Yelfiza/ Jurnal Arbitrer - Vol. 7 No. 2 (2020) Online version available in : http://arbitrer.fib.unand.ac.id | 2339-1162 (Print) | 2550-1011 (Online) | JURNAL ARBITRER SubmiSSion Track A B S T R A C T Recieved: March 28, 2020 Final Revision: October 23, 2020 Available Online: October 25, 2020 This research aimed to investigate the relevance between the literature reviews and the research questions of the theses written by the students who graduated in 2019 from seven study programs in STKIP PGRI Sumatera Barat. The research design was qualitative research which focused on describing, explaining, and exploring the students’ thesis writings, whether the literature reviews described were relevant to their research questions. Purposive sampling was the technique used to select the data that consisted of 13 students’ theses. This research focused on those 13 theses because they were written in a qualitative method, which showed the relevance between research questions and the literature review. Here, content analysis was used to analyze the data to show whether the literature review of each thesis discusses the relevant theories to answer the research questions. The result showed that among 13 students’ theses, 6 theses were relevant, and 7 were irrelevant. It means that more students had written with irrelevant theories. It can be suggested to the thesis advisors to give more attention to the quality of students’ theses because the irrelevance can interfere with the qualities of their theses. keyword Relevance, research questions, theories correSpondence Phone: 085274637328 E-mail: yelfiza @stkip-pgri-sumbar.ac.id siska@stkip-pgri-sumbar.ac.id Article The Relevance between Theses Literature Reviews and Research Questions Written by Students of STKIP PGRI Sumatera Barat Graduated in 2019 Yelfiza1, Siska2 1,2English Department of STKIP PGRI Sumatera Barat, Padang, Indonesia Under Liscense of Creative Commons Attributioni-NonCommercial 4.0 International.DOI: https://doi.org/10.25077/ar.7.2.162-172.2020 I. INTRODUCTION Writing a thesis is an obligatory academic life dimension because the students must complete this task to be considered graduate students. The purpose of writing a thesis is not only as necessary to complete the final task of the bachelor program but also to sharpen the students’ critical thinking and innovative way to communicate or to report their ideas about what they found while researching with effective communication. When writing a thesis, students could better develop their critical and analytical thinking to find out problem- solving with strong argumentation. All these skills are needed to prepare them to compete in getting a successful working life. By writing the thesis, students directly practice their knowledge and capability to create new scientific knowledge to present the evidence or proof of their study interest. Kusmana in Syahrin, at all ( 2019), stated, “the idea of science must be trusted and accepted by the truth so that it is necessary to present it correctly”. In writing a thesis, the students enable themselves to use the logical argument and thinking to answer the research question and have the capability to link between the problems to the facts so that the problems could be solved accurately and correctly. In other words, good researchers must write relevant thoughts or ideas in each structure and content of thesis writing. Perk ( 2015) explains that IMRAD with the acronym for introduction, method, results, and discussion becomes a more popular structure and thesis writing content. As explained in this research, the introduction must contain the study’s background, problem statement, research question, study aim, or hypothesis. It also includes a literature review. 162 Yelfiza/ Jurnal Arbitrer - Vol. 7 No. 2 (2020) In the introduction section, the topic or the problem should be stated clearly. The method describes how the research is conducted accurately, including the study area, type or the design of the research, the population and sample, instrumentation, and data processing, consisting of data collection and data analysis. The writer must describe the research’s main outcome to answer the research question in the result section. It can be presented through figures, tables, photographs, and maps. Furthermore, in the discussion section, the research results should be interpreted by relating and comparing them within a broader literature context. In STKIP PGRI Sumatera Barat, the place where the researchers conducted the research, it was found that the structure and the content of the thesis writing done by the students followed Perk’s theory. However, it is a little bit different in the introduction section. This section does not contain a literature review because it becomes a single part of thesis writing that discusses the related theories to answer the research questions. Literature review is one of the most important parts or sections of thesis writing because it determined how the researcher could answer the research problem or question. Good literature must reflect the students’ works to investigate the areas of study related to the research topic and research problem to find the answer to research questions (Faryadi, 2018). Young (2017) stated that a review of related literature plays a crucial role in developing a research problem and the whole research process. It is often argued for those research problems which are not grounded in current literature and have weak relevance. Relevance can determine whether the process of writing or doing research is well done or not. In other words, to compose a qualified research thesis needs a special concern for the relevance of research problems and the theories to synthesize the problem. In this case, a researcher must have good capability to find out and cite the related theories and present a better understanding or explanation about those theories to strengthen the case for an in-depth investigation of the research problems. To build the relevance between research problems or questions and literature reviews, a researcher must understand or know the principle of