Image by Cayla Buttram, David MacMillan III, & Dr. R.T. Koch, Jr. Updated November 2012 UNA Center for Writing Excellence. See this link.
A literature review is a piece of discursive prose, not a list describing or summarizing one piece of literature after another. Beginning every paragraph with the name of a researcher sends a red flag to a reader or examiner expecting a Literature Review. Organize the literature review into sections according to themes or identify trends and debates, including relevant theory. You are not expected to cover all the material published, but to synthesize and evaluate it according to the guiding concept of your thesis or research question. The literature review is not your opinion. It does provide the foundation on which you will develop and present your opinion/hypothesis with all the expected evidencen subsequent chapters.
If you are writing an annotated bibliography, you may need to summarize each item briefly, but should still follow through themes and concepts and do some critical assessment of material. Use an overall introduction and conclusion to state the scope of your coverage and to formulate the question, problem, or concept your chosen material illuminates. Usually you will have the option of grouping items into sections—this helps you indicate comparisons and relationships. You may be able to write a paragraph or so to introduce the focus of each section.
A literature review is usually organized around ideas, not the sources themselves as an annotated bibliography would be organised. This means that you will not just simply list your sources and go into detail about each one of them, one at a time. As you read widely but selectively in your topic area, consider instead what themes or issues connect your sources together.
- Do they present one or different solutions?
- Is there an aspect of the field that is missing?
- How well do they present the material and do they portray it according to an appropriate theory?
- Do they reveal a trend in the field?
- A raging debate?
- Pick one of these themes to focus the organization of your review.