1. How to write a review of literature
Saba Torabian

2. Purpose of literature review?
The purpose of a review is to analyze critically a segment of a published body of knowledge through summary, classification, and comparison of prior research studies, reviews of literature, and theoretical articles.

3. Writing the introduction of Lit Review
Define or identify the general topic, issue, or area of concern, thus providing an appropriate context for reviewing the literature.
Point out overall trends in what has been published about the topic; or conflicts in theory, methodology, evidence, and conclusions; or gaps in research and scholarship; or a single problem or new perspective of immediate interest.

4. Establish the writer's reason (point of view) for reviewing the literature; explain the criteria to be used in analyzing and comparing literature and the organization of the review (sequence); and, when necessary, state why certain literature is or is not included (scope)

5. Writing the body of lit review
Group research studies and other types of literature (reviews, theoretical articles, case studies, etc.) according to common denominators such as qualitative versus quantitative approaches, conclusions of authors, specific purpose or objective, chronology, etc.
Summarize individual studies or articles with as much or as little detail as each merits according to its comparative importance in the literature.

6. Writing the conclusion of your lit review
Summarize major contributions of significant studies and articles to the body of knowledge under review, maintaining the focus established in the introduction.
Point out major methodological flaws or gaps in research, inconsistencies in theory and findings, and areas or issues pertinent to future study.
Conclude with your hypothesis.

7. Organizing Your Literature Review
Topical Order—organize by main topics or issues; emphasize the relationship of the issues to the main “problem”
Chronological Order—organize the literature by the dates the research was published
Problem-Cause-Solution Order—Organize the review so that it moves from the problem to the solution

8. Organizing Your Literature Review
General-to-Specific Order—(Also called the funnel approach) Examine broad-based research first and then focus on specific studies that relate to the topic
Specific-to-General Order—Try to make discuss specific research studies so conclusions can be drawn

9. After reviewing the literature, summarize what has been done, what has not been done, and what needs to be done.
Remember you are arguing your point of why your study is important!
Then pose a formal research question or state a hypothesis—be sure this is clearly linked to your literature review

10. Literature Review
All sources cited in the literature review should be listed in the references
To sum, a literature review should include introduction, summary and critique of journal articles, justifications for your research project and the hypothesis for your research project

11. Common Errors Made in Lit Reviews
Review isn’t logically organized
Review isn’t focused on most important facets of the study
Review doesn’t relate literature to the study
Too few references or outdated references cited
Review isn’t written in author’s own words
Review reads like a series of disjointed summaries
Review doesn’t argue a point
Recent references are omitted

12. For Mini-Literature Review Assignment
Core Article: You need one core article. 
Follow-up articles
1 - 2 articles of your own choosing - choose articles whose main findings either (a) provide additional background or supporting evidence for the main article, or (b) highlights a limitation of the main article that leads to your summary/evaluation.

13. Your paper should include:
A brief introduction describing the main theory being tested in the core article and your thesis (how well supported the theory was after synthesizing the core and follow-up articles).

14. A summary of the Core article written in two paragraphs.
The first paragraph begins with a topic sentence that describes the main point/purpose of the study (1 - 2 sentence), than summarizes and the main methodology employed to test the hypotheses (~3-5 sentences).
The second paragraph summarizes the main results (~2-4 sentences) and the authors’ discussion and conclusions (~2-3 sentences).       The conclusion should address the primary purpose or question of the article.