writing those research questions and literature reviews. According to Anderson (2005), the researcher must find out the theories or citations that show or represent the relevant information to the research topic or problems while doing a research process. It emphasized that the researcher must be aware that all the thesis writing contents must present the relevant criteria of information to link each writing chapter. In this case, it is required that the researcher must have good ideas to review all the sources used in the research by giving the related information or discussion to answer research questions. Furthermore, it was supported by Yule in Dossoumou ( 2018) “the appropriate number of cohesive ties may be a crucial factor in our judgments on whether something is well written or not.” The appropriateness is one of the main criteria to determine whether the literature review in the thesis writing could synthesize all theories to determine the best answer to the research question. A good writing thesis should have ideas, content, or information in the literature review relevant to the research questions. The research problem can be solved using that literature or theories. Syahrin et al. ( 2019) agreed that the pattern of creative thinking in students’ scientific works allows them to produce diverse ideas, thus from these ideas, one can choose the most appropriate answer in problem-solving. Then, Dinler in Akkaya & Aydın ( 2018)explained that researchers who are confronted with many sources would waste much time, so they need to classify their sources systematically to choose the sources directly related to the research problem. It can be said that to write a more qualified thesis with valuable time. The researcher must use creative thinking to seek more appropriate journals or theories to be considered as acceptable sources relevant to answering the research questions. However, looking for appropriate sources is not a simple task for students since it needs hard work, effort, time, and good background knowledge. Sometimes, the students found obstacles when the theories they want are not available in the library and could not be accessed through the internet. Alsied & Ibrahim (2018) expressed, “most students encounter some hindrances when doing research such as issues related to ethics, knowing how to invest the time required and finding resources they need”. It clarifies that looking for the research sources is not easy because it is a very challenging 163 Yelfiza/ Jurnal Arbitrer - Vol. 7 No. 2 (2020) task to do and needs patient and time sacrifice. Related to this theory, the students in STKIP PGRI Sumatera Barat experienced the same condition in how they sometimes could not find what they wanted to support their research writing, such as the related journal, articles, or books. As a result, their thesis writing could not be completed in the right schedules. This research aims to see or find out the relevant theories used in the literature review in the thesis writing of the students of STKIP PGRI Sumatera Barat with their research questions. This research’s finding is really important to determine whether the students’ thesis writing has good relevance, especially between the literature reviews with their research questions. Furthermore, it will be the reflection or special feedback on the students’ task for writing a thesis to make the supervisor or advisor aware of writing quality. They can encourage the students to find out more related theories and discuss or extend the ideas to show their relevance and literature review. II. METHODS This research used a qualitative approach with the content analysis method because this research described, explained, and explored the student’s research writing to determine whether the content or theories discussed in the literature reviews of their theses were relevant to the research problem questions. After discussing with thesis advisors from seven study programs in STKIP PGRI Sumatera Barat, including English, Indonesian, Geography, Biology, Sociology, History, and Guidance and Counseling Study Programs, each study program agreed to recommend the graduated students as the participants of this research. The participants were chosen through purposive sampling in what case the researchers just needed and focused on the students who wrote or did qualitative research. Here, each study program advisor recommended two participants whose thesis writing with qualitative research shows the relevance between theories and research questions. The total numbers of participants in this research were 14 students. Unfortunately, this research used 13 participants. One participant was excluded because no data of his thesis was published in the Library of STKIP Sumatera Barat. This student did not submit his thesis to the library. This research’s data were the theses writing, especially the research questions and literature reviews of each thesis written by 13 participants as the graduate students in 2019 recommended by seven study programs, as mentioned before. Here, the researchers investigated the content of the literature reviews used by the participants and whether those reviews described the relevance between the theories and the research questions. The data were collected using non- participant observation. The researchers did not contact the participants directly. The researcher did the library research toward theses collected at the central library of STKIP PGRI in the form of soft data of the proposed participants. Then, the researchers did the content analysis on the content of each thesis’s literature review to prove whether the citation or theories used in the chapter of Literature Reviews could better explain or discuss the related knowledge or information that can support the problem solving the research question. The relevance between the literature reviews and research questions of each student’s thesis was analyzed based on three main criteria; interrelation, the truth, and the validity of theories used within the review to answer the research question (Kivunja, 2018; Snyder, 2019). III. RESULT This section presents the research result after the researchers did the content analysis on the documents exactly the research theses of graduated students in 2019 concerned on the relevance between the research question and its literature review. This relevance was determined from the criteria of interrelationships, true relation, and the validity between theories discussed in the literature review and the research questions. It means that all information stated in the theories or literature reviews were related to research questions and were valuable to answer or to solve the research problems. From the process of this content analysis, the researchers found among 13 theses from the research participants from 7 study programs in STKIP PGRI Sumatera Barat. 