not repeat it.
It identifies the gap: the question, place, group or method that earlier work has not covered. That gap is the reason your study exists.

The Department of Education builds the same skills into senior high school. The Practical Research 2 curriculum guide lists nine competencies under reviewing the literature, and the first five concern the review itself: selecting relevant literature, citing it in a standard style, synthesizing information, writing a coherent review, and following ethical standards.

What goes inside an RRL

Two terms matter here.

Related literature is published material that gives your study its conceptual background: books, journal articles that discuss ideas and theories, government reports, laws, and reputable reference works.

Related studies are earlier research investigations with their own problem, method and findings: journal research articles, theses and dissertations.

Some Philippine manuals then divide each of these by origin. The Emilio Aguinaldo College manual, for example, uses this outline:

Review of Related Literature
- Foreign Literature
- Local Literature
Review of Related Studies
- Foreign Studies
- Local Studies
Synthesis

Local means written or conducted in the Philippines. Foreign means everything else. The final synthesis pulls the chapter together: what the sources agree on, where they conflict, what is missing, and how your study responds.

Not every school uses the foreign and local split. The PUP thesis manual says the review "shall be organized thematically", with subheadings based on themes, and asks for a synthesis at the end of the chapter. The EAC manual also notes that the RRL can be written using a thematic or conceptual presentation. If your manual allows a thematic structure, it lets you compare sources by idea instead of listing them by country.

Where the framework goes

Students often ask whether the theoretical and conceptual framework belongs in the RRL. It depends on the school. PUP places both frameworks in Chapter 1. Other schools place them elsewhere. Check your manual before you outline.

How long an RRL should be

There is no national rule, and none of the manuals cited below sets a page count for Chapter 2. What the PUP manual does set is a minimum number of reviewed works (20 for an undergraduate thesis, 40 for a master's thesis, 50 for a dissertation). If your manual gives neither, ask your adviser. The EAC manual's advice is to be selective: for each source, ask why you are including it and how it relates to your research problem.

What to check before you submit

These points follow from the manuals cited below and from the DepEd competencies.

Relevance. Each source should connect to one of your variables, your setting or your method.
Recency. Manuals may set a window. PUP uses ten years, with an exception for classical theories.
Balance. If your format requires foreign and local sources, both should be present. A chapter with no Philippine sources invites the question of whether you searched for any.
Synthesis. The EAC manual warns against a "he said, she said" enumeration of summaries. A review should organize, relate and critique its sources and state what is and is not known.
Citation accuracy. Every in-text citation needs a matching reference entry, and the reverse. See our APA 7th edition guide.
Originality. Summarize in your own words and cite. Copying abstracts is plagiarism even with a citation attached.

Common mistakes

Starting to write before settling the research problem and variables. You end up reviewing the wrong literature.
Using blogs, Scribd uploads and content-farm sites as sources.
Citing a study you only saw quoted in someone else's Chapter 2. Find and read the original, or cite it as a secondary source.
Skipping the synthesis, or writing one that only repeats the summaries.
Accepting references from a chatbot without checking that the paper exists. See how to cite sources you found through AI tools.

Next steps

Follow the full process in how to write an RRL, with a structure template and a worked example.
Learn where to find foreign and local sources for your RRL.
If your topic is still vague, start with how to write a research question.

References

Polytechnic University of the Philippines. (2017). University thesis and dissertation manual. ISBN 978-971-95208-8-7. https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/pupuniversitythesisanddissertationmanualwithisbnasof080717pdf/251450946
Emilio Aguinaldo College, Research and Development Office. (n.d.). Manual on thesis writing (A.Y. 2017–2018 edition). https://eac.edu.ph/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/EACC-RDO-Manual_on-Thesis-Writing.pdf
University of the Philippines Diliman, College of Science. (2021). Style and format manual for thesis and dissertations (Rev. ed.). https://science.upd.edu.ph/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/revised_Style-and-Format-Manual_Revised-September-2021.pdf
Department of Education. (2013). K to 12 senior high school applied track subject: Practical Research 2 curriculum guide. https://www.deped.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/SHS-Applied_Research-2-CG.pdf

Wonders is a research workspace for finding real, citable sources and organizing them by theme before you write. It does not write your RRL for you. If you want to see how the search step works, read where to find sources for your RRL.