6 theses contained the appropriateness or relevance between the literature 164 Yelfiza/ Jurnal Arbitrer - Vol. 7 No. 2 (2020) reviews the research questions, and 7 theses showed the irrelevances. The representative data of relevance and irrelevance of students’ tasks in writing the literature review and research question in students’ theses writing found through this research can be seen in the following description. Relevant Literature Review and Research Question P (1) Excerpt (1) Research Question: “How are the levels of passive-aggressive of the tenth-grade students at SMKN 4 Padang in the academic year 2017/2018?” From the research question in excerpt (1), it is quite clear that the participant (I) would like to see the levels of students passive-aggressive. Of course, the theories related to aggressive behavior are needed to discuss that behavior’s level. Before finding the level of students’ aggressive behavior, it is very important to know which students who have passive behavior to determine the study object’s accuracy or participants. In her literature review, participant (1) used the theories that explained passive-aggressive behavior first from four experts’ opinions. He tried to review the definition with the theories while describing the characteristic of passive-aggressive behavior so that the knowledge about passive behavior could be delivered clearly in the thesis writing (Tenbrink, 2009; Crookston, 2012; Prasetyono, 2013; Hopwood 2009; Synder, 2010; and Ni, 2015. Then, participant (1) continued the literature review by discussing the level of passive-aggressive behavior by explaining the criteria and standards of each level so that the theories given were adequate to design the indicators for measuring the level of students aggressive behavior (Withsong, 2016; Sally,2011; Khasani, et al., 2012. From this literature review, it could be seen that participant (1) was a success in synthesizing the theories by presenting the theories that discuss the problems as stated in the research question so that the research question could be answered clearly. P(2) Excerpt (2) Research question : “Apa saja peyebab masalah social dalam Novel Gading- Gading Ganesha karya Dermawan Wibisono”? (What are the causes of social problems in Gading- Gading Ganesha Novel by Dermawan Wibosono?) The research questions in the excerpt (2) showed that the researcher intended to find out the causes of social problems existing in Gading- Gading Ganesha Novel. Participant (2) began her literature review by defining the novel and discussing the novel’s element that consists of intrinsic elements and extrinsic elements from some experts (Nurgiyantoro, 1995; Murdi & Hasanudin WS, 1992; Atmazaki, 2007; Aminuddin, 2011). To ease analyzing the social problems existing in the novel used in this research, the participant cited the theories about the sociology of the literature approach (Damono, 1984; Wallek& Warren, 1989; Ratna, 2011). Through these approaches, the participant linked the society’s condition in the novel to the real society’s condition in where the novel was released. Based on this approach, the literature work, including novels, reflects real social life. In other words, to know about the social problem in the novel, the participant (2) should first know the condition of the real society where the novel was published. Then, participant (2) discussed deeply and extensively social problems and their causes by using theories from some experts (Soekanto,2012; Roucek& Warren, 2012 ; Phelps, 2012). Participant (2) described more detail about the classification of social problems and the factors that cause those problems appeared in the society in the novel by giving some examples and evidence by liking those problems with the real fact happen in the real society. P (3) Excerpt(3) Research Question: “What are the students’ needs on listening material for the students at English Department STKIP PGRI Sumatera Barat academic year 2018/2019? Participant (3) would like to investigate the students’ needs on listening material for English students, as stated in the research question in the excerpt (3). In her literature review, participant (3) cited adequate valuable theories to discuss her study. It is very important to give the learning material based on the students’ needs to achieve achievement better. 165 Yelfiza/ Jurnal Arbitrer - Vol. 7 No. 2 (2020) To discuss the students’ needs, participant (3) used the theories about need analysis within English for Specific Purposes because whatever the students’ material must be appropriate or meet with the student needs. Doing need analysis aims to know more detail what is actually needed by the students on learning material (Hyland, 2006; Basturkmen, 2006; Richard, 2014; Hutchinson and Waters, 2008; Dudley-Evan&Jhon, 2008; Halgesen and Brown, 2007; Nation and Jonathan, 2009 Through these theories, the participant (3) discussed about the purpose of need analysis, components of need analysis, the target need consisting necessities, lack and want and learning needs. Then, in her literature review, participant (3) designed the need analysis instruments based on the target need and learning need. However, before completing the instrument or indicators of the study, the participant (3) linked need analysis theories to the listening material to get the students’ real need on listening material (Tosta, 2001; Pardo and Tellez, 2009, Rost, 2002). By having these theories, the participant (3) could enable herself to evaluate the indicators of students needing analysis toward listening material to synthesize the research question. As described above, the literature reviews done by the participants are considered a relevant and systematic review. The participants had the good capability to implement the theories and generalized the ideas by presenting and connecting the research variables. In other words, the theories used can be explained critically to answer research questions. The participants then showed the relevance of theories used in their literature review to the research question based on the criteria of the validity of the sources when the participants used the accurate theories that come from many experts. Furthermore, literature reviews described by the participants comprise the theories that contain the truth. It means that all the theories used in the literature review were true and could be better proven. Jacard and Jacob in Kivunja ( 2018) said that “each theory used comprise a common frame of reference that can be used by researchers in a particular discipline as to what is understood to be true or a basis for searching for meaning and truth in our lived experiences and a well-grounded guide for research within the field”. It means that the theories must be able to present the empirical data to show the relationship between what studies in the research and the real-life situation. Irrelevant Literature Review and Research Question P (9) Excerpt (9) Research question : Bagaimanakah gaya bahasa figurative dalam kumpulan Puisi-puisi Cintakarya W.S Rendra ? (How is the figurative language style in the collection of Puisi-puisi Cinta written by W.S Rendra?) In the literature review, participant (9) implemented the theories that talked about the definition of poetry ( Wahyuni, 2014 ; Mihardja , 2012). The description did just consists of two paragraphs without more detailed information about the definition of the poetry itself. Then, the participant cited the theories that discuss poetry (Wahyuni, 2014). The description did not give the specific characters of poetry but discussed it generally. Also, the participant showed the structure of poetry ( Djojosuroto ,2006). It was also discussed in a short explanation that makes the reader not know the poetry itself. The participant continued explaining the definition of figurative language into four paragraphs ( Hasanuddin, 2002; Pradopo, 2002 ). Then, the participant described the type of figurative language (Hasanuddin, 2002). Here, the participant did blunt discussion by using one expert to explain the type of figurative language. There was less information presented through this theory because no available examples or no evidence stated in each theory about the type of figurative language. P(10) Excerpt (10) Research question : Bagaimana Hambatan Guru Bimbingan Konseling dalam melaksanakan Layanan informasi Bimbingan Karir? (How is the Guidance Counseling Teacher’s barriers in giving career guidance information service?) The participant (10) started her literature review by describing the nature of barriers that consist of internal and external barriers, but no example is provided here. The discussion was just done in 166 Yelfiza/ Jurnal Arbitrer - Vol. 7 No. 2 (2020) one paragraph (Djoko, 2009). Then, the participant (10) continued to describe the definition of a counseling guidance teacher (Lumanggo,2011). Unfortunately, the discussion was not talking about counseling guidance teachers, but it discussed the counselor’s definition. Furthermore, the participant (10) developed the idea to explain the counseling guidance teacher’s function. Still, no related information was provided because the theory talked about the counselor’s function, not the function of the counseling guidance teacher (Lumanggo, 2011). The participant (10) also stated the theories about counseling guidance teachers (Salahudin, 2010) but no review. The participant (10) just stated the genuine theory like the real sources. Then, the participant (10) explained the definition of career information service and its purpose (Prayitno, 2004; Winkel, 2005; Yusuf and Nurihsan, 2010). However, the theories did not discuss the purpose of the career. It discussed more detail about the purpose of guidance and counseling. Then, the participant (10) described the nature of career guidance (Walgoti; 2010; Hartono, 2016; Surya, 2008; Salahuddin, 2010) and Zunker, 2002). Next, the participant (10) discussed career guidance (Sukardi, 1987; Hartono, 2016). Here, the participant (10) gave a good explanation about the purpose of career guidance. The participant (10) talked about the function of career guidance and the principle of career guidance ( Walgito, 2010). However, about the principle of career guidance, the participant used no theories; she tried to explain what she understood about the information service principles. Finally, the participant (10) discussed implementing career guidance at school ( Manrihu, 1988; Septya, 2015), but the theories did not give the information about the teachers’ barrier in providing career guidance information service. P(11) Excerpt (11) Research question: “Permasalahan apa saja yang dialami guru sejarah dalam meningkatkan penanaman nilai-nilai pendidikan karakter pada siswa di SMAN 4 Kota Solok?” (What problems are faced by history teachers in increasing the inculcation of character education values at the students in SMAN 4 Kota Solok ?) Based on the research problem, this study is purposed to find out the problems, especially faced by a history teacher. The participant (11) used some theories to discuss this problem. The literature review was begun by explaining the theory of value (Adisusilo, 2012), but the explanations were to an extent without any specific information about the value. Then, the participant (11) used the theories about character education (Yaumi, 2014; Muslich, 2011; Saptano, 2011; Yahya, 2010). Unfortunately, the participant (11) did not review the correlation of theories about character education and value because the theories were discussed separately. The participant presented the theories about the value of education, the purpose of education value, the learning experiences, the implementation of the basic education, and the alternative method in implementing the basic education value. (Elmubarok, 2009; AryUtami, 2014 ). In this discussion, the review did not show the description of education character values and how to implement those values. The participant (11) described the general character values, not education characters’ values, based on the demanded character stated in the curriculum. The participant (11) also offers no theories about the inculcation of the character education values in the teaching and learning process. P(12) Excerpt (12) Research question “Bagaimana koordinasi pengawasan pengelolaan Limbah cair rumah sakit Tiara Sella Padang Jati Kota Bengkulu?” (How is the coordination of the supervision of liquid waste management done at Tiara Sella Padang Jati, Bengkulu ) In this research, the participant (12) would like to find out how to coordinate liquid waste management supervision, especially at Tiara Sella Padang Jati. At the beginning of her literature review, the participant stated the theories about social structure and social action Wirawan, 2012; Giddens, 2000; ), but no theories provide the information about social structure and action existing in the real environment. Then, the participant (12) continued her review of Sustainable development with the concept of 167 Yelfiza/ Jurnal Arbitrer - Vol. 7 No. 2 (2020) keeping the eco-development (Abdurahman, 2003; Rahadian, 2016; Saebani, 2016; Budimanta, 2005). After that, the participant (12) continued her theories about environmental pollutions (Pemadi, Ari, Made& R.A. Retno), and then the theory about the effort of environmental pollution prevention (Taringan, 2014; Setoyono & Satmoko, 2006). The theory also discussed the impact of environmental pollution, but no expert here, the participant (12), tried to explain it by using her point of view. It was continued with the discussion about the impact of environmental pollution, but no theories were used to support the knowledge or the information. Next, in her literature review, no special discussion about the definition of liquid waste and how its management was explained. The last, no discussion about the coordination of liquid waste and how to coordinate them were available in the review. IV. DISCUSSION After doing data analysis and description, this research showed the relevances and irrelevances in writing the thesis, specifically discussing the review on the theories used to answer the research question. Based on these research findings, the researchers emphasized that the relevance and irrelevance of the literature review and research question could be seen from interrelation, validity, and the truth of the literature review theories to synthesize the research questions. Interrelation becomes one of the important aspects to know the relevance of the literature review. Literature must bring together ideas interrelated concepts, definitions, and propositions to explain the event or the situation by specifying the relations among the research (Glanz in Kivunja, 2018). Glanz in his research about the interrelation between research question with a literature review. The research done by the researchers could also show that the literature review is done by 6 participants represented by the participants (1), (2), and (3) contain the concept of interrelation when the participants developed and constituted the deep broad of knowledge in the disciplines based on their research questions. Here, the participants used the theories to clearly define and explain the meaning, nature, and phenomena in educational or social context based on the research variable. The participants enabled to apply the theories by specifying the relationships among variables of their researches. All theories used in the literature reviews done by the participants could better present or discuss more appropriate concepts or ideas to link the literature review with the problem stated in the research question. Then, Day in Akkaya et al., ( 2018) explained that the research must show the result with strongly structure intellectual systems that require the truth of theories. From the literature review done by 6 participants represented by the participants (1), (2), and (3) in this research, it was found that the theories used in their literature review presented the facts or the truth because they made the relationship between the theories and what discussed in the review. All the applicable theories in the literature review related to the research variable, as stated in the research question. Here, the participants had a better understanding of their research variable and investigated the empirical data or the field’s knowledge through any particular disciplines. The lived experiences or events constitute the true theories and enable them to explain them factually to answer research questions. For example, when participant (1) wanted to see the level of passive-aggressive behavior through her research, she used the true theories that she found from any particular disciplines from the real journal, article, or other knowledge that were appropriate. She talked about aggressive behavior with its definition, characteristic and could apply the theories about the level of passive-aggressive behavior with its criteria to answer the research question clearly in her research through her literature review. Similarly, other participants also applied the true theories to solve their research problems, as explained in the literature review used by participants at the previous discussion. The true theories’ importance in showing the relevance between the research question with a literature review was proven through Lomborg’s research ( 2003). He found that the relevance of theories becomes one of the main criteria for evaluating and doing the quality judgment of the theories used in writing empirical writing. Here, the relevance indicates that all the theories used should be relevant to the core problem and the research process, and the research area’s action in the reality of social context. Then, Lomborg 168 Yelfiza/ Jurnal Arbitrer - Vol. 7 No. 2 (2020) explained that theories or knowledge based on social context’s reality exist if the theories contain the truth. The theories could be considered when the theories were constructed from the real world or must go to everyday life in the social area under study and collect data from the field. The related research was also done by Ghafouri and Ofoghi (2016) on the reliability in qualitative research that found the relevant theory could better show the reliability or the truth when the theories adapt with the daily facts obtained from data become authentic and associates with the area of the study. It means that all literature review theories can build clear, rational ideas to discuss the research problems. Furthermore, the participants showed the relevance of theories used in their literature review to the research question based on the sources’ validity criteria when the participants used the accurate theories that come from many experts. Levy Yair & Ellis Timothy J., (2006)argue that the use of literature should provide the grounds for the legitimization of the research questions proposed in the study as well as validate them. The related literature must consist of all sources containing research publications, journals, quality conference preceding valid to purposed study and discuss issues related to the problem. Here, the participants (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), and (6) provided valid information or knowledge through sources or theories to show the relationship between this review and research question by presenting the valuable discussion toward the problems as stated in the research questions. The validity or the accuracy of the literature review, as stated by Tranfield in Snyder ( 2019), could be determined by presenting the collective evidence in a certain research area. As described in the literature review of participant (1), participant (2), and (3), it was ensured that the participants investigated the valid source because the sources implemented in the review correlated with the research being proposed or developed based on the research variables. As evidence, the research question in the excerpt (2) consists of two variables; the causes of social problems and Gading- Gading Ganesha Novel. The participant could add authentic sources from journals, articles, or particular disciplines about society and social problems. This is because in the real society as the fact and link to the society or social problem in the novel by using sociology of literature approach as described in her literature review in the previous paragraph. All the related theories used in the literature review could be proven because they have the website link that could be accessed by the other researchers. The other evidence to show the valid theory occurred when the participant elaborated on the information and developed the literature review by providing the real examples to support the theory to discuss research problems. The literature review could also be considered the relevant review if it contains the theoretical validity that refers to how much theoretical explanation developed through research analysis is consistent with the data (Hayashi et al., 2019). Through his research (Dellinger, 2005) found that the relevance of theories could be evaluated from the validity of theories or how to extend the literature review can provide the evidence and the accuracy of the information or knowledge from many disciplines. In other words, it must use the theories that should be used to develop ideas and discussion that potentially impacts the quality and credibility of the research. Wolming and Wikstrom (2010) emphasized through his research finding that the validity evidence of the theories can be shown from how far the theories link to the facts with the empirical examples that related to the issues developed in the research into the real practice in the social area where the study can be investigated. The discussion about the relevance between research question with literature review makes the researchers aware that the quality of thesis writing depends on how far the theories relate to research problems, how far the theories contain the truth and how far the validity of theories can be prevented. This idea could be better supported by the research done by Manchón ( 2018). In this case, Manchon researched giving feedback to L1 and L2 academic writing strategies, and he found that L2 Students had a good writing strategy compare to L1 Students because they could develop more relevant disciplines or knowledge to build the relevant theories that were closely related to the writing problems. The same research about Literature Review was also done by Nakano & Muniz (2018) from the researchers who submitted their papers to the production Journal. Here, Nakano and 169 Yelfiza/ Jurnal Arbitrer - Vol. 7 No. 2 (2020) Muniz found that literature reviews’ construction is categorized as good or strong literature reviews. The authors put the relevant theories that could be determined by the authors’ rationale and current information or knowledge that address the research questions. Besides the relevance between the research question and literature review, their irrelevances were also found during the research. The irrelevance between research questions and theories discussed in the related review can be shown when the participants (9), (10), (11), and (12) from the data above did not present the interrelation theories to the research question. According to Baker in Costa (2016), theories give rise to research problems or questions, provide interpretative data, and the theories could provide a rationale and related to the study. It means that the theories can be considered relevant to the research question if they are available to provide the related information to answer the research question. However, if the literature review theories did not match with topic or problems, then the theories and research questions are irrelevant (Bond, Carol & Acheson, 2017). It can be seen in participants (9, 10, 11, 12) reviewed the theories used in their theses’ literature. They used some irrelevant theories so that the discussion or description did generally not touchable to the research question. For a specific example, the participant (12) in her research would like to coordinate liquid waste management supervision at Tiara Sella Padang Jati, Bengkulu. Here, the participant (12) should use the theories discussed liquid waste management and how to coordinate liquid waste management. However, the participant (12) developed the literature review by using the theories related to social structure and social action, the concept of Sustainable development, and environmental pollution with its impact on society but no theories about the liquid waste and its management and no theories about the coordination of supervision of those liquid waste management. It can be stated that the participant (12) did an inappropriate or irrelevant literature review since she applied the theories without a strong interrelation to the research problem or question. It was supported by Costa (2016), who stated that if the study does not have the theories that can better support the research question, it could be considered that those theories are inappropriate and difficult to understand. Here, inappropriate shows that the theories do not match or well encounter to the research question. In other words, the irrelevant between the research question and theories existed since it had no explanatory power because no argument was used to enable the participant (12) to interpret the data by appropriate theories. Furthermore, the irrelevance between theories in the literature review and the research question can determine how far those theories can be trusted. The theories are based on leading or most appropriate to the research question if it has more transcendent criteria for the truth (Morrow, 2005). In other words, if the theories developed in the literature review could not prove the truth based on the fact so that the theories would be considered irrelevant theories to the research question. The truth is doing a literature review can be proven if the researcher can properly use theories in presenting the data or evidence. In the literature review, the researchers must review all theories by using their developing ideas and build a better understanding while discussing the theories to make good indicators for analyzing the problems. Otherwise, if the researcher failed to do the review or the theories, it is considered that the researcher’s work is dishonest or not true. In this case, experienced by the participant (10), she implemented the literature review theories like the genuine theory without reviewing. The participant (10) also used limited sources because she just stated one theory or expert for each sub-topic in the literature review, so that this such work did not fulfill the research’s truth. Lose & Klarskov (2017) stated that the sources include the failure to report or use if it lacks resources, and if plagiarism occurs, it is categorized as scientific dishonest. Here, participant (10) seemed to use very limited sources because, in her literature review, the participant just told about the carrier guidance for the working field, not for the students in the school, the discussion grew without focusing on the main problems of the research. The example of the teachers’ barrier to teaching the carrier guidance was not found in the literature review because the participant did not review the theories to link the information from the theory to the research question. Still, the participant just copy-pastes from the theories like the real sources.170 Yelfiza/ Jurnal Arbitrer - Vol. 7 No. 2 (2020) In addition, Rahman, (2018) criticized the literature review done by the students. Through this study, Rahman emphasized that using theoretical or literary references is very acceptable, good, or a must in scientific writing, but the number of references becomes considerable. Based on this study, too many references can lead to irrelevant discussions or think; otherwise, the lack of sources could not support the literature review discussion. In this case, it is very important to standardize the theories that must be questionable to show the related knowledge and information to the research questions. Finally, the research question and literature review’s irrelevance was seen from participant (11) since this participant used invalid theories. Actually, the participant (11) would like to find out the history teacher’s problems to increase the inculcation of students’ character education values, but the theories did not present accurate information about character education values. In her literature review, no theories from valid sources discussed specifically character education theories. Otherwise, the participant (11) tended to elaborate on those values based on her own opinions. Also, no theories about the inculcation of character education values were found as long as her discussions in her literature review. On the other word, each data presented in her literature review contain no evidence and could not be proven through the real sources like journals, articles, or the others. It can be considered that some information given in the literature review were not valid. This finding is supported by Wilson (2001), who had researched to see the theorist view; J.R. Kantor and B. F. Skinner, toward the theoretical construct. This research’s finding clarified that the irrelevant theories used in the research writing existed if it was found the invalid theories construct in the theoretical review of the theories used were not appropriate to the investigation field. It means that no accuracy between the theories needed and the theories used so that the theories did not contribute to the improvement of research orientation to discuss the research problems. V. CONCLUSION The study of Literature Review is very important to know the value or the qualities of the students’ scientific writing. One way to ensure whether the students had done good thesis writing is how far the research could link or relate the theories used in the review to the research question. It is believed that thesis writing could be good writing because it has done many advises and revisions that the thesis advisor suggested. However, the different facts appear in the researchers’ research that not all students’ thesis writing in this research showed the relevance between the research question and literature review. Among 13 participants, 6 participants succeeded in citing relevant literature to discuss and answer research questions in their thesis writing. The others about 7 participants failed to elaborate on the relevance theories so that the discussions of literature reviews were not critical enough to answer the research question. In this case, the thesis writing with irrelevant theories in the literature section could be rated as low-quality thesis writing. There are still many numbers of graduate students’ thesis writing that have low quality in such areas as theories and discussion in the literature review sections. Being aware of this condition, the thesis advisor really needs to give special attention to the students’ tasks in finishing or completing their thesis writing. It is hoped that the thesis advisors give valuable guidance or advice to the style of the student’s writing and the content and how to elaborate the ideas so that each chapter of the students’ thesis writing could be tied strongly. REFERENCES Akkaya, A. & Aydın, G, “Views of Academicians on Traits of Academic Writing “ , Educational Policy Analysis and Strategic Research, Vol. 13, No. 2, 2018, pp. 128–160. Alsied, S. M. & Ibrahim, N. W, “ Exploring Challenges Encountered by EFL Libyan Learners in Research Teaching and Writing “, IAFOR Journal of language learning, Vol. 3, No. 2, 2018, pp. 143–158.171 Yelfiza/ Jurnal Arbitrer - Vol. 7 No. 2 (2020) Bond, Carol & Acheson, C, Writing a Literature Review, New Zealand: University of OTAGO Press, 2017. Costa, A. P, “Asking Questions in the Qualitative Research Context Asking Questions in the Qualitative Research Context “, The Qualitative Research, Vol.21, No. 13, 2016, pp. 6–18. Dellinger, A. B, “Validity and the Review of Literature”, Educational Research, Vol. 12, No. 2, 2015, pp. 41-54. Dossoumou, A. M, “Appraising the impacts of cohesion and coherence in Benin SS3 EFL learners’ writing productions “, International Journal of Linguistics Literature and Culture, Vol. 4, No. 5, 2018, pp. 41-54. Faryadi, Q, “PhD Thesis Writing Process: A Systematic Approach—How to Write Your Literature Review“, Scientific Research,Vol. 9, No. 2, 2018, pp. 2912-2919. Ghafouri, R, “Trustworthy and Rigor in Qualitative Research “ , International Journalof Advanced Biotechnology and Research, Vol. 7, No. 4 , 2016, pp.1914-1922. Kivunja, C, “ Distinguishing between theory, theoretical framework, and conceptual framework: A systematic review of lessons from the field “, International Journal of Higher Education, Vol.7, No.6, 2018, pp. 44–53. Levy Yair & Ellis Timothy J, “ A Systems Approach to Conduct an Effective Literature Review in Support of Information Systems Research “, Informing Science Journal, Vol.9, 2006, pp. 181-212. Lomborg, K, “ Original Article Truth and validity in grounded theory – a reconsidered realist interpretation of the criteria : fit , work , relevance and modifiability “, Nursing Philosophy, Vol. 4, 2003, pp.189- 200. Lose, G. & Klarskov, N, “ Why published research is untrus “, Editorial, Vol. 28, 2017, pp. 1271–1274. Manchón, R. M, “Past and future research agendas on writing strategies : Conceptualizations , inquiry methods , and research findings “, Language Learning and Teaching, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2018, pp. 247– 267. Nakano, D. & Muniz, J, “ Writing the literature review for empirical papers “, Production, Vol.28, 2018, pp. 1-9. Perk, M. Van der, A guide for scientific writing, Netherlands: Utrecht University Press, 2015. Rahman, S. M, “ Hyper-Elitism in Writing Literary Criticisms : Theories and References “, ALLS,Vol. 9, No. 6, 2018, pp. 153-157. Snyder, H, “Literature review as a research methodology: An overview and guidelines “, Journal Business Research, Vol.104, 2019, pp. 333–339. Syahrin, A, Dawud, Suwignyo, H. & Priyatni, E. T, “Creative thinking patterns in student‘s scientific works “, Eurasian Journal of Educational Research, Vol. 81, 2019, pp.21–36. Young, M, “Quality of literature review and discussion of findings in selected papers on integration of ICT in teaching, role of mentors, and teaching science through science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) “, Educational Research and Reviews, Vol.12, No.4, 2017, pp. 189–201.172 Yelfiza/ Jurnal Arbitrer - Vol. 7 No. 2 (2020) Biography Dr.Yelfiza, M.Pd, is an associate Professor working as English lecturer at STKIP PGRI Sumatera Barat. She got her undergraduate degree at IKIP Padang, now called UNP in 1989 and her master and doctoral degrees at the same university in 1999 and 2016. She has been teaching English for 30 years. From 1989 to 2002 she taught at Academy for Foreign Languages Haji Agus SalimBukittinggi. Then, from 2002 until now she has been teaching at STKIP Sumatera Barat in Padang. She has frequently presented her articles in international conferences, held in Indonesia or overseas. She has also published her articles in the areas of Linguistics and Education both in national and international Journals. Siska,S.S.,M.Pd, is an English Lecturer at STKIP PGRI Sumatera Barat biography appears here. She graduated from her undergraduate degree at UNP in 2003 and her master degrees at the same University in 2011. She has been teaching English for 10 years at STKIP PGRI Sumatera Barat in Padang. She has followed both national and international conferences with the publication of journals and proceedings in the areas of education. Also, she had published the book which derived from the result of her research. Recently, one of her journals had been published in international journal. 173